Overview
Everything you need to know to get started using Google’s free productivity tools is right in these pages. With a section devoted to each application, finding and using the information is easy. You’ll learn to create documents, crunch numbers, e-mail with Gmail, build Web sites, share photos, track calendars, and more. Harness the power of Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google Page Creator, Google Calendar, Google Notebook, Google Talk, Gmail, and Picasa and get your life powered!
Synopsis
Everything you need to know to get started using Google’s free productivity tools is right in these pages. With a section devoted to each application, finding and using the information is easy. You’ll learn to create documents, crunch numbers, e-mail with Gmail, build Web sites, share photos, track calendars, and more. Harness the power of Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google Page Creator, Google Calendar, Google Notebook, Google Talk, Gmail, and Picasa and get your life powered!
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewGradually, quietly, Google has been creating a growing suite of free web-based productivity tools. Word processing. Spreadsheets. Calendars. Web site development. Email. Phone calls. Photo editing. They're all simple and friendly, just like Google. Nearly all of them are available, complete with your stored data, anywhere there's a web connection. There are now a whole book's worth of these tools. To make the most of them, you need that book: Google Powered.
Jerri Ledford explains all the step-by-step basics, cleanly and simply. But here and there, these programs will do a lot more than you expect. So, Ledford shows how to use Picasa to one-click blog the photos you're organizing and editing there. She walks you through retrieving your Gmail email messages on your cellphone. You'll learn how to work with colleagues to polish a spreadsheet online, in real-time. You'll even discover how to embed a miniature, up-to-the-minute Google Calendar on your web site (perfect for your favorite nonprofit organization).
Many of Google's tools have only recently emerged from its legendary "Labs"; some are still there. So there are still a few rough edges -- and Ledford doesn't gloss them over (Page Creator really should let you reformat all your pages at once, not just one at a time).
Throughout, she offers plenty of usage examples, many targeted at "small office/home office" users. These tools' elegantly easy collaboration features (and freebie status) make them increasingly attractive to small business -- and plenty of other folks, too. Bill Camarda, from the February 2007 Read Only