September 4th: The Day Google was Founded

The solution to most of our first-world day to day problems. The heaven-sent, omni-powerful tool that keeps the twenty first century sane. The helping hand that magnifies your knowledge at that crucial time, i.e. when you're trying to impress someone, or ask that question you really should know the answer to. Yes, ladies and gentleman, September 4th 1998 was the day that brought Google into our lives. The default search engine for a huge percentage of internet users, and a common alternative to thinking for ourselves...(admit it - we've all had that "ah, just google it" moment of despair). 

   Google Inc was born when two students of Stanford University met. Larry Page and Sergey Brin set out on a mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". Mission accomplished? Affirmative. Since 1998, the company has grown to multi-national status, expanding to advertising (AdSense), software and cloud computing, among many more achievements. Even the blogging platform that I am writing for is powered by Google - so you can thank Mr. Page and Mr. Brin for being able to read my amazingly witty posts (this one goes out to you, boys). 
   Another remarkable part of the Google way of life, as it has recently become (releasing Google phones, computers, G-mail, apps etc), is the quirky stuff they sneak in all over the place. Google have made research fun! The diverse range of Google animations in their logo follow a similar concept to that of my blog. Each day it illustrates something extraordinary that happened on that particular day, whether it be someone's birthday or a major historical event. And although you have to be in on the secret to indulge in some of the tricks, they are one of my favourite things about Google. E.g. if you type in "do a barrel roll", the whole page spins around. Or if you type "let it snow", white snow falls from the top of your screen! Magical. There are tonnes more, but I think the secrecy of these tricks is worth maintaining. 
    So whether you need to do hardcore research for an essay, or you simply want to 'google' your name out of curiosity; Google Inc is an immensely influential and useful source in our world, and September 4th 1998 was only the start!