Google Facts

HP, Google, Microsoft, and Apple have one thing in common — apart from the obvious that they are IT companies. They were all started in garages.

The Gmail logo was designed the night before it was launched.

The search engine Google got its name from the word 'googol', which refers to the number one with a hundred zeros after it.

If an employee of Google dies, their spouse will receive half their pay for 10 years as well as stock benefits, and any children will receive $1000 a month until they turn 19.

New Google employees are called "Nooglers", and are given a propeller beanie cap to wear on their first Friday.

Google was originally called "BackRub".

Rather than using mechanical mowers, Google regularly employs a flock of 200 goats to naturally mow and fertilise the lawns.

At YouTube Headquarters, employees can either take the elevator, stairs or slide.

Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have long envisioned Google evolving into artificial intelligence itself. In 2010, they launched Google X (now simply 'X'), a secretive research lab dedicated to developing 'moonshot' technologies including AI, self-driving cars, and internet-beaming balloons.

YouTube launched on Valentine's Day 2005 as a video dating site. The slogan was 'Tune In, Hook Up.' Users were meant to upload videos describing their ideal partner - nobody did. The founders even posted on Craigslist to recruit women to the site. Still no takers. So they opened the platform to any video. Less than two years later, Google paid $1.65 billion for it.