And are there any REAL Unix Google utilities?

Yest, there is "ping www.google.com"; Basically, it's the best way to know if your internet connexion works :-)

as far as I remember even BackTrack had few more command line Google tools

FingerGoogle
QGoogle
Goog-mail

etc
http://wiki.remote-exploit.org/index.php/Tools

When I see stuff like this, I sooo much want for it to be useful. It looks so cool, but I can't see when I'd like to use it.

I used to use http://yubnub.org for a bit...it's cool because anyone can submit a command shortcut for any site, and the good ones bubble up into the popular list. But eventually I started using Firefox shortcuts more and that made Yubnub unnecessary for me.

Google command line? Yeah, you want surfraw probably. http://surfraw.alioth.debian.org/

Combine with elinks and screen(1), and stir.

How about a command alias for google groups searches?

Re Niraj Sanghvi's comment: I'd be interested in learning more about whether Firefox shortcuts (Smart Keywords / Quick Searches) or other shortcuts could replace YubNub for most purposes. But to this point, I've found nothing else with YubNub's power (or potential power) to facilitate Google searches and other web tasks, since YubNub allows combinations of so many building blocks (commands, scripts, Yahoo! Pipes, etc.). I'm looking forward to – and if I have the time and ability, plan to create – commands that use Google APIs (presuming that Google Code's ToS allows it, which I hope it does).

This would be interesting if it offered the ability to SSH or telnet in from an actual prompt. Links could open in a text-based browser like elinks, or simply have URLs that can copy/pasted to a normal browser.

How cool would it be to get Google Maps directions, or a sleek Gmail interface in a terminal?

scott #1: Dave's Quick Search Deskbar is essentially yubnub, plus more, except resident on the Windows desktop.

scott #2: saved and ran it from my Mac. four files, 60kB, and one of those is 4kB of HTML. bet you could get it to run in Rhino with a little hacking.

"You are in a web of twisty little hyperlinks, all distracting"

Scott
How to create keyword search in Firefox
I hope these screenshots are self explanatory, you can use it for any search box on any webpage.

http://rohit11.com/share/outer-court/ff-keyword-search.png
http://rohit11.com/share/outer-court/ff-keyword-search-2.png
http://rohit11.com/share/outer-court/ff-keyword-search-3.png

Re xf's comment: DSQD looks useful ... but I'm not sure about the "plus more." The interface might be an improvement ... but I see more functionality in YubNub. Maybe something that combines an inviting interface with an ever-expanding functionality is what I'm looking for.

FYI: I've just created the command "goosh" in YubNub. http://yubnub.org/kernel/man?args=goosh

Re Rohit's comment: Thanks. Firefox shortcuts do seem useful for basic (and also advanced?) searches.

I maybe Captain Obvious... but, wouldn't this re-invent Google's search advertising monetization?

At Seth's comment:

:D

I did that couple years back (not compatible with safari though, cuz I used the Atlas script).

http://www.ajaxlab.com/projects/cmd/index.html

nobody showed any interest, otherwise, I would've transitioned to JQuery /.NET using Ajax, too bad.

Goosh, is it Google Shell? ;)

It appears that the application is being updated daily, the current version number is 0.4.4. now!

To everyone commenting on the YubNub interface, there's a number of ways to access it through different integration points and UIs. For instance you can use it within iGoogle, from your Windows command line, through the Google Deskbar, etc.

http://yubnub.org/documentation/describe_installation

Scott1, it's certainly pretty powerful and could probably do some interesting complex tasks, but I haven't felt a need for complexity beyond Firefox's shortcuts. There isn't typically a need for more than 1 parameter in a query.

I introduce to another web based shell "daush"

http://sparcs.kaist.ac.kr/~lurker/daush/

we use Daum Open API(One of the biggest internet company in korea) as a program.