http://malektips.com/search_engine_help_and_tips.html Advice on searching the web. Help with search engine syntax, advanced search engine features, filtering search engine results, and more. en-us Fri, 3 Jul 2009 15:02:11 GMT Fri, 3 Jul 2009 15:02:11 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Custom webmaster@envprogramming.com (Andrew Malek) webmaster@envprogramming.com (Andrew Malek) http://malektips.com/graphics/logo_88x30.gif http://malektips.com/search_engine_help_and_tips.html 88 30 http://malektips.com/bing-enable-disable-search-suggestions.html Toggle having Bing display search suggestions as you enter queries.

Microsoft's Bing search engine by default displays search suggestions as you type a search query. This convenience feature is provided for several reasons including spelling difficult words, saving typing, and finding related queries.

While many people find these suggestions useful, there are those who would rather not have their searches broadcast over the Internet before finishing them. Some not accessing the Internet via broadband may find loading the suggestions slow. And others just may not like this feature. Thus here is how to disable them, plus instructions to re-enable suggestions later if you change your mind:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 3 Jul 2009 15:02:09 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-enable-disable-search-suggestions.html http://malektips.com/what-time-is-it-google-search.html Quickly answer the question "what time is it?" for many cities via a Google Search.

Before making a phone call or expecting a response to your e-mail or instant message, do you need to know what time it is for a city a few hundred miles away or halfway across the world? Instead of relying on third-party websites, use the Google search engine.

Performing a query in the format time CITY displays the current time in that city as well as its day of the week (Thursday in New York City may be Friday in Sydney). Some ambiguous searches where the city name matches multiple areas may show the times in both cities, or you can add the country name, province, USA state, etc. to hone in on the desired result. Instead of querying for the time in a city, you can also search for the time in a state, country, etc....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:03:57 GMT http://malektips.com/what-time-is-it-google-search.html http://malektips.com/bing-track-engine.html Find the status of a package shipped with a major carrier via the Bing search engine.

Waiting for a package that has supposedly been shipped? Is it actually en route, and where is it currently located?

Instead of visiting each individual tracking company's website, use Microsoft's Bing search engine. Access a hyperlink that displays the package tracking status of items shipped via several major companies by performing queries like so:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:29:46 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-track-engine.html http://malektips.com/bing-search-movies-theatre-title.html Search for movie-related information in the USA and Canada via Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Ready to head out to the movie theatre, but not sure what to watch? Or do you know what you'd like to see but need to find out when the movie is playing? To find this and other movie-related information, perform searches via Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Here are some sample searches:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:48:47 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-search-movies-theatre-title.html http://malektips.com/google-search-population-unemployment-rate.html Google provides quick access to population and unemployment data for USA states and counties.

For research purposes it might prove useful to display the population or unemployment rate of a particular USA state or county. Perhaps you are looking to move where seemingly more jobs may be located, or are curious about the population growth (or lack therof) near your home town.

The Google search engine allows for these types of searches via the following formats:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:05:22 GMT http://malektips.com/google-search-population-unemployment-rate.html http://malektips.com/bing-convert-distance-time-weight.html Convert between units of distance, temperature, time, and weight with the Bing search engine.

Need to convert between units of distance, weight, time, volume, or temperature and don't want to download an application or access a third-party website? With Microsoft's Bing search engine you can perform a variety of conversions using natural language queries. Below are some examples:

* minutes in week: 1 minute = 0.0000992 weeks...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:38:11 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-convert-distance-time-weight.html http://malektips.com/bing-video-search-length-short-medium-long.html Limit your Bing video search results to short snippets, longer clips, or entire episodes.

When looking for particular videos to watch via Microsoft's Bing search engine, you may only have a few minutes of break time at work (watching videos at work - nobody does that, right? <g>) and want to limit your results to shorter clips. Perhaps you're waiting a few minutes for your favorite show to come on TV and have more time to watch videos. Or you may be looking for longer clips or entire episodes of TV shows posted online.

1. Click "Videos" underneath "Explore" from Bing's front page to search for videos, or access Bing's videos search directly via one of the following URLs:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:57:42 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-video-search-length-short-medium-long.html http://malektips.com/google-translate-persian-farsi.html Google has added an Alpha version of Persian (Farsi) support to Google Translate.

As noted in The Official Google Blog, seemingly in response to recent events in Iran, Google has updated their Google Translate tool to support the translation of text and webpages from Persian (Farsi) into other languages.

While this currently is not available on Google's "Language Tools" page (hyperlink is for English version), it is available via their "Google Translate" page at http://translate.google.com/. To perform a translation:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:38:38 GMT http://malektips.com/google-translate-persian-farsi.html http://malektips.com/igoogle-nature-themes.html Theme your iGoogle homepage with nature-related images including songbirds, the ocean, and birds of prey.

Google's iGoogle allows you to create a personalized Google homepage where you can perform searches, play games, check stocks, read e-mail, and more.

iGoogle homepages can be themed, and Google has created a page focusing on several nature-related themes you can install from BBC Earth, the National Audubon Society, National Geographic, and various nature photographers. Themes include:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:45:52 GMT http://malektips.com/igoogle-nature-themes.html http://malektips.com/bing-weather-forecast.html Display the current weather, hourly and 10-day forecasts, and weather maps with the Bing search engine.

Want to see the local weather forecast, or traveling and need to know if you'll be wearing sandals, tennis shoes, or boots? You don't need to access weather websites - use Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Enter a query in one of these formats (you can reverse the words):...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:54:10 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-weather-forecast.html http://malektips.com/bing-search-image-size-small-wallpaper.html Limit the relative size of images returned from a Bing search.

When using Microsoft's Bing search engine to look for images, you may only want to display pictures of a particular size. It's easy to limit results to small, medium, large, or wallpaper-sized images.

1. Click "Images" underneath "Explore" from Bing's front page to search for images, or access Bing's image search directly via one of the following URLs:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:43:19 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-search-image-size-small-wallpaper.html http://malektips.com/bing-video-search-limit-source.html When searching for videos using the Bing search engine, limit video results to particular websites such as Hulu, MSN, or YouTube.

When searching for videos with Microsoft's Bing search engine, you may have noticed that videos may come from a lot of different sources, some you wish to search and others you might wish to ignore. If desired, you can limit the results to a particular source such as Hulu, MSN, or YouTube, or you can choose from several sources.

First, the easy way to choose from one source:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:06:24 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-video-search-limit-source.html http://malektips.com/bing-search-xrank-search-popularity.html See what people are searching for with the Bing search engine, including celebrities and musicians, via xRank.

Curious to see what others are searching for with Microsoft's Bing search engine? Bing's "xRank" keeps track of celebrities, musicians, politicians, and bloggers, displaying the top 10 results for each category.

You can also display the day's top search query and queries that are gaining popularity fast. Or, search xRank for a particular query to see its search volume over the last few weeks as a graph....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:27:51 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-search-xrank-search-popularity.html http://malektips.com/bing-rss-search.html Use Bing to search RSS feeds for a particular query.

Looking for the most up-to-date information about a particular subject? One option is to find RSS feeds that can be read by most modern web browsers, downloadable RSS reader software, or online RSS readers such as iGoogle, My MSN, and My Yahoo!.

Microsoft's Bing search engine lets you search for RSS feeds related to a particular query by using the feed: keyword before your query....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:12:36 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-rss-search.html http://malektips.com/bing-images-color-black-white.html Choose whether images returned from the Bing search engine should only be in color or black and white.

When searching for images with Microsoft's Bing search engine, the results may include a variety of color and black & white imagery. If you're only looking for one or the other, do the following:

1. Click "Images" underneath "Explore" from Bing's front page to search for images, or access Bing's image search directly via one of the following URLs:...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:59:14 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-images-color-black-white.html http://malektips.com/bing-math-trigonometry-equations.html Perform basic math, trigonometric functions, equation solving, and more with the Bing search engine.

Need to perform some simple calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division?

Just enter the calculation into Microsoft's Bing search engine such as 23*46 or 225/15 and you'll see the results (1,058 and 15, respectively). However, there's much more you can do, including solving simple algebra equations....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Tue, 9 Jun 2009 18:03:47 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-math-trigonometry-equations.html http://malektips.com/bing-stock-quote.html Use Microsoft's Bing search engine to display stock prices and other financial information.

Need to find information about a particular company, such as its stock price, market cap, and p/e ratio? With Microsoft's Bing search engine you can display company financial information in the results page, as well as more information available via a link to MSN Money. You'll also find links to company reports, financial information, earning estimates, and related news.

To perform a search for just one company, enter the stock quote symbol into Bing's search box. If that doesn't work, add quote or stock to the end of the query....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Mon, 8 Jun 2009 14:01:10 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-stock-quote.html http://malektips.com/bingtones-bing-ring-tones.html Download Bing-branded ringtones for your phone from Microsoft.

As noted on @Bing on Twitter, to further publicize Microsoft's Bing search engine, the company is offering three branded ringtones for your cell phone / mobile device.

Offered as a ZIP archive , these can be played on Windows Mobile devices or other devices supporting .MP3 ringtones. ...

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Fri, 5 Jun 2009 15:09:13 GMT http://malektips.com/bingtones-bing-ring-tones.html http://malektips.com/bing-more-than-10-results-page.html Show up to 50 results per Bing results page.

As with most other search engines, Microsoft's Bing search engine defaults to displaying 10 results per page. This way the results pages load quicker and appear less cluttered. If you are a "power user", accessing the Internet via a broadband connection, or anticipate needing to explore a lot of results and wish to show more results per page, do the following:

1. From Bing's home page click the "Extras" link at the top-right of the page....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Thu, 4 Jun 2009 17:59:16 GMT http://malektips.com/bing-more-than-10-results-page.html http://malektips.com/igoogle-showcase-celebrity-homepage.html See how famous people such as Dave Matthews, Martha Stewart, and Donald Trump are personalizing their iGoogle homepages.

Google's iGoogle lets you create and customize a homepage where you can perform web searches, check your Gmail account, display weather reports, view news items, and even play a clone of Pac-Man.

To showcase some of what can be done with iGoogle and to offer glimpses in the lives of some famous people, Google has created the iGoogle Showcase, displaying the homepages created by 30 people such as Seth Godin, Wyclef Jean, Dave Matthews, Rachel Ray, Andy Roddick, Martha Stewart, and Donald Trump....

Read more at MalekTips.]]> Thu, 4 Jun 2009 16:21:41 GMT http://malektips.com/igoogle-showcase-celebrity-homepage.html