5 Things You Didn't Know about Google
Google was originally called BackRub
Likemany other booming internet companies, Google has an interestingupbringing, one that is marked by a lowly beginning. Google began as aresearch project in January 1996 by cofounder Larry Page, a 24-year-oldPh.D. student at Standford University. Page was soon joined by23-year-old Sergey Brin, another Ph.D. student, forming a duo thatseemed destined for failure. According to Google's own corporateinformation, Brin and Page argued about every single topic theydiscussed. This incessant arguing, however, may have been what spurredthe duo to rethink web-searching and develop a novel strategy thatranked websites according to the number of backlinks (i.e., accordingto the number of web pages that linked back to a web page beingsearched), and not based on the number of times a specific search termappeared on a given web page, as was the norm.
Becauseof this unique strategy, another thing you didn't know about Google isthat Page and Brin nicknamed the search engine BackRub. Thankfully, in1998, Brin and Page dropped the sexually suggestive nickname, and cameup with “Google,†a term originating from a common misspelling of theword "googol," which refers to 10100.
The word “google†hasbecome so common, it was entered into numerous dictionaries in 2006,referring to the act of using the Google search engine to retrieveinformation via the internet.
Google scans your e-mails
Nothingin life is perfect -- or without controversy -- and Google is noexception. Google scans your e-mails (at Gmail) through a processcalled “content extraction.†All incoming and outgoing e-mail isscanned for specific keywords to target advertising to the user. Theprocess has brewed quite a storm of controversy, but Google has yet toback down on its stance.
Google has remained similarlyheadstrong about other criticisms; in an attempt to remain partisan tolocal governments, Google removes or does not include information fromits services in compliance with local laws. Perhaps the most strikingexample of this is Google's adherence to the internet censorshippolicies of China (at Google.cn) so as not to bring up search resultssupporting the independence movement of Tibet and Taiwan, or any otherinformation perceived to be harmful to the People's Republic of China.
GoogleStreet has further been cited for breaching personal privacy. Theservice provides high-resolution street-view photos from around theworld and has, on numerous occasions, caught people committingquestionable acts. Moving from street to satellite, Google Earth hasalso come under fire from several Indian state governments about thesecurity risks posed by the details from Google Earth's satelliteimaging. When all is said and done, there are a lot of criticisms aboutGoogle and these few examples merely scratch the surface.
Google spends $72 million a year on employee meals
Seventy-twomillion dollars a year -- that works out to about $7,530 per Googler (aterm Google uses to identify employees). While the exact details varydepending on location (the Google empire spans the globe), employees atGoogle's California headquarters, aptly entitled the Googleplex, arewelcome to at least two free meals a day from 11 different gourmetcafeterias. As if that weren̢۪t enough, another thing you didn̢۪t knowabout Google is that in addition to the cafeterias, Google offersnumerous snack bars that are chock-full of healthy morsels to munch on.
Andthat's certainly not all. Is your car in a bit of a rut? Not to worry;Google offers on-site car washes and oil changes. The list of perks forworking at Google is never-ending, making it no surprise that it'sconsidered the No. 1 place to work, offering: on-site haircuts, fullathletic facilities, massage therapists, language classes, drop-off drycleaning, day cares, and on-site doctors, just to name a few. Oh, andif your dog is stuck at home and feeling a little lonely, just bringhim to work -- Google doesn't mind.
Google loses $110 million a year through "I'm Feeling Lucky" 
There'snot much to see on Google's main search page, and perhaps simplicity isone of the keys to Google's success. When searching Google, you aregiven two options: “Google Search†or “I'm Feeling Lucky.†By clickingthe former, you are given that familiar list of search results; byclicking the latter, however, you are automatically redirected to thefirst search result, bypassing the search engine’s results page.
besidesthe fun factor, the idea behind the “I'm Feeling Lucky†feature is toprovide the user with instant connection to the precise page they aresearching for, thus saving them time that would normally be spentperusing endless search results. Sounds harmless enough, right? Not sofast. Because “I'm Feeling Lucky†bypasses all advertising, it isestimated that Google loses about $110 million per year in advertising-generated revenue. So why in the world would any Fortune 500 companynot patch such a gaping leak? "It's possible to become too dry, toocorporate, too much about making money. I think what's delightful about'I'm Feeling Lucky' is that it reminds you there are real people here,"Google Executive Marissa Mayer told Valleywag, an online tech-blog.
Google has a sense of humor
Googlealso offers full language support for Pig Latin, Klingon and even ElmerFudd. Anyone else still feeling lucky? Try typing, “French militaryvictories†and clicking “I'm Feeling Lucky.†Behold the result.
Somemight remember the “miserable failure†fiasco when one typed thosewords and clicked “I'm Feeling Lucky,†and they were instantlyconnected to a biography of President George W. Bush on the White Housewebsite. Now, before you jump to conclusions, this trick -- which nolonger works -- was carried out by members of the online communitythrough the art of “Google bombing.†Google bombing works because ofGoogle's backlink search strategy.
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