Yesterday, I downloaded and installed the beta version of Google Talk, Google’s much-rumored and anticipated IM client. My first impression: it’s pretty damn stripped-down. The interface is nice and clean, but the feature set is pretty small: no interoperability with other chat protocols, no ability to change the event notifications, no skins. On the other hand, it’s built on the open IM protocol Jabber, rather than its own proprietary protocol ala AIM, YahooIM, and MSN Messenger.
Google maps has added satellite imagery. Here is the first house I remember living in when I was kid. I forsee wasting a good deal of time today playing with this site.
So sicne I seem to be on a shilling-for-Google kick anyway… If anyone wants a gmail account, let me know. I just logged into mine and noticed that they’ve given me another FIFTY invites to distribute. I don’t think I even know that many people.
Google must be the work of the Devil, or some sort of crazy conspiracy. I just don’t see how they can keep doing all this cool stuff and not be secretly evil. I’ve been checking out the Google Maps beta, and it seems pretty cool. Then again, I welcome pretty much any alternative to the loathsome Mapquest.