I have now been to Stone Henge, the Great Wall of China, and the pyramids of Egypt all in a single day. How did I accomplish this miraculous feat? I used Google Earth, a wonderful program released by those guys over at Google. While I am sure its intention was to act more as a way to find directions and maps to places you might go. I have found that it does this and is a great way to explore the world without having to spend thousands of dollars on travel. Not only that but it is just plain fun!

In order to enjoy the experience that is offered by Google Earth first you need to download the program (which is conveniently offered as part of their service pack). Then open it up, type in the address or location where you want to go and watch as you fly over the globe and to a birds eye view of your destination. While using it as a form of recreation is great it is also a highly valuable tool in learning more about the world and teaching children that there is more out there than the area they live in.

What does google and the tech brief have in common? They are both wonderful places to find interesting things. While we here at the tech brief merely review what is going on in the wide world of tech news, google takes a different approach and has offered a great deal of nifty little applications over the years. However it seemed to me that it was often difficult to find them and even more difficult to select which ones worked best for me. Now google has done me (and dare I say many others) a great service and compiled not only a list of apps but created a venue where you can actually download all of the ones you desire in one place.

What does google apps offer? Well each of their offerings deserve a review of their own and you shall have them but a quick rundown of the list and the basic idea of what each app offers is as follows.

GOOGLE EARTH:

Google Earth is one of the best ways to view our world. With it you can see practically any location from overhead. It also is a great way to not only get directions but get a really handy map the next time you have a trip you want to make.

GOOGLE TOOL BAR FOR INTERNET EXPLORE:

This creation by google is pretty much a way to use Google from your browser at any time. Simply enter your search into the box provided and results come up. Another nice part of this toolbar is that it has a built in pop up blocker.

NORTON SECURITY SCAN:

If you don’t have some form of virus scan and protection, something like Norton is a must have. While this is a free (and thus somewhat limited) version, it is still better than nothing.

SPYWARE DOCTOR STARTER EDITION:

Much like the Norton Security scan some form of spyware protection is a neccesity for anyone who spends much time online. Also like Norton the version is merely the free one, but something is better than nothing.

GOOGLE DESKTOP:

The power of Google on your desktop. Keep track of your email, files and more with this wonderful desktop application.

PICASA:

Picasa is a great picture editing and image capturing tool. A warning though, playing around with this application can become somewhat addictive.

MOZILLA FIREFOX WITH GOOGLE TOOLBAR:

Use Mozilla instead of internet explorer? No problem you can download Mozilla with the Google toolbar as well. If you are currently using IE you might want to give Mozilla a shot.

GOOGLE PHOTOS SCREEN SAVER:

This screen saver tool is jut flat out awesome. The pictures it displays are beautiful, it is easy to use, it even allows you to create slide shows.

ADOBE READER:

If for some reason you have yet to download Adobe reader, do so now. This is a great application for viewing PDF’s saving documents you want to be secure, not only that it makes things look real nice.

GOOGLE TALK:

This is a great application for not only text based instant messaging, but for voice chat and leaving voice messages as well.

REAL PLAYER:

Long considered one of the best media players available, Real player allows you to use all kinds of media, not only that you can also download music from Real Player onto iPod and other music players.

The best part about google pack is that you can pick and choose the programs you want. while it may not have every application one could as for, it does have quite a range of variety and usefulness. Click the following link to get the Google Pack.