Google for Genealogy

On Saturday I managed to catch a webinar given to a live audience in Whittier, California titled "Googling with Geoff." Geoff is the seemingly unflappable Geoff Rasmussen of FamilyTreeWebinars.com and Legacy Family Tree.
The advertised content was:

• Google's Picasa, facial recognition, and syncing with the cloud
• Using an email that will last
• Google Alerts
• Customized Google Searches
• Google Calendar
• Google Earth

I don't recall the calendar item being covered, likely too ambitious an agenda.  Geoff spent most time on Picasa. It looked good in his demo; I've yet to give it a good trial.  What's your experience?

On customized Google searches Geoff mentioned www.genealogy-search-help.com, a web utility by Douglas K Barry. You complete as much of a two generation family tree as you know, then press the "Click Here to Continue" button to generate Google search options.

The next webinar in the series is One-Place Studies - Tracing the History of a Community
by Kirsty Gray, on February 4, 2015, 2:00pm Eastern

FamilyTreeWebinars.com presentations are available for 7 days after the live event. If you'd like to binge view you can gain access to over 200 presentations for a month for $US 9.95 or watch at your leisure over a year for $US 49.95.