google...well done on fathers day...

Yesterday, Sunday 4th September, was fathers day in NZ.  Google came to the party with a great change to their usual logo.

google alerts...

I am not sure how long this service has been operating from google, however I found it about a month ago and began using it.  Simply you set up an 'alert' for any search term/s you want and each day it will email you with the recent activity based on those search terms.  The email contains a headline, the first few lines of the article and of course link to the full page.

You can set up the search terms to find, blogs, news, web, comprehensive, groups and video. Goto the FAQ here for further detailed info.  I have been testing it with two alerts, my schools name and national standards and new zealand.  Which brings up one lesson I learnt.  Initially I used only national standards and was getting all the American national standards stuff.  Simply adding New Zealand resolved this.  For those principals out there using your school name can be interesting, you can get things from when someone lists an item of your uniform on trade me to a house listing and the sales blurb says good local school etc close by.

Anyway have a play can save you considerable time from searching the web.

this week in google

I am a fan of the podcasts produced by Leo Laporte's TWiT network. His network produces about 16 shows a week. The best (from my point of view) are MacBreak Weekly and the original This Week in Twit (TWiT).

This week Leo launched his brand new show, This Week in Google. Hosting with him is Gina Trapani, andJeff Jarvis.  I have listened to the first show and considering the impact Google now has on most peoples lives this is great way to hear some informed discussion on Google and where they might be heading.

Check it out here.