We All Live on Google Earth

I'm not sure at what point it became official, but somewhere in the past five years, Google became the most astounding intellectual force on Earth.

It's not their search engine, and it's not even the web advertising plan they pioneered which has changed the way businesses interact with individuals on the internet.

Programs like Google Earth literally changed the way we see our world, while Gmail (and G-chat) changed in less significant but perhaps more prolific ways, the manner in which we connect with each other.

Anyone who bothers to read blogs doesn't need me to tell you about all that Google has created, especially now that Google owns Blogger & YouTube. In fact, you the reader probably know more about all this technobabble than I do. Whether you get Google News updates on your iPhone, Google e-mail alerts on your favorite topics, or check the weather each morning on your Google desktop. The point is the internet has changed from being a tool we access when needed to an integral part of our lives on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

Google is not (yet) all powerful or all knowing, but let's face it, George Orwell could have envisioned no greater alliance for evil than the ingenuity and infectious convenience of Google Apps and the legal flexibility of, for example, the Bush administration.

Google's latest cool tricks include the Weber-approved Google Chrome browser and some bonafide badass voice-recognition software for the iPhone. It allows users to ask a question verbally, which it then interprets, answers, and sends personalized info back based on your GPS location/ google profile. In addition, they've applied the Arbitron marketing research techniques to identify music from radio or CD by the iPhone, and better yet, connect you instantly with iTunes to buy the song you like.

Frankly, it's getting creepy - but darn convenient. The Goog-411 service, for example, is incredibly useful, totally free, and hard to hate.

But what about the things we Really need? Sure, directions and e-mail are useful, but when was the last time somebody updated the odd intellectual problems of Dr. Peter M. Roget? Microsoft's Word-based Thesaurus is frankly disappointing, and the (non-Google) web versions, including Roget's official site, remain totally unimpressive. I'm a grad student for pete's sake, I need more precise modifiers and nuanced adjectives!

Why not cut to the chase? Google, your programs are designed to look at my browser history to 'get inside my head' and guess what other things I might like. ok, fine, while you're in there, how about lending a hand keeping the place clean. When are you going to help 'defrag' my mind, 'spam-block' my subconscious, or best of all, install mental 'drag-and-drop' compatibility with Windows (ok, fine, Google) office.

Point is, Google is an amazing industry of thought, convenience, invasion and programming. Better still, they're always looking for new ideas, and it's hard to think of limits to their potential. What about sites where you could upload your christmas list, access lists of others, provide available on-line retailers, and alert to shipping deadlines for the holidays? They already have that! And they keep track of all new projects with a US Patent-searching app!!!

My imagination can't even keep up with what Google keeps turning out.

Maybe Google could help me Google-up my own imagination?

how do I search for that? "I'm Feeling Lucky?"

Weber
::(lame) Texpatriot