Internet Tips and Tricks

1. Internet Tips and Tricks May 4, 2006

2. Search Engines • Google www.google.com biggest, best • AlltheWeb alltheWeb.com also a very large database • Alta Vistawww.av.com wildcards (ie.: Small*) • Vivisimo www.vivisimo.com categorized results • Ask Jeeveswww.ask.com ask questions, natural language • Yahoo www.yahoo.com.au human compiled, well respected • HotBot www.hotbot.com finds most popular sites • Dogpilewww.dogpile.com aggregates smaller SE results

3. 3. How do they work? • Search engines for the Web do not really search the World Wide Web directly. Instead, what they do is… • …search a database of the full text of Web pages… • …selected and built by computer robot programs called spiders. • Spiders find the pages to include in their databases by following the links on pages that already are there • If a Web page is new and never linked to by any other pages, a spider cannot find it

4. Use + to add things together • + pandas + endangered + animals • IBM + ThinkPad • chocolate + chip + cookies + recipes • + Seattle + hotels + reservations

5. Use - symbol to subtract • Mao Tse Tung – Jiang Qing In other words, you’re telling the search engine to find Web pages on Mao Tse Tung but to exclude any pages where his fourth wife Jiang Qing is mentioned.

6. Use “ ” to denote searched-for phrase • If you use + pandas + endangered + animals it is possible the words could appear anywhere on the page instead of in a phrase! • Doing a “phrase search” avoids this problem. • This helps you to multiply the words!

7. Getting clever… • If you want to get really clever, you can combine all the symbols! • You could use “chocolate” – cake + “cookie recipes”

8. News • New York Times on the Web http://www.nytimes.com/ :all the news daily from the New York Times • CNN Webspace Search Engine http://www.cnn.com/SEARCH/index.html  • The Age : http://www.theage.com.au • The ABC : http://www.abc.net.au • The BBC : http://www.bbc.net.uk

9. staugustineschool.org/homework.shtml Homework help page • Typing Tutor • Math Drills • Dictionary • Searchable • Shakespeare • Bible • Brick Testament • Add things, request things, just click the comments link at the bottom of any page. Also, http://www.staugustineschool.org/teacherpage.shtml

10. Wikipedia • Open Source encyclopedia • Built, edited and monitored by volunteers • Anyone who views it can edit it • Disagreements get taken into an open discussion which anyone can read • Contributors strive to keep content scholarly, but not always as dependable as, say… • Britannica.com. • Content is NOT filtered for children http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

11. Babel Fish • Programmatic Translation site • Words or phrases – it does pretty well • Enter a Web page url and this application will attempt to render it with the text translated. This is usually pretty entertaining. http://babelfish.altavista.com/

12. Google Tips n Tricks 101 • This is intended to help you use Google more productively and to be able to show off for your friends. • It will highlight key tips and tricks, as well as introduce you to some of the newer features of Google. • It is by no means comprehensive. Google is everywhere. We are Google. Kumbayah. • Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

13. Google Advanced Search Operators -- define • define: • Query provides basic definition of the query • Example: “insanity”

14. Google Advanced Search Operators -- related • related: • Query lists Web pages “similar” to a specified Web page • Which one of these pages is just like the other?

15. Google Advanced Search Operators – allintitle • allintitle: • Query will restrict results to those with all of the query words in the title of the page • Example: “allintitle: lotus support” will identify any pages with “Lotus” AND “support” in the title • Very useful for narrowing down a search

16. Google Advanced Search Operators -- link • link: • Lists Web pages that have links to a specified Web page (very useful for link analysis) • Note: No space between the “link:” and the URL • In this example, there were 73,400 estimated pages linking to www.ibm.com

17. Google Advanced Search Operators -- cache • cache: • Type “cache:www.staugustineschool.org” Shows version of site that Google has in its cache • Type “cache:www.staugustineschool.org staff” • Shows cached content with the word “staff” in that page

18. Google Advanced Search Operators -- site • site: • Query will restrict results to those Websites in the given domain • Example: “support site:www.ibm.com” will identify support-related Websites on the IBM domain

19. Google Advanced Search • that contain ALL the search terms you type in • that contain the exact phrase you type in • that contain at least one of the words you type in • that do NOT contain any of the words you type in • written in a certain language • created in a certain file format • that have been updated within a certain period of time • that contain numbers within a certain range • within a certain domain, or website • that don't contain "adult" material

20. Google Advanced Search: Domain • Domain searching allows you to “only” or “don’t” return results from a specific domain • Ex. Search “ThinkPad” and only return results from domain: “www.lenovo.com” http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

21. Google Advanced Search: Find results • Find results option allows you to delimit the search to include the following: • With all of the words • With the exact phrase • With at least one of the words • Without the words http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

22. Google Advanced Search: Language and File Format • Language allows you to return pages against a query in 36 languages • File Format allows you to: • Only or don’t • Return results of the file format • PDF • .PS • .DOC • .XLS • .PPT • .RTF • Particularly helpful using Google’s Desktop Search (for finding files you know part of the name of, but not sure where it is) http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

23. Google Advanced Search: Date/Numeric Range and Occurrences • Date range allows you to search for Web pages updated within a specified time range • Anytime • Past 3 months • Part 6 months • Past year • Occurrences returns results where terms occur: • Anywhere in the page • In the title of the page • In the text of the page • In the URL • In links to that page http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

24. Google Advanced Search: Searching for Numbers • Search By Number • Parcel tracking IDs, patents and other specialized numbers can be entered into Google's search box for quick access to information about them. • For example, typing a FedEx tracking number will return the latest information on your package. Other special search by number types include : • UPS tracking numbers • Example search: "1Z9999W99999999999“ • FedEx tracking numbers • Example search: "999999999999“ • USPS tracking numbers • Example search: "9999 9999 9999 9999 9999 99" • Vehicle ID (VIN) numbers • Example search: "AAAAA999A9AA99999“ • UPC codes example search: "073333531084” • Telephone area codes • Example search: "650“ • Patent numbers • Example search: "patent 5123123“ (Remember to put the word "patent" before your patent number) • FAA airplane registration numbers • Example search: "n199ua“ (An airplane's FAA registration number is typically printed on its tail) • FCC equipment • Example search: "fcc B4Z-34009-PIR“ (Remember to put the word "fcc" before the equipment ID.) • Flight Tracking • Just enter “Airline Flight #” and look at top of results page – and don’t forget to go pick up Grandma ! http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

25. Google Advanced Search: Searching for Phone Numbers • Search By: • first name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional) • first name (or first initial), last name, state • first name (or first initial), last name, area code • first name (or first initial), last name, zip code • last name, city, state • last name, zip code • phone number, including area code ! Query: “Todd Watson, Austin, TX”

26. Google Advanced Search: Searching for Books, Movies, and Music • Books • Ex. “books about space” • Then click “book results for “books about space” at top of page…or whatever your query is • Movies • To find reviews and showtimes for movies playing near you, type “movie” or “showtimes” or the name of a current film into Google • If you’ve saved your location previously with “Google Local,” the top searches will display showtimes for nearby theatres for the movie you’ve chosen • Can’t remember the title of a movie. Search “movie: name of movie or actor or director or subject” • “movie: mafia don” – Guess what it presented as the top result? • Music • Type in “music: name of artist” to get links about the artist, discography, artist websites, latest news, photos, discussion groups

27. How to Do Your Shopping via Google in 10 Minutes or Less • Catalogs.google.com features products from more than 6,000 paper catalogs in a searchable index. • Froogle.com indexes products from online stores • Froogle allows you to: • Search prices between X and Y • Find products near a certain location • Find products with occurrences of a word in the product name or description • Look at products within a certain category • Provide a list or grid view for easy viewing and comparison shopping http://catalogs.google.com http://www.froogle.com

28. Google Advanced News Search • Google Advanced News Search allows you to easily search past news stories and specify by: • News source • Location • Occurrences where appeared (anywhere, headline, body, or URL) • When published • Anytime • Date Range http://news.google.com/advanced_news_search

29. Google Alerts • Google Alerts enable you to monitor keyword activity on the Internet and proactively notify you via email of mentions of those terms • Type: News, Web, Groups, Blogs, Comprehensive • Frequency: once a day, as-it-happens, once a week • Other search operators apply • Ex. allintitle: IBM Software http://www.google.com/alerts

30. Google Reader • Google Reader is a Web-based RSS reader that enables you to subscribe, read, and filter RSS feeds • You can import existing OPML files so you don’t have to start over • Advantage over client-based RSS feed readers: • You can get to your feeds on any machine into which you can sign on to the Web via a browser! • Google continues to evolve and add new features • Easy text-based key commands for navigating the feeds • Sharing feeds • Starring feeds • Emailing feeds http://www.google.com/reader

31. Google Trends • Compare any two search terms • Limit by time period • Limit by location • Kids love this Google.com/trends http://www.google.com/reader

32. Google Home Page • Google Personalized home page allows you to drag and drop RSS widgets and customized content • Provides a single view into many resources, and is highly customizable • Tab-based nav allows you to set up multiple desktops (one for work, personal, etc.)

33. Google Mobile • Google Mobile allows you to access numerous Google resources via your mobile device • You can also SMS basic commands to Google at “46645” • Ex. “weather NYC” • “sushi 78704” • “dallas cowboys” • Go to second URL below and play with browser-based SMS before running up your phone bills http://mobile.google.com http://www.google.com/mobile/sms/index.html

34. Google Reference: Google Cheat Sheet • Google Cheat Sheet provides quick view into key operators and commands to help you with your searches, and includes useful examples. http://www.google.com/help/cheatsheet.html

35. Google Reference: Google Guide • Google Cheat Sheet provides quick view into key operators and commands to help you with your searches, and includes useful examples. http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html

36. Google Reference: Simply Google • Everything you wanted to know about Google but were afraid to search for. • The Professional Googler’s Google Index (“Googledex?”) http://www.usabilityviews.com/simply_google.htm

37. Google Moon • Google can even take you to the moon and to Mars • No rockets or spacesuits required. http://moon.google.com http://mars.google.com