I love Google. The free products they have are great resources for me as a person and an educator.
I use Google Mail for email, iGoogle for organizing my selft, Google Calendar, Google Notebook, Google Apps, and Blogger (which is where this blog is hosted.)
iGoogle is my favorite application. Think of it as your own personal start page on the internet. I have mine set up with my bookmarks, Gmail inbox, Google Translate, CCN.com, Top Stories, Google Calendar, My Listy (task list), Google Reader, Google Notebook (lesson plans), Stock quote tracking, weather, and a Blogger gadget for posting to my blog. It is the one website that I open all the time to keep my self organized and informed.
I also use Google Apps to create, edit, and store word processing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Since everything is hosted in the "cloud" (ie. on the Web), I have access to these items from any computer that has internet access. It doesn't matter if it is Windows, Apple, or Linux.
I have been so impressed with Google and have used it so much that I am sharing these things, along with some others such as Google Scholar, Picasa, and Sketchup, with other teachers in a professional development session in April.
Free, well designed, and useful. What more can you ask for?
