Research

Four Things Yahoo Can Do

September 21, 2004

Although Google.com is often considered the killer search engine, there are a number of search tricks that Yahoo.com can perform that Google can’t. For example, in Yahoo you can narrow your search results to XML/RSS feeds via a file type selector on the Advanced Search page. For more Yahoo tips, read best-selling author Tara Calashain’s [...]

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Wikipedia

June 28, 2004

Wikipedia ( http://www.wikipedia.org/ ) is an open-content encyclopedia that you can both read and contribute to. This collaborative, open-source resource is one of the largest of its kind. Topics are organized in a variety of ways, including Dewey Decimal, alphabetically, and chronologically. Become an active contributor, or just browse by hitting the “random page” button. [...]

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Amazon’s Search Inside the Book

December 30, 2003

Joel Mokyr, professor of economics and history at Northwestern University, compares the importance of Amazon.com’s new Search Inside the Book capability with the invention of the encyclopedia. To search the contents of 120,000 books, simply enter a phrase into Amazon’s regular search box. For more details on how this works, see Amazon’s help page.

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Google Definitions

December 16, 2003

Google now supplies definitions through its search function. Simply search for either “what is your-term-here” or “define your-term-here” and you will see a Web definition at the top of the search results. To see only definitions (and no search results) try “define: your-term-here” . What’s interesting about the results is that they do not come [...]

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Product Manuals

December 1, 2003

There should be corollary to Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will”) that states “If anything goes wrong, you won’t be able to find the product manual.” But help is just a few clicks away. Live Manuals and Amazon.com both offer free user manuals for many manufacturers. And, last but not least, many [...]

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Natural Langues Search Engines

November 25, 2003

In contrast to boolean-based search engines, which use the logic operators “and” and “or” to define searches, natural language search engines use plain, old human English. So feel free to ask “Why is the sky blue?” or “Why does the dryer eat my socks?” Three examples of natural language search engines are Ask Jeeves (), [...]

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Internet Glossaries

September 29, 2003

From ASCII ( American Standard Code for Information Interchange ) to XML ( eXtensible Markup Language), the Internet has a language all its own. Fortunately there are several online glossaries to help navigate the endless barrage of acronyms and terminology. Try Matisse’s Glossary of Internet Terms, What Is or Net Lingo.

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2003 World Factbook

September 9, 2003

The CIA has released the 2003 World Factbook with information on over 250 countries and regions in nine primary and 134 sub categories. Select a country of interest from the drop-down menu, or peruse the alphabetic gallery of country flags. The Factbook is also available for download in compressed ZIP format.

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The Oscars

July 8, 2003

How many Oscars did Katherine Hepburn win during her illustrious career? For what film did she earn her fist one? Find the answers to these and all other Oscar questions at the official Academy Awards Database. The site is searchable by nominee, film title, song title, year and award category.

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Maps and Atlases

June 10, 2003

Maps and atlases are abundant on the Web, but unless you know where to look, it can be frustrating to find them. The best place to start is Mapsarea.com a specialized directory of all things cartographic. Whether your search is for free map clipart, or flags of the world, you’ll find it at Mapsarea.com.

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