Google Tools with Rick Weinberg

One of my main goals many months ago was to become an "expert" on Google Tools and maybe even apply to go to the Google Teacher Academy (GTA)......however, I have not been as good on that goal as I would like to have been. My realization was the workshop Rick Weinberg put on today for area educators on Google Tools.

Picture courtesy of: http://www.google.com/intl/en/events/realestatetools/apps_ring.jpg

Rick created a Google Sites page (Google's wiki service) with YouTube videos showcasing many of the Google Tools and then gave the participants time for questions and more discovery of these tools. Some of the things that I learned today:

• iGOOGLE!!! I'm hooked, might be my new homepage. I have Plurk Mobile, Twitter, CNN, Delicious and Ping.fm as a few on there now.
• Has me wondering about using Blogger instead of Edublogs (I still seem to have problems in here with Edublogs).
• Neat stuff in Google Labs with Trends
• Of course, Google Earth and Sky
• IE Tabs with Firefox to convert over the Internet Explorer if your having trouble opening something in Firefox like.....Oh I don't know GoogleReader, GoogleSites or Lotus Notes. Looks like it is only for Windows machines, however- I could really use that for my MacBookPro.

Thanks Rick for your insight.....and PATIENCE!

Anyone else have a favorite Google Tool? I do like building a custom search engine and also like to work more with Google Sketchup!

Picture courtesy of http://google.com/