Google Directory – Redefining search

Internet has changed the course of things drastically in the 21st century. With all the information explosion that has occurred due the booming of the internet, there is just so much out there to know and learn. In a way libraries of yesterday have lost importance in today’s world. The internet has successfully replaced all prior sources of information to human beings and established a monopoly of sorts. While there are many aspects in which the internet has affected our lives, we will concentrate on the “information” part for now. There is so much information and data out there, but how does one find it?

Enter Google.

It’s alright to say that internet without Google wouldn’t be that big a deal after all. We have this powerful search engine at our disposal and “searching” about anything just is a matter of seconds. Again when it comes to Google, there are numerous ways in which it has become an unavoidable part of our lives with maps, youtube etc. But again, lets not deviate and stick to “Search”. There are two parts to searching. The first part is played by Google and they are doing a good job by indexing all this wealth of information so that we search it quickly. The second part is where the ball is in our court. Its a fact that not all people know how to use Google to its best. They just don’t know how to search for information in the right way. Knowing that Google is capable of indexing only 3-4% of the information lying out there in spite of being so good, it just makes the scene petty if we can’t find the best links about what we are looking for.

Enter Google. Again.

This time its “Google Directory”. http://directory.google.com/ is the best thing on the web that I recently came across. This was what we needed. A yellow pages for the web. Now a  novice doesn’t need to know all the flashy google tricks find data. Google Directory categorizes data in a very clean manner with subcategories and finally the page that displays results – sorted by pagerank. Now that’s something eh! Since I am into computer science, this link blew me off. Then I played around with it and browsed through other categories and it was perfect. Google is just not finding, but finding the right things.

Technology is advancing, though I’m not sure if it is inversely affecting our grey matter!

Love’s labour lost!

Guys, how about sending this to your woman?! I found this picture online and think its really amazing, actually amazingly blunt!

Useful GRE Preparation Resources

I am writing this post because when I went on a hunt for GRE resources I always had a problem getting all the information in one place. So here goes, when we start preparing for GRE we are usually confused about which way to go. This is for people who write the GRE test without enrolling at coaching centres. Some quick resources would be:

1. Enroll for the free GRE online test prep at Number2.com .Number2 is an awesome website that has tutorials for every section with practice questions. It is a well organized way to keep track of your preparation status. Also Number2 has a very useful vocabulary builder which presents new words to the test takers as well as keeps track of words mastered, words gotten wrong etc.
2. Math is not the hard part of GRE. It is pretty reasonable when it comes to the complexity of questions, mostly a recap of what we’ve learnt in high school.
3. Vocabulary is challenging and we all to need to work on it. Doing well in the vocab section solely depends on how many words we know. Some useful books that will increase your vocab and at the same time spare you from learning 3000 odd words are:
   • ARCO WORDS for Smart Test-Takers by Mark Alan Stewart
   • Webster’s NewWorld Power Vocabulary by Elizabeth Morse-Cluley & Richard Read.
   • If you have lots of time to prepare, All About Words by Maxwell Nurnberg and Morris Rosenblum would be a good book to pick up.
4. Try and get a copy of “Cracking the GRE“by Princeton Review. Things are explained in simple terms here. A must have I would say.
5. Make sure you get your copy of the GRE PowerPrep from ETS. If you dont get it in time, shoot mails to them, they’ll send it.
6. ets.org also provides test practice online here . These questions are good to practice.
7. Get the list of essays for GRE and skim through them while practising a few.
8. Signup for “Word of the Day” at Dictionary.com and Merriam Webster.

This much should get you well prepared for GRE!

Update 04/08/09- I recently got an email that my post has been included with a list of others to form “The Ultimate Guide to the GRE: 100 Free Tools, Practice Tests and Resources”.  The compilation is great and can very well become the only place you need to go to find GRE resources.  The link to this page is http://www.selectcourses.com/blog/2009/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-gre-100-free-tools-practice-tests-and-resources/

Hope this helps my readers!

Case-sensitivity in Google

Recently i was searching for some stuff on the net and I happened to realize this… The Google search engine, awesome tool and probably the most useful thing made since the bulb was invented had something missing!

I was looking for some stuff, lets assume, “Helloworld” and google gave me results for “helloworld” and “HelloWorld” and “Helloworld”… So i guess the Google Search Engine is not case-sensitive… I think if the engine provides case-sensitivity, the results could be more relevant to the user’s needs.

As far as i tried, i could only conclude that this kinda search cannot be done with google, however i’m not sure, but i’d love to know…

Does anybody know how case-sensitive strings can be searched with google?

lyrics on the fly!

Another great tool for all music fans, this time its a tool that looks for lyrics in such an efficient way! This one’s called lyricsfly and is a search engine dedicated to look for lyrics online!

First of all, i love the interface! Its damn sleek and simple without any complications or jazzy stuff all around, check it out below here…

The best part is that you can look for lyrics by song, artist, album or just put a part of the lyrics.. whats more? the results are so well displayed to give you complete info! You can even correct some lyrics that you find wrong… Plus, a link to the video on youtube! I think this is a great search engine that just gives you what you need without a sidebar full of porno ads or free smileys!