Benefits of Google

Google is a really useful tool. We all know it's instant access to almost any information you could ever want, but it's much more than that. Google has a lot to offer, from online word processing, to excel sheets, to a specifically scholarly search engine.

Google Drive is especially useful. CNet Writer Charles Cooper mentions in an article of his that he's given up Microsoft Word completely, in favor of Google Docs. This isn't become of it's innovation--Microsoft Word is still leagues ahead--but because of it's use of the cloud. You can access your documents everywhere, and share them among your peers. This is especially useful in the case of working with others.

Google Hangouts is also really useful. Not everyone lives in the same city, or even the same continent, but it's a way to easily connect with everyone in your industry. You can get information from anyone, at any time. This article on Copy Blogger gives a lot of ways you can use Google Hangouts, from fun stuff  like creating a game you can play with your friends, but also to more important things like giving presentations and appearing at conferences when you don't actually have the means to physically be there.

With Google translate, you can communicate with people in your field, even with a language barrier. This article on Huffington Post talks about a new update to the translate app, in which you can simply hold your camera phone up to any text in another language, and it will automatically detect and translate the language. This is a great benefit because, although translation apps are not perfect, Google's is very close. It's a way to increase understanding throughout the world, and ultimately a very useful tool.