MacMost Now 140: Google Search Tricks

Hi this is Gary with Mac Most Now. Today I'm going to show you how to search Google, in a different way. There are lots of cool tricks you can do when searching Google. For instance, my favorite is to actually force Google to search in a certain site. So, if you know the information you want is at a site, but your just not sure where on that site, you can use Google. For instance, if you want to search for ringtones, and you know you want to find it at Mac Most, you do site colon without a space there, the url of the website. So, ringtones space site colon MacMost.com will give you only results from MacMost.com. If there's a website you like and you want to find other websites like it, you can use the related modifier. Just type related, followed by a colon and no space, and immediately, the name of the website. Google will suggest other sites like it. Google also has the ability to limit your search to something local. For Instance, if you want to search for a restaurant, but you only want it to be nearby, just add your US zip code, right after the search term. You'll get local entries. Google also has some interesting functions built right into the search function. For instance, if you type weather space and the name of the city, a cool forecast right at the top of the search results. Another one you can do is use the word define and it will give you definitions for that word. You can also go ahead and type math problems. For instance, and you'll get a calculator right at the top. Ok, here's one that's so useful. So, you need to call somebody, but their not in your time zone. Maybe their even a few time zones away. Your not quite sure what time it is for them and you want to make sure you're not calling them too early or too late. All you need to do is go into a Google search and type time space and the name of the city and you get the exact time, right now. Need to do some conversions? Well, Google knows all. Say for instance, somebody tells you that well, something's 52 kilometers away, type 52 km in miles, and you'll get a conversion to miles right there at the top. And if you like numbers, all you need to do for a stock price is to type the stock symbol at the top and you'll get a quick little Google Financial readout. Sometimes a typical search term just wont do. Instead you want Google to complete a phrase. For instance, you can type if you want to get Albert Einstein quotes, albert Einstein said, and then put and asterisk right after that and you'll get search results that are Albert Einstein said and what he said. There's actually even more than this, and Google's adding more all the time. You can go to a Google features help page to go to see some of these cool search modifiers and some examples of their use. Until next time, this is Gary Rosenzweig with Mac Most Now.