'Demystifying Google' - Search efficiently

Google is the most advanced Internet search engine of our time. How many of us know that google search has more than that we think it can offer ?

Here are some small tips for those who don't know how to search efficiently.Google has the ability to accept some predefined search queries for providing efficient search results.

I'm going to discus some of those Special Commands and I'll explain each command briefly ,you can use this commands to form complex queries and find what you need in a flash.

"intitle:" - intitle:keyword

• The "intitle:" syntax helps us to restrict the search results to pages containing the searched word in the title of the web-page. eg: intitle:mother will return links to the pages that have the word 'mother' in their title.

"inurl:" - inurl:keyword

• The "inurl:" syntax is similar to the intitle but it returns the links of the pages whose url contain the word that is searched. for example inurl:cooking will show the links of pages whose url have the word cooking in it.

"site:" - site:website-url

• You may need to find something from a specific site sometimes.For example searching for Mac Mini related articles in wired.com.
• we can make use of the command - mac mini site:www.wired.com to find-out articles related to Mac Mini

"filetype:" - filetype:file-type

• Looking for a specific file type (i.e. doc, pdf or ppt... ) or an ebook, this command can help you a lot. eg : mathematics filetype:pdf will list the pdf files realted to mathematics.

"link:" - link:site

• This will return the list of sites link to the specified website. eg: link:amritapuri.org

"related:" - related:sitename

• This will return the results similar to the specified site. eg: related:www.wired.com

"cache:" - "cache:sitename"

• Cache will show the version of web-page that google has in it cache.
• eg: cache:nextdoornerd.blogspot.com

"intext:" - intext:keyword

• The “intext:” syntax searches for words in a particular website. It ignores links or URLs and page titles.For example: intext:gardening will return only links to those web pages that has the search keyword "gardening" in its web-page.

Pro Combinations

I hope these simple techniques can help you find informations more quickly and easily.Rather than using these techniques alone, you can try combining them to make complex queries inorder to achieve better results.Now start searching like a Pro.

• For example : to search for pdf files in the adobe.com site we may create a new query - filetype:pdf site:adobe.com
• While searching for pdf files if you need to avoid the results from a specific site, you can create a query filetype:pdf -site:adobe.com, which will not show any results realted to the search from adobe.com

Now we can move to some sophisticated methodologies of searching that will help us to increase the efficiency of our search.

Index browsing with google

• There are sites with index browsing enabled, this means any one can browse the site directories like local directories.To find the results from index browsing enabled sites just include a "index of" command infront of the query.eg : "index of" rpm"

More Search Tips

'|' Operator

• Using '|' symbol literaly means 'or'. For example you want to search for 'indian or american fish' then you can make use of | and the query will look something like indian|american fish the resulted links will contain either indian food or american food in their contents.

'&&' Operator

• Consider we need to find the pages containing both the words cook and chinese,here the '&& operator can help us to find the best results. eg: cook&&chinese

'-' Operator

• '-' can be used to avoid an item for example including -fall in a search query will tell google to avoid all results containing the word fall. eg : water -fall

'+' Operator

• Google ignores common words and characters such as where, the, how, and other digits and letters that slow down the search.If a common word is essential to getting the results we can put a + operator infront of that word to make sure that Google paying attention to it. eg : peanut butter +or jelly
  

Calculator

• We can use google to find the answers for our arithmetic operations, yeah this means google is a calculator too. just enter 5*9+(sqrt 10)^3= in the search field and see the results!

Currency conversion

• Need to know how much is 46745.65$ in Indian Rs, Just enter '46745.65 dollars in INR' in the google search field to get the result.

Dictionary Definitions

• define:word will show the definition of the specified word.
• eg : define:eccentric

Unit Conversion

• Unit Conversion is one of the features among the google search,eg : 10.5 cm in inches

Spell Checker

• Don't know the spelling of a word ? Just enter the word in the Google search box, if the provided spelling is wrong Google will suggest the correct spelling for you. eg : coltorol
  

Fill in the Blank

• Some times it is better to ask google a question is fill in the blank by providing an asterics (*) in the desired space. eg: Indians are * men

Google Clock

• To see the time in the many places around the world, type in time and the city name.
  
• eg : time Berlin
  

It is time to start Googling now... Have fun with these Commands and tips, combine them to get better results.

Have a nice time with Google...

NB: Just checkout this

55 Ways to have Fun with Google : a refreshing book for enhancing your Googling skills.The book is freely available for download.

http://www.55fun.com/book.pdf

Surf Canyon : Real-time Personalised Search addon for Firefox

Most of the average Internet users spent their valuable time searching for the information. If we can improve the efficiency of our searching, that means we can save a lot of time. Here is an add-on (works with FireFox & IE) that helps you find more personalized information faster and easier.

Surf Canyon

Surf Canyon is a browser extension that personalizes search engine results as you search! Available for download as an add-on for FireFox and Internet Explorer (IE6 and IE7), the software figures out what you want and then automatically recommends relevant search results.

Features

• Improve your search on Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft (MSN Live Search), Craigslist and LexisWeb
• Find relevant information from as deep as page 100 of the search results
• Personalize your search in real time: recommended search results reflect instantaneous relevancies, based on your actions
• Add preview images to Craigslist listing pages

Downloading Surf Canyon

Obtain your copy of Surf Canyon for FireFox.

IE users please visit http://www.surfcanyon.com/

You can use my.SurfCanyon.com to further customize your search experience.

Google Chrome (Beta) : Google's browser project

It's a really exciting news, that Google entered the browser war with a new open source browser called Chrome today (09/02/08). Chrome inherits components from WebKit and Mozilla. The main aim is to improve the browser stability, speed and security with a more simple and efficient user interface.

Google is using a new approach to promote Chrome, It's really cool that they are using a more cartoonish way for promoting it. They provided a comic book explaining about Chrome.

Security Features

• Blacklists : Chrome keeps two blacklists and periodically updates it, warns the user whenever the user is trying to access a harmful site.
  

• Sandboxing : In Chrome each tab is sandboxed (sandbox is a security mechanism for safely running programs) to prevent malicious codes running and malware from installing itself.
  

• Incognito : This is a feature that enable the user to browse without leaving any trails (It won't store any cookies and it won't record any of your actions).It is similar to Safari's Private Browsing and Internet Explorer 8's InPrivate Mode.It lets the user to browse the internet with complete privacy.
  

Speed

• JavaScript : Chrome developers developed a new Java Script engine called V8 JavaScript Engine. This V8 Engine is optimized for speed and reliability.
  

Stability

• Multiprocessing : Most of the existing web browsers are single-threaded.The chrome is implemented with a multiprocessing architecture.Each tab and plugin, other tasks are considered as a separate process.This ensures more security and robustness.

• Task Manager : There is a task manager which allows user to see which sites are using the most memory,downloading,etc.. and the user can terminate the unwanted sites,scripts or addons.

User interface

• Gears : Google Gears is included with Chrome which adds developer features for web application development,etc..
  

• New Tab Page : This feature replaces the home page with a 'New Tab Page' (an idea similar to Opera Speed Dial).This page shows the thumbnails of most visited web sites, most often searched sites and most recently closed tabs.

• Omnibox : It's the same URL box at the top of each tab, it includes auto complete functionality that are manually entered,search suggestions and often visted pages,etc..

• Popups : The popups will appear inside the mother tab and only appear outside if the user drags them out of the tab.

• Rendering engine : It is a more memory efficient,based WebKit rendering engine.It's very efficient and useful for embedded devices.

• Tabs : Instead of traditional tabs (windows containing tabs) the tabs are moved to the top of the window to provide more flexibility.

• Webapps : These can be launched in their own streamlined window.And thus ensuring robustness.

OS Support

Google Chrome is currently released for Windows and Mac, Linux Versions will be ready soon (They are working on it).

Pros and Cons (new)

Just downloaded and installed Chrome, here is a quick review !. This one is an easy to install software. The interface looks more drab compared to Firefox and Safari.The features are great, and the browsing is pretty faster with Chrome. The OmbiBox and New Tab Page features are very useful, It might be stable and secure but the browser lacks a number of features that are essential.


Related Links

• Official Site (get google chrome)
  

• Chrome Comic

• Announcement on Official Google Blog

Just now Google activated the Chrome site, while I was writing this post!

Google Lively - A rival for Second Life

The giant Tech leader, Google now turned the coin to a new dimension! Yeah Google Introduced a new service called Google Lively (8th July 2008) that may eventually rival Second Life.Lively is a web-based virtual environment similar to the "Second Life", and is currently supported only on Windows platforms (XP and Vista) using Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

So, what is the big deal ?

Google introduced search as a rival for Yahoo, and you know what happened then.they came up with the Orkut as a rival for Myspace and Gmail for the other mail service providers, now let us see what happens with Lively and Second Life...

Niniane Wang, Engineering Manager at Google and the creator of Lively seems more excited about the stuff..


" A while ago, I looked around the social web and wished that it could be less static. Sure, you can leave a comment on a blog or write a text blurb on your social networking profile. But what if you want to express yourself in a more fun way, with 3D graphics and real-time avatar interactions? I started asking this question as a 20% project, and I'm excited to announce today's release of Lively by Google - a 3D virtual experience that is the newest addition to Google Labs. "


What Google Lively offers ?

Create your own virtual space

Chat and interact with your friends in rooms you design...

Express yourself

Customize your avatar and stream personal photos and video

Add your room to your site

Invite your friends to chat and help decorate

May be Google is trying to conquer the web with all these products they have :) so go rock with Lively and create your own World out there in the web space...


checkout the Official announcement at Google Blog

Go Lively - link to the official site