We all know what Google is (well I hope you do if you're on this page), we've all used it, and I'm going to bet a fair number of us love it. There's more to this company than just fantastic search engines, office suites, and Google Earth however! Here's eight different things you might not have known about Google.
1. The first Google storage system was built in 1996 and housed in a lego storage container. The actual storage capacity of the storage system was 40 gigabytes, less than many hand held devices today. The reason they chose Lego is that they needed a cheap and easily expandable material to build the housing out of.
2. The name Google was actually an accident. It was a spelling mistake made by the founders who thought they were spelling Googol. A Google is a huge number, 1 with 100 zero's after it or 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
3. Google's first twitter post was I'm feeling lucky, typed out in binary.
The Tweet was
“I’m 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010.”
On a side note, the "I'm feeling lucky" button is apparently hardly ever used. Google found that removing the button reduced the user's experience however, and decided to keep it.
4. Google uses goats instead of lawn mowers.
At Google HQ, Google rents out 200 goats from California Grazing to keep weeds to a minimum. The operation includes a herder and a border collie, and is better for the environment than mowers. Google also stated that it's “A lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers.”
5. Google was added as a verb to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006.
This actually didn't make Google very happy, as they replied to the news as follows:
“We’d like to make clear that you should please only use ‘Google’ when you’re actually referring to Google Inc. and our services,”
The reasoning being that they didn't want people using the term in reference to say, Yahoo or Bing, and wanted to make sure that the term "Google it" referred only to their brand. Who can blame them? It took alot of work on their part to become the search engine giant they are today.
6. They have a full T-Rex skeleton at the Googleplex
Google has tons of decorations at their offices, but perhaps the most unique is a full scale T-rex skeleton! The Skeleton has been dubbed "Stan" after another nearby dinosaur that was uncovered.
7. The Lunar Google X Prize
Google is actively encouraging space exploration, and offering cash prizes to do so! They are offering a total of $30 million in prize money to the first of a group of privately funded teams to land a robot on the moon. The teams robot must travel 500 meters or more across the surface and send back information (pictures, video, etc) back to earth, and they have until 2015 to do this!
8. There is a Google Moon and Google Mars in addition to Google Earth!
In addition to mapping out the world, twice, Google has a Google earth style Google Moon and Google Mars. The really cool thing about it is that you can look at pictures from the apollo landing on Google Moon, as well as spacecraft activity on Google Mars as well!
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