The Smarmy Carny

Google has been adding increasingly more special results to the top of their results. This results box that appears at the top of your search results is called OneBox. An amazing number of searches pull up some sort of information to attempt to immediately answer any specific information you might be searching for.

Go ahead: Search "5 + 4" and see what happens.

Here are some of the many searches that utilize Google OneBox. Search formats are in bold. I have included example searches in parentheses and quotations if you'd like to try a search yourself.

• [misspelled word] ("independant") — Google suggests the proper spelling for the word.
• [calculation] ("600 * 150" or "sqrt(-16)" or "pi" or "16 oz in cups" or "0.89 cad/liter in usd/gallon" or "10 pounds * 4000 feet in calories" or "2006 in roman numerals") — Calculates the result and/or conversion
• [phone number] ("320-693-6651") — Phone book result, address, and maps to that address if you have searched a listed number.
• [ticker symbol] ("mmm") — Various information on the stock, including the stoke quote, company name, links to various financial sites, current price, highs, lows, and a chart.
• [zip code/city name/area code] ("90210" or "beverly hills") — Links to view a map of the area via Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, and MapQuest.
• [area code] ("212") — Link to an area code map for the selected area. Also informs you of the major city in that area code.
• [address1] to [address2] ("1600 pennsylvania avenue 20006 to 350 fifth avenue 10118") — Supplies driving directions via the same three mapping sites.
• [city1] [city2] ("boston sacramento") — Fields to enter departure and return dates, along with links to various airline sites.
• [airport code] airport ("jfk airport") — Link to current airport conditions and delays.
• [airline] [flight number] ("united 7") — Links to information on flight status
• [amount] [currency1] in [currency2] ("500 usd in gbp") — Currency converter
• [current movie title] — Shows runtime, MPAA rating, user ratings, and offers a search box to find showings near your zip.
• Including other keywords give you certain information about words, locations, etc. Try these out for size. The results for these are fairly obvious, so I won't explain them.
  • define [word]
  • winner [super bowl; stanley cup] — You don't get to pick which year is displayed, which is disappointing. How well this works to begin with is questionable.
• Here are even more keywords to use alongside locations. If you want to find out about a country, state, or city, these all should work well:
  • capital [location]
  • population [location]
  • president [location]
  • weather [location]
  • time [location]
  • state [bird/flower] [state] ("state bird new jersey") — Some states (NY) give you a state beverage if you ask.
• patent [number] ("patent 4825111")
• [tracking number] — Works with tracking numbers for the USPS, UPS, and FedEx
• [UPC number] ("718908094075")
• [obscure number] — You can also enter VINs, FAA airplane registration numbers, and FCC equipment IDs. FCC IDs need to be prefaced with "fcc".
• Where was [person] born? ("where was weird al born")
• Who is buried in Grant's tomb?
• What is the answer to life the universe and everything? — If you don't already know the answer to this question, then you won't find this funny.
• What is the average airspeed of an unladen swallow?
• How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
• How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Additionally, Google SMS has additional features you can use on the site, or text message from your phone to get a response from anywhere. Here are some additional keywords that don't seem to work from the normal Google search, but already work on Google SMS:

• translate [english word/phrase] in [language] ("translate dog in spanish") -or- translate [foreign word/phrase] from [language] ("translate perro from spanish") — This will give you a basic translation service to or from the English language.
• [city name/address] to [city name/address] — Supplies driving directions between locations
• [sports team] — Gives recent score and upcoming game information. Try the team name ("lakers") or the city combined with the league ("nhl detroit"). There's no news or off-season information, just scores.

If you have additional Google OneBox responses that aren't listed here, please comment so that I can add them!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 19th, 2006 at 19:23 by Novac and is filed under All, Computer Geeks, Computers, Culture, Entertaining, Fun, Geeks, Google, Hilarious, Humor, Internet, People, Pop Culture, Search Engines, Technology.   You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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