The Internet’s first and largest search engine, Google has been at the heart of much of the Internet’s experience for years. Founded in 1998 by two graduate students at Stanford University, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, it has since evolved into an Internet giant with a range of products and services.
Despite its massive popularity, Google is often criticized for privacy and misuse of search results. It has also been accused of monopolizing online information and using other people’s intellectual property. Nevertheless, Google has been ranked second in the world’s most valuable brands.
Google is an American multinational technology corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California. The company’s stated mission is to make information universally accessible. To fulfill this goal, it offers a wide range of services, including a cloud service, Google Drive, and a digital assistant, the Google Assistant. In addition to its main product, the search engine, the company has developed a number of other products, such as the browser Google Chrome, the Android mobile operating system, and a host of applications, such as the video sharing platform YouTube.
As of 2011, the company was handling three billion search queries a day. Google has also branched out into a variety of other technologies, including hardware, software, and cloud computing. One of its recent ventures is an augmented reality glasses system, Google Glass.
Other Google services include the Google Maps, Gmail, and the video sharing platform YouTube. Google has also expanded into cloud computing with its Google Cloud offering backup, disaster recovery, and cloud-based productivity applications. A digital assistant, Google Assistant, also responds to voice requests.
Google’s initial success was based on its search engine, which continues to be the company’s most successful product. However, since then, the company has ventured into other industries, such as a cloud computing service and software development tools.
In 2006, Google was added to the S&P 500 stock index, and was named a Big Five technology company by Forbes magazine. Alphabet, Google’s parent, has since reorganized its various ventures to become separate firms. Some of these new ventures include Google Earth, Google Translate, and Google Books.
For example, Google’s patented algorithm, known as MapReduce, generates higher-level data from smaller chunks of data. While the name might not be particularly impressive, the algorithm has the potential to change the way the world views and uses the Web.
Google has also diversified into other areas, such as a digital assistant, a cloud-based storage service, and mobile phone software. This is reflected in the many products the company has launched, from its web browser, to the Android operating system, to its mapping application, Google Maps.
Among the many other features of Google’s service are Google’s Maps, which allows users to locate local businesses, and the Google Maps app for iOS and Android. Additionally, the company has its own browser, Google Chrome, and a digital assistant, the Google Home. These offerings, in addition to its core business of searching the web, have helped the company maintain its position as the top search engine in the world.