Google Hacks

by Dornfest, Rael

• ISBN13: 9780596527068
• ISBN10: 0596527063
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-31
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

Since O'Reilly released the second edition of this bestselling book in December 2004, Google has added many new features and services to its expanding universe, including Google Earth, Google Talk, Google Base, Google Blog Search, Video Search, and Music Search, among them. Early adopters have wasted no time looking for ways to get these new services to do even more. Google Maps has had the biggest impact on hobbyist hacking over the past year, spawning a new use of the phrase "mash-up" to describe adding third party data to a Google Map. Google Hacks, 3rd Edition features 25 new tips, tricks and scripts along with dozens of updated hacks from previous editions to tackle today's Google.

Author Biography

Rael Dornfest is Chief Technology Officer at O'Reilly Media. He assesses, experiments, programs, fiddles, fidgets, and writes for the O'Reilly Network and various O'Reilly publications. Rael is Series Editor of the O'Reilly Hacks series and has edited, contributed to, and coauthored various O'Reilly books, including Mac OS X Panther Hacks, Mac OS X Hacks, Google Hacks, Essential Blogging, and Peer to Peer: Harnessing the Power of Disruptive Technologies. He is also Program Chair for the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. In his copious free time, Rael develops bits and bobs of freeware, particularly the Blosxom weblog application, is Editor in Chief of MobileWhack, and (more often than not) maintains his Raelity Bytes weblog.

Paul Bausch is an independent web developer living in Corvallis, Oregon. When he's not hacking together web applications, he's writing about hacking together web applications. He is the author of Amazon Hacks for O'Reilly in 2003, Yahoo! Hacks in 2005, and co-wrote Flickr Hacks in 2005. Paul also helped create the popular application Blogger (http://www.blogger.com), maintains a directory of Oregon blogs called ORblogs (http://www.orblogs.com), and co-wrote a book about blogs called We Blog (Wiley). When he's not working on a book, Paul posts thoughts and photos to his personal blog onfocus (http://www.onfocus.com).

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	xi
Credits	xiii
Preface	xxiii
Chapter 1. Web	1	(84)
INTRODUCTION Google Web Search Basics	1	(84)
Full-Word Wildcards	5	(1)
Special Syntax	6	(4)
Mixing Syntax	10	(4)
Advanced Search	14	(3)
Quick Links	17	(3)
Language Tools	20	(2)
Anatomy of a Search Result	22	(2)
Setting Preferences	24	(3)
Understanding Google URLs	27	(1)
1. Browse the Google Directory	28	(4)
2. Glean a Snapshot of Google in Time	32	(2)
3. Visualize Google Results	34	(4)
4. Check Your Spelling	38	(4)
5. Google Phonebook: Let Google's Fingers Do the Walking	42	(3)
6. Look Up Definitions	45	(6)
7. Find Directories of Information	51	(2)
8. Cover Your Bases	53	(4)
9. Hack Your Own Google Search Form	57	(3)
10. Compare Google and Yahoo! Search Results	60	(4)
11. Cover Your Tracks	64	(6)
12. Improve Google's Memory	70	(4)
13. Find Out What Google Thinks _ Is	74	(2)
14. Browse the World Wide Photo Album	76	(3)
15. Find Similar Images	79	(3)
16. Track Stocks	82	(3)
Chapter 2. Advanced Web	85	(83)
INTRODUCTION Assumptions	86	(82)
17. Assemble Advanced Search Queries	86	(4)
18. Like a Version: Search with Synonyms	90	(3)
19. Capture Google Results in a Google Box	93	(4)
20. Cook with Google	97	(4)
21. Permute a Query	101	(5)
22. Summarize Results by Domain	106	(4)
23. Measure Google Mindshare	110	(4)
24. SafeSearch Certify URLs	114	(3)
25. Search Google Topics	117	(4)
26. Run a Google Popularity Contest	121	(8)
27. Scrape Yahoo! Buzz for a Google Search	129	(3)
28. Compare Google's Results with Other Search Engines	132	(5)
29. Scattersearch with Yahoo! and Google	137	(4)
30. Yahoo! Directory Mindshare in Google	141	(4)
31. Spot Trends with Geotargeting	145	(7)
32. Bring the Google Calculator to the Command Line	152	(2)
33. Build Your Own Google Search Feeds	154	(4)
34. Search Google by Link Graph	158	(5)
35. Download Google Videos as AVI Files	163	(5)
Chapter 3. News and Blogs	168	(61)
INTRODUCTION Google News	168	(179)
Google Groups	172	(5)
Blogs	177	(3)
Beyond Google for News and Blogs	180	(1)
36. Scrape Google News	180	(5)
37. Visualize Google News	185	(3)
38. Map Google News	188	(6)
39. Track Your Favorite Sites	194	(6)
40. Scrape Google Groups	200	(4)
41. Seek Out Blog Commentary	204	(3)
42. Glean Blog-Free Google Results	207	(4)
43. Find Blog Commentary for Any URL with a Single Click	211	(3)
44. Track Topics on Blogs over Time	214	(5)
45. Blog from Your Desktop	219	(6)
46. Program Blogger with PHP	225	(4)
Chapter 4. Extending Google	229	(78)
47. Keep Tabs on Your Searches with Google Alerts	229	(3)
48. Google Your Desktop	232	(11)
49. Google with Bookmarklets	243	(2)
50. Google from IRC	245	(3)
51. Google on the Go	248	(10)
52. Google over IM	258	(4)
53. Googlify Your Browser	262	(8)
54. Search with Google from Any Web Page	270	(3)
55. Customize the Firefox Quick Search Box	273	(4)
56. Build a Google Screensaver	277	(4)
57. Add a Feed to Google Quickly	281	(4)
58. Tame Long Google URLs	285	(3)
59. Autocomplete Search Terms as You Type	288	(3)
60. Refine Your Google Search	291	(3)
61. Make Google More Accessible for Low-Vision Users	294	(9)
62. Search for Lyrics on Google	303	(4)
Chapter 5. Google Maps	307	(40)
63. Think Global, Google Local	308	(4)
64. Get Around http://maps.google.com	312	(5)
65. Find Yourself (and Others) on Google Maps	317	(2)
66. Build Your Own Google Map	319	(4)
67. Add a Google Map to Your Web Site	323	(7)
68. Map Flickr Contacts	330	(9)
69. Fly Across the Earth	339	(8)
Chapter 6. Gmail	347	(52)
INTRODUCTION Signing Up	348	(99)
Gmail Search Syntax	348	(3)
Gmail Chat	351	(1)
Additional Resources	352	(1)
70. Create and Use Custom Addresses	352	(2)
71. Import Your Contacts into Gmail	354	(12)
72. Import Mail into Gmail	366	(7)
73. Export Your Gmail	373	(2)
74. Gmail on the Go	375	(8)
75. Use Gmail as a Linux Filesystem	383	(6)
76. Use Gmail as a Hard Drive	389	(3)
77. Program Gmail	392	(4)
78. Force Gmail to Use a Secure Connection	396	(3)
Chapter 7. Webmastering	399	(48)
INTRODUCTION Google's Importance to Webmasters	399	(1)
The Mysterious PageRank	400	(1)
The Equally Mysterious Ranking Algorithm	400	(1)
Tools for Webmasters	400	(4)
Keeping Up with Google's Changes	404	(1)
In a Word: Relax	405	(1)
79. A Webmaster's Introduction to Google	406	(3)
80. Get Inside the PageRank Algorithm	409	(3)
81. 26 Steps to 15 KB a Day	412	(7)
82. Be a Good Search Engine Citizen	419	(3)
83. Clean Up for a Google Visit	422	(2)
84. Remove Your Materials from Google	424	(4)
85. Get the Most Out of AdWords	428	(5)
86. Generate Google AdWords	433	(2)
87. Scrape Google AdWords	435	(3)
88. Add Search to Your Site	438	(4)
89. Feed News to Your Web Site	442	(5)
Chapter 8. Programming Google	447	(44)
INTRODUCTION Signing Up and Google's Terms	448	(39)
The Google Web APIs Developer's Kit	449	(1)
Using Your Google API Key	449	(1)
What's WSDL?	450	(1)
Understanding the Google API Query	451	(4)
Understanding the Google API Response	455	(3)
Beyond Web APIs	458	(1)
A Note on Spidering and Scraping	458	(2)
90. Program Google in Perl	460	(2)
91. Install the SOAP::Lite Perl Module	462	(3)
92. Program Google with the Net::Google Perl Module	465	(2)
93. Loop Around the 10-Result Limit	467	(3)
94. Program Google in Java	470	(3)
95. Program Google in Python	473	(2)
96. Program Google in C# and .NET	475	(4)
97. Program Google in VB.NET	479	(3)
98. Program Google with ColdFusion	482	(2)
99. Program Google with PHP 5	484	(3)
100. Program Google with VBScript	487	(4)
Appendix. Track News About Google	491	(6)
Index	497