Google Redefines Searches for Emerging Terms

Written By
Peter Coffee
Peter Coffee
Published: Nov 3, 2003
Updated: Feb 2, 2021
1 minute read
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Newly rolled out of Google Labs, the define: search prefix deftly handles one of the most common but frustrating types of Internet search: the one whose goal is a current, accurate definition of an emerging piece of IT vocabulary. I tried the command “define: Wi-Fi” as my first example, and now Im sold. Compare the results to those produced by my previous favorite, Dictionary.com. Ill continue to use the latter when I want credible results from authoritative sources in areas where language is stable, but Im glad to have a new weapon for tracking jargons moving targets.

Peter Coffee

Peter Coffee is Director of Platform Research at salesforce.com, where he serves as a liaison with the developer community to define the opportunity and clarify developers' technical requirements on the company's evolving Apex Platform. Peter previously spent 18 years with eWEEK (formerly PC Week), the national news magazine of enterprise technology practice, where he reviewed software development tools and methods and wrote regular columns on emerging technologies and professional community issues.Before he began writing full-time in 1989, Peter spent eleven years in technical and management positions at Exxon and The Aerospace Corporation, including management of the latter company's first desktop computing planning team and applied research in applications of artificial intelligence techniques. He holds an engineering degree from MIT and an MBA from Pepperdine University, he has held teaching appointments in computer science, business analytics and information systems management at Pepperdine, UCLA, and Chapman College.

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