Google turns 20 with Easter eggs and special images to celebrate


You can see the garage where Google started today in Street View and a few other goodies.

guuugle.jpg
 

 

To celebrate 20 years, Google has updated its eponymous search engine. The company also hid a few easter eggs in the site to acknowledge how far it has come.

The familiar Google Doodle, which usually relates to a holiday or fun fact, is a clickable video. If you click, the video plays an animation sequence of Google’s most popular queries since 2000.

If you need to search something fairly outdated, like “MP3 file” or “chat room,” Google search now has something snarky to say about it. If you search one of these terms, the search engine reminds you that it’s 2018 and asks if you meant a more relevant search like “stream music” or “text the group.”

If you’re interested to see where the company got its start, Google Maps in Street View gives you a detailed look inside the original garage headquarters. You get the full experience of the search engine’s first office with wires snaking through hallways, paperwork strewn across the desks, the original logo design, and old desktops displaying Google in its infancy.

As Google reflects on its past, it also looks toward the future. Ben Gomes, vice president of Google News and Assistant announced updates to the search engine on Monday.

To make the desktop browser more like the app, Google is launching Discover and redesigning Google Images.

Google’s image search has been updated to be more visual with Instagram type Stories. When you search an image, Google’s algorithm will rank results based on website authority. The more relevant the image is to the entire website, the higher it will appear in the search.

Google Lens also lets users “draw” on an image they’ve searched which can trigger a deeper, more specific search. The new updates include activity cards to keep track of search history and more intelligent query suggestions.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.