As most techies will say, “Google is your friend!” So, why not get more acquainted with him? There are plenty of little filters and mini-applications that Google has installed in its search system, but the thing is, they don’t tell you about all of them. Here are some of my favorites which are very useful to the Google Search user.
“boston celtics“ - quotations - this is something very simple that is a must know if you google something. Typing boston celtics alone could give you anything from the basketball team (what we want) to some Irish website that has to do with Celtic history or to the Scottish Celtic soccer team. Putting in the quotations, though, forces google to only bring up results that have boston celtics together.
as_qdr=d - sort search results by date - as you can see in the image above, Google has a special feature that not many people know about but should use. First, do a normal search and once you get to the results page, add as_qdr=dto the end of the URL in the address box. Just click enter and there you go, a new filter box. This is useful if you are looking for an article or blog posted a few days ago, for example.
= - calculator - Google search has a built in calculator where entering in 1253+1518 will get you the special calculator box. If you do something like 1-800-234-2818, Google will think it is a phone number, so to bypass this, just add an = sign to the end (1-800-234-2818=) and you will get -3851.
books - full book texts - Google has a wonderful new service that stores many of the greatest books of all time. If the book’s copyright has expired (usually meaning it is over 60 years old), you can probably find it on books.google.com. Partnered with Boston University and several other institutions, more and more books are added a day and in an easy to read format. To take advantage of this, type in books before the name of the book. Many times it isn’t necessary as Google should immediately tell you if they have that book in their database, but having books before your search is always the best way to be sure.
define: - definitions - I usually use Dictionary.com to get my definitions for words, but the problem with that site is that it has one of the slowest loading times for any website I have ever seen. The great thing is that google has its own dictionary service and of course, its as fast as your internet connection allows it to be. Just type in define: before the word you are looking for and click search.
time new york - world time -Entering in time before a city name will get you a Google response with the current time of that location.
san francisco tokyo - airline flights and travel agencies - Just type in your two destinations with no special words or characters and Google’s search will show you the a departure date you could buy a ticket on and then it will give you the returning date. You can edit the departure and returning date right from the Google box and then below you can click one of the links to be forwarded to their purchase page.