Tag Archives: Search

Opinion: Graph Search

I am a big fan of the flexibility of graph search. Graph search has been around since before March 2013 when I wrote a few notes about my favorite searches. I figured it was time to share a few.

I have met people that I remember a list of facts about and have been able to find them via the Graph Search. It is simply fantastic.

Here are some fun uses of Graph Search on Facebook:

  • “My friends who live in New York”
  • “Places in Chicago my Friends have been to”
  • “Friends of Joe in Backbone.js Developers Group”
  • “Friends of My Friends who like Swing Dancing”
  • “My friends who are Females who are Single”
  • “Events my friends are going to”
  • “People named Christopher who live in Seattle, WA who like Passion Pit”
  • “Friends of Beth named Tim”
  • “Mutual friends of Beth and Jake named Tim”

UX: Ok Google, I see a fun problem

Have you played with the Google Now Search App on iPhone or voice recognition on Android? Or maybe you’re even lucky enough to have played with Google Glass.

Say “Ok Google” and it springs to life ready to listen for instruction just like magic!

Although.. I see this could become an issue once we all have more Google Glass, Androids, or the Google Search App. One person could activate them all! In a crowded place when one says ‘Ok Google‘ all nearby device will spring to life! How fun!

Hopefully we will be able to customize the buzzphrase to activate Google voice recognition. Else this could be quite interesting one day.

Aside: For fun, I’m told on Android Google Now, you can say ‘Ok Javis’.

Search Everything

I have been using a real nice application “Search Everything” that I think is worth sharing.

Windows search is not my favorite, I find it rather cumbersome, and rather slow. Search Everything takes the application about 5 – 15 seconds to index the entire drive. Search results are returned live as you type. By default it searches all files, temp, system, hidden, you name it.

Here are some creative uses and wildcard searches I often do.

  • To restrict your search to a certain subfolder use a backslash *\windows\*sol.exe
  • To restrict your search to a specific drive letter D:\*sol.exe
  • Finding misplaced files, say a .pst or .doc
  • Verifying the pc has no lingering .doc, .xls, jpg, .pst files before formatting the HDD
  • Also great for finding an infection’s location if you know process file name

The installer or portable version can be found on the developer’s site: http://www.voidtools.com