Google timesaver
I’m probably behind the curve here, but I just learned a cool trick using the Google search bar in Firefox 2.0. You can put in simple (and some not-so-simple) equations and get the answer as a “suggestion” without ever having to navigate to the full-on Google search. Super cool! I use Google as a quick calculator all the time, and now it’s even easier. Just type the equation into the search bar and the answer pops right up.
This same trick works with conversions. For instance, you can type ‘1 cup to teaspoons’ and the “suggestion” shows ‘48 US teaspoons.’ You can also get distance, volume, temperature and other conversions without having to move away from the search bar. Currency conversions, which aren’t timeless, seem to be the exception.
My other frequently used Google trick (which does not work with the search bar suggestions) is to get definitions of words. Works pretty good most of the time. Try typing something like ‘define:ersatz’. You’ll get a handful of definitions from around the web.
You can also add a dictionary.com search engine to the FF 2.0 search bar and get definitions directly that way. The way FF 2.0 lets you add different search engines is great. For example it makes it easy to compare the same term in Google, Yahoo, and MSN all with one mouse click.
Do you already know what your are looking for is in Wikipedia, or the Internet Movie Data Base? Just a click of the mouse and you can be searching there instead of getting noise from the whole web. Good stuff.
That is so cool! You learn something new everyday.
One question? How do you do the temperature conversion? I am having a brain cramp.
Good tips, thanks, Chris!
Evel: just put something like, “35 celcius to kelvin”
If you use the Opera browser (www.opera.com), right clicking in any text area will pop up the default search feature or a dictionary (ask.com) as a selection.
They also provide browser command line searches with the engine of choice (configurable). I enter “g search term” in and get Google. Enter “a search term” to get Answer.com, e for Ebay, I added m to get msn.com. Simply right click in any engines’ search “box” and look for the “create search” selection and it creates one for you and you provide the character of choice.
A blazingly fast and better browser and completely W3 compliant (sorry, no “active X” proprietary stuff. RSS standard, too!