Google Search By Number

fizz writes "Well, Google has done it again. This time, simply enter any tracking number or id number into the Google search box, and Voila! You have a link to the shipper and tracking information. They have a funny little mom/son tech talk bit on the blog about this."

Not a new feature

[Anonymous Coward]

Favorite Hidden Google Features? [slashdot.org]

Just because someone's mom doesn't know something about Google doesn't make it new.

Not news

[LordNimon]

Google has had this feature for a very long time. I don't see how this is news.

OMG THIS IS SO OLD NEWS!!!

[homerito]

Dupe... This was in Slashdot long time ago... Lazy to look for it and prove it....

I have been using the tracking since then, its nice.

No DHL

[PxM]

No support for DHL [dhl-usa.com] yet.

Really old news

[jamesl]

Google search on "google package tracking" yields this December 11, 2003 Google Weblog post.

http://google.blogspace.com/archives/001089/ [blogspace.com]

Re:Should be interesting...

[iabervon]

If you know you're in the post office when you write down the numbers, you could just go to the USPS site. The only thing that Google adds is that it identifies the shipper by the format of the number and lets you use a control you already have to get there. Google doesn't even report the information; it just sends you to the shipper's site.

i don't think this is new

[m2bord]

i think that this is actually an old feature. i know that i've used the numeric stuff before.

like for instance if you type in the word "pi" the first thing returned is the value of pi

http://www.google.com/search?q=pi&sourceid=mozilla -search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=f irefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official [google.com]

i've also used it to find out information about cars via the VIN number.

Re:Google did this a year ago

[webscathe]

How about UPC numbers, reverse phone...

Actually, you can do UPC numbers just by searching for the UPC number, though it just comes up with a direct search link to upcdatabase.com. You can also do reverse phone lookup. Try the following format.

rphonebook: 555-555-5555

Re:Privacy Concerns?

[alphakappa]

Correction: Google does not crawl and find that information - it merely recognizes the number as a UPS/Fedex/whatever number and links you to the appropriate page on the UPS/Fedex/whatever website. Note that the remote page (the shipping company's) is generated dynamically only when you enter the tracking number, and only you and the shipper know that number. Google merely saves you the trouble of manually entering the number in a search box by directly generating the search URL for you.

Rest assured that no one can crawl those pages since those pages don't exist until you create them with your number.

Re:Google did this a year ago

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't need the rphonebook syntax.

Try 6264492869

Good for IDing computer componets to find drivers

[bach37]

If you have ever tried to locate drivers or a manufac for an unknown piece of hardware, you can find the brand and model with its FCC number, which is required to be on the hardware. Good for computer geeks!

Re:Little by little

[Jugalator]

It is pure and simple Space Opera.

Hmm... Well, space opera's are usually called a special subgenre of science fiction.

Here's a good article about it: space opera [wikipedia.org]. It is summarized there as:

Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic adventure, interstellar travel, and space battles where the main storyline is centred around interstellar conflict and character drama.