Google is at it again

It seems like everytime I turn around, there is new information out about new Google services or products. Have you ever seen that animated tv series called "Animanics" with a show called "Pinky and the Brain"? During that show, Pinky would always ask Brain what he wanted to do today (as if they could do much, as they were laboratory rats). Brain would always answer the same, which was to say, "The same thing we do everyday, Pinky. Try to take over the world." Sometimes I feel that Google is trying to do that. I don't necessarily have a problem with that because Google has a lot good products and services that we could use. Here is a list of all the services that I'm come across just recently:

• Google Calendar
  
• Google Base
• Google Writely
• Google Analytics
• Google Calendar
• Google Checkout
• Google Sketchup
• Google Pack
• Picasa Web Albums
  

We also have the 'oldies but goodies' list of products and services:

• Google Desktop
• Gmail
• Google Search
• Google Maps
• Google Toolbar
• Google Earth
• Picasa Photo Organizer
  
• Google Talk

Google also owns Blogger.com (which is who is hosting this blog) =) I really quite appreciate all these free services. It helps me in my work, my school, and my home life.

Google Checkout is the one service that I just read about from an article off the New York Times website. This could become a very useful service as more and more merchants start using it. It stores everybody's financial information in a database and allows consumers to use that information when checking out at any website that uses the Google Checkout service. The competes with PayPal and Bill Me Later, which both offer a very similar service. The one thing that seems to me would be enticing to merchants is the cost. According the article, "Google charges merchants 20 cents, plus 2 percent of the purchase price for each transaction; credit card companies typically charge about 30 cents and 1.95 percent of the purchase price. Google will make up the difference when it sends each purchase through the credit card systems. For every $1 a merchant spends on Google advertising, Google will also waive transaction fees on $10 worth of purchases."

It will be interesting to see how many more companies sign on to Google Checkout. As of last week there were 100 merchants signed up with more on the way, including RitzCamera.com.