Google is without a doubt the most useful and powerful search engine to date. I use the term 'search engine' loosely because Google is more than that. In their ongoing efforts to encompass all our information needs, the evil genius's at Google have devised clever ways to make their product more useful than simply returning results for your 'porn' query.

Allow me to expose some of the other tools built into Google that I use with alarming regularity. It is for this reason I will not even entertain the idea of using a different search engine. That would be 'nerd blasphemy'. 

The Dictionary.
Prefix any word into Google with 'define:' and you will get standard dictionary definitions returned. Example:

The Link Tracker.
Got a web site and want to see if anyone is linking to it? Type in link:www.mywebsite.com and you will see a list of every web site that currently links to yours.

The Calculator.
Yes you read that correctly. No need to use the Windows calc ever again. Launch Google and type in your sum. Example:10+32-567.23*12/4 and press enter and the answer is displayed along with the original sum.

The Spell Checker.
Probably the one I use most. Simply type in how you think a word is spelled, and Google will correct it for you. Great for mispelled queries.

News.
The best news finder on the planet. Go to Google and click on News. You can also search for a particular term in the News section and all new events relating to that query will be returned, with a choice of sources at your disposal. You can even search by geographical location. And now you can customise how the news is displayed on the page and what news you are interested in.

Image Search.
Although it has been around for a while now (I can remember when it was still in beta stage a few years ago), but now when you search for an image you can sort your results my image size by simply clicking the 'large, medium or small' links.

To find out what else Google can do to make our lives easier, check out their features page . You will wonder how you ever got by without it.