Interesting Facts about Google

Ever since Google was launched back in 1998, it has grown significantly to the multi billion-dollar company we know and love today. Google has significantly changed many lives globally through the various platforms that they offer. From supporting creators through Google AdSense to providing programs such as Gmail which businesses heavily rely on.

Remember the time you got lost in the middle of nowhere. You probably used Google Maps to get out of that sticky situation. It has changed the we operate and do tasks. Thanks to Google, information is widely available in the different that we use. In this article, we are going to look at interesting facts about Google that you probably never knew.

10. Google founders met by chance

Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin met by chance at Stanford University. Larry had just completed and earned a degree in Computer Engineering from University of Michigan. He wanted to advance his career by doing a PhD at Stanford University. Meanwhile, Sergey was already a PhD student at Stanford University. As fate would have it, Sergey was assigned the duty to show Page around the campus. This was the beginning of Google as we know it today. That was way back in 1995 and three years later, Google was launched.

9. Google Translate supports over 100 languages

If you have never visited a foreign country where everything is in a foreign language, then you may never appreciate the importance of Google Translate. From scanning signs to translating speech.

What’s more fascinating, is that it supports over 100 languages around the world. It is very handy tool especially when travelling to foreign countries.

8. Cars have driven over 5 million miles for Google Street View to exist as we know it.

Have you ever opened Google Street view and wondered how the hell it can identify buildings and roads as if it were a live feed?

Well, Google uses cars fitted with sensors and cameras which record streets, roads and buildings with accurate precision. What’s even more mind boggling, is that these cars have covered over 5 million miles.

7. Google rents goats

You read that right. Google rents out goats from a company called California Grazing as part of a green project. But what do these goats actually do? Well, they simply act as lawn mowers.

Google rents about 200 goats for about one week to mow their lawn around the campus. In turn, the grass becomes tidier and more fertile while still protecting the environment.

6. Google acquired a spot in the Oxford dictionary

The word Google was officially indexed into the Oxford dictionary back in 2006. Due to the word becoming synonymous with looking up, it was officially placed in most dictionaries.

Here is the definition from Oxford dictionary; to type words into the search engine Google™ in order to find information about somebody/something.

5. Google receives and processes over 3.5 billion search requests daily

Imagine the amount of time someone spends searching something on Google. Well, according to statistics, Google processes 3.5 billion search requests daily. This equates to 1.2 trillion searches per year which is absolutely mind blowing.

4. Google is derived from a mathematical term

Google was originally derived from a mathematical term; Googol which means 1 with 100 zeroes following it. To put this into perspective: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

3. The founders have special access to a runway at NASA

The founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have access to a runway at NASA. Both of them are worth well over $50 Billion, With such kind of money, comes very many perks and privileges.

One which is exclusive to them is a runway at NASA where they can land their private jets. It is reported that they are the only ones allowed to land at this particular runway. How cool is that.

2. Google treats its employees exemplary well

Google is one of the top ranked companies in terms of how their employees are treated. They receive a lot of perks and one that is very striking of them all, is the death benefits that the family of the deceased receives.

First and foremost, the spouse receives 50% of their partner’s salary for 10 years. In addition to that, the children are given $1000 monthly until they reach 19 years of age.

Apart from this, their employees receive other benefits such as being encouraged to work for about 20% of their time on their side projects. As a result, programs such as Gmail and Google news came to life.

1. Google Earth was developed by another company

Google earth is one of the well know geographical apps owned by google. It offers many features such as satellite views which many find to be interesting. Just like many other Google Apps, this one was not originally developed by Google.

It was instead developed by a company called Keyhoke, Inc. It had many cool features then and Google decided to buy it back in 2005. They have since developed and improved the app.It is worth noting that before Google acquired it, it was previously known as Earth viewer. After Google bought it, it was then renamed to Google maps.

Conclusion

Google has made a significant impact almost every single life on earth. From entertainment Apps such as YouTube to educative and informative ones like Google news. It has become almost impossible to live without Google in this era. Those were the top ten interesting facts about Google. Which was your favorite one?