In this course segment you’ll learn how to take advantage of Google’s specialized search services.
Google started by providing generalized web search. It also offers specialized searches that are accessible by clicking on the links at the top of many Google pages — e.g., the results page (which we show just after this paragraph) and the […]

...read all of: Services Intro

Looking for an image, map, graphic, photo, design or drawing? Try Google’s Image Search by clicking on the Images link above Google’s search box

or visiting images.google.com.

Enter your query and click on the Google Search button. Alternatively, enter your query and then click on the Images link above the search box. Google Image Search works best […]

...read all of: Image Search

Want advice, opinions, and recommendations that haven’t necessarily been edited?
Then consider using Google Groups, which provides access (posting and reading) to thousands of discussion forums — an enormous storehouse of discourse, including

Forums on practically everything from aviation to zymurgy (brewing beer)
Opinions, advice, and resource information, e.g.,

Opinions on laser eye surgery
Reviews for small OR compact digital […]

...read all of: Groups: Discussion Forums

After the tragedies of September 11, 2001, Krishna Bharat, a Google engineer, built a tool to crawl news sites and organize news into ranked clusters. Because of its popularity, Google expanded the demo into Google News.
Google News:

Presents information culled from thousands of news sources worldwide.
Updates entries continuously throughout the day.
Groups together related headlines and photos.
By […]

...read all of: News Search

In February of 2003, Google engineer Naga Sridhar got tired of regularly visiting Google News to check for developments in the imminent US war with Iraq. So he put together an application that would email him when a news story broke that matched a specified query. Naga demonstrated his prototype to co-founder Sergey Brin, who […]

...read all of: Alerts

Google Product Search (formerly called Froogle) is a searchable and browsable shopping index tuned to finding products for sale online. Click on the Shopping link at the top left corner of Google’s window:

or visit www.google.com/products. Search results include price, brand, description, and, if available, a photograph. Note that unlike other online shopping services, Product Search […]

...read all of: Google Product Search: Find Items for Sale

The last choice in the menu at the top-left corner of the Google window is more ▼. Holding your mouse over that word makes a menu drop down. (This only happens if JavaScript is enabled in your browser.)
You can choose one of the services on the drop-down menu. Or you can click on even more », at […]

...read all of: More Search Tools

NOTE: Google no longer supports the Catalog service.
After acquiring a fancy scanner, Larry Page, co-founder of Google, encouraged engineers to come up with a search service that would take advantage of its speed and flexibility. Lauren Baptist started by developing a service around mail-order catalogs because they posed the least copyright issues. Some vendors have […]

...read all of: Catalogs: Search and Browse Mail-Order Catalogs

There are two basic ways to find information systematically on the Web: browsing and searching. Chris Sherman and Gary Price offer the following description of browsing versus searching in their book The Invisible Web.

… think of how you use a library. If you’re familiar with a subject it’s often more useful to browse in the […]

...read all of: Directory: Categories of Topics

Looking for an easier way to find information on a specific topic or at a specific website?
Google provides the following specialized search engines:

Apple Macintosh - www.google.com/mac
Search for Mac & Apple things

BSD - www.google.com/bsd
Search for the BSD operating systems

Linux - www.google.com/linux
Search for the Linux operating system

Microsoft - www.google.com/microsoft
Search Microsoft-related pages

U.S. Government and state governments - www.google.com/unclesam
Search […]

...read all of: Special Searches

Note: As of late 2006, Google Answers isn’t accepting new questions. You can still browse and search existing questions and answers. A similar service, Yahoo! Answers, is available at answers.yahoo.com.
Unlike Google Answers, the Yahoo! service is free of charge. Questions are answered by unpaid volunteers who may not have any qualifications or experience.

Having trouble creating […]

...read all of: Answers

Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” To this end, Google showcases some prototypes and products in development on the Google Labs, the web site of Google’s research group.
Visit Google Labs’ home page at labs.google.com.

Note: Google Labs updates its site periodically. So you may find prototypes or […]

...read all of: Technology Playground: Google Labs