How to better search the web

Google
 
Launched in 1997, this search engine with a minimalist design has grown in a way that a few would have imagined. It is adopted by multiple browsers as the engine for their top search bar and is also used as a homepage by various browsers.

Tips, tricks and easter eggs

1. Search in Klingon - If you're a Star Trek fan, head to https://google.com/intl/xx-klingon to view Google in Star Trek's Klingon language.

2. Search as Elmer Fudd - Looney Tunes fans can view Google in the way Elmer Fudd speaks by visiting https://google.com/intl/xx-elmer.

3. Play Pacman in Google - https://google.com/pacman has a mini version of the game to play.

4. Experimental Google - https://google.com/experimental will show you options to enable keyboard shortcuts for a faster web search.

Yahoo

Although Yahoo has been in the search business since 1994, they have recently entered into a deal with Microsoft for their search engine to be powered by Bing. The transition is expected to be complete sometime during 2012.

Tips, tricks and easter eggs

1. Yahoo Yokel - Open www.yahoo.com (not the Yahoo India site) and click on the exclamation mark in the Yahoo logo on top to hear the Yahoo yokel.

2. Compose email from search box - In the search box type "!mail abc@xyz.com" (where abc@xyz. com is a complete email ID) to directly compose a mail with that email ID in the 'to' field (You need to be signed in to Yahoo for this to work).

3. Search within a website - Yahoo allows you to search within other sites from its search page. Just type "!sitename query" (for example !wiki Vegas).

Bing

Bing has been through its share of transitions right from when it started off as MSN Search in 1999. Over the years it was changed to Windows Live Search and Live Search before Microsoft finally settled on Bing in 2009.

Tips, tricks and easter eggs

1. Get the full version of Bing - The localised version of Bing's search page shows a trimmed down version. Go to www.bing.com/worldwide.aspx and set your language to US-English to see the entire interactive search page.

2. Get search results as RSS feeds - You can subscribe to search results as RSS feeds by adding "&format=rss" to the search results page URL.

3. Results for linked files - You can search a specific site for linked files by adding "contains:filetype" in your query (for eg site: bing.com contains:doc).

Search Engines for Specific Needs

For Music

Use Midomi to discover new music, listen to samples or just sing/hum into your microphone to find the name of a song you've heard before. They also offer free iOS & Android apps. www.midomi.com
Bookmark PicSearch to search for images from all over the web. It offers easy ways to streamline your search plus image dimensions & file size are clearly mentioned upfront. www.picsearch.com

For Videos

Blinkx has over 35 million hours of video stored - all searchable, but you can also view categories, ask it to show you current news, entertain you or create a custom channel. www.blinkx.com

Deep Web Search

Dogpile combines most relevant search results of your query from Google, Yahoo & Bing to deliver results faster. You can even add it to your browser or get a toolbar. www.dogpile.com

Medicine Related

Probably the largest medical resource on the internet, WebMD can check on symptoms, offer food advice, tips on parenting and pregnancy and lists common names for drugs. www.webmd.com

Automatic Search

Wolfram Alpha is not a search engine; it's a computational knowledge engine. Use it for conversions, stats, fact finding or just enter anything that you want to know about in the search box. www.wolframalpha.com

10 Google search tips

Search within a specific site by typing site:www. sitename.com after your search term

Narrow your search results by adding quotation marks before & after the search term

Exclude words from results by adding "-" sign & your word after typing the search term

Words with similar meaning can be found by using the "~" symbol in front of the word

Search for definitions by typing define:yourword into the search box

Calculate anything by typing the query (for example, type 1234 * 5678)

Covert currencies by using the appropriate codes (for example, type 50USD to INR)

Convert between units instantly: For example, type 90cm to inches or 1 lbs to grams

Get weather info for any city: Just type weath

Find specific file types by typing filetype:ppt or filetype:doc
 
  
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