It has long since been a practice on the web for the-less-than-scrupulous to “typo squat”, that is to register a domain name that is similar to a high-profile site, and wait for surfers to type the address incorrectly and get to that site.  Now, the self-proclaimed Web Professor, Scott Horne, has created a search engine that will break down an entered domain and search for possible typo domain names, and then further break down if those domains are free or if they are currently registered.  It is a great way to check and see if anyone is trying to steal traffic from your business and maybe find a few domains similar to yours you may want to register yourself.  Check out what Horne has created for yourself at his Typo Squatter Search Engine.

As the holiday shopping season approaches, it is easy to go overbudget, and even easier to pay more than you should be for an item. DVDs are always a popular gift, and with DVD Price Search you’ll be able to find the lowest price on a specific title that you want.

Once you search for a title, a list will show the available sites carrying the title, the price for the DVD, any shipping costs, the total you’ll wind up spending, and an easy link to the store’s webpage.

Also available on the site are hundreds of coupons and sales happening at any given time in the online retail market. Happy Shopping!

Over on Google Operating System (relax, it’s just the blog’s name, not some secret project by Google) there’s a post about using Google Suggest as a Calculator from Firefox 2.0’s Search Bar. I’m ashamed of myself for never tried this before.

In case you were wondering, it actually does compute that.

It’s a shame that the answer doesn’t show in the results drop-down like that on the actual Google Suggest site. Would save having to submit the request. It’s not like there are ads or anything on the results page.

Lifehacker has a useful article about finding media with reusable licenses such as Creative Commons or GNU Free Documentation License. They list several search engines tailored specifically for this and also some tips you can use to find such media with your usual search engine of choice.

Now, I was going to post about this story and then add a nice little edited Creative Commons licensed image to show my support for sharing your work and allowing others to creative derivative works, but as I got into reading about the different licenses and discussions regarding their usage, I realized it was all very vague on some points and more than a little confusing. Their FAQ answered some of my questions, but left enough unanswered, especially in regards to attribution, to persuade me into not using a CC licensed image.

It would take the patience of Gandhi to figure all that out. Well, not really, but I wanted to use this public domain picture of him that I masked out and made a “derivative work” from.

In response to the recent AOL privacy blunder Unspam Technologies, Inc., a Utah based anti-spam firm, launched a new service to keep search engines guessing as to the real preferences of their users.

The traditional advice given to maintain your privacy online is to regularly delete the “cookies” from your browser. Lost in the Crowd takes a different approach. The free service works with AOL, Ask.com, Google, MSN, and Yahoo and lets users register the tracking cookies from their favorite search engines. Lost in the Crowd then runs random searches at random times from its servers. Because the service has the users’ tracking cookies, the searches appear to come from the users using the actual search engine themselves.

I wonder how long it will take the search engines to filter out queries from UnSpam’s servers?

No, not the kind of of Google stalking where you periodically search for an ex’s info to see how they’re getting along after leaving you a shell of what you once were. I mean stalking Google itself to find new services and sites before they’re officially, or even unofficially, released.

I must admit I’ve done this in the past, but this guy takes it to a whole new level. What’s the point? What’s the use of finding a new service before it’s most likely even working properly? To brag about it on your blog, of course!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find irrefutable proof that GoogleOS exists.

You fellow blog keepers out there might find “Ten ways to search with Technorati” over at Lifehacker useful. It details some of the powerful blog searching tools that Technorati offers its users.

I have never gotten into Technorati myself, but after reading this I think I’ll have to get an account and find yet more blogs to spend my not so precious time reading.

Edit: Seems like they really enjoy their Technorati over at Lifehacker. Here are “Ten (more) ways to search with Technorati.”

Apart from an internet connection and a computer, what else do you need when you want to search for something online?

Yes! A browser.

It’s true that many people still seem to think that the little blue e (or the little compass, if you’re on a Mac) is the internet, but more savvy users like yourselves know that a browser is just another program and that it can easily be replaced.

Mozilla Firefox has become amazingly popular in the last couple of years, but for those of you who still don’t know about it, allow me to pimp it out a bit. There are many security and usability reasons why you might like Firefox better than other browsers, but I’ll stick to pointing out its integrated search features.

By default, Firefox comes with a search bar positioned to the right of the address bar:

Other browsers such as Opera have this, and it seems that IE7 will add this whenever it is actually released, but I prefer the way Firefox does things. You can enter your keywords, including any other search syntax, such as Google’s site: command, and the search results will be displayed in the browser.

The default search engine used will be Google, but you can easily change that by clicking on the G icon. You can also add other engines by clicking “Add Engines.” This takes you to the Mozilla Add-ons site from where you can add new inegrated search engines.

If you dislike using the search bar, or if you get rid of it because it takes too much space, you can enter your search directly into the address bar, which will do a Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” search. This can be changed to use something else since sometimes the results don’t seem all that lucky, but I’ll leave the details of that for another post.

If you want to use another search engine from the address bar, first go to the site and then right click in the entry area and select “Add a Keyword for this Search…”

The keyword search is saved as a bookmark. A dialog will open asking you for a name, the keyword that will activate the search and where you would like to save the bookmark. I recommend the Quick Searches folder which should already be in your bookmarks.

Now searching with Ask.com is as easy as entering “ask anything” into your address bar. One cool thing to remember is that if you hit ALT + Enter, your search will open in a new tab, which in case you didn’t know, is one of Firefox’s best features.

That’s pretty much all you need to know about searching in this browser. What are you waiting for? Go download and make your searching more efficient.

Rarely does a day pass without one of my friends IMing me with some tech related question that I know they could have easily figured out on their own had they simply searched for it. Instead of telling them the answer, or just linking them to a site that will answer their question, I have gotten into the habit of linking them to the same search query that I would have used in their place.

For example, someone recently asked me how to open a .rar file she had downloaded. Instead of sending her to:

http://www.rarsoft.com/

I sent her to:

http://www.google.com/search?q=open+rar+file

It doesn’t always work, but to paraphrase the old saying, “Clean a friend’s spyware and they will surf happy for a day. Teach them how to clean it themselves and they’ll surf happy for, well, a week tops.”

Also, it’s a good way to remind your friends that you’re not their own personal tech support service. If after a while they don’t get the hint, though, linking them to this Wikipedia entry can be quite cathartic.