No More Computers for Me! [EDIT]

Well ... kinda. Thanks to Google and all their very cool programs that keep coming out, I'm almost at the point where I won't be dependent on any "one" computer anymore, especially when traveling. One of the reasons I liked portable hard drives was that I could back up my whole computer on it and take it with me when I travel. Then all I had to do was plug it into a computer and I'd have everything at my figertips.

Now with the direction Google seems to be taking us, we won't need that portable hard drive either to access our files ... just any device with internet access.

For example:

You can open up Gmail accounts and then email key files to that account, so that you have it "backed up" and available to access any time. And you can use Google Calendar to add/edit dates and appointments without carrying your day planner around. Then you and save your pictures in Google's Picasa Web Album. But I won't go too much into this one since there are a lot of these kinds of sites available (e.g. Photobucket, Yahoo, Kodak, etc.). And since Google just bought YouTube, our online video storage will get an upgrade too I'm sure!

And this next one is awesome. You can use Google Docs and Spreadsheets to read, store, or create any document or spreadsheet file! Goodbye Microsoft Word and Excel; hello free stuff from Google that does the exact same thing! =) I stored so many notes, sermons, address books, etc. in this past year ... I feel so liberated! Whether I was in Korea, Australia or the US, I had access to all my files without lugging my computer around.

And if you have various things that are a "work-in-progress", Google Notebook is for you. You can take notes, clip, copy, paste from bascially anything on the internet and it'll paste the internet address automatically ... it's an awesome way to organize a lot of notes on one topic.

Then there's Google Reader. If you're still not sure what RSS feeds or readers are, think of it like the Xanga Subscription function (where you can subscribe and get updates on Xanga blogs whenever something new comes up) but it's for (almost) all websites, blogs and online newspapers. So for those who wanted a subscription function with Blogger or MySpace or even CNN or ESPN news, you can use Google Reader and have a one-stop shop for all your web surfing needs.

And finally (though there are more I could brag about), I'll close today with Google Groups. It's a cool way to create mini-communities centered around various passions, topics or functions. You can upload files and update members with one email address.

I'm really glad I don't have to be dependent upon one particular computer anymore to access my files or to get work done. And it's cool that Google is basically allowing us to have the internet as our virtual hard drive to store everything ... not to mention make it easy to find things through their search function. I better stop ... this is sounding like a Google commercial =P

[EDIT: A cool video about a cool project]

Currently Listening Wide Awake in America By U2 The Three Sunrises