Innovative uses of Google

I spotted this on Facebook
xxx: Every few weeks I speak to my aunt in Auckland on Skype and use its screen sharing feature to show her recent photos and talk through them. Yesterday we even used Google Earth to 'fly' over the Auckland suburb from which she recently moved, and where some of my family on my other side still live. To think that a generation ago contact with relatives abroad was limited to expensive phone calls and Aerograms. Thank you Skype creators.
yyy: have you ever played Google Streetview "This is your Life"? It's when you sit down with a friend or relative and have them "walk" you around the neighbourhood where they grew up. I did it with my parents recently. We flew around the Bronx (mum) and the Upper West Side (dad). Much had changed, but as it it with great cities, most places looked familiar. It was emotional.

Google are producing a quarterly glossy, thinkwithGoogle. Some nice articles but when they can generate spontaneous interactions like these one wonders why they need it.