Google Helps You With The Big Undo

0 CommentsMonday • July 18, 2011 • by Imei

The other day, I was listening to someone talk about assisting a couple with the set up of one of those fancy new TV’s that supposedly included network integration similar to a Google TV. In the midst of the conversation, he mentioned that he wished that Windows programs (and I’m guessing also all platforms for these new TV’s) came with a giant “undo” button, in case people somehow managed to scroll through more obscure files that did things like hide desktop screens. As a Macbook user, I enjoy clicking on the Undo button when I race through something and make a mistake (such as during editing), or when I am just about to trash something, and my MacBook reminds me that I have a one-time choice to Undo an action that cannot be reversed. Life is unfortunately filled with tons of decisions we cannot undo, but for everything else, I’ve discovered that Google helps you with the Big Undo. No buttons required.

While my own mother thinks I’m a whiz at all-things computer-y, my close friends know I’m the first to confess my own blunders. I don’t always know the answers to her questions, but I usually know how to troubleshoot well enough to define the problem.

As an artist and an artistic business owner, you have something even more powerful in your hands than volunteer geeks or user manuals. You have Google, and definitive Google queries can lead you to excellent crowd-sourced material that I find often more useful in a pinch than slogging through manuals [BTW, ever try to wade through an old music keyboard manual printed in several languages? My all-time favorite decision tree answer: "If all else fails, PANIC!" I think the manual writer meant to say something to the extent of hitting a panic button of sorts, which sets the keyboard back to its industry/default settings]. I used Google to help set up my Sony “Google” TV when I kept receiving an error message regarding the setup of my antenna for receiving local programing. I also used a Google search to help a friend troubleshoot a problem with her VADO HD camera.

For those of you who are already Google fiends, this is old hat to you, and you’re probably sitting there wondering if I’ve run out of things to write about. Duh. Doesn’t everyone use Google to figure things out these days? Well, apparently not everyone does [my Mom doesn't...yet!], because I get asked a half-dozen questions or more per week about everything from where to buy zills for bellydance to what nifty tricks and tips are available on Audacity [a music editing program]. You can find all that information – and more! – by doing Google searches. But, here are some tips I just shared with Mom [and other artists!] that will make your Google searches hit paydirt in terms of finding exactly what you want.

1. Use keyword searches. If you are looking to learn the best way to tune a tabla drum, you might consider just using three or less keywords. For example: tabla, tune —> gives you X many results. If I add the word, “drum”, I might get more choices, but I want to see if the results are more “rich” or “poor” regarding the specific information I’m looking for.

2. Think like the average person. In the above example, I query Google by typing in the average searcher’s question, “How to tune a tabla”. Voila. In this case, I get a bunch of the same responses as the original keyword searches.

3. Narrow it down. What more do you want from your search? Do you want a picture, a description, a product or video review, or a video showing how a tabla is tuned? Do you want advanced lessons on pitch control? You can keep searching for more details, but you might want to remove other words that are pulling up entries you have already perused and discarded.

4. Leave a trail for others to follow. If you found something you like, “like” it, leave a positive comment, retag it where appropriate, and let others know what you found. Also, if you have additional information that enhances what you found, don’t be afraid to leave a comment with a link to more information. However, keep it on the good side of spam (i.e. meaning, don’t spam someone else’s page with links to your stuff if it’s irrelevant to the topic).

OK, you’re probably about to tear your hair out of boredom, but bloggers know exactly why I am taking the time to remind you how to use Google for big Undo moments. If you understand how to search more effectively, you can apply that knowledge to your own online presence so people can search more effectively for YOU and your art [tah-dah, thank you very much]. While SEO [search engine optimization] is more involved than selecting keywords and tagging pictures, videos, and posts appropriately, these actions are still necessary building blocks towards the process of having your work more readily found. I have plenty of examples of videos I tagged one way one month (and no one finds it), and tagged another way later (and it gets more hits, comments, and shares).

A Dorky Undo: An Unhappy Tale With A Happy Ending

A long time agouh,ok, very recently, there was this well-meaning, non-geeky reluctantly geeky boy girl who was asked to load a mini CD into a drawer-styledrawer-less PC Mac[book]. Let’s say her name rhymes with Ebay [everything's for sale]. Names are not important here. Neither are egos.

Erm, she was asked to load a mini CD into a Macbook, and having never done that before, asked the lender, “Does this work?”

The lender said, “I just tried it this morning.”
“Really?” she said.
“Yes, it should work.”

Just as Ebay began to slip the mini CD into the gaping mouth of the Macbook beast, she thought to herself, “Hmm, I got bad feeling about this.” She began to feel like she was in a Star Wars movie scene. Before she could reverse her action, the little sucker slipped inside the Macbook faster than an egg into a … never mind.

And then, there was silence.
And more silence.
Not even the quiet whirl of the fan.
Nothing.

[Ah shit. Oops, she meant to say, three sheets to the wind. This is a family-friendly fantasy story, just in time for ComicCon]

The lender expressed sorrow that the mini CD was now trapped inside the Macbook beast. “Never mind,” Ebay chortled, “We’ll find your music on Youtube and deal with it later.” It was business as usual, but Ebay wondered if this meant only one thing: a trip to the Genius Bar, where incidentally no one ever feels like much of a genius at all.

Alone with her quiet Macbook beast, she pulled up a Google search bar on a new tab, and thought to herself, “What are the chances that some dork out there has done exactly the same thing as I?” She decided the chances were extremely high; it was America, for crying out loud. It’s the land of the free-to-do-all-kinds-of-really-stupid-things, like inserting a mini CD into an incompatible slot CD player.

 

Bingo! Not only had one other person on this forum has inserted a mini CD into a Macbook, but several others, all giving advice. Problem: you have to wade through the answers to get to the solution [Ebay will wait for you if you want to submit your own answer. No, it is not the use of a knife].

She read further into the forum, past all the entries telling the person to go to the Genius Bar in the nearest Apple store (a three-hour drive for this particular inquirer). Finally, this entry:

lol just tip the mac up and give it a lil gentle shake….. ull see the cd come out and just pull it.

Really? Could it be so simple? She turned the Macbook on its side and gave it a shake. Nothing. Another little shake. Still nothing. She peered at the plastic lips on the beast’s mouth, and saw no CD. Just darkness. Placing the Macbook on firm surface with the CD slot hanging over the floor, she gave it a final shake and a gentle spank on the opposite side of the Macbook. Just like administering the Heimlich Maneuver, the Macbook beast coughed up the mini Cd, and she caught it as it slipped out of the slot.

Do you like these silly Google tales? Isn’t Google a great resource for life’s little Undo moments? Do you have a Google story you’d like to share? While there are plenty of actions that do not have an Undo to be found, if there is one, it’s likely waiting for you on Google. Use it, and have fun!