What would we do without Google – in fact, can you imagine your life pre-Google? But did you know that you can do much more than look up random facts with Google?

In May 2012 Google announced they will be adding Knowledge Graph as an additional function to their Google search engine. Ok great, but what is  Knowledge Graph?

Knowledge Graph is  a central source of information collected from various sources, including the CIA World Factbook, Freebase, and Wikipedia. This database gives structured and detailed information on a topic, together with the standard list of suggested links.

The purpose of the database is for uses to make use of the Knowledge Graph information without having to click on links which lead them to other websites.  Since 2012 this semantic network consists of more than 570 million objects and more than 10 billion facts!

Sounds quite nifty, doesn’t it? So what kind of information can you track down with this so-called Knowledge Graph?

You’ve probably already used Google translate,  an application which allows you to translate any phrase or word to another.  Google translate is part of the Knowledge Graph. Unfortunately Google’s Afrikaans skills aren’t quite up to standard yet, so don’t depend too much on it for translation to and from Afrikaans.

Apart from Google’s impressive language skills, it can also calculate the exchange rate for you when you’re going overseas. Just type in the amount and currency and the currency to which you want to convert it and you’re all set to swipe your credit card to your heart’s content in that three storey bookshop in Leuven! For example, type “10 rand to Euro” and it will instantly be converted to the right amount.

When travelling, you’ll probably be speculating about which weather to expect so you can pack the right clothes. Type in (for example)  “The weather in Antwerp” and within seconds you clothing dilemma is solved and worries about the 20 kg limit are diminished.

Are those French breakfasts too tasty for your own good and you’re starting to worry about your growing middle and cholesterol levels?  Google “How much protein is in an egg?” and you might just switch from filled omelettes to muesli.

Since you’re already worried about your health, why not look up the ailment you believe you contracted during your travels. Knowledge Graph gives you fast access to health inormation, including conditions and medication. Type in a specific ailment or medication and the explanation will be displayed.

You can even look up the sunrise and sunsets, times in various cities and specific holidays.

Having problems converting measurements – whether it’s inches, feet or other measurements, the search engine can convert height, weight, volume and temperature. Type in “2mm to inches” in the search box and press Enter. If you need more measurement options, click on the drop down list.

Speaking of numbers – for those of us who aren’t blessed with mathematical brains, Google will to the adding up for you. A dictionary function is also available for the left brainers. The dictionay can be activated by adding “define” in front of the word or just by typing it incorrectly!

Google is constantly adding new applications and extras to their search engine. Have a look at what else they have to offer at https://www.google.co.za/intl/af/help/features.html.

On Monday when we browsed to www.sun.ac.za, most of us were met with a fresh new Stellenbosch University web site.  For those of you who still haven’t managed to see what the fuss is about, here’s how to fix that. (Read more on the new site)

Each time you access a page through your web browser, the browser caches (i.e., stores) it locally. The browser does this to reduce bandwidth usage, server load and also to load pages faster.

By doing this, the browser doesn’t have to newly retrieve files or images from the remote web site each time. As convenient as this is, it also means that if you do not clean your browser’s cache, you might miss out on new information and any changes on websites.

If, after Monday’s changes to the university’s homepage, you are experiencing problems accessing the new sun page or any other sun web pages, we suggest you clear your browser’s cache.

Below you’ll find instructions on how to do this, depending on the browser you use.

Internet Explorer 9 and 8

• Click Tools, and select Delete Browsing History… .
• Deselect Preserve Favorites website data, and select Temporary Internet files, Cookies, and History.
• Click Delete.

Internet Explorer 7

• From the Tools menu in the upper right, select Delete Browsing History… .
• To delete your cache, click Delete files….To delete your cookies, click Delete cookies… .

  To delete your history, click Delete history… .

• Click Close, and then click OK to exit.

Firefox

The following instructions apply to Firefox 3.5 and later.

• From the Tools menu, select Clear Recent History. (Alternatively, in Firefox 4 and above for Windows, you can also click the orange Firefox button, and then select Clear Recent History from the History menu.)If the menu bar is hidden, press Alt to make it visible.
• From the Time range to clear: drop-down menu, select the desired range; to clear your entire cache, select Everything.
• Click the down arrow next to “Details” to choose which elements of the history to clear. Click Clear Now.

Chrome

• In the browser bar, enter: chrome://settings/clearBrowserData
• Select the items you want to clear (e.g., Clear browsing history, Clear download history, Empty the cache, Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data).From the Obliterate the following items from: drop-down menu, you can choose the period of time for which you want to clear cached information. To clear your entire cache, select the beginning of time.
• Click Clear browsing data.

Opera

• From the Opera menu, select Settings, and then Delete Private Data… .
• In the dialog box that opens, select the items you want to clear, and then click Delete.

Safari

• From the Safari menu, select Reset Safari… .
• From the menu, select the items you want to reset, and then click Reset. As of Safari 5.1, Remove all website data covers both cookies and cache.

Mobile Safari for iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad)

To clear cache and cookies:

1. From the home screen, tap Settings, and then tap Safari.
2. At the bottom of Safari’s settings screen, tap Clear cookies and data, or Clear Cookies and Clear Cache. Confirm when prompted.

To clear history:

1. From the home screen, tap Safari.
2. At the bottom of the screen, tap the Bookmarks icon.
3. In the lower left, tap Clear.
4. Tap Clear History.

Android

1. Start your browser.
2. Tap Menu, and then tap More.
3. Select Settings.
4. Under “Privacy settings”, select Clear cache, Clear history, or Clear all cookie data as appropriate, and then tap OK to accept (or Cancel to cancel) the deletion.

(SOURCES: http://kb.iu.edu/data/ahic.html & www.wikipedia.org)