I'n Blog 之萬象真藏

— Neil J. Rubenking

Find Hidden Goodies With Google
Most people think of Google as a mechanical claw toy: They use it to fish a specific piece of information out of the giant pool of data we know as the Web. But turn that thinking upside down and you can see the hidden utility of the service. Rather than trolling for specific bits of data, search for specific kinds of data and you'll uncover all sorts of cool things.

For example, Panasonic's networked webcams are controlled remotely through URLs that contain the text string ViewerFrame?Mode=. So type inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode= into Google's search field and you'll return all Panasonic cameras online. Better still, you'll log directly in to Panasonic camera control pages, which let you remotely pan and zoom the camera you've discovered. Sweet, huh? The Axis 2400, a very popular webcam, contains an embedded Web server that you can search for in much the same way. Simply search Google for inurl:indexFrame.shtml Axis and you'll find the Web page for the very controllable camera. You can find hundreds of webcams online this way. Neat! Next, try searching for some photos. But again, don't search for a picture of a specific person, such as Paris Hilton or Daisuke Matsuzaka (the Red Sox's new ace pitcher). Instead, search for DSC00001.jpg, the default name for the first photo taken by a Sony digital camera, or IMG_0001.jpg, Canon's equivalent. This search will turn up the very first efforts of shutterbugs-to-be. Do you recall the first picture you took with your new camera?

To be fair, Google is great for finding specific bits of information, too—most of the time. Take Google Maps, for example, which lets you track down a photograph of your home using satellite map imagery. But for most places in the U.S., it seems as if Google just won't get close enough. (Although in the limited launch of city-level images, Google often gets too close, revealing license plates and glimpses into homes!) To zoom those satellite maps even closer, click the "Link to this page" hyperlink in the top right of the map. Near the end of the URL Google presents you with are the characters z=19, code for the zoom level of the map. Try increasing that number to 20, 21, or even 22 for a much higher zoom effect. It won't work everywhere, but it just might help you zero in on your info.