The whole world is aware of the wonders of Google as a premier search engine for general information. However, not everyone may realize that it is also a powerful tool for academic research, letting you retrieve scholarly works via its Scholar feature, and find text passages via Book Search. If you're looking for a school to attend, you can find admissions information, course schedules, and more using the University Search function. The Images feature is a great way to find digital pictures, Froogle makes comparative shopping easier, and Catalogs lets you browse the content of mail-order catalogs. The best way to access these and other features is from the Google Services Web page (http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/).

To find out more about new features being developed, visit the Google Labs Web page once in a while (http://labs.google.com/). One of the more exciting new arenas currently under development is Google Mobile for handheld devices.

Fig.1: Google Mobile home page.

Google Mobile home page

To access Google Mobile, open Internet Explorer Mobile and key in http://www.google.com/xhtml (Fig. 1). To use Gmail and the Personalized Home Page feature, you'll have to sign up for a free Google account. To sign up for a new Gmail account on your handheld device, go to http://www.google.com/accounts/SmsMailSignup1. You will be sent an SMS message with further instructions. A Gmail account is worth having because it provides you with 2.5 GB of online storage for free and lets you import your contacts. To subscribe to RSS feeds that you wish to receive in your Gmail account, go to http://www.google.com/reader. You can also send group e-mails to a list with Gmail.

When the new Google Mobile screen appears, you will see four radio button search possibilities: Web, Images, Local, and Mobile Web (Beta). Below these choices are links to Gmail and Personalized Home Page. To configure your home page, you must go to http://www.google.com/ig on a PC and sign in. The changes you make will appear next time you sign in and view your home page on your mobile device. You can customize your Google home page to display Gmail, weather, headline news, stocks, movies, quote of the day, word of the day, bookmarks, and recent searches. It is similar to a personal MSN or Yahoo page on a PC. You can easily switch back to the classic view without all your preferences.

As mentioned, under the Google search box are four radio buttons to channel your search. The default is Web. The Images function is a great way to find graphics on almost any subject. The Local function is a handy tool for finding local businesses. Type in a query, such as "Pizza 93101" (i.e., businesses that sell pizza in the 93101 area code), or "theaters near airport San Diego CA," and a zoomable map is displayed with business locations flagged with numbered icons. Below the map is a complete listing of the businesses, with names, addresses, and phone numbers (Fig. 2). Select a business name in this list to bring up a street map displaying the location of the business (Fig. 3). On most phone-capable devices, you can call the business by selecting its phone number.

Fig. 2:Google's Local function helps you find restaurants, theaters, and other businesses.

Fig. 3: Tap on the name of the business to get a street map displaying the location of the business.