Google Hacks

Google Mastery--Straight from the Experts

The Internet delivers a wealth of information to your fingertips, and all you need to know is how to find it... which is not always as easy as it sounds. In that enormous, shifting mass of data that makes up the Web, some information will be useful and credible, and much of it will miss the mark entirely. Google, with its deceptively simple search form, is your ultimate research tool--a search engine that indexes more than 2.4 billion web pages, in more than 30 languages, conducting more than 150 million searches a day. The more you know about Google, the more adept you'll be at zeroing in on exactly the data you need. You may have a few tricks up your sleeve--tricks you've learned from practice, from sharing ideas with others, and from plain old trial and error. But if you've wanted the sort of mastery you can only get from the experts, you'll find new inspiration (and valuable tools) in "Google Hacks" by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest (O'Reilly, US $24.95).
Coauthor Tara Calishain says:
"With Google's API you can use Google's huge database of pages in a variety of ways, from the sublime to the really, really silly. If you want to search online, you have to know about Google."
Amazed and Amused
  • Use special syntaxes in Google's search box to filter results
  • Explore Google's special services: The Google Director, Google Images, Google News, Google Groups, Google Catalogs, Froogle, and other interesting experiments from Google Labs
  • Improve your own web site or weblog by integrating Google applications
  • Write information retrieval programs that use the Google Web API in Java, Perl, PHP, Python, and .NET
  • Enjoy unusual games built on top of Google's huge database
  • Gain a clear understanding of how Google looks at your site, and learn more about Google's famous PageRank algorithm
Google Hacks
by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest is a book all internet users should read and study.
From O'Reilly, 329 pages, $24.95 (US), $38.95 (CAN), 17.50 (UK)
 
Take a look at several sample Google hacks, including "Using Full-Word Wild Cards" and "Scraping Google News,"
 

Now there's a Google Pocket Guide

The Google Pocket Guide
The Google Pocket Guide by Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest, DJ Adams Crafted from our bestselling Google Hacks title, the Google Pocket Guide provides exactly the information you need to make your searches faster and more effective, right from the start. The Google Pocket Guide unleashes the power behind that blinking curser by delivering a thorough but concise tour of Google's features; practical examples to inspire going beyond the basic keyword search; secrets for constructing more powerful queries using Google's special syntax and advice on how to understand and further refine the results Google provides.
June 2003 Series: Pocket References 144 pages, $9.95 US, $15.95 CA, £6.95 UK
Tara Calishain writes:
Sample Excerpts

 
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