If you’re new to an area, traveling, or just want to find some new places to eat, ToEat.com provides an interesting and different type of restaurant search engine.

What makes this site different is that it combines a Google Maps mashup that overlays restaurant locations. In addition to being able to choose a specific area by city, state or zip code you can also select the type of food you’re in the mood for. So, if its Mexican you’re after, that’s all you’ll get.

Ok, if you’re ready to see some of the coolest Web projects going on right now take a trip to the Google Labs.

This is the testing ground for Google projects and there are some really cool ones in the works, many of which you can already test out and play around with.
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Did you know that in addition to Google’s totally automated and unfiltered search site at http://google.com, they also have a human edited site at http://directory.google.com/?

In many ways, this search engine is preferable to the normal search because the sites have been pre-filtered by humans. Give it a spin!

In case you haven’t noticed, searching through the US Government’s Web sites is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Luckily for us, Google has arranged for a nifty U.S. Government Search.

So if you want to know once and for all: who killed John F. Kennedy (or at least the official version), where the aliens landed at Roswell, or what the deal is with Bonnie and Clyde… well, now you know where to get it.

“At Google our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it useful and accessible to our users. But any piece of information’s usefulness derives, to a depressing degree, from the cognitive ability of the user who’s using it.

That’s why we’re pleased to announce Google Gulp (BETA) with Auto-Drink (LIMITED RELEASE), a line of “smart drinks” designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty.”

Have a swig of Google Gulp.
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This is a very interesting look at 2005 from the vantage point of the Google search engine. It shows how people’s interests and concerns vary according to what is happening around them. I think this is really worth a read, and I can’t wait to see the summary for future years as well.

Previous Google years include 2004, 2003, 2002, and 2001.

You can also see the current Zeitgeist to learn what’s happening right now!
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Now, I’m a bit hesitant to recommend this Google service yet because I have noticed a few very minor bugs which all revolve around using sites that you have to log into. I’m going to go ahead and tell everyone about this because I think the benefits outweigh the costs.

The Google Web Accelerator is a little application that you download and install which will signifigantly speed up your Web surfing experience. In a nutshell, it works by pre-fetching linked pages from the one you are looking at so that it’s ready in case you do actually click on a link.

As you can see from the attached screen shot, after running it for a few weeks on my machine it’s saved me about 37 minutes of wait time. That may not seem like a lot now, but when you break it down to every page that loaded a bit quicker it seems faster than it is.
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Google teams with Gapminder to deliver an interactive service which allows you to see all sorts of interactive Global statistics ranging from life expectancy to internet usage and more.
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The Real Estate world has been changing dramatically since average people began to gain access to MLS listings on line. Sites such as Realtor.com will allow you to search for a new home from the comfort of your own, and without the pressure felt when working with an agent. While sites like Zillow.com and Reply.com help you determine the actual value of any piece of property. But Redfin.com is about to seriously bring power to the people.
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Sketchup is an easy-to-learn 3D modeling program that enables you to explore the world in 3D. With just a few simple tools, you can create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects - even space ships.

Once you’ve built your models, you can place them in Google Earth, post them to the 3D Warehouse, or print hard copies.

You can also check out the top 100 most popular sketchups including a 3d model of a hot chick, a Lamborghini Diablo, the Statue of Liberty, and the White House.
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Here is the latest white paper from Google explaining the technology behind how their search engine functions.

Here is an excerpt:

“The common gray pigeon can easily distinguish among items displaying only the minutest differences, an ability that enables it to select relevant web sites from among thousands of similar pages.”

A truly fascinating read.
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This is AWESOME! Mark Caswell-Daniels has developed a little flight sim game which uses Google Maps to allow you to fly all over the place. You can climb, dive, turn and even crash! You also have the option of shooting things on the ground.

Now, what would be GREAT would be if he could turn this into a multiplayer game so that if you see someone else you could have a dogfight online in real time.

By the way, I also started another Web site called GoogleGames.org to catalog all the Google related games out there. Check it out when you get a chance.
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