What is the one thing that would you expect a high-profile technology company to have? Of course, it’s a laboratory. And in the case of Google, they don’t disappoint. Google does have a “lab,” although it’s somewhat of the virtual kind. But the things Google’s laboratory, or simply Google Labs has come up with the past half-decade—I can say they’re pretty impressive.

Do pay a visit to the Google Labs homepage at http://labs.google.com and you will see what I mean. There are a dozen “graduates” which the Labs has actually launched as full-fledged products/services—some quite impressive, while some a bit mundane. Then again, there are those features that have been in the “playground” since inception, but have not graduated to become full-fledged services, ever!

Then again, there are new additions every so often, and there are ongoing “lab” materials that are actually pretty popular services already. The Labs homepage actually says those listed are only among the Google engineers’ favorites. Consider that they’re usually allowed to work on personal projects 20% of their paid-time, and with these usually come the most useful Google services, like AdSense and Gmail.

Here’s a rundown:

Graduates of Google Labs

• Personalized Search, Personalized Homepage – I find these pretty useful as a homepage, especially since you have all your news sources, RSS summaries and even Gmail within easy reach.
• Google Maps – Google maps revolutionized online location-based services. A lot of sites and services use Google maps as a base for their applications.
• Google Scholar – Not as well-known a feature as others, as this primarily appeals to students researching and those working in the academe.
• Google SMS – Have a question? Text away! This is limited only to the US and the UK, though. But a cool concept, nonetheless, especially if you’re stuck in your commute or you don’t have Web access, and you really, really need an answer to a pressing question.
• Google Desktop and Google Deskbar – Now in its third incarnation, Google desktop is probably the world’s most efficient spy software—Google probably knows more about you than your own mother does!
• Google Groups – This is newsgroups reloaded, a direct competitor to Yahoo! Groups, which is too ad-laden, in our opinion.
• Web Alerts – Great if you want updates on your field of interest.
• Search by Location – A great feature that complements Google Maps well.
• Google Glossary – Excellent for writers and those in the content business. We no longer have to reach for our copy of Webster’s or Roget’s—it’s all online!
• Google News Alerts – For those who still prefer email rather than RSS or some other syndication method.

Features still in research/beta state:

• Google Sets
• Google Compute
• Froogle
• Site-Flavored Google search box
• Google Suggest
• Google Ride Finder
• Google Web Accelerator
• Google Reader
• Google Transit
• Google Mac Dashboard Widgets
• Google Page Creator
• Google Mars
• Google Related Links
• Google Firefox Extensions

We will write on what we think of these later!