There are hundreds of search engines out there and in the Introduction to the Internet course we've discussed many of them. As of this writing (July 15, 2002) however, none can top Google. Here are some of its capabilities:

Google lets you search through more than 2 billion Web pages, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint files, Adobe Acrobat files, and so on.

Google Image Search lets you search through over 330 million images by keyword.

Google Glosssary will search for almost any word, phrase, or acronym.

Google Groups is an archive of almost every Usenet newsgroup posting since 1981.

Google Directory Google's Open Directory Project Web directory of over 2 million pages coupled with a Google interface (think "Google's Yahoo").

Google Catalog Search is a searchable collection of over 4,200 mail order catalogs.

Google's language tools let you translate either snippets of text or whole Web pages from one language into another. The language tools page also lets you change the default language of Google, a wonderful trick to play on your coworkers. ["Hey! Why is my Google page in LATIN?!"]

Finally, the folks at Google are always working on new technologies and tools, and some of the newer tools can be found on the Google Labs page. Currently, Google is testing some new tools: something called "Google Sets"; a voice recognition tool that lets you search Google via the telephone; and a keyboard shortcuts tool that lets you navigate Google without a mouse.