Google is turning 10, I’m reading the History of Google and I thought it’d be interesting to share this. If I miss any facts, please lemme know in a comment and I’ll change it.
10. star wars (most was in May: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace hits theaters in May 1999 and quickly becomes one of the most popular [even in my opinion] movies ever.) star wars in 2008.
9. MIT University (Most was in November: I suspect it’s because MIT first used digital certificates in November of 1999.) MIT University in 2008.
8. DeCSS (most was in October: DeCSS was first invented in October. I’m pretty sure it’s a way to play non-localized DVDs on localized DVD players.) DeCSS in 2008.
7. kosovo (most was in June: Kosovo is a city in Serbia that Yugoslavia deployed troops to in the beginning of May/end of June. The conflict was resolved and refugees returned to Kosovo later that month.) kosovo in 2008.
6. hurricane floyd (most was in September: Hurricane Floyd was a class 5 hurricane that caused a significant (read: lots and lots and lots) of flooding in North Carolina in September 1999.) hurricane floyd in 2008.
5. trenchcoat mafia (most was in April: The Columbine shootings happened in April 1999 and many believed that the shooters beloged to the Trench Coat Mafia.) trenchcoat mafia in 2008.
4. y2k (most was in December [surprise!]: If you weren’t too self-aware in 1999 Y2K was a computer “bug” that people believed would cause all computers to crash on January 1st, 2000. The logic? Computers that can solve the quadratic formula in 10 seconds would have difficulty counting to 2000.) y2k in 2008.
3. slashdot (most was in June and October: In June Slashdot.org [a news site for geeks who make a "Top Ten Most Frequent Google Searches in 1999" list] was sold to Andover.net [now known as SourceForge]. October doesn’t appear to have any specific reason for so many searches.) slashdot in 2008.
2. apollo (most was in July: July marked the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 first moon landing. For some reason some people still think it was faked.) apollo in 2008.
AND the number one search result will at first surprise you…then it won’t when you remember it’s 1999…
1. pokemon (most was in November: Pokémon: The First Movie was released November, 1999. Since then 4 more have been released. [Pokémon: The Movie 2000 in July, 2000, Pokémon 3: The Movie in April 2001, Pokémon 4Ever in October 2002 and Pokémon Heroes in September, 2003; don't ask me for plot outlines, I didn't see any of them].) pokemon in 2008.
Congrats Google. You are now a late 4th grader/early 5th grader.
(Picture is from the Google homepage; sources: Year End Look at Google Search Trends, News Archive Search, IMdB and various Google searches where I gleaned information on particular reasoning for particular searches)
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