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How to Use Google to Find Stock and Mutual Fund Quotes
As you probably know, the simple Google search box is capable of many amazing things. One of those things is being able to automatically recognize a stock symbol and look up that stock’s associated quote. All you have to do is type in the ticker symbol into any Google search box and you will see the stock quote.
For example, if you just type the letter f into Google’s search box, you will see Ford Motor Company’s stock quote atop of the 3.35 billion other search results for the letter f.
Google is also capable of finding mutual fund quotes. If you type in IDTOX, a popular ING mutual fund, you will see its quote atop the search results, as shown below:
Those two examples both worked out well. However, let’s say you want to see how XM Satellite Radio’s stock is doing. If you simply type XM into the search box, things don’t go so smoothly, as you can see below.
To take care of this problem, you can use the stock operator. Just type stock: in front of the company you are looking for and voila, Google is able to find it.
As you can see, you may notice that some stocks don’t always use the symbol that could be best-matched to them. XM Radio’s stock symbol is actually XMSR.
You may have guessed that when you use the stock: operator, you don’t even need to know the symbol of the company. For example, if you wanted to see how the maker of Cheerios, General Mills, is doing financially you can type in stock: General Mills. Almost as if by magic, Google looks up the company and finds its stock quote and returns it to you in only 0.67 seconds.
If you have any questions or comments, they are welcomed below.
How to Use Google to Get Free University Lectures
When I was still attending college, many times my science teachers were unable to clearly explain certain concepts. The book usually wasn’t much better either. One thing that saved my GPA was the ability to view the lectures of other Professors from other universities around the country.
I was able to do this for free without paying a dime of tuition to any other university.
How to Get Free Lectures
Many professors now put their PowerPoint lectures online for their students to view. An advantage of this is that if the PowerPoint Lectures are available online, Google will index them, allowing internet users to find them when they perform Google searches.
All you have to do is put the following into a Google search box:
filetype:ppt site:edu [topic of lecture you want]
How It Works
The filetype:ppt tells Google to search for only PowerPoint files — nothing else.
The site:edu tells Google to only search sites that end in .edu, which is reserved for institutions of higher education.
Then when you type your keywords in, Google only returns PowerPoint files from United States universities.
Here are a few examples as to what you can find for free online, all written by highly-educated university faculty:
filetype:ppt site:edu DNA Replication returns the following results:
filetype:ppt site:edu Federal Reserve Monetary Policy returns the following results:
filetype:ppt site:edu Minoan Civilization returns the following results:
A Vast Database of Knowledge
As you can see, a PowerPoint has been made to teach almost every imaginable subject. Even the Minoan Civilization has 36 PowerPoints that discuss it.
Many times, a PowerPoint is also much easier to read than an encyclopedic article. Also, since these were written by professional educators, you are more likely to understand what they are saying. If not, you can always try a different PowerPoint, and you’ll get the subject from the point of view of another teacher.
What if You Don’t Have PowerPoint?
If you don’t have PowerPoint installed on your computer and you don’t want to shell out the couple hundred dollars to get it, there are still four ways to view the PowerPoint files for free:
- The most compatible way is to download the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer.
- Another method is to get the freely available and open productivity suite, OpenOffice.org, which comes with built-in support for Microsoft PowerPoint files.
- You can click the View as HTML link on the second line of the search result summary. This is the quickest method, but many special effects will not show up.
- If you have a Google account, you can use Google Docs to open up the PowerPoint file and view/edit it.
If you have any questions on this Google tip, just put it in the comments below and I will answer it. Thanks for reading!
How to Use Google to Find Websites Similar to the Ones You Love
At one time or another, almost all internet users have come across a website that they immediately want to bookmark because it is so useful. Have you ever wondered if there was another website just like the one you bookmarked? Even if there was, how would you be able to find it?
Google can help you find websites that are similar to each other by using the related: operator.
As an example, suppose that you grew up watching The Weather Channel and have always used their companion website, Weather.com to check the weather in your area. Lately, however you have become disenchanted with their website over the appearance of their weather maps. To find an alternative weather website all you have to do is type the following into a Google search box:
related:weather.com
This will show you all sites that Google deems to be similar to Weather.com. You should get something similar to the following results:
Note that this list includes the National Weather Service, which is the weather group that has the authority to issue watches and warnings, and is also where a lot of websites get their weather data.
You may also notice that Google isn’t perfect. While these four websites are excellent, I wonder why one of Weather.com’s biggest competitors, Accuweather didn’t make the list. You may also notice that when you scroll down, the 10th results is TVGuide.com. Perhaps Google did this since both websites contain the word channel in them.
In any case, I have found this tool to be very useful when it comes to finding websites that are similar to others.
How to Use Google to Count Calories in Everyday Foods
There are many websites out there that can tell you how many calories are in almost every type of food imaginable. However, the problem with many of these sites is that they’ve become too complex. With complexity comes difficulty — it’s hard to find the information that you want.
There is actually a very easy way to find out how many calories are in certain foods just by doing a Google search. In order for this to work though, you must have a Google account and be signed in.
In order to start counting calories with Google, just go to the Google homepage and click on the Preferences link to the right of the search box, as shown below.
You will then be taken to the Google’s Preferences page. You will need to scroll down to the last section on the page which is entitled Subscribed Links. If your page doesn’t look like the one in the screen shot below, be sure you are signed in. On a side note, all of Google’s preferences are stored as a cookie on your computer. However, Google doesn’t use a cookie to track the subscribed links, they use your account — hence the requirement that you be signed in.
Once your screen looks like the image above, click on the Subscribe button at the far left of the first entry which is provided by CalorieLab. The Subscribe button will then change to an Unsubscribe button, as shown below, indicating that you are now subscribed.
Be sure to click on the Save Preferences button at the bottom right. If you don’t do this, Google will not complete your subscription for CalorieLab, and you won’t be able to see the nutritional information in the Google search results.
After clicking on the Save Preferences button and clicking OK in the resulting box, Google will forward you to the main Google homepage. You can now enter the name of a food and click on the Search button. You should see results similar to the ones below for the particular foods I entered.
Searching for potato chips
Searching for turkey breast
After performing a few searches, I began wondering why the nutrition facts that I was seeking were showing up so far down in the search results. Although Google doesn’t state why, they do state the following on their Subscribed Links FAQ page:
Your Subscribed Links will appear in the fourth search result position. You can identify your Subscribed Link by the link that appears next to this result that reads “Manage my Subscribed Links.”
Good to know. The information will always appear fourth. Perhaps it is a magic number… any ideas?
Google also has many other useful subscribed links in their Subscribed Links Directory. Have fun!
How to Use Google to Expose Urban Legends
A couple of days ago, I was reading a blog that had a post commemorating the life of George Carlin. The author had attributed a short literary piece entitled The Paradox of Our Time to George Carlin. I vaguely remembered reading this exact same story in an email that had been forwarded to me from my mother some time ago. The only difference was that it had been written by a student from Columbine High School.
I found it interesting that this version of the story was prefaced with the following text:
Isn’t it amazing that George Carlin – comedian of the 70′s and 80′s – could write something so very eloquent…and so very appropriate. Excerpts from A Message By George Carlin:
I immediately used Google to try to find out who had really written this vignette. A few moments later, I found myself at a reputable myth-debunking website, Snopes.com.
What I found out about this story was literally shocking! Not only had this story not been written by George Carlin, George actually had gotten quite upset about it. He said the following on his website (profanity removed):
One of the more embarrassing items making the internet/e-mail rounds is a sappy load of [crap] called “The Paradox of Our Time.” The main problem I have with it is that as true as some of the expressed sentiments may be, who really [cares]? Certainly not me.
So who was it that wrote The Paradox of Our Time? The credit goes to a pastor by the name of Dr. Bob Moorehead. Although you may want to consider the following that the Snopes.com site has to say about Pastor Bob:
Those intent upon taking inspiration from “Paradox” should consider the following: during Bob Moorehead’s tenure as pastor of Overlake Christian Church, seventeen members of his congregation reported that he had sexually assaulted them. These allegations, which surfaced in 1997, prompted his resignation in 1998. After a year of publicly supporting Moorehead the church elders withdrew their support, their own investigation into the charges having led them to conclude their pastor had indeed been guilty of molesting a number of male churchgoers.
The Moral of the Story
I want to get across the fact that you can’t always believe what you read in your inbox. Even if it was sent to you by someone as loving as your own mother.
Also, if you are proactive, you will be able to find out on your own whether or not that amazing story you just heard is true or not.
How to Use Google to Expose Urban Legends
In order to find out whether the Paradox of Our Time was really written by George Carlin, I performed a site search of some different hoax-busting sites that I’ve found to be credible over the years.
I want to make it easier for the many Googlers out there to expose hoaxes though, so that you don’t have to type the following into a Google search box every time you want to uncover an urban legend:
site:http://www.snopes.com/ site:http://urbanlegends.about.com/ site:http://www.truthorfiction.com/ site:http://www.breakthechain.org/ site:http://www.hoaxkill.com/ site:http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/ site:http://www.vmyths.com/ site:http://www.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax/ site:http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/ site:http://www.hoaxbusters.org/
site:http://www.urbanlegendsonline.com/ [Your Keywords Here]
Simple Search: Hoax Hunter
So I decided to create a custom Google search that will search all of those sites for you while only requiring you to enter your keywords. All you have to do is type in a few key words from the email or story you’ve received (such as the title), and let the Hoax Hunter go hunting for you.
You can go to the Hoax Hunter by clicking on the link here, or by going to the blue menu bar at the top of this page and hovering your mouse over Simple Search and then clicking on Hoax Hunter.
All you have to do then is type in a key word or name from the suspected hoax. For example, if you type in George Carlin, you will see the Paradox of Our Time hoax as the second and third search results, as shown below.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks for reading!