After Google aquired Picasa, and new rumours on Google’s video search plans surface [via Battelle], here are my predictions of what we will see next at Google:
Gmessenger - A free and unobtrusive chat client, competing with AIM, MSNM, YIM, et al.
Google Videos - Search through videos; see thumbnail image previews.
Google Audio - Find music online.
Gmail Public - Google’s service stepping out of Beta and going public. August 1st sounds like a good date.
Google Blogs - A Google blog search, similar to what Technorati is doing. (This is long overdue and relatively easy considering Google’s other achievements.)
Gphoto - Put up your photo album, with 1 gigabyte of storage free of charge.
Google Image Comparison - Upload an image to see similar images. This might become a Google Images add-on which will stay in beta for two years, like most new Google services.
Google Live Connect - If two people happen to search for the same things, they are offered a chat connection with each other.
Google Instant Answer - This might take some more years – Google answering your questions, fully automated (a la FindForward’s answer feature, but with no major misses).
Google Maps Worldwide - Google extending local search, map features, yellow pages and so on to cover the whole globe.
Google Library - Wasn’t there a Project Ocean in which Google scanned a lot of books?
Google IRC Search - Of course there will be privacy discussions again, but the chat network IRC contains too much valuable information to not be monitored.
Google understanding image content - See previous post.
Google Speech Search - Technology should soon allow to do reasonable full-text search on words occurring in audio files, similar to what Speechbot is doing, but on much larger scale.
Yahoo shortcuts are somewhat less known than their Google counterpart, but they are not less powerful. Here are examples from the Yahoo help:
Search type | Syntax | Search Sample* |
---|---|---|
Area code | [3-digit area code] | 408 |
Gas Prices | gas [zip code] | gas 48201 |
Maps | [street address] [city] [state] | 22 5th ave new york ny |
Traffic Reports | [city] traffic | los angeles traffic |
Yellow Pages | [city] [state] [type of business] | pittsburgh pa plumber |
Weather | [city] weather | boise weather |
Zip Codes | zip code [city] | zip code chattanooga |
Movie Showtimes | showtimes [zip code] | showtimes 90028 |
News | news [topic] | news elections |
Sports Scores | [team] scores | yankees scores |
Stock Quotes | quote [ticker symbol] | quote yhoo |
Airport Information | [city or airport code] airport | jfk airport |
Exchange Rates | convert [currency] to [currency] | convert dollars to yen |
Flight Tracker | [airline name] [flight number] | american 123 |
Hotel Finder | [city] hotels | las vegas hotels |
Aircraft Registration | [N-number] | n924an |
Book Price Finder | [ISBN] | 0764507621 |
Dictionary Definitions | define [word] | define pulchritudinous |
Encyclopedia Lookup | [topic] facts | dinosaur facts |
Package Tracker | fedex [tracking code] usps [tracking code] | 1z9999999999999999 |
Synonym Finder | synonym [word] | synonym repetitive |
UPC (Bar) Codes | [12-digit UPC Code] | 035000741189 |
U.S. Patents | patent [number] | patent 6588078 |
Vehicle History | [VIN] | zffyt53a510122724 |
Calculator | 5.77 * (258+477) | |
Time Zones | time in [city] | time in copenhagen |
Weights and Measures Converter | convert [amount] [units] to [units] | convert 2 miles to inches |
*Most of the special searches work for the US only. Then there is the weather search which I found works for Europe as well, but actually goes ahead to show Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. Other search types, like the new calculator, or the encyclopaedia look-up, can be useful to everyone.
If you are searching for Fahrenheit 9/11 or other BitTorrent files, the new Google-based Bitoogle is for you. [Via Capt. Cornelius.]
BitTorrent is a way to download and share all kinds of files – like movies, music, or pictures. Michael Moore was in the news recently because he stated he wouldn’t object to non-commercial sharing of his new documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, which is available as torrent file (and was also briefly available at Archive.org).
If you have a question, you might want to Ask Yahoo.
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