Google – The World’s Most Popular Search Engine
The Google search engine is the world’s most popular online tool. It uses a proprietary algorithm to retrieve and order search results so as to provide users with the most relevant information possible. Google’s dominance has led to criticism about its power to influence the flow of online information. The company’s stated mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Google was founded in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. They began their effort as a means of finding files on the Internet, and they developed an algorithm to index and rank Web pages based on the number of links they had. By 1998, Google had received outside funding and was incorporated under the name Google Inc. The name was inspired by the googol, a mathematical term meaning one followed by 100 zeros, and it reflected the founders’ goal of organizing the world’s information.
In addition to the world’s most famous search engine, Google offers a host of other services and products including Gmail, Google Maps, Google Docs, Chrome, YouTube, Android, and Google Cloud. Google is headquartered in Mountain View, California and employs thousands of people worldwide.
As the company has grown, it has expanded its infrastructure to support the immense amounts of data generated by users. The company operates 11 data centers around the world that house hundreds of thousands of interlinked computers. These computers process search queries, compile information on popular topics, and create other kinds of data for Google’s users. The company has made a large investment in research to help develop artificial intelligence (AI) that will enable machines to learn and improve on their own.
A unique aspect of google is its willingness to experiment with new technology. Its Google X division works on projects such as self-driving cars and Glass, an immersive virtual reality system. It also makes a product called Google Fiber, which provides high-speed fibre optic Internet to homes and businesses.
The Google doodle is a special version of the company’s logo that appears on the Google homepage on certain occasions. The doodle is often created for important dates such as birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. The logo changes to a picture, drawing, animation, or interactive game that links to a string of Google search results about the occasion or event. Google doodles have been used to mark the Burning Man festival, the death of Albert Einstein, and even the first space shuttle launch. A team of designers work on the doodles, which are often accompanied by an explanation about how they were created. Google doodles are not part of the official Google logo, which is only displayed on company-owned property and in certain legal documents. Google doodles are also frequently found on third-party sites that use the Google trademark.
