Top 12 Google Labs experiments

When you've got thousands of the world's most brilliant engineers spending 20% of their time on whatever takes their fancy, cool software is the result.

Take thousands of the world's most brilliant engineers and tell them to spend 20% of their time on whatever takes their fancy. Then give them a home for the results. That playground exists at Google Labs.

Some of the experiments slink away into obscurity (anyone remember Google X or MyTravelGoogle.com?). Others take wing and “graduate” to become fully supported features or services. Google Maps, Google Docs and Google Reader are all alumni of this no-holds-barred, no-fear-of-consequences toy store. Here are our current picks for the 12 coolest experiments in some stage or another from the Labs right now.

1. Google Cloud Print for Mobile

What it does: Google Cloud Print lets you print documents over an Internet connection without downloading printer drivers, even from your smartphone/tablet.

Why it’s cool: We don’t live in a paperless world (yet), but most of us can’t carry our printers with us. If you can view and edit the document on the road (or the coffee shop), why not finish the task and have the hard copy waiting in your office. Or better still, let it show up on your boss’s printer so you can order a second cuppa Joe.

2. Google Body

What it does: Explores the human body in a 3D image that lets you peel back anatomical layers, rotate, zoom in, and navigate to various parts inside and out.

Why it’s cool: Google Body does for the human form what Google Earth does for the planet. Even cooler is that it serves as one of a number of Google experiments for the newly minted 3D browser rendering standard, WebGL, which hit “final draft” status on Feb. 7 and arrived fully supported a few days later in Chrome 9. Google Body already has its own Chrome extension, which gives it added features.

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3. App Inventor for Android

What it does: Programs an Android App through a GUI interface in your browser that requires no programming knowledge to use.

Why it’s cool: Anyone with the patience to sit through a few tutorials can create their own Android app. While designing through a live connection between PC and phone, the app appears live on your phone so you can see how you are doing in real time.

4. ‘Where in the World’ Game for Google Maps

What it does: This game uses Google Maps to tests your geographical knowledge by giving you 10 seconds to correctly name the location where a pin has been placed.

Why it’s cool: The Where in the World game is nowhere near as useful as some of the other Map options from the Map Labs (like distance measuring). But it is way more fun. The geography questions get harder as your score rises. Your kids will love it.

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• Google
• Cloud Computing
• Android
• Chrome
• Chrome Experiments
• cloud computing
• cloud print
• Google Body
• Google Code
• Google Labs
• Google Maps
• Google Squared
• Social Graph
• YouTube