Computer and Web Articles

A few months ago Tommy Ryan of Fairplay emailed me a section of a great Q&A article he’d come across in a (then) recent issue of Popular Mechanics.

A reader had asked the article’s author: “Are there any dangers to using URL-shortening services such as bit.ly or TinyURL?”

The author’s response included the following comments:

• URL shorteners are potentially hazardous
• Clicking on a shortened URL is like opening an email attachment sent by a complete stranger
• There’s no guarantee that shortened URLs will stick around; they would break if the service that generated them shut down
• People who currently use URL shortening services should consider using full-length versions of their URLs
• The author would love it if websites moved away from long URLs and used shorter ones instead

Here are my thoughts on the author’s response:

• As a general rule, it’s not smart to click on any link that’s been posted online or emailed to you by a person or company you don’t trust. What appear to be absolutely valid, normal website links can whisk you off to bad websites just as easily as shortened URLs.
• There’s no guarantee that any URL, whether shortened or not, will stick around. Sites come and go. Site content and pages get updated. URLs change. The web is a dynamic creature with broken links playing an inescapable part in its reality. (However, if you truly fear that a URL shortening service will someday close its doors, causing all its shortened URLs to break… then it probably wouldn’t be very wise to use that service.)
• Asking people to use full-length versions of URLs is not the most realistic of requests. (How many of you are thinking, “How would I fit URLs containing more than 140 characters into my Twitter posts?”)
• Websites use long URLs for reasons; they don’t do it just for kicks. Lengthy URLs often play important roles in providing secure, encrypted browsing sessions. Including keywords in URLs is an effective strategy for those looking to achieve great search engine rankings. Including variables in URLs allows some websites to generate dynamic pages (pages that don’t permanently exist in a website but instead contain content generated on the fly). As I see it, suggesting that the web “move away from long Web addresses” is kind of like saying, “Everyone should move toward driving scooters, and scooters only.”

Here are my thoughts in a nutshell: Don’t feel terrified about using URL shortening services. And don’t be scared of clicking a shortened URL if you trust the person or company that gave it to you/posted it online (which is the same basic rule that applies to just about all links on the web).

And with that being said, if you’d like, you can view the original Popular Mechanics Q & A article in its entirety right here: http://tinyurl.com/23smp8k.

Thanks again to Tommy Ryan for sharing this article!

Just about all major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) allow you to drop a UPS tracking number into their search boxes. Hit enter and the search results will give you a direct link to your tracking page. I’ve always found this functionality rather convenient.

A month ago I shared with you how easy it is to determine what browser and browser version you use.

Today I’m admitting there’s actually a much easier way to locate this information (as well as some important related details).

That’s right. The next time someone asks you for any of the following:

1. your browser
2. your browser version
3. your operating system
4. your IP address
5. your user agent string

…don’t fret. Just visit www.thismachine.info. The moment you arrive you’ll find all the above-listed information displayed on your screen. It’s like your little private cheat sheet.

Go ahead and bookmark this page so that the next time tech support/your webmaster/that warranty card asks you for any of the above-listed details, you won’t feel like a deer in the headlights; you’ll instead be able to provide an accurate answer with ease.

When you put quotation marks around a set of words in your Google search box, you’re essentially telling Google to consider those exact words in that exact order without any changes whatsoever. You’re telling Google you mean serious business and you know exactly what you want to find.

It’s important to remember, though, that using quotes can potentially eliminate the exact results you may be searching for. Not good. Here’s an example.

Let’s say someone was stalking me. They want to locate every single instance of my name on the web and learn as much as possible about my life. So they head over to Google and, because they want to search specifically for me, they type in “Erin Pheil,” putting quotation marks around my name. Doing so means that they won’t be looking at results showing Rebecca Pheil or Erin Pfiel or anything else that’s … kind of close. All the results Google will list for my stalker will contain the exact phrase “Erin Pheil.”

So where’s the problem?

It’s quite possible that there are many pages on the web displaying my name—but doing so with, say, my middle initial. Or my full middle name. Unfortunately for my stalker, none of the pages on the web that showed my name only as Erin S. Pheil are going to show up in my stalker’s Google results. This is because by putting quotes around “Erin Pheil,” my stalker specifically told Google he wanted results with no other letters or words between the “Erin” and the “Pheil.”

On the other hand, if my stalker had instead searched for “Erin S. Pheil” (using the quotation marks, of course), he would have received zero results that displayed my name as “Erin Pheil.”

In sum: use quotation marks around sets of words when you’re searching—but use them wisely and be wary of the “you could be cutting out relevant results” pitfall.

Let me let you in on a little secret: I’m afraid that Google is, well, how do I put this without hurting your feelings?  Well… it turns out that Google indifferent to a lot of the punctuation you’ve been using in your searches. There. I said it.  Google just doesn’t care. Don’t be offended; just keep this in mind as you work to become a better Google searcher.

Let’s say you forgot the (most common) color of the sky. You head over to Google and type “What color is the sky?” You didn’t do any harm or decrease the likelihood that you’d receive relevant results, but do know that Google just totally ignored your question mark. Acted as if it wasn’t even there, as if it didn’t even exist. You know, just like that one super-popular girl in high school.

Google doesn’t care about your exclamation marks. Put in two exclamation marks or put in fifty; Google couldn’t care less. Those commas, periods, and semicolons you’ve been using in your searches? Save ‘em for your emails.

Pound signs? Less than and greater than keys? They might as well be invisible unless you’re using Google Calculator.

What about quotation marks, you ask? Ahhhh. Great question. Hopefully your brain is remembering previous discussions we’ve had about the use of quotations marks in searches; Google absolutely, positively cares about quotation marks–and using them correctly can greatly increase the relevance of your search results.

We’ll have a refresher next Monday on the use of quotation marks in searches.  Stay tuned…

If you use Google on a regular basis, a Firefox add-on called CyberSearch might help make your searching experiences simpler and more efficient.

Installing CyberSearch 2.0.5 (download and install instructions here: http://tinyurl.com/3twze2) allows you to conduct quick Google searches in Firefox’s address bar (that bar at the top of your screen that displays the address of the website you’re viewing).

Let’s say you’ve gone ahead and installed CyberSearch. And let’s say that upon opening up Firefox you’ve suddenly decided you want to learn more about Whackbat. To search all the web, you’d click inside the address bar (or use the shortcut Ctrl + L) and type “gweb whackbat”. The gweb part just means you’re using Google (g) and you’re searching the whole web (web).

But perhaps you’re only interested in finding videos on how to play Whackbat. In this case, you’d type in “gvid whackbat”.

If you’re interested only in finding the latest Whackbat news headlines, you’d type in “gnews whackbat”.

Oh–you say you only wanted to see *images* of Whackbat? In that case, try typing “gimg whackbat”.

Only care about instances where people have mentioned Whackbat in blogs? You’d want to type this instead: “gblog whackbat”.

After using this quick-search functionality for a couple days, you’ll begin remembering the little “g-codes” to use in your searches. And remember, these searches are done right smack dab in the address bar at the top of your page. No need to go to Google.com.

And for those of you thinking “Why would I use this when I have the Google toolbar??” — the Google toolbar is all well and good if you conduct simple, standard web searches all day. But if you’d like to be able to quickly specify what type of results you’re interested in (images? blogs? videos? news?), CyberSearch adds that extra level of convenience.

Firefox user?
Yes?
Are you also a bad typist/do you make lots of typos?
Yes?

Then you very well might like the URL Fixer Firefox add-on. The developer’s description of the Firefox URL Fixer add-on states that his tool “corrects typos in URLs that you enter in the address bar. For example, if you type google.com, it will correct it to google.com (asking first, if you enable confirmation)…”

Interested? To learn more or download this add-on, visit http://tinyurl.com/35v6m9.

I recently came across an article that consolidated a good deal of research into one concise, illuminating summary of the Internet in 2009.

Here are few highlights I found quite interesting:

• 90 trillion: The number of emails sent on the Internet in 2009
• 81% - The percentage of all emails that were spam
• 126 million - The number of blogs on the Internet
• 84% - The number if social networking sites with more women than men
• 350 million - The number of people on Facebook
• 50% - The percentage of Facebook users that log in every day
• 2.5 billion - The number of photos uploaded each month to Facebook
• 1 billion - The number of videos YouTube serves every single day
• 3.9% - The percentage of world’s Internet users located in Africa

To read the additional findings, check out the original Royal Pingdom article here: http://tinyurl.com/yej8686.

Yes, Google provides a million and one services. Google conducts web searches for you, lets you send emails via Gmail, tracks your website’s analytics, and lets you create, edit, and store documents online. Were you aware that Google is also more than happy to serve as your … calculator?

There’s no Google Calculator application. There’s no Google Calculator page. Just drop your math equations right into the Google search box and hit the Search button. Can’t figure out the answer to 5 times 10? Just type “5*10” into Google, hit the Search button, and the Google Calculator answer will appear in bold at the top of your results page. (Wait – did you really not know what 5 times 10 was? Really?)

The Google Calculator even knows quite a few things that the normal, everyday calculator could only wish it knew. Type the following math questions into the Google search box (and then hit the Search button, of course) to see what I mean…

• How many seconds in a decade?
• How much is a Googol?
• What is the loneliest number?
• What is once in a blue moon?
• How many feet are in a smoot?