Six Google tricks – just for fun
Google may be the master of search but it also has a quirky side to it too. Some of its creations are not necessarily going to help your business and these six are more likely to simply bring a smile to your face, but are well worth a look:
1. Barrel Roll
To start off, this one is completely bizarre. Simply type “do a barrel roll” into the search bar on Google and watch your screen do just that. Silly, yes, but why not.
2. Google Doodle archive
Google Doodles are those often intricate images and games that incorporate the Google logo to celebrate a special event. This site has every Google Doodle – over 2000 – ever created including the many interactive game and play-along doodles. A great timewaster.
3. The Kevin Bacon Number
Six degrees of separation is the concept that links everybody to one another in just six connections. Applying the same to movies and film, The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, links any actor to fellow thespian Kevin Bacon via the movies actors and actresses have appeared in. It seems almost every famous person can be linked to Kevin Bacon. Type the name of the famous person followed by Bacon number, for example “The Queen Kevin Bacon number”, and find out how many connections it takes to link them and also how they link.
4. Reverse image search
Everybody knows that you can search or images online but few know that if you find an image online and you can’t work out what it is, you can use Google Image Search to tell you using a reverse look up. Head to images.google.com and click the camera icon in the search bar. Now either paste the URL of the image or upload the image from your computer and Google will try and identify it for you.
5. Tilt
If you liked barrel roll, then you will probably smile at tilt too. Typing the word “tilt” or “askew” into the Google search bar when using Chrome or Safari browsers and you screen whole screen will duly obey.
6. Breakout
Those of a certain vintage will remember even before Tetris a block game that won the hearts and minds of those playing on Atari games consoles. Breakout took the idea of a simple digital bat hitting some digital squares and brought fantastically addictive gameplay to it. This recreates the classic game for free online. Just type “Atari Breakout” in the Google Box, click the button and your game will start.
