Google is not just a search engine but a powerful tool with many hidden features. You can use Google to track your packages, find your phone, and even play games. With Google, you can convert currency, calculate tips, and set a timer or alarm. You can also use Google to search for specific types of files, such as PDFs and PowerPoints, and even search for images by dragging and dropping a picture into the search bar. Furthermore, Google can help you learn a new language, find a recipe, and get real-time translations. These are just a few examples of the cool things you can do with Google that you may have yet to learn about.
Who knew you could use Google to play Lego? (H/T)
01. Translate Symbols Or Characters By Drawing Them.
If you go to Google Translate, there’s an option where you can manually draw things like Chinese characters, which will then be translated for you into English.
02. Get A Calorie Comparison Of Your Favorite Foods.
If you google “[food] vs [food],” a chart will appear comparing the nutritional value of the two choices in great detail—everything from calories to the amount of magnesium.
03. Set A Timer.
If you Google any amount of time, followed by “timer,” you’ll get a countdown. You can even set it to sound an alarm at the end—perfect for use in the kitchen.
04. Tackle Geography Trivia.
You can take on Google in a geography trivia game using the new Google Maps tool Smarty Pins. In this game, you will be asked questions with location-based answers, and you will answer by placing a pin on the world map. You can try general knowledge or tackle specific categories like science or sport.
05. Split A Bill And Calculate The Tip.
End the struggle of paying the pill at the end of a group meal by googling “tip calculator,” entering the total cost, the percentage you want to tip, and the number of people, and it’ll work out exactly how much you need to pay each. Easy.
06. Filter Your Gmail.
If you add “+anything” to your Gmail address, it will still work, which means you can sign up for particular websites using your email+websitename@gmail.com and create a folder that all emails from that site automatically go into.
07. Discover How Popular Different Words Are.
Using the Google Ngram viewer, you can search more than 5 million books published between 1800 and 2008 to find out how often different words were used and then compare them on a graph. TIL: For a brief period in the 1830s, elephants were more popular than cats.
08. Play Zerg Rush.
This is proof that Google does not want you to do your work. Destroy the Os by clicking on them before they destroy the rest of the page (and try not to give yourself a finger cramp in the process).
09. Find And Download Loads Of Cool Fonts For Free.
If you go to Google Fonts, you will find a vast collection of free fonts. You can download them to your computer or make them the default font in your browser.
10. Learn How To Pronounce Massive Numbers.
If you search for a number up to 12 figures followed by “= English,” Google will tell you how to pronounce it.
11. Plan Your Wedding.
Google even has a comprehensive wedding planner to ensure everything is in place for your special day. It’ll help you do everything from announcing your engagement to finding a venue, making a budget, creating a schedule and guest list, setting up a shareable photo stream from the day, and even creating an entire website to keep everything in one handy place.
12. Easily Find Out The Week’s Football Fixtures.
Google the league’s name, and you’ll see a list of all the week’s fixtures at the top.
13. Play Atari Breakout.
Search “Atari Breakout” on Google Images; your productivity is dead for an hour.
14. View Art From Galleries All Over The World.
Google Art Project lets you view high-quality photos of artwork from nearly 600 international galleries. So why bother leaving the house?
15. View And Play All The Old Doodles.
By hitting “I’m feeling lucky” without anything in the search bar, you’ll be presented with a catalog of Google’s old doodles and games from when they started in 1998 (including the brilliant Pacman game).
16. Explore The Universe.
Google Sky uses images from the Hubble Telescope and NASA Satellites to let you delve into the far reaches of our universe. You can explore galaxies millions of light years from Earth, learn about astrological signs, and even listen to space-related podcasts.
17. Take A Journey Through Middle-Earth.
Google set up this hugely interactive site to celebrate The Hobbit films. It lets you play your way through five famous battles, follow the stories of your favorite characters (including clips from the films themselves), or explore the map itself.
18. Play With Legos.
Feel like a kid again by going to Build With Chrome. Using its map function, you can put up constructions all over the real world, check out cool stuff other people have built, or learn to become a master bricklayer with Build Academy.
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