How to convert currency (aka fun Google tricks)

I'll start with a cool, unknown trick you can do on a Mac to convert currency: launch Calculator, enter the starting value in the calculator itself, then choose "Currency..." from the "Convert" menu.

Once you've done that, you get to specify starting and ending currencies from quite a variety of different options, ranging from Bahraini Dinar, Kazahkstan Tenge and Oman Rial to the Euro and US Dollar. Choose the appropriate two, click "OK", and it converts currencies for you. Done!

You are looking for a Google solution, however, so let me tell you how to convert, say, from Tenge to Euro.

Just type this in to the Google search box: 75 tenge in euro

The result: 75 Kazakh tenge = 0.395730739 Euros

(Typical Google to be so ridiculously precise. I'm sure that 0.395 Euros would be quite sufficient for anyone else)

Anyway, you can convert Euros to US dollars too: 0.395 euros in usd reveals that the answer is 0.395 Euros = 0.497305 U.S. dollars. This means that the Kazahkstanians have a fairly low-value currency, when 75 Tenge is less than $0.50 USD.

MORE GOOGLE FUN

It turns out that there are a ton of different things you can do in the little Google search box, far more than just type in a few keywords and get a list of matching Web pages.

For example, looking for the value of a particular stock? Just search for the stock ticker (like GOOG for Google) and it'll show you the current market value and some other useful information.

You can also search for weather by typing "weather" followed by the name of a city or a zip code. To find the weather in Denver at any given time, therefore, a quick weather denver, co will do the trick.

One feature that's near to my heart is that Google also knows about how to do timezone math too. Want to know the time in Dubai? Search for time dubai and you'll find out exactly what time (and day) it is. An interesting variant - if you've signed in to your Google account and told it where you are located - is just to search for time by itself. In addition to the staggering 5.9 billion results (!!) it will show you the time in Washington DC, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Chicago, Phoenix and Anchorage too. Helpful, particularly for those of us who get muddled about timezone differences occasionally.

Another feature that's quite helpful is that Google can automatically solve complex mathematical equations. Type them in like 5*9+(sqrt 10)^3= and see what result you get. In a manner similar to currency conversion, you can also easily do unit conversion too. Try 300 kg in lbs and you'll find that the answer is 300 kilograms = 661.386787 pounds. Helpful!

One last trick to whet your appetite. Try searching for movies 80302 and you'll be surprised to know that the Google search engine even knows what movies are playing at the local theater. This extends to quite a lot of information, so I encourage you to experiment with different searches where you add a zipcode.

I hope this secret crib sheet of things you can do with Google beyond just searching is helpful and interesting! (and here are some more to explore too)