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Use Google as Your Phonebook - Let Your Keyboard Do the Walking

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:53:12 +0000

Google’s phonebook can find US public business and residential numbers, and it can find them with less information than you need to look through the paper phonebook.Google’s phonebook is hiding within http://www.google.com. Occasionally, phone numbers will appear in the search results page, depending on the keywords you type into the search box.

Example:

phonebook: Disney CA
(Search for Disney’s phone numbers in California - CA.)

To access the phonebook directly, type phonebook: before your search. This opens up Google’s residential phonebook.

You can find someone’s phone number, but you do have to give Google a little information. For personal numbers, you generally need at least a last name and a state. To find all the Smiths in Alaska, for example, type phonebook: smith ak. That’s a lot of Smiths, and probably not very useful to find a specific Smith. If you know more information, such as the city you’re looking for or the full name, type that in, too.

Limitations

Google’s phonebook can only find public phone numbers. It can’t find cell numbers. Quite often the numbers are outdated. I found two outdated phone numbers for a relative of mine, and his current phone number wasn’t listed at all, even though it is public.

Reverse Lookup

Say you have a phone number and you want to find out who’s number it is, such as from a message left on your cell phone. To do a reverse lookup, simply type the phone number into the main Google search engine, including the area code. Type using the format 555-555-5555 for best results. Google will still find the phone number if you use parenthesis around the area code, but you may also find some irrelevant results.

Remember, Google’s phonebook doesn’t contain any cell phone data.

Find Business Phone Numbers

Business phone numbers appear within Google search results, but they aren’t as easy to access from the phonebook.

How to Use Google as a Dictionary - Unlock Google’s Hidden Dictionary

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:51:40 +0000

You may notice occasionally when you’re searching for a word, Google will offer a link to Web definitions of your word. This is part of Google’s hidden dictionary, a search of definitions on the Web.

Say you’d like to find out what a “clew” is. You could search for define clew, and most of the search results would have some sort of definition. However, this is really just a keyword search, so some of the results might be long articles on clews or only mention the definition in passing.

Example:

define monopsony, what is podcast
(Show a definition for the words monopsony and podcast. Note: No colon after define, what is, or what are.)

Define: Your Terms

If you’re really only interested in finding a quick dictionary style definition of clew, use the syntax define:. The search in this case would be define: clew. From that search, we can instantly see that a clew is the lower corner of a boat sail.

The information is coming from a variety of dictionary related Web sites, and there’s a link to the full entry for each Web site. Google also provides links to related searches, such as “clew bay.”

What If You Can’t Spell?

If you aren’t the best speller or you make a typo, don’t worry. Google will still suggest an alternate search, just as it does for regular Web searches. If we type in define: cliw, Google helpfully asks “Did you mean: define: clew.”

How to Use Google’s Hidden Calculator - Calculate, Measure, Convert, and More

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:38:36 +0000

Not only can you search the Web with Google, you can use it as a calculator. Google’s calculator is more than an ordinary number cruncher. It can calculate both basic and advanced math problems, and it can convert measurements as it calculates. You don’t even need to restrict yourself to numbers. Google can understand many words and abbreviations and evaluate those expressions, too.

Some examples

*+ – /**	basic arithmetic	*12 + 34 - 56 7 / 8**
% of	percentage of	45% of 39
^ or **	raise to a power	2^5 or 25**
the nth root of	nth root	4th root of 16
old units in new units	convert units	300 Euros in USD, 130 lbs in kg, or 31 in hex

Google’s calculator was designed to solve problems without a lot of math syntax, so you may occasionally find calculator results when you didn’t even realize you were searching for the answer to a math equation.

To use Google’s calculator, simply type in whatever you’d like to be calculated in the search box above. For instance, you could type:

3+3

and Google will return the result 3+3=6. You can also type in words and get results. Type in

three plus three

and Google will return the result three plus three=six.You know your results are from Google’s calculator when you see the picture of the calculator to the left of the result.

Complex Math

Google can calculate more complex problems such as two to the twentieth power,

2^20

the square root of 287,

sqrt(2870

or the sine of 30 degrees.

sine(30 degrees)

You can even find the number of possible groups in a set. For instance,

24 choose 7

finds the number of possible choices of 7 items from a group of 24 items.

Convert and Measure

Google can calculate and convert many common measurements, so you could find out how many ounces are in a cup.

oz in a cup

Google’s results reveal that 1 US cup = 8 US fluid ounces. You can use this to convert just about any measurement to any other compatible measurement.

12 parsecs in feet

37 degrees kelvin in Fahrenheit

You can also calculate and convert in one step. Find out how many ounces you have when you have 28 times two cups.

28*2 cups in oz

Google says that 28 * 2 US cups = 448 US fluid ounces. Remember, because this is a computer based calculator, you must multiply with the * symbol, not an X.Google recognizes most common measurements, including weight, distance, time, mass, energy, and monetary currency.

Math Syntax

Google’s calculator is designed to calculate problems without a lot of complicated math formatting, but sometimes it’s easier and more accurate to use some math syntax. For instance, if you want to evaluate an equation that looks like a phone number,

1-555-555-1234

Google will probably confuse this with its hidden phonebook. You can force Google to evaluate an expression by using an equal sign.

1-555-555-1234=

This only works for problems that are mathematically possible to resolve. You can’t divide by zero with or without an equal sign.You can force parts of an equation to be resolved before other parts by enclosing them in parenthesis.

(3+5)*9

Some other math syntax Google recognizes:

+ for addition
- for subtraction
* for multiplication
/ for division
^ for exponential (x to the power of y)
% for modulo (to find the remainder after division)
choose X choose Y fines the number of possible subset groups of Y out of the set of X.
th root of creates the nth root of a number
% of finds percentages X % of Y finds X percent of Y.
sqrt finds the square root of the number that follows
ln logarithm base e
log logarithm base 10
lg logarithm base 2
! factorial - This must follow the number you wish to factor.

Google’s calculator isn’t completely documented, so it may take some experimenting to find all of the hidden features.

The next time you find yourself wondering how much five liters is in gallons, rather than searching for a Web site for conversion, just use Google’s hidden calculator.