We instructional designers love a good job aid, it's way cheaper and much more performance oriented than having to build a class. Speaking of classes, we couldn't help noticing how few and far between are the companies that train and develop their staff to leverage many of the resources freely available to them courtesy of the web. Take Google, it's one entry search field is very effective at deceptively hiding a large chunk of the functionality available through its powerful search engine.
The folks over at trendblog.net have done an outstanding job of compiling into an infographic many of Google's powerful search capabilities onto a single sheet. Many of you might not have even heard of some of this hidden power. Take a few minutes and pull up Google and hit that little microphone on the right hand edge of the search bar and play with some of these commands. It's a great way to learn more about Google, and it may save you time and keystrokes when performing searches in the future.
In case the graphic is not displayed correctly or you want to copy some commands, here’s the list in text:
General Commands
- “Search for [chicken recipes]?”
- “Say [where is the supermarket] in [Spanish]?”
- “What is [Schrodinger’s cat]?”
- “Who invented [the internet]?”
- “What is the meaning of [life]?”
- “Who is married to [Ben Affleck]?”
- “Stock price of [Apple]”
- “Author of [Game of Thrones]”
- “How old is [Michael Jordan]?”
- “Post to Google+ [feeling great]”
Notes & Reminders
- “Remind me to [buy milk] at [5 PM]”
- “Remind me [when I get / next time I'm at] [home / work / other location] [to send an email to John]”
- “Wake me up in [5 hours]”
- “Note to self: [I parked my car in section D]”
- “Set alarm for [8 PM]”
Time & Date
- “What time is it in [Tokyo]?”
- “When is the sunset [in Chicago (optional)]”
- ”What is the time zone of [Berlin]”
- “Time at home”
- “Create a calendar event: [Dinner in New York] [Saturday at 8 PM]”
Communication
- “Call [Daniel]”
- “Send [email] to Daniel, [Subject: Meeting], [Message: Will be there in 5]”
- “Send [SMS] to Philipp mobile, don’t forget to buy milk”
- ”[Contact name]”
Weather
- “Weather”
- “Is it going to rain [tomorrow / Monday]”
- “What’s the weather in [Boston]?”
- “How’s the weather in [Portland] on [Wednesday] going to be?”
Maps & Navigation
- “Map of [Flagstaff]”
- “Show me the nearby [restaurant] on map”
- “Navigate to [Munich] on car”
- “How far is [Berlin] from [Munich]?”
- “Directions to [address / business name / other destination]”
Conversions & Calculations
- “What is the tip for [125] dollars?”
- “Convert [currency / length ...] to [currency / length ...]”
- “How much is [18] times [48]?”
- “What is [45] percent of [350]?”
- “Square root of [81]”
- “….. equals”
Sports
- “How are [the New York Yankees] doing?”
- “When is the next [Los Angeles Lakers] game?”
- “Show me the [Premier League] table”
- “Did [Bayern Munich] win their last game?”
Flight Information
- “Flight [AA 125]?”
- “Flight status of [AA 125]”
- “Has [LH 210] landed?”
- “When will [AA 120] land / depart?”
Web Browsing
- “Go to [Huffington Post]?”
- “Open [xda.com]”
- “Show me [android.com]”
- “Browse to [reddit.com]”
Entertainment
- “Listen to / play [Intro] by [The XX]?”
- “YouTube [fail compilation]?”
- “Who acted in [Ocean’s 11]?”
- “Who is the producer of [Gladiator]?”
- “When was [Alien] released?”
- “Runtime of [Avatar]”
- “Listen to TV”
- “What’s this song?”
Easter Eggs
- “Do a barrel roll”
- “What’s the loneliest number?”
- “Make me a sandwich!”
- “When am I?”
- “Okay Jarvis, …” (Instead of “Okay Google, …”)
- “Who are you?”
- “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.”
- “Beam me up, Scotty!”
Alex is a co-founder and Managing Member of Collabor8 Learning, LLC, an instructional design and performance management consultancy. His firm collaborates with organizations to enhance the way they develop and train their people. To learn more about Collabor8 Learning, click here.
Alex can be reached at 786-512-1069, alex@collabor8learning.com or via Twitter@collabor8alex.