10 Google products you (probably) never knew existed

I don’t know about you, but it feels like Google launches a new product every time I turn my laptop on.

And these new products tend to fit into two distinct categories:

1. Incredibly useful
2. Incredibly bizarre

Fortunately, most of these products are free so we’re really not in a position to complain! After some lengthy research, I was surprised by how many tools Google has either developed or acquired over the years.

So much so, that I thought it was a good idea to compile a list of the secrets of the Google product empire. Here they are, in no particular order…

1. Google Takeout – No, this is not Google’s food delivery service (although that’d be handy), this is a tool which allows you to download an archive of your data from things like your +1’s, Google+ Circles, Contacts and Picasa Web albums.
2. Google Mars – While you’re probably familiar with Google Earth, Google Mars is a little less well known. However, what it lacks in notoriety it makes up for in in geeky coolness. It gives you the ability to check out spacecraft landing locations, crater depth and even comes with an infrared option.
3. Google Health – This is one of the (many) products Google launched that didn’t quite capture the imagination of the public as anticipated. It was designed to be a portal for all of your health and wellness information. This service officially shuts down on January 1, 2013.
4. Google SketchUp – Now, this definitely falls into the ‘incredibly useful’ category of Google products. Google SketchUp allows you to create anything in 3D from coffee pots to skyscrapers. Check out the community gallery for added inspiration.
5. Google Correlate – If you’ve been watching the new TV show starring Kiefer Sutherland called Touch you’ll appreciate this one as it allows you to find patterns within data samples. Oooh yeah, go get your geek on!
6. Google Sites – It’s surprising Google hasn’t done more with this in light of the self-publishing explosion of the last few years. If and when you do need a spot online to share content with a specific group, this is a decent option.
7. Google HotPot – With SO MANY food review and recommendation services in existence, this seems like an odd one to add to the Google bucket list. And although it sits pretty seamlessly on top of Google Places. But I don’t know anyone who uses it, do you?
8. What Do You Love? (from Google) – You may have heard about this one when it was launched a little while back but if you haven’t, it is worth putting on your ‘to-do’ list. On the back of the ‘interest graph’ explosion, this aggregates content relating to specified topics from across the Google product network.
9. YouTube Feather – A slight cheat here as we’re looking at a sub-product from the Google-owned YouTube product. While it was released in 2009, it’s still being trialed and this means you may not have come across it yet. In short, YouTube Feather is a ‘light’ version of YouTube that aims to take the strain away from your browser and internet connection.
10. Panoramio – A photo sharing community that invites people to share their pictures of the world mashed up over the Google maps tool.

So, how many of those did you know about? If you knew about all ten you either work for Google or perhaps Wikipedia!

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 olly via shutterstock