Thirteen years and a day ago, Google was born.  Back when people were using either Yahoo! or AOL, Google emerged from its shell.  Google was originally named BackRub back in 1996, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin where still at Stanford for their PhD.  They eventually changed it to Google, a play of the googol, a term that meant one followed by a hundred zeros which signifies their aim to provide large quantities of information for people, for which they are now known for.

The search engine originally run under Stanford University’s website and its domain name was google.stanford.edu.  The domain name Google.com was registered on September 15, 1997 and was finally incorporated on September 4, 1998 after it received is first $100,000 funding from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  Google became a household name that, more often than not, is used as a verb, like when you’re asking a question and the person you’re asking doesn’t know the answer, the response you get it is, “Google it.”

Let’s take a look at Google’s milestones some ho-hum endeavors that though weren’t successful, still made Google popular for the past 13 years.

1996-1997

• The transition from BackRub to Google.

1998

• They received $100,000 form Andy Bechtolsheim.
• They set up shop in Susan Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park, CA where they hired their first employee Craig Silverstein and where they launched their first homepage which kind of looked like Yahoo! as Google was Google! back then.

1999

• They moved out of their first office and set up shop in Palo Alto, CA.
• They received their first round of funding, $25 million, from venture capital firms Sequioa Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Bayers.

2000

• They reached the 1 billion mark, making them the largest search engine available.
• Google becomes Yahoo!’s default search browser.
• AdWord, a self-service ad program that lets users buy keywords that appear alongside search results.

2001

•  Google Image Search was launched

2002

• Google Search Appliance, a device plugged in computers that aides in web search, was launched.
• Google Labs was launched and made available to people who want to try out products and services in their Beta phase.
• News tools was also launched and it provided links for over 4,000 sources.

2003

• They moved to Mountain View, CA which houses their infamous Googleplex.
• They launched the ad program which was later called AdSense.
• They acquired PyraLabs.

2004

• Acquired Keyhole Inc., the developer of Earth Viewer, that brought us the 3D view of the earth.
• They launched the invitation only, Beta-version of Gmail on April Fool’s day.

2005

• The launch of Google Maps.
• Earth Viewer was renamed Google Earth.
• Reader was launched to help organize and consolidate content into a single feed.
• Acquired Urchin.

2006

• Acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock.
• Launched Trends, Gchat for Gmail users, and Google Checkout.

2007

• Acquired GrandCentral which later evolved into Google Voice.
• They launched their mobile platform Android.

2008

• Google Chrome, an open-source browser was launched and had numerous updates and versions since then.
• G1, the first Android phone was unveiled as well as Google Suggest.

2009

• Google Wave, a platform they launched for real-time web communication was launched but was discontinued after a year.
• Picasa, a Mac-based photo editing application was also released this year.

2010

• Google Energy marked their first investment in renewable-energy project.
• Google Apps Marketplace was their take on the Apple iTunes Store.
• Google Buzz was a Gmail-based failed attempt at social networking.
• Google TV a service that came from Google’s team up with Sony, Intel and Logitech which up to present, hasn’t gained any traction.
• Acquired Slide for $200 million.

2011

• Google+ is their latest attempt in the social network scene and maybe their most successful attempt up to date.
• Acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion for reasons that aren’t quite clear up to now.
• This is the year of lawsuits and acquisitions for the company.
• Launched Photovine app but after a few weeks, decided to dissolve Slide as well as its apps except for one.

2012?

• With tons of smartphones running the Android platform, some are predicting that Android may soon dominate the market and consumers and could possibly take down Apple’s iPhone sales.

Quirks of Google

Though Google may be known for their endeavors, there are also some quirky things about them that are actually quite interesting, like their first Google storage was made from LEGO blos because the design team wanted something easily expandable.  They rent out goats to mow their Googleplex lawn, their first tweet was the binary equivalent of their infamous “I’m feeling Lucky” button seen on their homepage.  The company has a skeleton dinosaur named Stan which represents the actual T-rex skeleton found near the Googleplex. They are dog-lovers, and they used to make Nooglers, newbie Googlers or people who work at Google, wear beanie hats with a propeller on top.

The company is well-known for their April Fool’s Day pranks, such as Google MentalPlex and Gmail Paper, as well as their Easter Egg Hunts, outrageous language options and their hilarious directions in Google Maps.

Google delivered not only innovative products and services but also provided laughs, so we could all take a break from this fast-paced internet era.

So here’s to you Google, we at SiliconANGLE raise our glasses to you!  Cheers!