Most people are familiar with Google. Google contains multitudes; with Google, it is possible to search the Web, you can download Google to your desktop and search your computer with it, you can choose to use the I’m Feeling Lucky search on Google’s home page to go directly to the top result, and you can search news, shopping and images on Google as well. If you’re like me, you use Google an average of 5 times a day, not counting email or blog access. Wired offers some excellent tips on their how-tow Wiki at wired.com such as narrowing your search by file type or searching ranges with two periods.
With searching being a hot topic, it’s no surprise that there are other tools to search with. Ask.com offers an option to search with an “eraser” on, meaning that your search will not be saved anywhere, allowing you to search with anonymity. This could help if you are looking for a gift for your room-mate who shares your computer, or could be used for more nefarious purposes.
Sites like del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon allow you to tag web sites and search through other users’ tags. Some Web sites, especially those trying to be 2.0 compatible, have their own searches. Twitter allows you to search their Web site. The Creative Commons Web site allows you to search through their portal for images, or other media that are tagged with the Creative Commons permissions.
My favorite new search tool is Midomi, where you can search for a song by humming the tune into a microphone. At Midomi.com you can sing, hum, or whistle a tune or words, or you can go old-fashioned and type a search, to find that song you’ve been ba-ba-ba-ing for the last day and a half. You can then hear the song either by the artist, or by users who have contributed to the database. I hear it works great on an iPhone, but I can say for certain it’s the most innovative search I’ve used on my computer since I started using Google image search.
Innovative Search: search with and without words
31 10 2008By Ramona Broussard
Most people are familiar with Google. Google contains multitudes; with Google, it is possible to search the Web, you can download Google to your desktop and search your computer with it, you can choose to use the I’m Feeling Lucky search on Google’s home page to go directly to the top result, and you can search news, shopping and images on Google as well. If you’re like me, you use Google an average of 5 times a day, not counting email or blog access. Wired offers some excellent tips on their how-tow Wiki at wired.com such as narrowing your search by file type or searching ranges with two periods.
With searching being a hot topic, it’s no surprise that there are other tools to search with. Ask.com offers an option to search with an “eraser” on, meaning that your search will not be saved anywhere, allowing you to search with anonymity. This could help if you are looking for a gift for your room-mate who shares your computer, or could be used for more nefarious purposes.
Sites like del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon allow you to tag web sites and search through other users’ tags. Some Web sites, especially those trying to be 2.0 compatible, have their own searches. Twitter allows you to search their Web site. The Creative Commons Web site allows you to search through their portal for images, or other media that are tagged with the Creative Commons permissions.
My favorite new search tool is Midomi, where you can search for a song by humming the tune into a microphone. At Midomi.com you can sing, hum, or whistle a tune or words, or you can go old-fashioned and type a search, to find that song you’ve been ba-ba-ba-ing for the last day and a half. You can then hear the song either by the artist, or by users who have contributed to the database. I hear it works great on an iPhone, but I can say for certain it’s the most innovative search I’ve used on my computer since I started using Google image search.
Contributed by R. Broussard.