| ndahbar |
Check this out:
"Type an airline flight number into Google and you'll get its status, thanks to numeric abilities that the company has added to its search engine. The changes don't stop there: try a phone number, UPC code, tracking number, patent number, FAA airline registration or a car's VIN number. Web surfers can even use the online tool as a calculator." |
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| Robyjo |
| But wait--there's more... |
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| HARDROCK |
| Just found my "unlisted" telephone number is published on the web. It came off a public document from when I ran for an elected office a couple of years ago. So it seems now if someone only knows my telephone number, they can find my name and address. Big Brother has arrived :( |
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| msu79gt82 |
| ... but not my cell phone number, thank goodness - that is scary, a simple way to get name and address from number.:3: |
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| ndahbar |
quote:
Originally posted by Robyjo
But wait--there's more...
LOL yeah I knew about this a couple of months ago. Heheh. That is the power of BLOGS, if you are familiar with them. I actually run my own blog. Fun stuff when you wanna goof around. |
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| Robyjo |
quote:
Originally posted by ndahbar
I actually run my own blog. Fun stuff when you wanna goof around.
Cool! Give us the link, if you don't mind... |
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| zafer |
quote:
Originally posted by Robyjo
But wait--there's more...
...and there is also weapons of mass destruction, type it in the field and click I'm feeling lucky :D |
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| zafer |
Breaking News....
59,900,000 Search Results Evidence of Deity, Experts Agree
In the most conclusive evidence of a Supreme Being ever discovered, a Google search of God has proved once and for all that He exists, theologians agreed today.
To those doubters out there who still dont believe that God exists, I have just one piece of advice: Google Him, said Dr. George Darlington of the University of Minnesota Divinity School.
The Google search of God turned up over 59 million websites featuring Him, a number that theological scholars around the world said makes Gods existence an open and shut case.
The stunning discovery, expected to wipe out atheism worldwide, was made entirely by accident by Jason Blivens, 22, a video-store clerk in Tacoma, Washington.
Speaking to reporters today at his home, Mr. Blivens said he meant to do a Google search of the word bod but accidentally typed the letter g instead of b.
As soon as those search results came up, I immediately alerted the authorities, Mr. Blivens said. I knew this was something big.
In contrast with the 59 million sites found for God, a Google for Satan turned up only 3 million sites, suggesting that God is much more powerful than Satan, as theologians have long argued.
But in a finding that some scholars called worrisome, Paris Hilton turned up on over 3.5 million sites, indicating that the hotel heiress has actually eclipsed the Lord of Darkness as a force for evil.
In a positive development, however, good received 178 million search results while evil snagged only 17 million, 16 million of those stemming from foreign policy speeches by President George W. Bush. |
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| hockeyplayer |
| GOOGLE RULES!!!! NUFF SAID!!!! |
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| ndahbar |
| BTW you'd be surprised how many smart people such companies as Google hire. Top-notch mathematicians and stuff. |
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| msu79gt82 |
| The link dvilla posted above tells how you can remove your phone number from Google's directory; its at the bottom of the article. |
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| Lrpba300 |
| You also can go to google, go to setup (or preferences..can't remember for sure) and you can have your number removed from searches for it through them. |
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| zafer |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6283664...isplaymode/1098
Independent journalist not connected to coalition
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:21 p.m. ET Oct. 19, 2004
SYDNEY, Australia - Iraqi militants who kidnapped an Australian reporter in Baghdad and threatened to kill him investigated his work on Google before deciding to release him unharmed, the journalistâs executive producer said Tuesday.
The reporter, John Martinkus, the first Australian confirmed as having been abducted in Iraq, was seized in Baghdad early Saturday and held for about 24 hours before being freed.
Returning home Tuesday, Martinkus demanded an apology from Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who had said the journalist was abducted when he went to a Baghdad neighborhood that he was warned not to visit. âHe was advised not to go to, but he went there anyway,â Downer said on Melbourne radio station 3AW.
âAlexander Downer doesnât know his geography very well,â Martinkus told reporters after arriving at Sydneyâs airport. âI was actually across the road from the Australian Embassy when I was kidnapped. He should apologize to me, actually â personally.â
Martinkusâ executive producer at Australiaâs SBS network, Mike Carey, said the Internet â often used by Iraqi militants to air grisly images of hostages being beheaded â likely saved Martinkus.
âThey checked on him to see if he was who he said he was,â Carey told The Associated Press. âThey Googled him and then went onto a Web site â either his own or his book publisherâs Web site, I donât know which one â and saw that he was who he was, and that was instrumental in letting him go, I think, or swinging their decision.â
Veteran of war coverage
Martinkus, a freelance reporter who also has covered turmoil in East Timor at the time of its 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia, has written books on subjects including Jakartaâs actions in East Timor and on life in Iraq since President Saddam Husseinâs ouster.
Carey said the Sydney-based SBS network had been worried for Martinkusâ safety after failing to hear from him for almost a day but was only sure that he had been kidnapped after his release.
âIt was just getting to the stage where we were getting really panic-stricken,â he said. âAnd I got a call from John saying, âMate, Iâm at my fixerâs house â theyâve dropped us at the fixerâs house. Iâve been kidnapped, but Iâm free.ââ
âFixersâ are local helpers employed by journalists as translators and drivers to help get them around.
Martinkus said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. from Jordan that he was snatched at gunpoint from outside a hotel close to the Australian Embassy in Baghdad by insurgents who he said were Sunni Muslims.
He said they initially threatened to kill him before checking on his background.
âI canât say very much, but ... of course they said they were going to kill me,â Martinkus said.
He said he was treated well once he told his kidnappers that he was an independent reporter not linked to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
âI told them what I was doing [and] I wasnât armed,â he said.
Asked how he coped with the situation, Martinkus said: âI just kept talking.â
Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, sent 2,000 troops to invade Iraq last year and still has 920 military personnel in and around the country. No Australian soldiers have been killed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6283664/ |
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| cardingtr |
On your cell phone, sent a text message to 46645 (GOOGL) of any search word.
Example: 90210 Starbucks - will list Starbuck phone and address on that zipcode.
or 90210 pizza
or name, last name, zipcode (or area code, city, state)
or phone number, state
To search Froogle..
Put F before your search terms.
Ex.: F dual layer DVD prices
Try it:4: |
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| nightguy |
Review: Google Desktop not perfect
Matthew Fordahl, Associated Press
If you want to find a needle of information in the seemingly endless haystack that is the Web, just punch a few words into your favorite Internet search engine. But if you want to pull up a file from your PC's hard drive, good luck.
Microsoft isn't much help. Enter keywords into Windows' built-in search utility and you'll have to wait ... and wait ... and wait ... while your hard drive is scoured and an annoying animated dog sniffs around.
Or, you could just remember where you saved all your files.
Personal search has been a virtual nightmare since PCs started shipping with voluminous hard drives. The problem has inspired several startups, and now big companies like Google Inc. are jumping in.
The good news is there's a lot to fill the void left by Windows' built-in search.
I sampled a handful of tools and found that most saved me considerable time. By creating and regularly updating fast databases known as indexes, these products can quickly retrieve files and e-mails in a few seconds or less.
Google, the Web search leader, is the most recent entrant to the field.
Google Desktop Search is a small, free download, yet it's fast, reliable and slickly integrated with the company's Internet search engine. You download a 400-kilobyte file, install it and wait for it to go index the drive.
Indexing only occurs when the PC is idle for more than 30 seconds, so there's no noticeable impact on performance.
Searches are extremely fast - often a fraction of a second. And it doesn't just search file names but also content in files including Microsoft Office, simple text files, Outlook e-mail and AOL instant messages.
The program also integrates seamlessly with the main Google search page, provided that option is enabled. Local results are returned on top, with findings from the Web below it.
I found the e-mail results to be particularly useful. Instead of opening up a new Outlook window, the messages are displayed in the Internet browser with links to reply, forward or view in Outlook. It's very convenient.
Desktop Search also takes a snapshot of Web pages you've viewed in Internet Explorer. This is useful if you're looking for information on a page that might have already changed on the Web. It's like having an Internet archive on your PC.
But it also raises some privacy concerns since it has no problem remembering the content of Hotmail e-mail. Oddly, the contents of Google's own e-mail service, Gmail, aren't saved.
Still, after nearly a week of using Desktop Search, my biggest complaint has been with the limits of what's indexed and searchable.
Users with multiple drives will be disappointed that Google Desktop Search only indexes the primary ``C'' drive. There's no way to change the setting. It also doesn't index the entire drive.
Most troubling was that searches for music ripped using Apple's iTunes jukebox software came up empty. This was likely due to it being in a format not currently recognized by Google. At the very least, it should be able to search on the filename.
Google promises to broaden the tool's scope. Until then, you'll have to keep searching for the most complete search utility.
Not surprisingly, the most robust search utilities cost money.
X1, from the startup X1 Technologies Inc., is not just fast and accurate but offers considerable control over what's indexed on a PC. It does not, however, track your Web history or pull up instant messages that haven't been saved.
After indexing is complete, the program runs in its own window, which can be set to automatically hide. A variety of searches are possible, each activated by clicking tabs marked ``E-Mail,'' ``Attachment,'' ``Contacts,'' or ``Files.'' Keywords are then entered into a text box.
As the words are being typed in, the results narrow before your eyes in one pane. Once an item is selected, its contents - with the keywords highlighted - appear in another pane. If it's an MP3 or other supported media file, it can be played within X1.
There are more options, including clearing the index entirely with one click and setting a time for indexing to occur. Searches also can be saved for quick callback.
X1 is available as a free tryout for 15 days. If you get addicted, it's $99 to keep.
Another startup, Viapoint Corp., goes a step further. Not only is it a search utility, it also categorizes as it indexes - something that allows for quick, logical browsing that's much more intuitive than keeping information in random folders.
If you want to see all e-mails or files from yesterday, just click on ``yesterday'' and they show up. There's a text box for narrowing the search in case you had a particularly busy day.
If you are looking for a specific type of file, just click on ``Types,'' which presents a several subcategories including audio, Internet, zipped or Office files. Each can then be searched through the text box.
Viapoint also compiles a list of companies from the PC's contents. Click on a company name, and it lists all contacts, e-mail addresses and any messages or files received from the firm.
It wasn't entirely foolproof. For some reason, it didn't find ``AP'' or ``The Associated Press'' on my drive. But it had no problem with ``Cisco,'' ``Intel'' and ``Yahoo.'' Another caveat: it's not as quick as other, less feature-rich search programs.
The software is available as a 14-day free trial. After that, it's $29 a year or $49 for a perpetual license. It stops working when the subscription lapses.
If you're like me and spend an insane amount of time searching for information, thereby cutting into your productivity, that's money well spent. |
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