Google turns 20: How search engine company turned into technology behemoth

Back in 1998, two PhD students from Stanford University launched a new search engine with a bold mission to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. 20 years since then, there has been no looking back and two tech nerds, Larry Page and Sergey Brin began their journey to change the internet. 

According to Wikipedia, Page and Brin originally nicknamed their new search engine "BackRub", because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. Eventually, they changed the name to Google - the name originated from a misspelling of the word "googol" - the number 1 followed by 100 zeros, which was picked to signify that the search engine was intended to provide large quantities of information.

As Google turns 20 today, let's look back at what Google has been up to since 1998, and where they are headed next

Google was launched in September 1998 in a garage rented in the Northern California city of Menlo Park. The first version appeared on the Stanford site, where a version of the search had been tested. 

On 15 September 1997 Google.com was registered and by August 1998 the first Google Doodle appeared - a Burning Man figure. Burning Man is an annual event in the western United States at Black Rock City - a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada. 

Google Search: Google that came into existence 20 years back with its first product Search engine from a garage today has seven products that are used by more than a billion people every month.

From planning your day to searching with image, the Search engine has reshaped and reformed itself in the last 20 years.

Google News: Google News was one of the first products Google launched beyond Search. oogle News, which went live on September 22, 2002 with 4,000 news sources, letting people find up-to-the-minute breaking news on any story they wanted to learn more about-radical at the time!

All talk, no type: 20 things you can do with your voice:
 

The birth of Google Assistant instantly changed the way users search for information in today's time. Thanks to the Google Assistant, you can talk to speakers, cars, watches, TVs, laptops and phones to ask questions, save time and get things done. 

Try out some of these tips and see how much you can get done with the sound of your own voice.

For home: 

1. For dessert: Say "Hey Google, let's make chocolate chip cookies" for step-by-step baking instructions. And if you have a Smart Display you can even follow along visually. 

2. Hands covered in cookie dough? Google Assistant can help to set a timer, or multiple concurrent timers, without touching a thing.  

For the road: 

1. Running late? Just say, "Hey Google, text Ashley that I'll be there in 20 minutes."

2. Lost your way on the road? Say, "Hey Google, how long does it take to drive to the closest Starbucks?" and get quick driving directions from Google Maps or Waze.

The famous Chrome dino runs: 

The running T-Rex made its debut on Chrome four years ago. In Google's blog, the T-rex's creators from the Chrome Design team-Edward, as well as Sebastien Gabriel and Alan Bettes spoke about Dino's invention. 

How did you come up with the idea of running T-Rex?

Sebastien: The idea of "an endless runner" as an easter egg within the "you-are-offline" page was born in early 2014. It's a play on going back to the "prehistoric age" when you had no Wi-Fi. The cacti and desert setting were part of the first iteration of the "you-are- offline" page, while the visual style is a nod to our tradition of pixel-art style in Chrome's error illustrations.

Alan: The only restriction we placed on ourselves was to keep the motion rigid, reminiscent of vintage video games. At the beginning we thought, "What if it did a cute little kick in the beginning like our favorite 90's hedgehog? What if it roared to signal to people that it was alive?" But in the end, we settled on the basics of any good runner game: run, duck and jump.

How long does it take to beat the game?

Edward: We built it to max out at approximately 17 million years, the same amount of time that the T-rex was alive on Earth... but we feel like your spacebar may not be the same afterwards.