The Age of Google

I can't imagine my day-to-day operations without Google. I use the search engine every single day, I use gmail for email, and gtalk to talk to Ina every day. I use Google Calendar to book and track my appointments. I use Google Groups to access usenet to browse various topics including Raptors, movies, television shows, programming and cooking. The Google search engine has changed everything.

Imagine if you could bring a laptop into a job interview. Any non-personal question could be answered with Google. All you'd need is a fast connection and the ability to type fast.

I have a lazy cousin, who, instead of researching things for himself, emails me or my other cousin for help. For instance, he wanted to know what laptop he should buy. Normally for me, if I'm about to make a "big" purchase, I spend about a month scouring the web for reviews until I find exactly what I'm looking for.

But instead of doing all that, my cousin would just email me and say "Hi, what laptop should I get?" and provide me a link to a bunch of laptops. Yesterday he asked me "Is Vista good?". You see, my cousin hasn't discovered Google.

Today he emailed me and my other cousin about a name of a song. He said the lyrics contained "at the cross". Now any Christian knows this is not an uncommon phrase in Christian music. But Google, being the uber search engine that it is, has this kind of information. Of course, my cousin doesn't know this because he lives in the dark ages.

Although he did eventually find the song himself, I suggested that perhaps instead of constantly asking me (and my other cousin) every question that pops into his head, he should just ask Google -- to which responded "You are better than Google."

Wow.. talk about flattery.. I mean, better than Google?! What a compliment!

Of course none of it makes sense because I answered all his questions by consulting, yes, Google, as did my other cousin. And likely, my cousin's sucking up exposes nothing more than pure laziness on his own behalf. Or perhaps what he's saying is that I am better at searching for information on Google than he is?

Half of these things I had no idea existed, but now that I do, I cannot get enough of it. If you think Google is great now, check out this article..

Data Mining using Google