Google products and services you never knew

GOOGLE IS MOST known for its incredibly powerful web search and Android mobile operating system.

But the internet giant is about much more than just searching and smartphones.

Some former and current Googlers have listed lesser known Google products over at answers site Quora.

Google has products and services all over the internet that aim to inform users, make their lives easier, and more secure too. We had no idea that some of these existed.

1. Google Mars is just like Google Earth except this programme lets you explore the red planet.

2. Google Scholar is a search engine for scholarly articles. Scholar is pretty expansive, letting you access articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.

3. Google Art Project is a site that lets users take virtual tours of museums and art galleries, similar to Google Street View.

4. Google Transliterate is a service that helps users type in a different language. An anonymous Quora user explains transliterate:

Say you speak another language (which does not use the standard Roman alphabet), but you can’t write it very well. Or you have a recording of another language and want to translate that.

In comes transliterate – you just type in the phonetic sounds of the language, and it converts it into the desired language. They’ve really done a good job to hide the link recently, but I managed to dig it up Google Input Tools

5. Build with Chrome is a partnership between Google Australia and Lego. The project is a way to show how Google’s Chrome web browser can display 3D images. Users can build their own 3D Lego structures too.

6. Google Think is a site for advertisers and similar professions to get marketing insights and inspiration straight from Google.

7. Power Searching with Google is a feature that sharpens users search skills. Google’s search experts offer tips and tricks to better navigate the search engine and help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

8. Schemer is a network that helps plan things to do with your friends. The service works best in densely populated areas

9. Google Sound Search is an app that is similar to Shazam that tells you what song is playing.

10. Google Moderator is an open forum for discussing topics, asking questions and sharing ideas. Moderator helps anyone receive feedback on anything they want.

11. Google Encrypted is a more secure way to search for things. Encrypted users Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) which is the same security that banks use online.