Cool things you didn’t know Google could do

I think it’s a safe assumption that a lot of us use Google a lot. A lot, as in everyday, multiple times a day. It’s no surprise that Google became a verb 10 years ago (the Oxford English dictionary added Google as a verb in June 2006).

But did you know that Google, apart from being just a search engine also does a whole lot of cool stuff; things that have nothing to do with search at all. Here are a few that you definitely need to try out – right now!

1. Play Zerg Rush

Just type “Zerg Rush” into your Google search bar and see what happens. The o’s start taking over the page and you need to use your mouse cursor to stop them doing this. This little Easter egg has been around for a while and it’s still a lot of fun. It’s fun to see what top score you can get.

2. See how popular every single word ever published is

The Google Books Ngram Viewer is perhaps one of my favourite Internet tools of all time. It searches for the number of times any word has been used in books published between 1800 and 2008. I did a search for the word set: internet, cyber, steam, electricity. The result shows me that the use of word “steam” peaked in 1910 and has been steadily declining since then. “Internet” has been on the rise since the early 90’s, but surprisingly “cyber” never really took off.

3. Build whole Lego worlds

I love Lego and I’ve spent many happy hours building online using the buildwithchrome.com site. It’s an amazing website really. Basically, you visit the website choose a plot of land and start building whatever you want in Lego. You can also choose part of your city to start building in and can publish your masterpiece for anyone to look at on the website. This is one of those Must Check Out things on the web.

4. Google Doodles

Google Doodles aren’t only those homepage image takeovers. They’re sometimes also completely interactive games or instruments that you can play. Here are some great ones that you can search for and check out:

May 21, 2010 the Google Doodle was a playable PAC-MAN celebrating the 30th anniversary of the game.

June 9, 2011 featured a playable electric guitar as the Doodle, to celebrate Les Paul’s 96th birthday.

March 9, 2016 is one of my recent favourites. It’s a theremin that you can use to create haunting melodies. The doodle was published to celebrate Clara Rockmore’s 105th birthday. If there’s only one Google doodle you check out I’d recommend this one.

There’s just so much amazing stuff out there on Google, and the entire internet for that matter that it’s impossible to keep track of it all. Which is why I’d love to hear about the cool things that you’ve come across, and maybe I could share them in a future column.

REFERENCE:

June 07, 2016.Cool things you didn’t know Google could do.The Hindu.retrieved from

http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Cool-things-you-didn%E2%80%99t-know-Google-could-do/article14391808.ece