Hear about an interesting topic and check it out with Google. Google has that famous search engine and it is quite good at supplying information. Once in a while, you just can't find what you want with Google. So, try Bing, the search created by Microsoft to try and get a little of the attention away from Google. You can use Google to find Bing.
As promised, Google turns up alternatives to its search page and Microsoft's as well. Why search "engine"? Just the term to emphasize that software is used to search and tell you about whatever it is that you want to know about. The software is the "engine". In fact, a Google search of "search engines" gives 126 million results. If you wanted to, you could search using "Dogpile" or "DuckDuckGo" or any of more than 30,000 searchers.
There are other angles to getting familiar with a topic, its material and general content. You can search YouTube, which has many helpful educational videos and many other kinds, such as musical performances, movie scenes. Worth checking in case you want to know more about dog training or the process for immigrating into Italy, you may find current, controversial or succinct information in YouTube.
Another new-ish source of information, learning and insight are the app stores. Apps are short programs, sometimes free, that accomplish various things. The first app store I heard of, the one for the Apple iPhone and iPad, now has about 1 million apps. The World Wide Web of billions of web "sites" was to be a place of open interchange of information, including of course information on what I or my firm has that you might want to buy.
However, now we have Apple apps, Android (alternative cellphones and tablets powered by Google's software and system) apps, apps for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer. Many commercial interests seem to be working along the line of having me get their app and then maybe being locked onto their ads, ideas, products and campaigns to the exclusion of any thought of competitors or alternatives.
I thought I would give an example of an informative app by looking at what was available for iPhone/iPad in dog training. Before I could finish typing more than "dog", many suggested subjects were shown. I noticed 'dog translator' and found several apps that would help me understand different sorts of barks. Some will produce a bark or a cat's meow that will supposedly communicate my message to my pet. We haven't checked these out for effectiveness.
Another source of thought is the blog world. There are a million blogs on the internet and some of them are very interesting and valuable. I subscribe to more than 100 blogs that seem promising. I used "Feedly" to more or less keep track of what all those writers are doing. Each time, a new post is put up, my Feedly inserts a snippet of that new post in its information. I can see what the new post is about and quickly go to its web site if it is of interest. Sometimes a blog post gives me an idea that I then learn more about using the results of a Google search.
Naturally, much of what we might think about relates to other people. If you are interested in FDR, a famous historical person who is now deceased, you can find tons. But to learn more about your uncle or the current location of your high school sweetheart is trickier. People are now much more attuned to privacy interests. The Europeans have worked on their right to be forgotten and we might, too. So far, I haven't heard of a people search engine that is free and widely effective but some day there might be.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
