Today, the Google Blog reported a search tip that is either new, or just something I wasn’t aware of. It appears that the * (wildcard) can be used in a method where Google will “fill in the blanks”. For instance, the query “Bill Gates is the*” will bring predictable results, while a search for “Linux is the *” will bring you to the phrase “Linux is the optimum choice to replace Windows NT Server.” Seems pretty accurate to me!

On a more pedagogical/practical note, it seems to me that this would be a good skill that students (or teachers) may use in the classroom, at least for low-level fact-checking queries such as “Edison invented the *“, or higher-level, critique-based activities on opinions such as “the greatest soccer players in the world come from *.” The latter should read ‘Greece’.