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Using Google as a World Time Clock
Have you ever wondered what time it was in other cities around the world? Maybe you’ve been wanting to call your old friend in another country but you’ve been putting it off because you don’t know what time it is there and you don’t want to call too late.
No need to put off that phone call any longer! Google can act as an up-to-date world clock. It knows what cities use Daylight Savings Time, and it knows when they turn their clocks forward and backward.
How Can You Use Google as a World Clock?
It’s simple! All you have to do is type the following into any Google search box:
time name of city
For example, if I type in time Sao Paulo at 5:29 PM EDT in the month of June, I end up getting these results:
This is a handy tool, because if I were to do this same search in the month of January, I would find that Sao Paulo, Brazil is three hours ahead, due to me setting my clock back one hour, and Brazil setting their clocks forward one hour. It’s a good thing Google can keep track of all those time changes!
Notice that Google returns as many results as you need. Let’s suppose that we type in time london. Google could naturally just assume that we meant London, England. However, it also returns the lesser-known cities with the name of London: London, Ontario and London, Arkansas. You can see for yourself below:
Another feature of the Google World Clock is that it will tell you in what time zone the cities you are searching for are located. When you type in time boston, Google returns the following result:
You’ll notice that when Google gives the time for a city, it also lists the current timezone for that city. For example, Boston, Massachusetts is on EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) while Boston, United Kingdom is on BST (British Summer Time).
If you have any questions about using this feature, or any comments, just post them below!
Using Google As A Dictionary
Aside from being a search engine, Google has a lot of hidden features that very few people know about. Today, we will discuss how to use Google as a dictionary. If you ever come across a word that you want defined, all you have to do is type define: [word to be defined] in the Google search box.
For example, if you want to know what a typewriter is, you would simply type the following into the Google search box:
define: typewriter
Then, when you click on “Search”, you will see a good list of definitions come up, akin to the one below:
Not only does Google show you a medley of definitions for the desired word, it will also link you to the page, so you can read more. For example, you may notice that the first definition that Google returned doesn’t exactly define what a typewriter is, however by clicking the link, you can be taken to that page and manually find the definition.
Good luck finding a new home for that old dictionary sitting on the bookshelf!