Marc and Angel Hack Life

7 Clever Google Tricks Worth Knowing

Marc Chernoff — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:12:05 +0000

Below I have compiled a list of 7 clever Google tricks that I believe everyone should be aware of. Together I think they represent the apex of the grand possibilities associated with Google search manipulation tricks and hacks. Although there are many others out there, these 7 tricks are my all-time favorite. Enjoy yourself.

1. Find the Face Behind the Result – This is a neat trick you can use on a Google Image search to filter the search results so that they include only images of people. How is this useful? Well, it could come in handy if you are looking for images of the prominent people behind popular products, companies, or geographic locations. You can perform this search by appending the code &imgtype=face to the end of the URL address after you perform a standard Google Image search.

Examples (notice the differences in each URL):

2. Google + Social Media Sites = Quality Free Stuff – If you are on the hunt for free desktop wallpaper, stock images, WordPress templates or the like, using Google to search your favorite social media sites is your best bet. The word “free” in any standard search query immediately attracts spam. Why wade through potential spam in standard search results when numerous social media sites have an active community of users who have already ranked and reviewed the specific free items that interest you. All you have to do is direct Google to search through each of these individual social media sites, and bingo… you find quality content ranked by hundreds of other people.

Examples:

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3 Fun Math Tricks

Marc Chernoff — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:55:39 +0000

Here are 3 fun math tricks you can use to impress your geeky friends. All three tricks are based around the sequential manipulation of the numbers being used for input and output. One of my old college professors showed me these tricks a few years back. I thought it was pretty cool, so I figured I’d share it. Enjoy yourselves!

1 Through 9 to 9 Through 1:

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

Sequential Input to All 1’s:

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 + 10 = 1111111111

All 1’s to a Numeric Palindrome:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Google Calculator Tips and Tricks

Marc Chernoff — Wed, 23 May 2007 11:33:11 +0000

Google Calculator has been around now for the last three and a half years, so a post on this Google service isn’t exactly groundbreaking. However, I came across this article on lifehack.org while I was doing a little research for work yesterday afternoon. It reminded me of some cool conversion and calculation tricks I had messed around with in the past. At that moment I was just looking for a quick currency conversion, and the easiest way to accomplish this nowadays is Google’s Calculator shortcut. Satisfied with the quick conversion, I finished my research and then decided to kill a little time by messing around with Google Calculator.

Here are a bunch of fun problems that can be quickly solved by utilizing some cool Google calculation tricks:

You can find more interesting Google calculations here and here.

Find Similar Artists or Bands Based on Music You Like

Marc Chernoff — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:32:33 +0000

Music can be one of the healthiest mental escapes a person can indulge in. Discovering a new band or artist that you enjoy can be a truly rewarding experience. Most of us have a modest selection of artists that we love to listen to on a regular basis. But what happens when you yearn for a new set of tunes? Where can you search for different artists and bands with a similar sound to the ones you already listen to?

Since most terrestrial radio stations these days play the same forty songs in a continuous loop, finding new music you actually enjoy may seem like a daunting task. But never fear, because while terrestrial radio stations provide a lack of choice, creative minds across the Internet have set up online services specifically designed to assist their users in finding new music that they will enjoy. While each music service differs in design, the ultimate goal remains the same, matching the bands and artists you already like to other artists with a similar sound and message. Some of these services will even stream full songs to your computer speakers allowing you to instantly preview the different artists while you browse through the suggested options.

Though there are numerous online music services out there, I have listed the three services that I personally use on a regular basis. I believe the quality of service provided by each of these three websites is a step ahead of the competition. Each one will help you discover new music you are bound to enjoy by evaluating different artists based specifically to your tastes.

Last.fm – This is by far my favorite online music service. Last.fm provides one of the most mature social networking websites geared for connecting users to new music of all genres. Users can create and share personal radio stations or even stream full songs or album previews to their computers instantaneously. The site presents a few different methods for getting personalized artist recommendations, allowing casual users and power users alike to discover new tunes.

One method is to simply search on Last.fm for an artist that you like and then preview the suggested artists/songs that the search query returns right in your web browser. Another more advanced option involves downloading their Audioscrobbler plugin and the Last.fm music player, which together allow for a more fine tuned interaction with the Last.fm artist suggestion knowledgebase. The plugin can track all the Mp3s you listen to on your computer and then create custom radio stations based on your listening habits. The player can stream these custom radio stations to your computer, allowing you to indulge in the full songs of suggested artists. Last.fm rocks, so check it out!

Pandora – Pandora is strictly designed to provide users with a personalized streaming radio station. You type in the name of an artist you like and it will create a custom radio station tailored to the artist’s musical style. Pandora utilizes a pretty sophisticated music evaluation algorithm that informs it’s users on the specifics of each artist’s musical style and tempo. As you listen you can give feedback on the particular songs you like or dislike which Pandora will use to refine your future custom playlists.

This service does not provide the ability to choose certain recommended artists from a list. It simply streams a continuous set of full songs to your computer speakers and allows you to skip the ones you don’t like. Even with this limitation, Pandora has a massive artist database, so you are sure to find new artists that you will enjoy.

Liveplasma (formerly Musicplasma) – Liveplasma doesn’t quite peak out at the level of technical sophistication held by the likes of Last.fm and Pandora. However, Liveplasma is a simple Flash based music recommendation site that is easy to use and fun to browse. The recommendations aren’t nearly as plentiful and you can’t instantly stream the suggested songs to your computer, but it’s still a pretty cool service. Simply put, clicking around on Liveplasma can be a blast.

All three of these online music services will connect you to a new and exciting set of tunes. I recommend giving each one of them a whirl. Have fun… and rock on!

Also check out the latest album charts:

Lumahai Beach on Kauai’s North Shore

Marc Chernoff — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:15:54 +0000

Lumahai Beach along the Hawaiian island of Kauai’s north shore is regarded by many travel websites as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The beach is about 3/4’s of a mile long, a few hundred feet wide, and backed straight up against lush vegetated cliff sides. There is no protective reef in the water which creates frequent high surf and thus extremely dangerous water conditions. When bitter cold New Yorkers or Bostonians catch themselves daydreaming about a picture perfect tropical shoreline, Lumahai is surely the beach they envision. Angel and I stumbled across it during our 8 hour beach hopping adventure throughout Kauai last week. Among the photos we snapped, I also made a short video clip of the powerful surf. This clip really doesn’t do it much justice, but it’s still pretty neat. Enjoy.

Space Shuttle Launch Photographed From Outer Space

Marc Chernoff — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:19:03 +0000

An interesting photo sent to me by my buddy Nick who works at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL. The International Space Station happened to be directly overhead two shuttle launches ago (last September). One of the astronauts up there snapped this picture of the launch from a window in the space station. I thought it was pretty cool.

3757

Update (2-6-07): A few site visitors have pointed out that this photo was actually taken at much lower altitude than the ISS resides at. It seems as though the Kennedy employees that gave the photo to Nick were just messing with him. I know nothing about avionics, so I was equally fooled. See the comments on this post for further details. I apologize for the inaccuracy of this post.

Snoop Dog, DMX, and Jay-Z Freestyle

Marc Chernoff — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:39:05 +0000

Okay, so my friends know that I’m not exactly a card carrying member of the hip-hop community. But I still enjoy some quality rap from time to time. This is a video of a freestyle rapper by the name of Aries Spears who can accurately impersonate the sounds of Snoop Dog, DMX, and Jay-Z… and he does it all in the same set. I certainly appreciate talent when I see it. Very cool!

Can you read this?

Marc Chernoff — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:00:21 +0000

Here’s a goodie for you:

Cna yuo raed tihs? Suteids sohw taht olny aoubt 55 prcenet of plepoe can (atculley trheer is no scuh sudty). I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. Tihs sohws us the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are in, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset of the txet can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but isntaed rades the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and we awlyas tghuhot slpelnig was ipmorantt!

Pretty interesting… I’m not exactly sure who wrote it. I originally saw this a few months ago inserted as the test blog entry in a fresh installation of the Joomla content management system (so maybe a Joomla programmer wrote it). Now it seems to be spreading around in chain mail as well… thanks Ash 😉 I looked into it far enough to confirm that there is absolutely no such study on this topic at an English university. Anyway, it was interesting enough to post. Okay, now everyone quickly send this to your favorite English teacher… I mean… Oaky, now erveoyne, qciukly sned tihs to yuor fvaortie Eginslh tahceer.