Google turns 25 today, September 27, 2023. In celebrating this occasion, Google has unveiled a new doodle that depicts the history of Google logos over the years. Additionally, a new confetti Easter egg has been added, playing every time you search for anything related to birthdays
Throughout the 25 years, Google has transitioned as a company and has launched a lot of new products and additions to “search.”
Google Images and ‘Did You Mean’
The company brought Google Images in 2001 together with the ability to find images. In the same year, the company also introduced the ‘Did You Mean’ feature that prompted users to correct their spellings.
Google News
A year later, they launched Google News in 2002 which is a feature that was born out of tragedy. Google saw how it was a struggle at that time to find news about the 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks. This prompted Google News which promotes links to stories or news having different sources.
Autocomplete
Originally launched as Google Suggest in 2004, the Autocomplete feature was launched. This is what you see when you start typing on the search bar. It has since evolved to work on PC, Android, and iOS.
Google Translate
In 2006, they introduced the Google Translate feature making it easy for people to quickly translate one language to another. In the early days, this feature was only limited to translation between Arabic and English but currently, Google Translate works with over 100 languages.
Google Workspace
Formerly known as G Suite, Google Workspace has been helpful to everyone when it comes to productivity. Some of its apps like Gmail and Calendar were launched back in 2006. Google Docs was released in 2005, but Google acquired the rights and its software in 2006. Slides, previously known as Presentations is the version of Microsoft Powerpoint and came from Google’s acquisition of Tonic Systems in 2007. Spreadsheets, now rebranded as Google Sheets in 2012, is the equivalent of Microsoft Excel released following the acquisition of the app’s developer, 2Web Technologies.
Since then, the Google Workspace has been rebranded in 2016. They have added additional applications to improve collaborations such as Hangouts, Meet, and Google Sites. In 2020, they officially announced that “G Suite” will be renamed as “Google Workspace” to reflect the changing nature of office work. This unified all of Google’s production and communication apps into a single platform for business collaboration.
Mobile App, Google Voice, and Autocomplete as default feature
Google launched its mobile app on iPhone in 2008 by adding features such as autocomplete and ‘my location.’ Autocomplete was originally launched back in 2004 as mentioned earlier but only made it as a default feature in 2008. Another groundbreaking launch that year was Google Voice which enabled users to search by their voice.
Search by Images
The Search by Image feature was enabled by Google in 2011 making it easy for users through uploading pictures or image links to find the same content instead of searching through descriptions or words. Search by Image was a key component to the development of Google Lens.
Google Lens
Back in 2017, Google introduced Google Lens highlighting its machine learning capabilities and its capacity to recognize objects and subsequently convert them into search queries. According to Google, “Lens sees more than 12 billion visual searches per month.”
Hum to Search
They also have introduced other features like Hum to Search that enable users to hum a song that has been stuck in their head. In 2020, Google used its machine learning expertise to enable this feature.
Multisearch
In 2022, they introduced Multisearch which combines two search methods: text and images. This feature was initially launched in the U.S. market before it was made available globally on mobile and is supported in all places where Google Lens works.
AI-Powered features
In 2023, Google is focusing on generative AI-powered experiences with Google Bard and its Large Language Models (LLMs) like PaLM 2 and Gemini.
Happy birthday, Google!
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