Looks like they’re trying to catch up with Skype, but you know you know those Google engineers are eating their wheaties. Check out Google Talk.

Just in time for Christmas… okay, this one needs some work (lots of outdated materials), but Google Catalog has me pretty excited. I am a confirmed internet-only shopper, especially around the holidays, so anything that makes it so I don’t have to keep a 4 foot stack of mail order catalogs is an amazing thing.

The newest of the bunch is Google Video. Amateur film makers everywhere are salivating over this one… I bet music isn’t far behind.

1. Google Earth Type in an address and zoom in from space. This one has a lot of countries and governments nervous about being used by evil-doers.
2. Google Toolbar. Translate foreign language pages at a touch of a button, block popups, and Spellcheck your forum posts among other things. Also shows the PageRank of the page you’re visiting.
3. Picasa Picasa is free photo editing software from Google that helps you organize the pictures on your PC.
4. Google Local If you’re a business and you’re not listed- what are you waiting for?
5. Blogger Not sure you can handle running your own Blog? Google not only makes it FR-E-E but it doesn’t get easier than this. Try it out.
6. Gmail Are you still using Hotmail or Yahoo? GMail kicked it into high gear and now the rest are trying to catch up.

Seriously, what is Google feeding all their magic genius elves and where can I get some? Seemingly coming out with something new everyday, Google really may take over the world (and what a fun and cool world it can be sometimes.)
I’ll try to inform you of the highlights or just plain curiosities. But no, I won’t try to keep up with it all- unfortunately, I don’t have any magic elves of my own. If I did, I think they would start by cleaning my house…

A quick intro to the category of New Technologies.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am really a techie geek at heart. Now, I’m not into just any technology or techie toys and I’m not into it for the ‘cool’ factor. Nope, I just really get into USEFUL technology. And really, as much as many people seem to think, I’m not usually the first kid on the block with the new gadgets. I am too frugal for that sort of thing.

Take my Pocket PC phone. Yes, I’ve had it since spring of 2003. Lots of people think its a new thing. Actually I decided I needed one of these tools WAY back in early 2002. Did I go out and get one- heck no! They were $700 back then. But I researched which ones I like and which phone companies had them (I didn’t even have a cell phone then). Then I went out and got the freebie phone from Tmobile. They had the plan and the Pocket PC I wanted, but I would wait until they came down in price. More than a year later, my Pocket PC phone became my newest, most useful tool. I can definitely say I couldn’t have managed without it. There’s a lot to remember when you run your own business and I no longer have the luxury of a great memory.

So for a whole year my Pocket PC(I have since upgraded models) was the coolest tool I had. That is until I got my fabulous fantastic Motion Computing Tablet PC.
Again, this technology had actually been around for years. It wasn’t really until I knew I had to get a mobile solution that I even looked at this option. I have to admit, if I didn’t have a friend who works for Motion Computing, I would have never been able to afford this tool when I did. But boy am I glad I did. Why this hadn’t been marketed to consumers yet is beyond me. At least now I see them heavily marketing to the college crowd and I can see why. What I wouldn’t have given to have this to take notes with in school.

But not just for students- my tablet is my absolute #1 indispensible business tool. Sorry little Pocket PC. Though you haven’t been replaced (hey, I still need a phone and its still the most portable extra brain you can get), there’s a new cool kid in Kammy-town. For Now.

I’ll keep my eyes out for some new USEFUL technologies and write about some of my favorite (again, they might not be bleeding edge new, but they may be new or overlooked by me or you).

Okay, so after more than a year of telling myself I would redesign and restructure my site, implementing some of the new and not-so-new web technologies that I am constantly recommending to my clients, I finally made myself my #1 client and started down a new road.

Its hard to prioritize ourselves, but if we, as people and businesses, don’t occasionally step back and really look at where we’re at and look towards where we want to be, we will never move forward- just mostly in circles.

So my journey begins here- a journey towards where I want to be with YNot Web. I am finally practicing what I’m preaching. This past year was particularly educational for me as a business owner. I will be sharing some of those lessons with you along with strategies and methods, tips and tricks. I expect to continue learning what works for me as I go, sometimes from successes and sometimes from mis-steps.