Google’s Knowledge Graph

With all the latest services from Google, Google +, Google Drive, etc., we sometimes forget that underneath it all Google is a search engine. Recently they have stepped up the game in web search with their new addition of the Google Knowledge Graph. The Knowledge Graph does more than just keyword searching. It actually keys in on people, places, and things, giving you more information on the subject you are searching.

Search on Nikola Tesla

In order to see the Knowledge Graph, you have to log in using your Google account. A search for a person will pull up information on that person on the right column of the search results page. Birth, death,  and education are just some of the information given. The search may also include books written by or about the person you are researching. There are links to other people who fit into the same “category” as the person you are searching. For example, my search for Nikola Tesla gave me Edison, Einstein, and Marconi, all scientist and inventors of the same era as Tesla.

Searching for a city will bring up a map in the right column with statistical information about the city. Searching a specific place, building, or object, like say the Space Needle in Seattle, will give you information about the structure or place. You also get information about places in the surrounding area, like Pike Place Market. A map is provided so you can find your attraction.

Looking up something like an animal will give you basic information about the animal in the right column.

The Knowledge Graph can greatly increase your research into a subject by giving you more information and help you to narrow down your search. As of now, Google claims to have 500 million subject logged into the Knowledge Graph. Just one more reason to start your subject research with Google.

Calc: Highlight Even or Odd Rows Quickly

I often like to highlight even or odd rows in a spreadsheet in order to make it easier to read. This can become labor intensive when you have a lot of data. Today, I am going to show you how to do it quickly in LibreOffice’s Calc program.

PHP Thumbnails on the Fly

In the MegaGallery project, we used the EXIF library in PHP to extract the thumbnails from the image itself. However, what do we do if we do not have EXIF installed or available through our web server provider? One possibility is to use the GD library. The GD library will allow us to create a thumbnail using the image itself.

Outlined Text in GIMP

For my second screencast, I will show you one technique for create an outline around you text in GIMP.

Outlined Text in GIMP by E. E. Perry on Vimeo

Mathematics Guide

I have recently been refreshing my knowledge of mathematics. In the process, I created a guide for personal use mostly; however, I thought some others might find it useful. It covers mathematics topics from algebra to trigonometry.