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January 19, 2005 10:11 AM   Subscribe

filetype:doc For those of you who don't know, Google allows you to limit your searches to files of a certain type. It reminds me of the world wide web of '93 in a lot of ways, before the web become so commercialized and vapid. Little bits of randomness.
posted by delmoi (13 comments total)
 
I had no idea you could do this. Thank you.
posted by ColdChef at 10:17 AM on January 19, 2005


More filetypes.

Check out Google's features page for more, uh, features of Google.
posted by bitpart at 10:19 AM on January 19, 2005


The "filetype" feature is neither new nor noteworthy.

That said, it's a handy way to seek out certain types of files that have suddenly become hard to track thanks to the storm of controversy surrounding them.
posted by mkultra at 10:44 AM on January 19, 2005


I knew this feature existed ages ago, but didn't know you could produce a totally random list of word docs with this kind of search. It's weird voyeuristic stuff, that's for sure.
posted by mathowie at 10:45 AM on January 19, 2005


filetype:torrent always brings up some neat results...

There was a really great google-hacking site that had, like, 150 different search techniques to find everything from credit card numbers to random digital photos, to unsecured linksys routers (with the unsecured "admin" password).

I'll dig around and see if I can find it.
posted by SweetJesus at 10:52 AM on January 19, 2005


Found it - Google Hacking
posted by SweetJesus at 10:55 AM on January 19, 2005


mkultra: nice.
posted by sonofsamiam at 11:02 AM on January 19, 2005


about_time: submit a whitepaper to meta talk.

Just kidding. Actualy, that sounds like a good idea, the only problem is keeping metafilter from getting all 'poppy'. You know, what's popular isn't always best.

Oh yeah, and while I'm sure the feature is old, I just found out about it today since I need a large collection of word documents for a programming project at work. I was really suprised by how much fun I was having just looking at these things and I thought I'd share. I also knew it would bore some people and I'm a little suprised that the reaction in the thread is as positive as it is.
posted by delmoi at 11:07 AM on January 19, 2005


Let me be the first to jump on my post by saying I should have checked this thread on metatalk first yada yada yada...
posted by about_time at 11:16 AM on January 19, 2005


Unfortunately, they absolutely refuse to support movie file formats, because they know what you'd do with it. [VNSWF]
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:46 AM on January 19, 2005


Gah. Not safe work for.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:20 PM on January 19, 2005


Luckily, AltaVista has no problems with what you do in your free time!

Nor does Yahoo, as of last month. (rafter, btw, was wrong)
posted by soyjoy at 12:37 PM on January 19, 2005


I heartily disagree that the web has become commercialized and vapid. I think the world wide web has become richer, deeper, more interesting, more varied and more amazing with each passing day.

I won't waste the good peoples' time with a long rant about it, but suffice to say that throwing out a meaningless "it's no longer cool" phrase along with your breathtaking discovery of a years-old Google feature isn't rocking the box.
posted by jscott at 6:58 PM on January 19, 2005


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