Looking over my articles, I realized I’ve never written about a few fun — but widely unnecessary — tricks available through Google.
Keep in mind, to use each of these tricks, you must start with a fresh Google.com page, not one from a previous search. You can also use the, “I’m Feeling Lucky” search button, if available; however, it does not usually show once you start typing.
Also, leave out the quotation marks when following the directions for searches below, or they will not work properly.
First, a few silly tricks: Try typing either “tilt” or “askew” and search, watching your Google window carefully. To undo it, type “untilt” and hit enter.
For a real trip, type “do a barrel roll” and press enter.
Make a bet with a friend and type “flip a coin” in the search bar to see what you get.
Are you one of the many, “Six Degrees of Separation” players out there? If you’ve not heard of it before, people name a celebrity and if their opponent is wise enough, they can come up with no more than six other people to connect that celebrity with Kevin Bacon. Type, “Frank Sinatra bacon number” and see that how Frank and Kevin are related. Yes, in less than six steps: Frank Sinatra and John Lithgow appeared with Johnny Carson; then, John Lithgow and Kevin Bacon appeared in Footloose.
In the mood for a game? Try typing, “Google Pacman,” search and then click the graphic with, “Click to play” in yellow.
For all of you Doctor Who fans out there type, “Google Who” search and click the “Doctor Who 50th Anniversary — Google Doodles” link to play.
Both of these should pop up first in the search results.
Maybe you are dieting and wish to compare foods? Try typing, “banana vs green beans” in to Google (or any other two foods). Omit the period after “vs,” or it will not work. You will see a graphic of the two foods with some dietary information for each. Directly below that small area, you will see a down arrow which will provide more information for each food when clicked.
If you need to know the weather for most anywhere in the world, try, “forecast Castelsardo” or use a zip code, if you know it.
Try, “sunrise” or “sunset” for any location in the world. Zip codes will work for this, too. If you found this information useful or interesting, let me know via email and I will share a few more for next time.
