Specialized Google and bing searches which yield “instant” answers. Pretty neat.

from JoeUser Forums

 

Was casting about for something which might help folks, when I ran across this in “How To Geek”. I compared Google with bing and ran into no differences, but I didn't test all the searches in the paragraph detailing them in Google.

Turns out Google and bing have these instant answer things built in, and there will be times when they will help. Guaranteed. For instance, I was talking with my son on fb, and he asked me about the weather here (he’s in Tel Aviv). I got the weather here and there and made him smile. He’s a serious computer flogger – manages databases. He knew more about computers when he was 10 than I know now, and that I’m ever likely to know. TMI. OK. But…I made him smile.

If you’re only going to make an anger/paranoia filled reply about how Google wants to take over the world through helping you convert Celsius to Fahrenheit or dollars to new shekels, please don’t. We’ve heard it.

On the other hand, if you have found another “instant answer” please add it.

Remember…the goal is to help your fellow Community members.

Here’s the article:  http://www.howtogeek.com/125101/14-special-google-searches-that-show-instant-answers/

The instant answers cover weather, unit and currency conversions, an instant calculator, your IP address, sunrise and sunset times, times in different cities (countries, etc.), package tracking, dictionary definitions, flight tracking and flight schedules, movie schedules/locations, data (like population of Los Angeles), stock info.

There are probably more…have you found any?

29,332 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Nice! Thanks!

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Nice find, a real timesaver. Thanks Doc! :thumbsup:

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

try all searches and you'll find out that Google is mor capable than Bing 

the article misses a big one. try "spell football in spanish"

Google also will display the latest results if you enter a team's name. depends likely on your locale. i get no results for American sports, but German football teams work.

another search engine with instant answers is duckduckgo.com

shameless plug: i built a Rainmeter skin myself that uses a multitude of apis for instant answers. http://moshiab.deviantart.com/art/Sphynx-367551856

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting moshi, reply 4
"spell football in spanish"
End of moshi's quote
= "Soccer" ...;)

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting moshi, reply 4
another search engine with instant answers is duckduckgo.com
End of moshi's quote

This might even be superior due to lack of tracking, but many don't know of it, unfortunately.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

well, if privacy is a main concern DuckDuckGo or FAROO should be your first choice for search engines.

i wouldn't call their results superior to Google though. Google has a massive  lead on semantic search over it's competitors. even a fascinating technology like Siri looks like smoke and mirrors compared to it.

the only competitor i see challenging them in terms of instant results is Yandex which is very innovative recently. their current beta is worth a look http://beta.yandex.com/ . privacy related it's a nightmare to be able to make doctors appointments or flight check-ins directly via the search engine, so you have to search for Swiss chronometers or Yachts every now and then to get a good score ;)

anyways the future is happening right now. fascinates me.

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting moshi, reply 8
i wouldn't call their results superior to Google though.
End of moshi's quote

Quoting DrJBHL, reply 7
might even be superior due to lack of tracking
End of DrJBHL's quote

Not taking about the search results per se. Not even sure of how to equate them.

The article was only a "Hey, this exists and might help you sometime if you remember."

 

 

Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hm. I'd bumped into some of these before, but didn't know they were all part of a set. The "data" function looks especially interesting... I wonder what all is inside it?