Besides the fact that one of the Founders of Google and I share a common bond, (Larry Page and I can both say GO BLUE!), why would I dedicate a whole article on Google? Could it be because google.com is still one of the fastest growing companies in the world? Could it be 'cause they have constantly outperformed expectation from Wall Street? Or could it be 'cause not many people fully understand all of the strengths that Google has to offer us?
Google has so many tools and gadgets and widgets that not many people understand everything that it can do to making your computer experience that much better and that much faster and easier to work with! Oh, and if you have already downloaded the google toolbar (http://www.desktop.google.com/), these short exercises can be that much easier to work with. Here are my top 10 trick and tips on making google that much easier to work with.
DID YOU KNOW:
In the search bar, you just have to go and type in the stock ticker for any company you want and the result will show you where it is trading at? Type in msft
If you type in the word DEFINE right before a word, the result will show you the meaning of the word? Type in DEFINE egg
Type in local.google.com and configure this so it knows where to default your local connection and from there, you can find restaurants, time that they are open and closed, tool shops, you name it. Instead of scouring the world for a computer repair company, you will show results only in the area you are at. (Or you can just call us at 949-6888!)
Type in the word WEATHER and then a city or zipcode and the results page will show you the weather for the next couple of days to where you are looking at. So WEATHER Taipei Taiwan will tell me if Sherman is wearing a rain coat or a Bathing Ape hoody in Taipei!
Track flights on the airlines! Type in the airline code and flight number and there you have it! Type in UA83 and it tell me what time to expect the United Airlines Flight coming in from Los Angeles and even lets me know if my friend Dave’s flight is coming in on time or not!
Track USPS, FEDEX or UPS packages! Just go right in and type in the tracking number and you should get an up to the minute update on whats going on as well and see if our vendors are on time with computer components for our stores!
Find it by file type! Did you know that you can look up something and ask for only a specific file type? So if you are looking for a operating manual for a wagner power sprayer, type in wagner power sprayer filetype:pdf. Since most manuals will be in pdf format, there you go, the results should be right there.
Calculate it! Did you know that right there in the search bar, you can put in mathematical equations and get a quick result? So in case you forgot what 1+1 equals, go ahead!
Convert it! I was always curious when my girlfriend would say she is 167cm tall. What the? So I just type in 167cm in inches and the results show me that she is 65 inches tall! Wish I didn’t do that…
Movies! If you type in movie: wolverine Honolulu, it will give you show times and theatres for all movies in Honolulu showing Wolverine (which ironically is the mascot of my alma mater as well! GO BLUE!)
These tips are just for what the google search engine can do for you! Now if you ever look around on google, you will notice that you can ask for results on just maps, images, news, video etc. So if I ever want to find just images on Cowabunga! Computers, then I type in cowabunga computers and click the top left where it says images. Or if I am looking for the location, then I click the MAPS area and see the results for our two locations.
Besides the searches and the obvious power behind those, google also offers a whole bunch of other things to making the internet actually fun. They offer many products and sometimes, it can be very helpful too!
Google earth – I use this a lot when I think of new fishing locations and want to see where the right of way ocean access is to a beach and check out where the sand channels are too!
http://www.earth.google.com/Google desktop – I use this since I always forget where certain files could be. This helps me look for photos or documents or spreadsheets I have somewhere in my computer!
http://www.desktop.google.com/Google Chrome – this is the latest entry into the world of the internet browser and I love it! Its fast, simple to use and actually much more stable then Internet Explorer at times. People raved about Mozilla and other browsers but this might have set the bar! Cannot be all wrong since IE 8.0 looks awful like this!
www.google.com/chrome Google Picasa – this is by far one of the better photo editors I have seen that is free. This is kind of cool and even has emulation to make it look like you are using a MAC!
http://www.picasa.google.com/
For a complete list of everything that google has got to offer, go check out this website. http://www.google.com/ /options its pretty awesome and full of a lot of options for you!
