A googol is a number, a 1 followed by a hundred zeros. So it looks like this: 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 One heckofa number, it also represents the scale of the information Google is trying to index and make available to us, i.e. their mission.

I Google. Ever used some “Brand X” search engine and the results page is, like, what? A mess of ads and irrelevancy. That’s never happened to me with Google (excepting that I ignore all the “Sponsored Results” and head right for the real results, underneath). The proof is in the pudding; in this case, in the results, and even from the start, Google’s results ring true. (No wonder they enjoy more than 60% of the search engine market share.) And the smart people at Google continue to come up with new and better ways to answer our questions, whatever those questions may be. Check out these features.

Google calculator: Need to run a quick sum? Just type it into a Google search bar and get the answer.

Units of measure and conversion: Want to know how many centimeters are in a foot? Or how many ounces are in a gallon? Just type [cm in feet] or [ounces in gallon]. Boom. There it is.

Weather: Type [weather 86301] (or other more personally relevant zip code) to immediately see what the weather in YourTown, USA, will be like for the next five days.

Google Earth and Google Maps: I got to admit, Google Earth makes me dizzy. But, go to maps.google.com Type your address into the search bar, then hit the [Satellite] button. Hey, you can see your house from there!

More more more: Go to www.google.com/intl/en/options/ to find all the different ways Google has come up with to slice, dice, and serve up the world’s information.