The Expanding Empire of Google

"Google it". That's a relatively new phrase that means "type a word or phrase into the Google search engine at google.com and read some of the results."

According to Alexa.com, Google has about 38 percent of the daily Internet traffic. It is rated number one in terms of traffic. Most people are aware of the search engine, but fewer have used many of the other features of Google. In addition to the basic search function, Google offers these specialized search functions as well: Images, News, Maps, Videos and Shopping.

A variety of other functions have been added over the years. These include Gmail, a free email service, Google Groups, a networking function that allows people to organize into specialty groups, and Google Books, the controversial online library of books. Google Scholar is a search function limited to peer-reviewed papers and academic publications. Google Blogs allows people to publish their own personal website. For financial news, users turn to Google Finance.

Picasa is the place for users who want to upload, download, and share photos. It is to be distinguished with YouTube, a site where videos can be uploaded, shared, and viewed. YouTube is ranked number 4 by Alexa.com; it was purchased by Google in 2006. Part of Picasa can be used to edit photos, and another function within Picasa can be used to upload photos and organize them. The basic distinction is that Picasa is used for photos, and YouTube is used for videos.

Google Maps can be used to find addresses on a map or to obtain driving directions.

Google.org is the charitable arm of the company, and as such it advocates clean water, health and education. It has committed over $100 million in grants and investments, including a $15 million investment with Makani Power to help develop wind power. The company invested $10 million with eSolar Inc. and BrightSource Energy, Inc. in the area of thermal power.

Google.org invested $4 million to develop hard rock drilling technologies. It gave about $489 thousand dollars to Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab to develop geothermal resource assessment technology. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences received a $250,000 grant from Google.org that will be used to steer U.S.-Chinese efforts on renewable energy.

Google has a variety of other functions that are beyond the scope of this article.