Google

Since I seem to be in the middle of recommending things, I'll talk about Google for a bit.

Google just rocks. Things have gotten to the point that even for technical questions I have at work, I can find the answer faster through Google's www search than I can find it by looking it up in the book on my desk. Not always, but 90-95% of the time.

I use Google's www search so often that when I see someone ask a question like "What is geocaching?" I kindly say "Honey, Google is your friend." The old "teach 'em to fish" thing.

Now, I am not an "early adopter." I got my first digital camera less than two years ago. But on-line, show me something that works better than what I have been using, and that's all it takes. Google maps. They rock. They are head and shoulders above the on-line maps I had been using. They zoom without having to reload the map, for one thing. For another, you can grab the map and shift it inside its window, again without a reload. Try 'em, you'll like 'em. We've also had really good luck with directions we've gotten from Google maps. (Unlike the maps I used to use, which had us driving around south of Saline, Michigan, in the middle of nowhere, looking for the new high school -- which is right in Saline, rather than south of it in the middle of a corn field where the other online map thingie directed us.............................)

My most recent foray into the Google universe is Google desktop. I downloaded it because I was annoyed at the search-of-my-machine's-contents that came with the computer. I haven't yet tried Google desktop's search, but the desktop replaced the nasty worthless default search in my browser with Google's www search (after asking me, and I was very pleased to say YES), *and*!!!!!!! the desktop gives me a bar down the side of my desktop that notifies me when any blogs I read are updated.

Well, that's worth the price ( $0! ) of admission, right there. I don't have to keep hitting various sites all day to see if there's been an update. Good old Google keeps me posted.

As with the other things I've been recommending, I have no affiliation with Google (though I share my alma mater with one of its founders).