Google Hacks: Tips & Tools for Finding and Using the World's Information

by Rael Dornfest, Paul Bausch, Tara Calishain

Overview

Everyone knows that Google lets you search billions of web pages. But few people realize that Google also gives you hundreds of cool ways to organize and play with information.

Since we released the last edition of this bestselling book, Google has added many new features and services to its expanding universe: Google Earth, Google Talk, Google Maps, Google Blog Search, Video Search, Music Search, Google Base, Google Reader, and Google Desktop among them. We've found ways to get these new services to do even more.

The expanded third edition of Google Hacks is a brand-new and infinitely more useful book for this powerful search engine. You'll not only find dozens of hacks for the new Google services, but plenty of updated tips, tricks and scripts for hacking the old ones. Now you can make a Google Earth movie, visualize your web site traffic with Google Analytics, post pictures to your blog with Picasa, or access Gmail in your favorite email client. Industrial strength and real-world tested, this new collection enables you to mine a ton of information within Google's reach. And have a lot of fun while doing it:

• Search Google over IM with a Google Talk bot
• Build a customized Google Map and add it to your own web site
• Cover your searching tracks and take back your browsing privacy
• Turn any Google query into an RSS feed that you can monitor in Google Reader or the newsreader of your choice
• Keep tabs on blogs in new, useful ways
• Turn Gmail into an external hard drive for Windows, Mac, or Linux
• Beef up your web pages with search, ads, news feeds, and more
• Program Google with the Google API and language of your choice

For those of you concerned about Google as an emerging Big Brother, this new edition also offers advice and concrete tips for protecting your privacy. Get into the world of Google and bend it to your will!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596553708
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/03/2006
Series:	Hacks
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	546
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Rael Dornfest is a Researcher at the O'Reilly & Associates focusing on technologies just beyond the pale. He assesses, experiments, programs, and writes for the O'Reilly network and O'Reilly publications. Dornfest is Program Chair of the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, Chair of the RSS-DEV Working Group, and developer of Meerkat: An Open Wire Service. In his copious free time, he develops bits and bobs of Open Source software and maintains his raelity bytes Weblog.

TBD

Tara Calishain is the creator of the site, ResearchBuzz. She is an expert on Internet search engines and how they can be used effectively in business situations.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Credits

Preface

Chapter 1. Web introduction Google Web Search Basics 1 Full-Word Wildcards 5 Special Syntax 6 Mixing Syntax 10 Advanced Search 14 Quick Links 17 Language Tools 20 Anatomy of a Search Result 22 Setting Preferences 24 Understanding Google URLs 27
      1. Browse the Google Directory
      2. Glean a Snapshot of Google in Time
      3. Visualize Google Results
      4. Check Your Spelling
      5. Google Phonebook: Let Google's Fingers Do the Walking
      6. Look Up Definitions
      7. Find Directories of Information
      8. Cover Your Bases
      9. Hack Your Own Google Search Form
      10. Compare Google and Yahoo! Search Results
      11. Cover Your Tracks
      12. Improve Google's Memory
      13. Find Out What Google Thinks ___ Is
      14. Browse the World Wide Photo Album
      15. Find Similar Images
      16. Track Stocks

Chapter 2. Advanced Web introduction Assumptions 86
      17. Assemble Advanced Search Queries
      18. Like a Version: Search with Synonyms
      19. Capture Google Results in a Google Box
      20. Cook with Google
      21. Permute a Query
      22. Summarize Results by Domain
      23. Measure Google Mindshare
      24. SafeSearch Certify URLs
      25. Search Google Topics
      26. Run a Google Popularity Contest
      27. Scrape Yahoo! Buzz for a Google Search
      28. Compare Google's Results with Other Search Engines
      29. Scattersearch with Yahoo! and Google
      30. Yahoo! Directory Mindshare in Google
      31. Spot Trends with Geotargeting
      32. Bring the Google Calculator to the Command Line
      33. Build Your Own Google Search Feeds
      34. Search Google by Link Graph
      35. Download Google Videos as AVI Files

Chapter 3. News and Blogs Introduction Google News 168 Google Groups 172 Blogs 177 Beyond Google for News and Blogs 180
      36. Scrape Google News
      37. Visualize Google News
      38. Map Google News
      39. Track Your Favorite Sites
      40. Scrape Google Groups
      41. Seek Out Blog Commentary
      42. Glean Blog-Free Google Results
      43. Find Blog Commentary for Any URL with a Single Click
      44. Track Topics on Blogs over Time
      45. Blog from Your Desktop
      46. Program Blogger with PHP

Chapter 4. Extending Google
      47. Keep Tabs on Your Searches with Google Alerts
      48. Google Your Desktop
      49. Google with Bookmarklets
      50. Google from IRC
      51. Google on the Go
      52. Google over IM
      53. Googlify Your Browser
      54. Search with Google from Any Web Page
      55. Customize the Firefox Quick Search Box
      56. Build a Google Screensaver
      57. Add a Feed to Google Quickly
      58. Tame Long Google URLs
      59. Autocomplete Search Terms as You Type
      60. Refine Your Google Search
      61. Make Google More Accessible for Low-Vision Users
      62. Search for Lyrics on Google

Chapter 5. Google Maps
      63. Think Global, Google Local
      64. Get Around http://maps.google.com
      65. Find Yourself (and Others) on Google Maps
      66. Build Your Own Google Map
      67. Add a Google Map to Your Web Site
      68. Map Flickr Contacts
      69. Fly Across the Earth

Chapter 6. Gmail introduction Signing Up 348 Gmail Search Syntax 348 Gmail Chat 351 Additional Resources 352
      70. Create and Use Custom Addresses
      71. Import Your Contacts into Gmail
      72. Import Mail into Gmail
      73. Export Your Gmail
      74. Gmail on the Go
      75. Use Gmail as a Linux Filesystem
      76. Use Gmail as a Hard Drive
      77. Program Gmail
      78. Force Gmail to Use a Secure Connection

Chapter 7. Webmastering introduction Google's Importance to Webmasters 399 The Mysterious PageRank 400 The Equally Mysterious Ranking Algorithm 400 Tools for Webmasters 400 Keeping Up with Google's Changes 404 In a Word: Relax 405
      79. A Webmaster's Introduction to Google
      80. Get Inside the PageRank Algorithm
      81. 26 Steps to 15 KB a Day
      82. Be a Good Search Engine Citizen
      83. Clean Up for a Google Visit
      84. Remove Your Materials from Google
      85. Get the Most Out of AdWords
      86. Generate Google AdWords
      87. Scrape Google AdWords
      88. Add Search to Your Site
      89. Feed News to Your Web Site

Chapter 8. Programming Google introduction Signing Up and Google's Terms 448 The Google Web APIs Developer's Kit 449 Using Your Google API Key 449 What's WSDL? 450 Understanding the Google API Query 451 Understanding the Google API Response 455 Beyond Web APIs 458 A Note on Spidering and Scraping 458
      90. Program Google in Perl
      91. Install the SOAP::Lite Perl Module
      92. Program Google with the Net::Google Perl Module
      93. Loop Around the 10-Result Limit
      94. Program Google in Java
      95. Program Google in Python
      96. Program Google in C# and .NET
      97. Program Google in VB.NET
      98. Program Google with ColdFusion
      99. Program Google with PHP 5
      100. Program Google with VBScript

Appendix. Track News About Google

Index

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Google's corporate mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." They've gone a long way toward that goal. But to take full advantage of their achievements, you need the technical knowledge in this book.

Chapter 1's "hacks" take you as far as you can go without coding. You'll master Google's special search syntax; then discover Google's many "specialty searches" (phone number lookups, stock prices, and so forth). Along the way, the authors unearth some cool web tools: for instance, one that visualizes the relationships amongst your results.

Now you're ready for real power: programmatic control over Google. Most of the authors' programs are written in Perl, but you'll find some Python, PHP, Java, and .NET code, too. Most use Google's powerful API, but there's some classic spidering and screen scraping, too. (FYI, if you find spidering useful, check out O'Reilly's Spidering Hacks, too.)

So, what can you do with Google Hacks' techniques? You can calculate the "mindshare" of your company in your industry. Make sure none of your site links have recently gone X-rated. Create searches limited to U.S. government documents. Use geotargeting to spot emerging trends. Build newsfeeds that automate recurring searches. Convert Google Video into AVIs you can actually use. Uncover every blog comment linked to any page. Find lyrics to whatever you're playing in iTunes. And create all manner of Google Maps mashups that weren't even possible when this book's last edition was written.

Google Hacks wraps up with tips for webmasters: everything from improving your positioning in Google searches to visualizing your site's traffic with Google Analytics. Bottom line: This book puts you in control the world's information -- and, in the information age, what could be more important? Bill Camarda, from the November 2006 Read Only