Nov 0818
As if it weren’t enough that Google catalogs the Web, tracks traffic to our site, and helps us get from point A to point B, a new service from Google claims to be an early warning system for outbreaks of the flu.
Google flu trends, a service from Google.org, the search giant’s philanthropic arm, analyzes search terms that are related to the flu and creates maps of the US that presumably show where there are outbreaks of the flu. So, if I type “flu symptoms” into my browser, Google will take my search terms and my IP address, and interpret that someone in VA has the flu. In typical Google fashion, typing in the words flu symptoms, aches and pains, chest congestion and other terms will register in Google flu trends because the analysis has shown that these search terms tend to go together and they are indeed related to the flu. Read the rest of this entry
Oct 0828
Whitney Houston sings “Where do broken hearts go?” Me, I have often wondered what becomes of broken or lost Web pages — you know, the URLs that used to work but now display a 404 or file not found error. Are these pages deleted from the servers? Or have they just been unlinked? And what do I do if I really need the information and it’s now gone?
You’ll be glad to know that there is a whole movement devoted to changing the content of the Internet from ephemera to artifacts. Internet libraries are springing up everywhere to catalog and preserve Web pages, images, even audio and video files.
The largest (I think) Internet Library is the Internet Archive, a “nonprofit organization dedicated to building and maintaining a free and openly accessible online digital library, including an archive of Web.” The archive is a collection of snapshots of Web pages from the around the world, taken at various points in time. Read the rest of this entry
Oct 0807
In 28 days, we Americans get to vote for a new President. On the one hand, I have been glued to the TV during both conventions and the debates, and I’m reading everything I can about the candidates and their platforms. On the other hand, I’m completely sick of the politics, the inflated promises, and the false statements. Since I’m a bit of a political junkie, I have been scouring the Web for some of the most informative and innovative resources on the election. Here are some of my favorite sites:
My Election Decision is aimed that the coveted undecided voters. You take a quiz and the system tells who your candidate should be.
I think the New York Times has the best election coverage of any of the major news outlets.
The Washington Post and CNN also have a good election centers.
Google has created a series of Google maps that chart the timeline of both candidates’ lives, map Twitter posts about the election, and show where the candidates are on the campaign trail. Be sure to reload this page a couple of times to see all of the possible maps. Read the rest of this entry
Aug 0819
Last week, I needed to convert miles to kilometers. A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to find a sushi restaurant in Alexandria. In both cases, I turned to Google.
We normally think of Google as a really terrific search engine where you type in a keyword or phrase and get results, but here are my favorite tips for getting the most out of your Google searching:
- You can use Google as a calculator; simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box. Example: 5*9+(sqrt 10)^3=
- If you want the status of a flight, enter the airline and flight number. Example: American 2182
- If your caller ID is showing an area code you don’t recognize, just type it into Google. Example: 415
- Want to know how your favorite stock is doing? Type the ticker into Google. Example: MSFT
- Come across a word you don’t know? Type define before the word. Example: define obsequious
- If you’re mobile and need information, simply text message your search query to 466453 (Google on most devices)
- Looking for a the closest Chinese restaurant, go to maps.google.com and type the address + Chinese (or pizza or Italian or hardware store). Example: 1033 N.Fairfax Street Alexandria, VA 22314 pizza
Finally, if you want to know what Google knows about your Web site, try these: Read the rest of this entry
Jul 0831
Amazon.com is really lucky that Google.com indexes its content and then adds the fabulous Google search algorithms to searches. In order to find something on Amazon.com, I had to find it on Google.com.
My son begged me to purchase software based on the Dr. Seuss ABC Book. We had previously seen the program at the Apple Store. Even though I have a Mac at home, CJ’s computer is a PC and I wanted the PC version for him.
- So I went to Amazon.com and typed “dr. Seuss alphabet software.” I got nothing. I tried “dr. seuss alphabet” and didn’t get any software.
- I should have typed “dr. seuss ABC software” but somehow, I had alphabet on the brain. It was late and my normally decent searching skills were not kicking in.
- So I went to Google.com and typed “dr. Seuss alphabet software” and yes, you guessed it, Google found the product I wanted on Amazon.com; it was the second link.
- Google’s legendary search algorithms did it again. Alphabet got equated to ABC and I got what I needed. I bet I’m not the only person who has gone to Google.com to find the content on another site. If I wanted to, I could have asked Google to search for “dr. Seuss alphabet software” on the Amazon.com site by typing “dr. Seuss alphabet software site:amazon.com.”
Lesson for all of us who build Web sites: make sure your site is visible to Google and other Internet search engines (more on that topic in another post).
Jul 0825
A while back, I signed up for several Google Alerts. Google Alerts is a free service that alerts you when your choice of keywords or phrases shows up on news pages, the Web, blogs, videos, and Google group searches.
Google recommends setting up Google Alerts to:
- monitor a developing news story
- keep current on a competitor or industry
- track medical advances
- get the latest on a celebrity or sports team (yeah, we all need more news about Britney)
- watch for new videos that match a specific topic
Me, I set up Google Alerts for my name (Joanna Pineda) and my company name (Matrix Group International, Inc.). I had to experiment with using ” ” to get the right alerts; otherwise, I was getting a lot of false alerts on news items with the word matrix.
Read the rest of this entry
