Chrome is a new browser from Google, built to compete with Internet Explorer and Firefox. Why bother with a new browser if you already have one that works? Google explains that Chrome was built from the ground up to be faster, more secure, more stable and better equipped to handle today’s demanding web-based applications. Learn more with this official Google Chrome comic book.

Efficient use of Gmail (Google’s free email service at http://www.gmail.com ) requires a paradigm shift in how you think about your email inbox. Other email services and clients treat email as you might a piece of paper in your office. It is either in your inbox, a filing cabinet or a trash can. Gmail does not, however, emulate a a filing cabinet with folders, where your mail can only be in one folder at a time. Instead, it offers a label and search system, where mail moves from your inbox to a single archive, and is retrieved via search or by one of the multiple labels that can be assigned to it. Stephen Shankland explains why he became a Gmail convert (
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9994405-2.html ).

Picassa photo management lets you geotag your photos using a map view. To tag multiple photos in the same album, click Map Photos, and then drag your thumbnails onto the map. For instructions on how to tag single photos, and entire albums at once, read Google’s Picassa Help.

Google Sites, a free website creation tool, is now open to everyone. Google Sites makes creating and sharing a website easy. You get single-click page creation, and don’t need to know any HTML. Sites can be private or public, and you can allow multiple people (such as all the members of a club, or students in a classroom) to edit pages and submit content.

Although it is a common misconception that Google Earth images are real-time, they are not. There are, however, two ways to view nearly real-time satellite images on Google Earth. For three-hour old weather images, look for the Clouds layer, found under the new Weather layer folder. NASA also has a layer called DailyPlanet which shows the entire Earth, continuously updated in real-time at a medium resolution. For more Google Earth tips, read the Google Earth Blog.

Two ways to keep your browser’s search history private are to turn off auto-complete (also called auto-fill) and to clear your search history. Google provides step-by-step instructions for three popular browsers, and Leo Notenboom tackles the problem with plenty of screenshots.

With a single Gmail email address, you can create an unlimited number of alias accounts to help sort and track incoming mail. Your email aliases can be created either by adding dots to your address or by tacking on a “+” phrase. For example, if your email address is myname@gmail.com, you can also use my.name@gmail.com or m.y.name@gmail.com, and so on. The plus used after your name can be used to track mail from specific sources. For example myname+somesite.com@gmail.com could be used when requesting information from “somesite.com.” For more, read these articles from Consuming Experience or MakeUseOf.

In addition to being an excellent choice for web-based email, Google’s Gmail can also be used as a spam-filtering front end to your existing email client. For two slightly different approaches on how to do this, read Dylan at Mboffin or John Zeratsky.

In an effort to combat the spread of computer viruses, Google’s Gmail does not allow you to send or receive executable files even if they are in a zipped format. Although many blogs have reported ways around this, most of these violate Google’s terms of service, and your Gmail account could be terminated. The simplest way to is to upload your files to a free online hosting service, and then email the URL to your recipient. Some choices include: Mega Upload , You Send It , Send This File.

Looking for a simple way to occasionally share files between your computer at home and one at work? Google Desktop 3 has an optional “Search Across Computers” feature that may be just what you need. Although some have raised privacy concerns, Developer Shed at Search Engine News concludes it is a useful tool that can be controlled . Learn more at Search Engine News and at Google Desktop.