Read on to learn how doing a social network search with Google Social Search works and how to use it.

Content from your social circle

Google Social Search adds content that is linked from your friend’s Google profiles to the search results. This content includes websites, blogs, public status updates (like Twitter and FriendFeed), other Google profiles and items from your feeds on Google Reader.

It is an opt-in experiment, so you have to turn it on to make it part of your search results.

Enable social search

Here is how to enable Google Social Search:

• Log in to your Google account (you always have to be logged in for social search to work).
• Go to Google Experimental.
• Click ‘Join this experiment‘ next to ‘Google Social Search‘.

From now on when you search Google it will also do a social network search and integrate results form your social circle at the bottom of the results page (from my experience that only happens when Google is set to display 10 results per page).

Get only social results

Alternatively, you can get only results from your social circle. Once you’ve enabled social search, it becomes one of the search filters available as part of Google’s New Search Features. In the results page, click ‘show options‘ under the Google logo and in the sidebar that opens click ‘Social‘. See an example of the results in the image below.

Asking help from friends

There are two advantages to getting these social results. First, it is somewhat more likely that they would be more relevant, at least in certain topics. For example, if you’re looking for something related to your field of expertise, your friends and people they know might have more relevant information.

Second, you do not only have access to the information you find, but possibly to the KNOWLEDGE the people who created it possess. Since the results include information about your relationship to the person who published the content, it might be easier to contact this person since you know him/her or know someone else who does.

Who’s in your social circle?

Your social circle is made up of your connections in various Google services. First, there are your social network connections, such as Twitter and FriendFeed. You have to list these social networks in your Google Profile for the people in them to be part of your social circle. Next, your circle includes people from your Gmail chat list and some of your Gmail contact groups. Finally, second level relations (friends of friends) are a part of your social circle – providing these relationships are public.

Note that if you do not list your social networks in your Google profile, or if you don’t have a lot of connections in them, you will probably not get too many social results.

On the other side, if you want your content (blog, videos and the like) to show up in your friends’ social search, you should list it in your profile as well.

Have you had the chance to try Google Social network search? Was it useful for you or just too much noise? Tell us in the comments!

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Although this seems to work fine (and I used it all day today for searches), you seem to be limited to the first four search results only.  So this wouldn’t be something that you could use for deep searching.   But if you are looking for the correct URL of a website, the Wikipedia entry for something, basically anything that would – in theory – show up in the first few results, then you could use these bots instead.   No different from Google’s “Are You Feeling Lucky?“.

The bots are for Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live Messenger (so no AIM love it seems).   But a lot of people now have a Google account so the lack of AIM shouldn’t be a hindrance.

Just add the following chat bot depending on what service you use :

Google Talk – sbot@bot.im
Yahoo Messenger – searchbot@ymail.com
Windows Live Messenger – searchbot@live.com

As soon as you’ve added the account to your contact list, it should go online virtually right away and then you can start searching.

Searching is very straight forward.   If you want to search Twitter, just type t and then your search term.   So :

t makeuseof.com

and this will give you :

I think for Twitter, 4 results is not really enough. You need probably at least 10-15 to give you a better overview. 4 is just too random.

For Google, type g followed by your search term.   For Bing, precede your search query with b and can you guess what it is for Yahoo?   Yep, you guessed it!  y.   I know, it’s tough to follow but I’ll try and not get too far ahead, OK?

So searching Google for MakeUseOf :

And you get pretty much the same results with Yahoo and Bing.

There’s not much more you can say about it – it’s just a no frills search function for your IM program which will give you the first four results for any given search query.  I am personally finding it very useful because if I am in a Firefox tab and I don’t want to break the writing flow by opening up a new tab for Google, I can just quickly open up my Pidgin program with a keyboard shortcut and quickly type a quick search into one of these bots.

I look up all my dictionary definitions using Google using the define search parameter and I thought for a moment that I could use this bot to make all my dictionary lookups without having to open the browser.   THAT would have been REALLY useful. But the define parameter doesn’t work with this bot.   Strange.  I hope the bot writers can fix this little glitch.

Make the define parameter work so you can do dictionary searches and increase the number of search results to between 10-15 and these bots will become even extremely more useful.   What do you think?  What else could they add to make these bots even better?

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It’s essentially a big public chalkboard where everyone has a say as to what gets published. This works well on sites like Wikipedia for the entertainment factor alone. However, at the end of 2008, Google entered into the world of Wiki madness with its “SearchWiki” feature which integrates a wiki within the search engine. The new feature received mixed reviews when it was originally offered at Google Labs, but since its public launch last year, it slowly gained a user base.

A Few Cool Features of Google SearchWiki

Many people who’ve been using Google for years have probably noticed a few interesting, new tiny icons showing up throughout search results (provided you’re logged into your Google account). A lot of users have simply ignored the strange, new icons, while the curious geeky types (raise your hands – you know who you are) started to poke and prod this odd new feature.

The very faint icons circled on the image above are Google’s new SearchWiki features that allow you to customize your search results. Why would anyone want to customize search results? I suppose if you perform the same searches often, like “best movie websites,” or “best sites to watch tv,” you probably prefer a select number of top websites that serve up great content on those topics.

In the example above, I typed in “the best sites for watching TV”, and the fourth site listed is the article I wrote not long ago about watching TV for free with your computer (I’m not bragging or anything…really). Well, let’s say that I feel MakeUseOf has far better content on this topic than the other three silly sites above it in Google’s results (because it does) – what’s a web traveler to do? Easy – I’ll customize my web results by clicking the little “up” arrow icon to the right of the MakeUseOf link and bring it up to the top listing.

So now, at least in my own little Internet world – this MakeUseOf article is now king of these Google search results. The only sign that anything has been changed is that now the up arrow turns green – letting you know that the listing is one that you’ve customized.

If you want to move the listing back, you just click the down arrow. Now, another cool feature that I like the most is the ability to just wipe out the listings that you really don’t care for. Sick of seeing the same lame websites turn up in the search results that you perform often? Just click the little “X” box and it’s gone forever.

If you notice in the image above, I’ve circled the one place on the listing where there’s public evidence of your tampering. Each time someone promotes or deletes a link, those “votes” get added to the SearchWiki’s public area.

Apparently, I’m the first person to vote for my article for first place – go figure. Don’t think that you’ll be able to make a positive or negative impact on a website’s search ranking by doing this – according to Google, the actions in SearchWiki have no effect on site ranking. However, they could certainly have an effect on the public perception of a website.

Exploring the SearchWiki

My favorite feature of the SearchWiki is the ability to comment on particular listings. Maybe you just want to jot down a quick reminder for yourself about something at the link that struck your interest and you want to get back to when there’s more time. Or maybe you hated the article and want to jot down why. Clicking on the text bubble lets you enter those comments.

As you can see from my comments of shameless self-promotion in the text box above, I’ve just made a public remark about the link that gets added to Google’s public SearchWiki. If you want to view comments that other folks have made in the SearchWiki, you can browse those by clicking the “See all notes for this Searchwiki” at the bottom of the page.

Any time you conduct a Google search, whether or not you’ve personally contributed promotion, deletions or comments to the public Wiki, you can view what everyone else may have said about those particular listings by clicking on that “See all notes” link. For example, for a “best movies” Google search, I did just that and received the following page back.

The SearchWiki can get pretty entertaining at times, especially for searches and search results that are someone controversial. It’s a bit like watching a very political movie in a theater that allows patrons to voice their own opinions during the movie. Be forewarned however, watching what other people say about certain links can make you laugh, but other times it may also get you pretty angry. Of course, you’re also free to express your own opinion about the link – it is a wiki after all.

Have you ever used Google SearchWiki? Share your own opinion about this new Google search feature in the comments box below.

Check out the SearchWiki demo video from the SearchWiki team at Google.

Image credit: brianinsanfran

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Or do you bypass the image search for the “always in your face” Google Web search? I, for one am a habituated Flickr user; only occasionally traipsing over to Google Image Search for a look-see. And it was an error in judgment to neglect such a ready-at-hand powerful image search engine.

So, my resolution to use the web service for power searches made me go under the cowling and learn about the ways I can supercharge my image search experience.

Google Image Search operators and the Advanced Image Search options help in bringing laser sharp focus to our search. And they can be used in a variety of ways. Let’s check it out together — I’m going to list 10 ways you can use the advanced Google search to return pin-point accurate image results and will help you in so many ways.

1. Search a website for all its images

Google operators work in the same way as the web search operators. The [site:] operator can be used to find all images from a specific domain. This is handy because Google’s custom search box on websites does not include an image search option. For instance, I can type in site:makeuseof.com to get all images belonging to this website.

Maybe, you would like a copy of our Google Cheat Sheet with all the operators to become a Google ninja.

2. Search for images of a specific size

The [imagesize:] operator is quite handy if you want to locate images of certain dimensions – large or small. Used in conjunction with the [filetype:] operator it becomes a powerful tool in hunting down images of specific pixels. For instance, typing in imagesize: 580×400 returns results corresponding to the size mentioned. Using the filetype operator, like imagesize: 580×400 filetype:jpeg will filter JPEG images from the other file types.

The same results can be achieved more easily from the options in Advanced Image Search.

You can also try out an alternative interface at Imagery (it works only in Firefox).

3. Using Advanced Google Search for desktop wallpapers

The Advanced Image Search page also has a single click link which estimates your monitor resolution and returns only those images for the keywords given. For instance, a desktop size of 1280×800 and using the search term ‘landscape’, I get back nearly 700+ panoramic wallpapers.

4. Search by content

Now, we can search for a variety of content – faces, photos, line drawings, clip art, news pictures etc.

Not only that, but the results can be further filtered by color and size from the drop-down menu in the results page.

5. Search for similar images

This is an advanced Google Search feature for images that’s still being tinkered with in Google Labs. Google Similar Images, as the name suggests lets you drill further by bringing more results which resemble the main image. This experimental service works like a mirror site to Google Image Search. Only, it has a similar images link below each picture. Click that and you get more ‘lookalike’ images. Read more about it here.

6. Search random images by camera type

A wannabe photographer like me like me often wants to see photos taken by different camera makes. Of course, I can type the make of my camera and do a normal image search. Else, I can visit a site like Junknstuff to use its Google-based interface. I can select the type of camera to find images from a drop-down menu and click to get a random sampling. The results reveal interesting life tidbits and the camerawork behind it.

7. For the artist in you

If you are interested in paintings and genius of brushwork, simply type in the name of your favorite painter. Preferably, set the size to extra large or large from the dropdown. The Google images are a lesson in themselves. Try it with ‘Monet’.

8. Words in pictures

Words and their dictionary meaning are fine. But to really form our own mental lexicon, imagery really helps. Something like – dead man’s float. Use the image search to type it in and see associated images for the word. It really imprints the meaning in the mind.

9. Build your own Google Image gallery

Google Image Ripper – Clicking on the thumbnails and then downloading individual photos is a recipe for sore wrists. Using a web service like Google Image Ripper, I can bypass the thumbnails and get the full-sized images on a single page. Although bounded by server limits, the image results are still a handful. The tool is also available as a client side Greasemonkey script which gives even more results.

T.J. Mininday has covered it exhaustively in his post on Google Image Ripper – Remove Thumbnails from Image Search

WebImageGrab Light – This is billed as a 3D web search and image browser powered by Google Image Search. The free version is limited to 30 images only. Type in a keyword and the tool downloads the images in a folder.

The stand alone software is compatible with Windows and Mac OS.

10. Use only Creative Commons images

• Public Domain Images: Add &as_rights=cc_publicdomain to the URL
• Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike Images: Add &as_rights=cc_sharealike to the URL
• Creative Commons Attribution Images: Add &as_rights=cc_attribute to the URL
• Google Operating System – an unofficial Google blog
• Search by Creative Commons – provides Creative Commons search services for Google, Yahoo and Flickr etc.
• Bad Neighborhood – a SEO website with a useful Google Image Search box.

Last but not the least, if you are thinking of reusing an image. Google, unlike Yahoo has so far not added a button for this very important standard among its lineup of options. Though, it is present at its backend. Creative Commons by the way is like a group of open licenses which allow creators to share their works with the world.

A search can be filtered by Creative Commons licenses by adding the following parameters to the results URL. More easily, one can use web services which utilize this parameter behind a slicker interface. Three of them can be found here. Or use an available Greasemonkey script in Firefox.

The Google Images Creative Commons script allows you to filter search results by Creative Commons copyright licenses.

Want to know more about Creative Commons? Read our previous post on 3 Tips for Getting More Out Of Creative Commons.

Yes, this was a pretty long post. It just goes to show the immense power of this Google tool which is belied by its simple interface. Let’s hope that we manage to tap into some of its power. Our image quest will be better for it.

Do you have a trick or tip which I missed? Do tip us off in the comments.

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At first glance, Google Squared looks much like the plain vanilla Google home page. Clicking an example search or typing in your own yields some interesting results. Basically, you give Google Squared a set of people, places, or things, and Google Squared will return a small chart of related information.

Take this example search for “2009 movies.”

Besides the titles of the films, Google Squared is smart enough to find release and director information for each movie. You may add or remove rows and columns to fill out your query. Now, the guesswork that Google Squared performs doesn’t always return perfect results. Observe the search results for albums by one of my favorite “bands”.

While ICP and Twiztid are label-mates, that last line in the list doesn’t belong in that set. Google Squared is not flawless, and clearly needs a little work (that’s why it’s still in the lab). Now, if you come across some info which is incorrect, it will often have alternate results for you to select. Please observe:

That price of $0.99 for an album can’t be right, so you may click on the box to select from alternate values, to which Google assigns confidence values. Clearly, this needs a little more work as well, as the price for a Limp Bizkit album shows up among the possible values. It’s reasonable, however, that those two albums would share an approximate price point. It’s worth noting that you can edit many values to go along with your research, and that Google Account holders can save their “squares” for later editing and printing.

How does Google Squared compare with the recently-launched Wolfram Alpha? Google Squared seems to rely more on Web sources outside of Google itself, while WolframAlpha tends to lean on its own internal cache of facts and figures. I believe that using both together could speed up research significantly.

Feel free to play with Google Squared for a bit and see what types of data you can come up with. How will this new tool help you out? Let us know (or just ridicule my musical taste) in the comments.

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This is where the new experimental feature from Google Labs solves the problem. It lets you search from within the Gmail window without browsing away from a chat or an email.

Here’s how I could have finished my tutoring in double quick time as well as my sister’s problem, if I had known about it sooner.

1. Log-in to your Gmail account and click Settings near the top right corner. On the Settings page, select the Labs tab.

   

2. On the Labs page, scroll down to the feature called Google Search. It is on the bottom half of the list. By default it is disabled – you just need to enable it. Save the setting.

   

3. When your inbox loads again you should see the Web Search box on the left hand sidebar.

   

4. When you search using this box, the search results open up on the right side very similar to chat window opening up inside Gmail. First few results are displayed for the sake of size. Clicking on More… below the links displays the others.

   

5. Clicking on a search result opens up another window (or another tab) to take you to the URL page. If it’s the result you need, moving your mouse over the link back in Gmail reveals a pull-down menu that opens up a few more options to handle the link.

   

The options in the little dropdown depends on what you are doing while conducting the search.

• If you are reading a message – you can include the search result in the reply.
• If you are in the compose window – you can paste the search result or the result in the mail.
• If you are chatting with someone – send the result via chat.

The lab feature also saves your recent searches while a simple Clear removes them.

Google seems to be packing it all in within Gmail. I don’t know how many of the experimental features will survive the churning, but the utility of a search box within Gmail should surely do.

As its search we do on the net more than anything, how do you find this neat feature? Is it useful or could Google have saved all the extra code? Let us know…

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By integrating social websites within Google search results, we thus achieve two aims: we combine Google search which we love most of the times with social media users’ recommendations who rate each page. If we also combine data from several social media sources, we are most likely to find the best result quickly and efficiently.

Browser Bookmarks (XMarks)

Xmarks FireFox addon (formerly knows as FoxMarks): I’ve been using it for a while as that’s a cool way to synchronize your bookmarks among a few computers and also access them from anywhere in the world online. It has introduced quite a few cool features recently – and one of them is Google search results page enhancer. It places a little blue icon next to the result which was bookmarked most of the times.

If you click on the icon, you’ll be invited to find more info on the result which includes the page ratings, reviews and similar sites:

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon toolbar inserts StumbleUpon users’ ratings within Google SERPs results. Besides, it shows:

• the name of your friend who recently stumbled it (meaning that this information is provided by the most reliable source, i.e. your friends);
• the category it was discovered at.

Delicious and Digg

SEOquake is a feature-rich FireFox addon that can be configured to show how many times each page was saved at Delicious.com and how many times the domain was dugg on Digg:

Any other ways to see people’s recommendations within Google search results? Please share them!

Post image from netsimage.com

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To explain it clearer, Google tries to guess what other type of information the surfer would also like see based on his or her search query. For example, for “Britney Spears” you’ll see images and videos blended within the search interface and for “downtown Los Angeles” you’ll get local search results (i.e. maps.google.com).

The idea of pulling more data by one-click searching can be expanded. You do not have to limit yourself to the Google search engine only. This time I am listing a few cool FireFox addons that show you more relevant information based on your search query and provides you with more opportunities to browse through.

Add Multiple Search Engines to Google Search Interface

WebMynd offers to search a wealth of search platforms simultaneously with your Google search, by default: Twitter Search, Amazon, YouTube; but you can also add numerous other search options (e.g. Flickr, Wikipedia, Digg, LinkedIn, CNN, etc). The search results will appear right on Google’s results page in the right sidebar:

Additional great features of the page:

• send Tweets directly from your search results asking your friends advice related to your search;
• user-friendly interface: add/hide engines with one click, drag-and-drop ordering of pages.

Integrate Amazon.com and eBay Search:

GoogAzon adds the first ten search results from Amazon and eBay in a collapsed orange bar to the top of your Google results page (works also for Yahoo or MSN / Live search). The results include the title, price, and a mouse-over thumbnail image.

You can also quickly share the results with friends and access the actual Amazon / eBay search results.

Add Reference Information

Google Search Sidebar for FF3 (Greasemonkey plugin) adds relevant results from Wikipedia and Dictionary.com (as well as Flickr, and YouTube) :

See Your Browsing History

Infoaxe is a browser addon (both FireFox and Internet Explorer versions available) that will show your browsing history results based on your Google search term.

Note: it requires registration and access to your private data, i.e. browsing history.

See What Your Facebook Friends Have to Say:

SideStripe offers a handy Google Gadget that integrates with the Google search results page and searches your friends list for your search query.

The tool offers some more functionality (e.g. it invites you to ask your friends’ opinion on what you are searching) but I didn’t invite my friends to use the application, so I can’t say if it works. The search functionality works pretty well though:

Would you like to add more searching functionality or do you think “plain” Google is all you need? Do you use any tools that make Google better? Share your thoughts!

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However, please allow me to present some multi-engine search engines which you should consider to take the place of your current home page.

Search Hacker (NSFW!)

SearchHacker hosts 15 different custom search engines from its homepage: Real Estate, Baby Names, Webcams, Audio Files, Jobs, Video, Wallpaper, Free Stuff, Questions & Answers, Product Prices, File Search (with filetype filter), Passwords, and BitTorrent.

Unfortunately, the first of the engines listed is an adult image search, featured prominently on the homepage alongside a troubling image of a Disney Princess character (!), so I cannot suggest using this site from work, unless your IT department as well as your coworkers are liberally tolerant of such things (Hint: Most are not).

Yahoo! Glue

Yahoo’s Glue returns multiple types of search results, such as videos, news, images, and biography, on one page. The odd thing is that many of these results come from non-Yahoo sites like YouTube and Last.FM. There’s no plain-vanilla Web search with Glue, but there is a handy Yahoo search box in the upper right.

Serchilo

Serchilo can be thought of as a command-line interface for Web search. For example, type “g keyword” for a Google search, or “g! keyword” for an “I’m Feeling Lucky” search. If you’re shopping, try “a keyword” for Amazon or “e keyword” for eBay.

Once you’ve memorized the commands, a search plugin is available for your browser. If you register, you can create your own commands.

Katapulco

Katapulco wins the multi-search game hands-down because of its quick and simple interface and availabilty of over 90 search engines from a single command line. It uses a shortcut system much like Serchilo, but allows for its users to create custom commands without signing up for an account. Use of more than one shortcut at a time is possible, and such results appear in a tabbed interface.

Katapulco will be my new home page for a while, but I’m sure that I’ve missed some great ones, so please share your favorites in the comments.

Honorable Mentions: The original multi-search, Dogpile, Dogpile’s cousins, as well as Twingine (Google + Yahoo).

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I’m sure back in the Google Labs cave, their genius engineers are concocting up some type of real time results, but for now, we will have to settle on a great alternative. And that great alternative is called Keyboardr.

Keyboardr takes all of the behind the scenes Google search results and displays them in real-time on your screen. In other words, as you are typing your search term in their search box, the display below changes to proper Google results. Not too long ago, Google implemented one of their “Labs” products called Google Suggest, that displays suggested results and how many there are.

Keyboardr works in a completely different manner. As opposed to displaying suggested results in real-time, it displays the actual results in real-time.

The name Keyboardr comes from the fact that they have implemented the ability to navigate the results through your keyboard – using your arrow keys to jump from result to result and selecting your choice by pressing enter.

Along with getting Google search results, you will also see results from Wikipedia, YouTube and Google Images.

The engineers with Keyboardr also have plans to implement and integrate services such as Friendfeed, Delicious, Twitter, Flickr, Google Docs and many more.

In the video below you will see exactly how they will use some of these services to allow for friends and others to connect with each other, and find more of what they might be looking for.

The additional features of Keyboardr are great. However, having said that, I think the real beauty of the web app lies in its real-time Google results. When I’m searching for a quick fix or answer, I like being able to quickly search the web or a site without having to refresh with a different results page, each and every time I type something in. Keyboardr gets the job done for me, with very quick and responsive results.

How about you? Do you see yourself using this over Google.com? Are there similar web apps or browser add-ons that have this ability? I’d love to know.

Photo Credit : manfry’s

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I assume you already know that Google can be also used as calculator, currency converter and even measurement unit converter. But what about using Google to search for nearby pizzerias or checking movie showtimes in local cinemas.

Basically, there are several handy Google search operators that you can make use of on a daily basis. Today we ask you to vote on your top 5, the ones you find extremely useful and use (or at least see yourself using) on a regular basis. And if you’re one of those who has no idea about search operators here is your chance to learn a few.

Please Vote!

Did we miss your favorite search operator? Add it in comments.

You can find get more details on specific search oprator here and here.

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A lot of people complain about Google but you have to give them credit, their search functions are some of the best around right now. So, since there’s so much that you can do with Google Search, I decided to share a few shortcuts with you that I’m sure will come in handy.

Package Tracking

When tracking packages, most people head straight to the shipping site such as FedEx, UPS, or USPS to see details. But did you know that now you can enter tracking numbers right into the Google search box?

First you’ll need the tracking number of your order, which you can get from the actual site/company that you ordered from. Second you’ll need to know how it’s being shipped (via FedEx, UPS, or USPS). That’s it.

If your package is being shipped by FedEx, you would enter “fedex 121212121212” into the Google search box. If your package is being shipped by UPS, you would enter “ups 121212121212” into the Google search box. If your package is being shipped by USPS, you would enter “usps 121212121212” into the Google search box. Of course, in all three cases you would use your actual tracking number in place of “121212121212″.

Below I’ve entered the tracking number of a USPS order I want to track. If the tracking number is valid, you’ll see an image of a package show up with a link to view the tracking information for your order. Clicking on it will then take you to the site (in this case USPS) in order to see the full details.

Flight Tracking

You can look up information on any flight by simply typing the airline name or code followed by a space and flight number into the Google search box.

Below I’ve entered the name of an airline and the flight number that I’d like information on. If the flight information you enter is valid, you’ll see an image of an airplane along with brief stats of the flight. You’re also given a link that you can click on to see more detailed information from the actual site the stats were taken from.

Calculations & Conversions

Do you often find yourself reaching for a calculator to figure out simple calculations? I don’t know about you but I do not keep a calculator handy and I often go through at least 3 steps to open up the Windows calculator. Well there’s no need to do either when you have Google handy.

To use Google’s built-in calculator functions, you simply enter the calculations that you’d like solved right in the search box. You can even do more advanced math functions such as geometry and trigonometry. If you don’t remember what all the advanced math functions are don’t worry about it, there’s a very handy Google Quick Reference Cheat Sheet that you can use. This Cheat Sheet shows you all of the things that you can type into the Google Search Box in order to calculate basic or advanced math functions.

The Cheat Sheets also has a list of Units of Measures and Conversions that can be used to converts units and currency. In order to calculate conversions you would type in things like: three quarters of a cup in teaspoons; 130 lbs in kg; 65 mph in kph; 1500 in hex; 64 in binary; etc.

Weather

Finding out the weather in Google is pretty easy. You simply type the word “weather” followed by the city and state, zip code, or city and country. So, below I searched for the weather in Fort Riley, Kansas and Google gave me the current weather along with a forecast for the next 4 days.

Time

If you have family or friends in other parts of the world, you can easily find out what time it is in their area. You simply type the word “time” followed by the name of the city or country and Google will show you the time, day, and time zone for that location. Personally, this really comes in handy for me since I have a husband that will be deployed soon and all of my family and friends are in 2 different time zones from myself.

Dictionary

This is definitely something that comes in handy for me a lot as well. You can see the definition for any word or phrase by simply typing “definition” followed by a space and then the actual word(s) that you wanted defined. If you want to see a list of definitions from various resources across the Web, type “define:” followed by a space and the word(s). As you can see below, you’re given multiple definitions along with the website from where they were taken from.

Movies

Google allows you to quickly find show times for movies playing in your area. You can do this by simply typing in the word “movies” or the film title followed by your zip code in the Google search box. You will then get a list of up to two theaters; if there are more than two theaters listed, you can click the “More theaters” link to see the rest. This is definitely a lot quicker and more convenient than calling the theater and listening to a 5 minute lineup – especially if the movie you want to see is at the end of the lineup.

UPC Codes

This is definitely one of the more unique Google Search shortcuts that I’ve seen. You can find information about any item by simply typing in the UPC Code of the item into the Google search box. If you don’t know, the UPC Code for an item appears at the bottom of the item’s bar code.

Below I’ve entered the UPC Code of a random item I found in my house. If the UPC Code you enter is valid, you’ll see an image of a bar code along with a link to view more information about the item.

Phone Book & Residential Listings

If you need to look up a US residence phone number or address you can do that as well. Simply enter the person’s name along with a city, state, or zip code in the Google search box. If that person is listed in the phone book, you’ll see an image of a telephone along with their name, phone number and address. Google lists up to three matching results for you to see; to see more, simply click on the “Phone book results for” link. Google also gives you the option to see a residential map for that person.

So, as you can see, Google really makes a lot of useful functions easier and more convenient. Do you know of any other cool Google Search shortcuts? If so, feel free to share by posting them in the comments.

Charnita is a social media addict & Internet junkie. She blogs about internet & blog tools, website & blog promotion, web 2.0 & social media at her Social Web Tools blog.

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When searching for answers, there are three basic principles that you should follow to yield great results:

I. Know what your question is.

That’s simple, right? Wrong! Often that is the toughest part.

For example when trying to solve a problem you’re having with a piece of software, you need to understand very well what the problem is. You may assume that it’s caused by this and that, however this assumption may limit the pool of answers. The root of the problem may not be related at all to the problem you’re seeing. So as long as you’re searching for answers that deal with the software you’re using, you will be stuck.

On the other hand, if your search is too general, you will have a hard time spotting the right answers among the thousands of results you’re receiving.

Hence, the key is to ask precise questions, including the right keywords.

II. Know how to ask your question.

When entrusting a search engine with finding the right answer, this is the most critical point. Your goal is to filter out all unrelated information, but nothing more than that.

So after figuring out what your question is, you now have to translate it into search engine lingo. Please refer to my article Master the Google Operands for details on how to speak to the world’s most famous oracle search engine for answers. Many of these tricks will work with other search engines, too.

III. Know where to ask your question.

While this part isn’t difficult to decide, it does deserve a thought. If you’re good at points one and two, stick with a search engine. However, if your question is rather challenging or too general to yield good results, turn to an expert or specific sources.

These are the top five destinations besides Google and Wikipedia to learn more about a subject or have your specific question answered:

1. About.com

A wealth of information packed into handy articles. The site is maintained by experts and each article contains links for further reading. The site can be searched by category (channel), topic or keyword.
2. HowStuffWorks

Similar to About.com, but different. In general, articles are much longer, containing a lot more basic and background information. These articles are not to the point, but nevertheless very thorough. A great resource to get familiar with a topic.

3. Yahoo! Answers

Anyone can ask anything and anyone may answer. The asker can pick the best answer and rate it, other users may comment on and vote for all answers. A very flexible system and often you’ll find answers from real experts.

4. AllExperts

Similar to Yahoo! Answers, but here your question will be answered by experts and the best part is that you can pick the expert yourself. Start by selecting the respective categories until you reach a list of experts. Read their profiles and past answers, then pick the one who appears most suitable to answer your question.

5. wikiHow

The wiki-based how-to manual contains instructions on how to do just about anything. The manuals are sorted by category, the wiki is available in different languages, and naturally anyone can contribute.

There are dozens or maybe hundreds more sites that provide information and expert knowledge. Which one is your favorite?

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