At times, it can get pretty stressful trying to coordinate a family, a shared house, or even just managing your own life and your circle of equally busy friends. Fortunately, Google provides some great, simple tools to take at least some of the weight off your shoulders.
You can start your basic schedule management with Google Calendar: add different calendars (for example: friends, members of your family or household) and have an overview of who's doing what, and when.
I would like to try Google Calendar. Take me to the Sign up page.
To add a friend's calendar, just follow these steps:
- At the bottom of the calendar list on the left, click Add and select Add a friend's calendar.
- Enter the appropriate email address in the field provided, then click Add.
If your friend has opted to share his or her calendar publicly, it will then appear under 'Other Calendars' in the left column. If not, you'll see a message requesting access to your friend's calendar. Feel free to add a note to the request, then click Send Request.
To access your friend's private calendar, they can directly share their calendar with you by following these steps Once your friend has granted you permission to view their private calendar, you'll receive an email confirming your access. The calendar will also automatically appear in your calendar list the next time you sign in to Google Calendar.
You can also add different public calendars, or display a weather forecast for the next couple of days, which might help you decide whether it's a better idea to plan a picnic for Saturday or a trip to the indoor swimming pool.
I would like to try Google Calendar. Take me to the Sign up page.
Are you planning an event, but unsure if the weather will cooperate? Google Calendar's Weather feature displays the weather forecast directly in your calendar to make it easier to plan upcoming events. Once the Weather feature is enabled in your Google Calendar, you'll be able to view the four-day forecast, including the expected highs and lows for each day.
How to enable the Weather feature
To view weather forecasts in Google Calendar, simply follow these steps:
- Click Settings at the top of any Google Calendar page.
- Select the General tab.
- In the 'Location' section, enter your desired location information (e.g., 'Los Altos, CA' or '94024').
- In the 'Show weather based on my location' section, select either °F or °C.
- Click Save.
How to use the Weather feature
Once you've enabled the Weather feature, a Weather Calendar will be added to your calendar list. You'll also see weather icons in the upper left corner of today and the following three days in your calendar. Each icon serves as a visual representation of the forecast for that particular day. For more detailed weather information, including a brief description, location, and high and low temperature, just click the weather icon or point your mouse to it. You'll see, for example, this information: 'Clear in Los Altos, CA (80° | 53°).'
Keep in mind that because the Weather Calendar pulls data based on your own settings, information from this calendar will not display if embedded on your website.
For the tasks that you can't afford to forget, like doctor's appointments, set up text reminders or have your daily schedule of calendar entries emailed to yourself each morning.
I would like to try Google Calendar. Take me to the Sign up page.
Google Calendar offers different options for receiving event reminders. You can choose to receive your event reminders via SMS messages, emails, or popups within Google Calendar itself.
Here's how you can customize your reminder settings:
- In the calendar list on the left, click the down-arrow button next to the appropriate calendar, then select Notifications. (Alternatively, click the Settings link at the bottom of the calendar list, then click the Notifications link to the right of the appropriate calendar.)
- In the Event reminders section, select the reminder method from the drop-down menu and enter the corresponding reminder time (between five minutes and four weeks). If you'd like to add additional default reminders, simply click Add another reminder.
- You can also choose to be notified of specific activities on the calendar by selecting the appropriate options in the Choose how you would like to be notified section.
- Click Save.
Please note that when you make changes to the reminder settings for events on your calendar, the changes will only apply to you. Invited guests or those who have access to the events will receive reminders according to their own Google Calendar reminder settings.
Get all the clutter out of your head and onto a task list in Gmail instead. You can add a due date to each item on the list, which will cause them to also appear as events in your calendar. If you haven't already, you can decide to set up email or text reminders for your individual tasks so you won't risk forgetting to pick up your dry-cleaning, collect your daughter from the dentist, or get your girlfriend flowers for your anniversary.
I would like to try Gmail. Take me to the Sign up page.
Email a task list
Sometimes you need to get your tasks out of Tasks. Although you already know how I feel about paper, we decided to add support for printing with Tasks's graduation from Gmail Labs. Today we're offering another export solution which doesn't kill trees: emailing a task list.
Like most Tasks features, "Email task list" can be found in the Actions menu.
Clicking on it will open a new compose window with the contents of your current task list. This works in all views (my order, sort by date, completed), so to email your mom to explain why you've been so busy and haven't been able to return her calls, just choose "View completed tasks" from the Actions menu, then "Email task list" and send away. (Note: this may not be very convincing if you haven't actually checked anything off your list recently.)
If you want to let us know how Tasks is working for you, we're now available on Twitter at http://twitter.com/googletasks. Like most Google accounts on Twitter, we won't be able to respond to every question or feature request, but sometimes you might get lucky and we'll have an answer for you. Oh and @sayanghosh, today is your lucky day.
Using Google Latitude, you can see which of your friends/family members/housemates is most conveniently located to pick up your dry cleaning for you, and you'll have freed up enough time to get back to your to-do list.
See where your friends are with Google Latitude
How often do you find yourself wondering where your friends are and what they're up to? It's a pretty central question to our daily social lives, and it's precisely the question you can now answer using Google Latitude.
Latitude is a new feature for Google Maps on your mobile device. It's also an iGoogle gadget on your computer. Once you've opted in to Latitude, you can see the approximate location of your friends and loved ones who have decided to share their location with you. So now you can do things like see if your spouse is stuck in traffic on the way home from work, notice that a buddy is in town for the weekend, or take comfort in knowing that a loved one's flight landed safely, despite bad weather.
And with Latitude, not only can you see your friends' locations on a map, but you can also be in touch directly via SMS, Google Talk, Gmail, or by updating your status message; you can even upload a new profile photo on the fly. It's a fun way to feel close to the people you care about.
Fun aside, we recognize the sensitivity of location data, so we've built fine-grained privacy controls right into the application. Everything about Latitude is opt-in. You not only control exactly who gets to see your location, but you also decide the location that they see. For instance, let's say you are in Rome. Instead of having your approximate location detected and shared automatically, you can manually set your location for elsewhere נperhaps a visit to Niagara Falls . Since you may not want to share the same information with everyone, Latitude lets you change the settings on a friend-by-friend basis. So for each person, you can choose to share your best available location or your city-level location, or you can hide. Everything is under your control and, of course, you can sign out of Latitude at any time. Check out this video to learn more about the privacy features.
Finally, since we'd like you to be able to use Latitude with any of your friends, we've been working hard to make it available to as many people as possible. Today, Latitude is available in 27 countries, and we hope to add more soon.
Ready to share your location? If you have a mobile smartphone, visit google.com/latitude on your phone's web browser to download the latest version of Google Maps for mobile with Latitude. Latitude is available on Blackberry, S60, and Windows Mobile, and will be available on Android in the next few days. We expect it will be coming to the iPhone, through Google Mobile App, very soon.
No smartphone? No worries. Visit google.com/latitude on your desktop or laptop to install the Latitude iGoogle gadget and share your location right from your computer. If you have Google Gears installed in your browser (you do by default if you use Google Chrome), you can automatically share your location; otherwise, manually set your location to let your friends know where you are.
Visit the Google Mobile blog for more details, and check out the video below to see Latitude in action.
If, on the other hand, you aren't able to find someone to run your errands for you, why not make it easy for yourself? To find a nearby plumber, the closest florist, or a store selling the special fly fishing rod your dad wants for his birthday, Search in Google Maps, and get driving directions right away, no matter if you're going by car, walking, or taking public transit.
About directions
Depending on your location, you can get directions from one location to another. To do this, do one of the following:
- In the search field, enter a from-to statement (example: from New York to San Francisco) and click Search Maps.
- Click Get directions, enter a starting and ending location and click Get Directions.
- Get directions from info windows
- Right-click on the map to get directions to that location
- Get directions using search results
You can also create directions to and from markers and search results. To do this:
- Search Google Maps.
- Do one of the following:
- Click a marker in the map.
- Click a search result in the left panel
- In the info window, click To here or From here.
- Add another destination using steps 2 and 3.
Directions appear on the maps as a blue line. Google Maps breaks down directions into numbered sections in the left panel, along with an estimated drive time. You can click on any section number to display a info window with map detail. You can collapse or expand this view by clicking - or +. Learn about printing your directions.
Want directions, but prefer to skip major highways? Check Avoid highways at the top of the left panel. To reverse directions, click the appropriate link at the top of the left panel. To change the starting or ending locations of the directions, click Edit beside the location. Change the distance units for these directions, click km (kilometers) or miles.
Where available, highway exit numbers are marked with an appropriate icon. Example: 
In certain locations, you can view street-level imagery of your driving directions. Once you have obtained directions, click a camera icon in the left panel. Navigate by clicking the navigation arrow(s) in each image.
New! If you're a business owner, you can now add a Driving Directions gadget to your website. This makes it fast and easy for customers to get customized directions to your business location. Learn more.
If you find there is no conveniently-located store selling what you need, why don't you try Google Product Search?
Powerful Google Product Search applies Google's search technology to help you find and compare products from online stores across the web and then points you directly to where you can buy them.
Comprehensive We help you find everything from common products at the best price to the most obscure or unusual products.
Fast Almost instantly after entering a search, you'll see photos of relevant products and links to the stores that sell them. Click on a product and you'll go right to the web page where you can buy it.
Unbiased We don't accept payment for product listings. Our technology ranks your results automatically, based on relevance to your search terms.
Next, you might want to use Google Docs to track your household finances after your shopping spree; you can find a lot of handy and ready-to-use templates in the template gallery. Among them thereճ even one to easily create a new CV if you find that you're spending more than you're earning.
Watch a video on using Google Docs templates
Here's how you can find a template:
- From your Docs list, click the Browse template gallery link or select New > From template...
- Browse templates by category. You can sort templates by popularity or rating, and by category or type of doc. If you'd like to return to an unfiltered view of the gallery after sorting templates, simply click All templates or All categories.
Searching for templates
To search for templates from your Docs list, simply enter your search term in the search box and click the Search Templates button.
Once you're in the template gallery, you can search for templates by language. Select a language from the Narrow by language drop-down menu on the left side of the page, underneath the 'Narrow by category' section. If you'd like to search for templates in all languages, select All languages.
If you'd like to return to an unfiltered view of the gallery after performing a search, simply click Clear Search.
Ideally, the budget template will help you manage your money so wisely that you'll have enough budget left for your next holiday. Use Google Books to do some armchair-travelling beforehand (research great holiday destinations in more detail) and Google Search to look for cheap flights and nice accommodation.
Around the world in 80 pages (give or take a few)
I usually don't think of winter as a good time to travel, given that itӳ snowy or rainy in many areas (Mountain View included!). So I was surprised to find out that many of my friends are going on trips in the next two months. Some of these trips are home to visit family for the holidays, but some are to far-away locales like Japan, England, Ireland and Russia.
My own recent trip to Germany for the Frankfurt Book Fair showed me that traveling to a foreign country where you donӴ speak a word of the language can require some major preparation! Walking through the stalls and checking out travel guides from publishers like Penguin, Insight Guides and Lonely Planet, I noticed that each guide seemed to cover something the others hadnӴ. It struck me that browsing a whole range of guides is a great way to start getting to know a country.
My next vacation is in St. Petersburg, Russia, so after I got back from Germany, I decided to check out a bunch of guides to the city using Book Search. I already have a guide from Insight Guides, so I looked at the other offerings, like this Lonely Planet guide, which has a nice overview of the cityӳ history, culture, and popular activities, and this Frommers guide, which has more practical information about getting around the city. (Thanks to the "Places mentioned in this book" feature, I was also able to see interactive Google Maps with markers for each city mentioned in these guides!)
In addition to current guides, I found an unexpected public domain gem: Through Russia ֠a book of travel notes published in 1874. I imagine that the St. Petersburg of today is much different from the one depicted in the book. Certainly, things like fashion and modes of transportation will have changed radically, but what about less tangible things, like the culture? I'm planning to see if my impressions jibe with those of author Katharine Blanche Guthrie.
If you're going on a trip, I recommend giving Google Books a try. Even if you have only a short stay and limited time to absorb the culture, books can give you great insight into the way people do things. You might even find yourself responding to such phenomena as Russian morzh swimmers and Japanese Noh theater with an inner smile, thinking, ԁhh -- I get it!Լ/p>
We hope that this article helped you get some inspiration about how to make best use of your time using Google products. If you'd like to find out more about what Google has to offer, please visit our product gallery.