Google Tools

Google Translate

This service provided by Google helps to translate any text, or webpage URL or a document into another language of your choice. In the past, there was no such programme that was free and available online; instead people had to engage professionals to translate their text for a fee. This translator tool is very useful, especially when I have friends from overseas who speaks a different lanaguage e.g. spanish. This tool helps me to translate their words and aid in my interaction with them. I can also pick up few simple words or phrases whenever I am travelling to another country whose people does not speak English or Mandarin. This cool feature of Google translate even provide audio whereby it teaches you how to pronounce the word. I can even share my translated text with friends and families which makes it so fun and convenient. Below is an instructional video on Google Translator Toolkit:

Google Answers

This question and answer service was introduced by Google to allow users to pay researches to answer questions, which can costs from US$2 to as much as US$200. Users who are satisfied with their answers can also leave an additional tip of US$100 to the researcher. This was a cool and innovative Google tool; however this service was officially terminated on 1st December 2006. Personally, I feel that in this age where we are fully equipped with digital literacy skills, such service might not be as useful as it would be in the past. We can easily search for information on the Web for free, instead of paying Google Answers. One of the example of the question posted was "How to find a supplier to print funny holiday business cards for their business?". To substantiate my above point, I just merely did a quick search and 425,000 results appeared instantly in less than 0.16 seconds. This shows how fast the internet has evolved and has become increasingly easy to navigate and search for information. Thus, I think that it is a smart move for Google to shut down this service and instead, focus and expand on other tools and services that would be more effective and efficient for users to find information.

Although Google Answers have ceased this service and stop accepting questions, they have archived all their questions and answers in the past that are still available for viewing. If you are interested, you may visit: http://answers.google.com/answers/