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The Hartford Courant, Conn., John M. Moran column: Google Users' Manual Comes In Handy(Hartford Courant, The (CT) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 20--Google was built on simplicity. All users had to do was visit the search engine's barebones home page and type in a few keywords. In moments, Google would pluck results from its index of billions of web pages. What's more, those results were uncannily accurate. Indeed, it often seemed as if the Google geeks at search-engine central were somehow reading the user's mind to find the right web pages. Google is still like that. But over time - and especially since its high-profile stock offering - the site has expanded beyond search functions to present Internet users with an array of free information services, from e-mail to interactive mapping and more. Although that has made Google even more valuable, it's also a lot more complicated. If you want to get the most out of Google, the days of search-and-run are over. What to do? Well, you could spend time browsing Google's services and reading its help pages, or even - gasp - searching Google for information on how to use its many offerings. But a handy shortcut to Google's services is available in the form of a new book titled "Google: The Missing Manual, Second Edition." This volume, published last month by O'Reilly Media Inc., retails for $24.99. And that's money well spent if you'd like to jumpstart your enjoyment of one of the Internet's premier service centers. The book starts, naturally, by delving into fundamental Google search techniques, including use of phrase searching, search narrowing, use of wildcards and other handy tidbits. There's also an especially good chapter devoted to explaining the nuances of Google's "advanced search," a menu-driven approach that allows users to ask very specific questions in searching for web data. From there, "Google: The Missing Manual" goes on to explore some of the search engine's other specialized categories, such as the message exchange known as Google Groups, the research service known as Google Answers and the shopping feature known as Froogle. Image and news searching also get a good once-over. Along the way, the book's trio of authors - Sarah Milstein, J.D. Biersdorfer and Matthew MacDonald - take time to explain cool tricks, like how to use Google as a calculator, as a dictionary, as a phonebook and as a weather station. Want to try a few? Type a mathematical equation, followed by an equal sign, into Google and the search engine will return the answer. Use an asterisk for multiply and "/" for divide. Searching for a definition? Type "define:" followed by the word you're looking for (so, for example, "define: Google"). For the phone book, enter a name and ZIP code. One of the book's best features is a chapter devoted to Google's free e-mail service known as Gmail. The chapter even includes some tips for wangling an invitation to join the invitation-only service. (Note: You can now also get one directly if you have a cellphone capable of receiving text messages; see gmail.google.com for details.) People who own and operate websites may especially appreciate chapters that cover how to get your information indexed by Google and how to fashion web pages so that Google will display them high in search results. (After all, it doesn't do much good to be the 8,538th site that Google finds in response to a query.) Website operators can also learn how to make money with Google - either by joining its advertising network or by paying for advertising on Google that will lead web surfers to their virtual doorstep. What's most disappointing about this "missing manual" is how much gets left out. For example, Google Earth, the site's hot new 3-D mapping software, rates barely a mention, as does Picasa, Google's free software for managing digital photos. I suppose it's only to be expected that some features would get short shrift in a book that attempts to cover a service as deep and fast-moving as Google, but it's still hard to consider this volume comprehensive. Nevertheless, "Google: The Missing Manual Second Edition" supplies a reasonably up-to-date look at the Net's premier search engine and its related services. Better still, the book's everyday tone makes reading about these topics easy as a Google search - just not nearly as fast. John M. Moran's e-mail address is [email protected]. |