The Yahoo Search team has allowed Paul Bausch, author of Yahoo Hacks, to share a couple of
the many “hacks” from his book on the Yahoo Search Blog. The first edition of Yahoo Hacks was published in October.
In the post, Paul explains and offers examples of a couple of cool pieces of advanced search syntax (aka meta words) for Yahoo Image Search (width: and height:) that allow the searcher to specify the precise size of the image they’re looking to find. Bausch also mentions aspect: for use with Yahoo Video Search, It lets the user specify the “aspect ratio” of the video material one hopes to find. Paul does a good job of explaining why this might be useful to a video searcher.
You can find a few more Yahoo Hacks here.
I also noticed that the full text of the book is accessible and searchable online via Safari Tech Books, an fee-based service that I’ve mentioned several times on the blog during the past year. Safari lets the user search and read hundreds if not thousands of full text books online. Unlike other services, there is no limit on how much one can read online. Btw, numerous libraries (public, academic, corporate) provide free access to Safari.
Safari is co-owned by O’Reilly and the Pearson Technology Group and contains books from many publishers. You can try the service for free for two weeks.
Postscript: While we’re on the subject of Safari, they officially launched a new service today called “Rough Cuts.” It allows users to access “sneak peeks” of new books before they’re published either by reviewing them online or downloading as a PDF file.
Similar to the nightly build in a software project, the Rough Cuts PDF is updated every time the author and editor make changes as they progress toward the finished book. Using the Rough Cuts service?s built-in Notes feature, readers can send feedback, suggestions, bug fixes, and comments directly to the author and editor.
You can learn more here and see what books currently offer “Rough Cuts” on this page.