Google - who knew?

[curious george]

Well, maybe the rest of you did but I didn't have any idea Google was this versatile. From David Pogue's NY Times weekly column. (I get it via e-mail.)

*******

1. From the Desk of David Pogue: Meeting the Googlers
======================================================

Set the TiVo! This Sunday morning, "CBS News Sunday Morning"
will begin with my report on Google, the Web search page-
slash-cultural deity that's expected to go public this
spring -- the biggest in high-tech history, with a valuation
as high as $25 billion.

It was a real kick to interview Google's executives and
staff. Along the way, I asked each interview subject to name
their favorite Google tips and tricks.

Few of the tricks made it into the TV segment -- but you,
the shrewd subscriber to this newsletter, get them hot off
the press.

* Download and install the Google toolbar. Not only does it
put the Google search box into your browser full-time, but
it also blocks pop-up ads and fills in forms for you. For
Windows at:
toolbar.google.com
(Ad blocking, form-filling and Google's search box are
already built into the Apple's Web browser, Safari.)

* Phrase your question in the form of an answer. "After all,
you're not looking for Web pages that ask your question,"
explains director of technology Craig Silverstein. "You're
looking for pages that answer it."

So instead of typing, "What is the average rainfall in the
Amazon basin?", you might get better results by typing "The
average rainfall in the Amazon basin is."

* This is an old one, but very important: Put quotes around
phrases that must be searched together. If you put quotes
around "electric curtains," Google won't waste your time
finding one set of Web pages containing the word "electric"
and another set containing the word "curtains."

* Similarly, put a hyphen right before any word you want
screened out. If you're looking up dolphins, for example,
you'll have to wade through a million Miami Dolphins pages
unless you search for "dolphins -Miami."

* Google is a global White Pages and Yellow Pages. Search
for "phonebook:home depot norwalk, ct," Google instantly
produces the address and phone number of the Norwalk Home
Depot. This works with names ("phonebook:robert jones las
vegas, NV") as well as businesses.

Don't put any space after "phonebook." And in all of the
following examples, don't type the quotes I'm showing you
here.

* Google is a package tracker. Type a FedEx or UPS package
number (just the digits); when you click Search, Google
offers a link to its tracking information.

* Google is a calculator. Type in an equation ("32+2345*3-
234="). Click Search to see the answer.

* Google is a units-of-measurement converter. Type
"teaspoons in a gallon," for example, or "centimeters in a
foot." Click Search to see the answer.

* Google is a stock ticker. Type in AAPL or MSFT, for
example, to see a link to the current Apple or Microsoft
stock price, graphs, financial news and so on.

* Google is an atlas. Type in an area code, like 212, to see
a Mapquest map of the area.

* Google is Wal-Mart's computer. Type in a UPC bar code
number, such as "036000250015," to see the description of
the product you've just "scanned in." (Thanks to the Google
Blog, google.blogspace.com, for this tip and the next
couple.)

* Google is an aviation buff. Type in a flight number like
"United 22" for a link to a map of that flight's progress in
the air. Or type in the tail number you see on an airplane
for the full registration form for that plane.

* Google is the Department of Motor Vehicles. Type in a VIN
(vehicle identification number, which is etched onto a
plate, usually on the door frame, of every car), like
"JH4NA1157MT001832," to find out the car's year, make and
model.

* For hours of rainy-day entertainment, visit:
labs.google.com
Here, you'll find links to new, half-finished Google
experiments, like Google Voice, in which you call (650) 623-
6706, speak the words you want to search for, and then open
your browser to view the results. Disclaimer: It wasn't
working when I tried it. (Ditto a lot of these experiments.)

* Poke around the "Services & Tools" link on the Google.com
home page, and you'll find some of the better-known lesser-
known Google features, if that makes any sense.

For example, there's Froogle (product search), News, Groups
(Internet discussion boards), Google Catalogs (hundreds of
scanned-in product catalogs), Images (find graphics and
photos from other people's Web sites), Blogger (publish your
own online journal), Google language translation, Google
Answers (pay a couple of bucks to have a professional
researcher find the answers for you) and much more.

Pretty soon you'll need Google just to search Google!

*******

Do any of you folks use the Google toolbar already? If so, how do you like it? I can see that I'll be playing around with these tips just for the fun of it when I have a little more time.

cg

[Ace]

Wow I've always worshipped Google and yet knew only a fraction of it's powers... I'm in awe! The map and telephone stuff will be very helpful!

Alas I cannot use the toolbar because at home I'm still using Windows 95 and that's not supported. besides I have an aversion to extra toolbars that take up space on my screen even when I'm not using them.

Ace

[Yuliya]

I use Google toolbar to block pop-ups but not for anything else - if I need to search Google, I just open another window. I used to be very happy with the pop-up blocker until a few weeks ago it stopped blocking pop-ups, at least those that come from Yahoo! (I use Yahoo! mail, so to me that's an important part of the functionality.) I installed an updated version but it still doesn't block pop-ups, so I strogly recommend to look for something else, which is what I'm going to do when I have time.

[sparklingblue]

Hmmm.....

I must say I love my google toolbar. It's so handy for searching stuff. As I do not use yahoo very often, I have no complaints concerning pop-ups.

Ace, I use Win 95, too, and the toolbar works perfectly well. With my IE (5.5) you can also make it disappear if it is not needed by clicking on it in one of the menus.(Can't tell you which one as my IE "speaks" German )

[Yuliya]

Yuliya said:

I installed an updated version but it still doesn't block pop-ups, so I strogly recommend to look for something else, which is what I'm going to do when I have time.

I take it back. I think I have some sort of spyware instaled on my PC, which causes all the pop-ups, so naturally they won't be blocked by a pop-up killer. It's probably not Google's fault. Don't worry, it's not contanginous.

[Yuliya]

I definitely take it back. Through the same Google bar my husband found software that fished out lots of spy ware on my PC. Now my computer is squeaky clean and free of pop-ups. BTW, I consider myself a careful user and, seeing how much junk infected my computer without my knowing about it, I think it's a good idea for everybody else to check their hard drives, too. I don't remember what it's called, AdAware or something like that, but if you can't find it mentioned on the same page where you can download Google bar, look for it at www.download.com.

[curious george]

Spybot Search & Destroy is another good one. I'll try to find a link to it somewhere.

cg

[Yuliya]

Here you go - download.com.com/3000-2144-10194058.html?tag=lst-0-1 and results.searchscout.com/content/429/16145-12/content16145-6.html?b=21014&m=MzY1MzA0NTQ3&t=1000099385&d=1000099385&k=Spybot+Search+Destroy+&c=16145&s=wave2_1. (I love Google again!)

[Ace]

I use Ad-Aware and when I first installed and ran it late last year was shocked that I had so many programs installed and running on my computer, actual executable spy programs that had downloaded by attaching themselves to other seemingly innocuous search functions and were slowing my system like mad. Now I run it when I'm on the net and it automatically zaps most of them before they try and install.

Ace

[sparklingblue]

Thanks for the links! That comes in very handy.

[curious george]

I have both AdAware and Spybot on mine, and yes, I was amazed at what each of them picked up the first time around. Spybot has an icon that I believe is called "immunize," which lets you prevent some things from downloading. I find it quite regularly blocking a download of something called "Avenue A" now. No clue what that is.

Speaking of such things, does anybody here no what a Newtear Attack is, or a SYN Port Scan attack? My firewall tells me I get a few of the former and a whole bunch of the latter, but always says it has blocked them. I feel like I'm fighting off invisible enemies!

cg

[Yuliya]

Newtear - www.physnet.uni-hamburg.de/physnet/security/vulnerability/newtear.html and support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q179/1/29.asp&NoWebContent=1. From what I've read, I understand it's an attack on your computer that causes it to hang. Reboot helps and also there is a service pack that prevents it.

SYN Port Scan attack - www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1996-21.html. I'm too lazy to read technical stuff that late at night. Usually, denial-of-service attack means somebody infects many computers with software that sleeps until certain date and time; then it wakes up and connects to a popular, often visited site like Yahoo, which causes the latter to be swamped with requests and go down under heavy traffic - that's why it's called denial of service. Essencially the same thing happened to cnn.com on September 11 when everybody wanted to read news - the site couldn't respond to such heavy traffic.

[curious george]

Thanks for the info. It does appear at this point that the attacks are successfully being fended off by my firewall. I had done a search on one of them and couldn't come up with anything I could make sense out of.

And now back to Google -- it was just announced that they will be starting major free "Gmail" service (maybe next week?). Sounds like quite an undertaking; hope they don't over-extend themselves.

cg

[Myrtle Groggins]

I have a Yahoo tool bar that has a pop-up blocker and search engine. They work pretty nicely. Sometimes the blocker blocks stuff I really want, but all I have to do is disable it for a few moments until my window comes up.

I thought of trying the Google tool bar, but as already noted, too many tool bars take up too much space. Tool bars can be temporarily removed or closed, but I can never remember how. If I do remember how to get rid of them, I can't remember how to get them back

It is said it is wise to do a google search on yourself every once in a while, just to keep track if anyone is keeping track of you!