So what else can Google do?
Google knows everything. Anything that Google doesn't know, it isn't worth knowing. If you think what I just said is over-thetop-effusiveness, try this. Type “What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?” (without the quotes) into Google's search box. In under a second, the search engine will tell you that the answer is 42. If you need corroboration, put the question to an astronomer. Without blinking an eyelid, he'll tell you, it is 42. Why? Because they computed the weight of the milky way-the galaxy we live in-as three times 10 to the power of 42 kilograms; a number written as 3 followed by 42 zeroes.
If further corroboration is needed, flip through Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In the book, a hyper-intelligent race creates a fabulous computer, Deep Thought, to calculate the ultimate answer to the ultimate question. After seven and a half million years of pondering the question, Deep Thought provides the answer: 42. “I checked it very thoroughly,” says the computer, “and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is.” Deep, indeed! But it also
throws up a very prosaic question. What else can Google do? A lot!!
Play voyeur
To start playing voyeur, type inurl:/view/ index.shtml into the search bar. The outcome is a listing of every webcam, across the world, that is connected the internet right now. These cams belong to everybody-from police departments monitoring road traffic to the scenes inside a Japanese beauty salon and exhibitionists simply reading a in their bedroom clad in pyjamas. If you have broadband and are a sucker for reality TV, try this. It doesn't get more real than this.
There are many variations to this command that allow you to progress up the ladder of “wickedness”. For instance, punch inurl:hp/device/this. LCDispatcher and what do you see? A list of printers built by Hewlett Packard, working innocuously someplace in the world. Any idiot, anywhere in the world, can now take control of the device and do anything with it-including cancel a print job that is currently being executed. Printers though are only the tip of the iceberg. An intrepid googler can get usernames, passwords, access to confidential documents, virtually anything.
Calculate, define, travel
Time to get away from wicked stuff to practical stuff. For instance, not sure how many kilos does 180 pounds translate into? Just type 180 pounds to kilos in the search box and Google will tell you it is 81.65 kilos. For that matter, punch Sin 32 and you’ll know in a fraction the answer is 0.55. Not just math, it can convert currencies too. So, keying in 180 USD to INR will tell you that it $180 is Rs 7,275. And if you don’t know what the currency in a country is, Google gets around that problem too by allowing you to get away with simple commands. Like 100 INR in Malaysian money. The answer is 8.54 Malaysian ringgitts.
Done with numbers? How about words? Stumped with what fecund means? Simple. Type define: fecund. You’re told the word means fertile. You’re also told in what context can the word be used-a fecund imagination-for instance. Nice!
And if it is prices of air tickets you are looking for, you really don’t have to go to multiple websites to search. Typing the names of two cities next to each other will throw up more than a few options. So, Mumbai Delhi for instance, will give you a range of options to pick and choose your flight tickets that originate in Mumbai and terminate in
Have Fun
Perhaps, you’re a Star Trek fan and like the Klingon language. Remember what is? The language used by alien creatures in the series, it was created
by Marc Okrand. The basic
sounds of the language was
first devised by “Scotty” for
Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Klingon was subsequently developed by Okrand into a full fledged language. Now, if you’re the kind of bloke who likes the sound of it, you can get Google in Klingon. Simply type XX-Klingon and hit the I’m feeling Lucky button. Everything from Google’s interface to the search results now appear in the language.
If you don’t dig Klingon and would prefer Piglatin instead (a language usually used by kids who don’t want their parents to know what they’re talking about) enter XX-Piglatin into Google and the engine transforms itself into something that recognises this hopelessly cute dialect.
And finally, let me sign out with an utterly delightful and wicked tool. Head to http://www.softpedia.com/prog-Download/Google-Hacks-Download-77580.html and download a free tool. It incorporates complex queries into a simple interface. When installed on your machine, it uses a lot of Google’s capabilities to help you locate some otherwise very elusive material. TNN
No comments:
Post a Comment