Tips, tricks, and thoughts about Google, AdWords, Google Cloud Platform, and all its subsidiaries. Not affiliated with or sponsored by Google.
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Desi Arnaz, best known as playing Ricky Ricardo in the TV show I Love Lucy. Here’s how the Google page looked like with the doodle:
The doodle itself:
Clicking on the doodle links you to a search for Desi Arnaz:
Clicking on the link to explore the life of Desi Arnaz brings you to a Google Arts & Culture article:
Sometimes, a researcher needs to find something else other than a web page. News releases and raw data are often published for release as PDF files. Microsoft Powerpoint files (.PPTX) are often used to outline new company initiatives. Microsoft Word files (.DOCX) are shared while text is being edited/approved/discussed.
To find these files, the filetype: operator (or its alias, the ext: operator) can be used. For example, if I need to find official releases of employment data, a possible search would be one of the below:
employment data filetype:pdf
employment data ext:pdf
As you can note from the red boxes above, all the results are of .PDF files – as the search query asked for.
Google search is not just a great search engine, but also a great library of utility functions. An example of this is the define: operator.
The define: operator acts as a dictionary: it lets you ask for the definition of a word. For example, searching for the below text gives me the definition of this strange word:
define:defenestration
If you have a phrase you need to look up, feel free to throw it in as well. I wonder what this phrase means…
define:trip the light fantastic
I often use this function to look up domain-specific words, such as words used only in the legal or technology fields, and I’ve always found useful, intelligent definitions.
Perhaps the most known and used operator is the site: operator, which limits a search to a single site. For example, if I wanted to find all Disney related pages on Twitter, I might search for (remember, no spaces between site: and the site you’re searching):
disney site:twitter.com
As you can see, all the results are on twitter.com.
This operator is really useful on large sites that have poor search functionality – for example, searching Javadocs or social media sites such as Reddit.
Is your bookmark leading to an empty webpage? Did that link you found on a forum post dated 5 years ago no longer work? Perhaps you need some information from a site and it’s currently down for maintenance?
Fortunately, Google has you covered. The cache: operator shows you the given web page as Google saw it before. Using it is easy: type in cache: and then the URL you need to see. Make sure there is no space between cache: and the address.
As an example, see below:
cache:reddit.com
After you hit the search button, you’ll get something similar to this:
On some occasions, Google won’t be able to find a cached page, and you’ll see an image similar to the below:
In these cases, it’s time to pop over to archive.org and use the Wayback Machine: put the URL you want into the Wayback Machine prompt:
You’ll see options to select a year and a specific date: Click the blue circled dates to see the web page as it was on that date.
The Wayback Machine is useful for seeing historical snapshots of web pages as well, and seeing how web pages change through time.
Bret Taylor, a co-creator of Google Maps, recounted how Google Maps Satellite Mode was almost called Bird Mode. See a screenshot of the story below:
Read the HN discussion on this story here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19235017 .
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 57th birthday of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, who was a famous wildlife conservationist, zookeeper, and TV personality.
This is what the Google homepage looked like with the doodle:
Clicking on it goes to a slideshow showcasing many aspects of Steve Irwin’s life.
Many other organizations are also taking the opportunity of celebrating Steve’s life, such as Animal Planet on Twitter:
Do you need to transfer text/music/pictures from your desktop/laptop PC to your iPhone? Do you need these files available to look/listen to even when your iPhone can’t get a signal?
I frequently need to transfer audio files/music from my laptop and listen to them on my iPhone, even in areas that don’t have cell reception. Fortunately, Google Drive offers the ability to mark files as available offline – to download the files to the iPhone’s local memory so they’re available at all times.
To do this, first use your PC to upload files to Google Drive. Then on the iPhone, open up the Google Drive app, find the audio file, and click on the three period symbol (inside the purple box) below:
A context menu will pop up below:
Use your finger to pull the menu up (towards the top of your phone). You’ll see the full menu. Where it says Available Offline, pull the switch to the right until you see blue.
You’re done! A prompt should show up, where Drive acknowledges the offline request:
To make sure the file is fully downloaded, leave the Google Drive app open a moment before you close it out.