TECH BRIEFINGS: What Google Can Do For You

Google is so easy to use, why attend this presentation? If you're like many people, you use only a small number of Google's services and features. Learn how to go beyond Google's deceptively plain interface and take advantage of many shortcuts and underutilized capabilities. For example, get driving directions by entering a US street address into Google's search box. If you aren't sure whether a word is hyphenated, search for it with a hyphen, e.g., [ long-term ]; you'll get more results. Find synonyms by preceding the term with a "~," which is known as the tilde or synonym operator, e.g., [ google ~guide] finds guides, tips, help, and tutorials on using Google. The more you know about how Google works, its features and capabilities, the better it can serve your needs.

Nancy Blachman has been using Google since the spring of 1999, when Google was less than one year old. She is author of "Google Guide," www.googleguide.com, the most popular online tutorial (top ranked site when you search Google for "Google tutorial"). Nancy has written over a half dozen tutorial and reference books, including "How to Do Everything with Google," "Mathematica: A Practical Approach," "Mathematica Graphics Guidebook," "Mathematica Quick Reference," "Maple V Quick Reference," and "Putting Your Heart Online." Nancy is president and founder of Variable Symbols, a company that specializes in software training and consulting. She obtained a B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Birmingham, U.K., an M.S. in Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University, where she taught for eight years.