Google celebrates 20 years, walks down memory lane
New Delhi, Sep 27: Google on Thursday turned 20 and celebrated it with a nostalgic video feature of interesting searches through the years -- from holidays, events, achievements and people to the best dance moves, food to eat, planets and languages.
Google has answered all our queries since it came into being in 1998 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both Ph.D. students at the Stanford University, US.
The new search engine had a bold mission to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Over the years it changed drastically -- going from being a simple search engine to a global tech titan and offering searches in more than 150 languages in over 190 countries -- though there has been one thing that that has remained constant from the very first day: the homepage Doodle.
Thursday's video Doodle took a stroll down the memory lane exploring popular searches all over the world throughout the last two decades -- whether it be the status of your favourite object orbiting the sun, the latest on the world's biggest events, or the meaning of love.
Although more than 2,000 Doodles have adorned its homepage, Google has kept its site looking fresh by creating different variations of its logo, inspired by cultural icons, events and phenomena such as Pac-Man, the birth of hip-hop and more, Google said in a statement.
Its first Doodle was created before the company was even incorporated. A few days before its official launch, the Burning Man-inspired logo was put on the homepage as an away message -- that's how Page and Brin let people know they were heading to the festival.
It had taken two years for Google Doodles to get animated. On October 31, 2000, the first Doodle with motion graphics arrived to celebrate Halloween. The O's in the logo were replaced by tiny jack-o'-lanterns, and a spider dangled between the "L" and "E".
On November 13, 2009, it celebrated the discovery of water on Moon, on August 11, 2017, it celebrated 44 years of the birth of Hip-Hop. Going coutry specific it has over the years celebrated national and cultural icons.
In 2018, Google made its first VR Doodle celebrating the life of Georges Melies, an early film pioneer. It was a 360-degree experience that did not need a VR headset to enjoy. It was nominated for an Emmy in 2018.
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Vinod Tawde seeks apology from Kharge, Rahul through legal notice, warns of defamation lawsuit
Cash-for-vote row
New Delhi, Nov 22: BJP leader Vinod Tawde has demanded an apology from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for making "false and baseless" allegations against him in the cash-for-votes incident in Maharashtra, saying if they don't he would sue them for defamation.
Tawde was accused by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, a regional party, of distributing Rs 5 crore to woo voters, with its members barging into a hotel room on November 19 in a Mumbai suburb, where the BJP leader was present.
The former Maharashtra minister and BJP national general secretary claimed innocence, saying the alleged amount was not recovered in the probe by the Election Commission and police.
"The Congress only believes in spreading lies, and this incident is a proof of the party's low level politics to dent me and my party's image," Tawde said.
The two Congress leaders and the party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate seized on the row to accuse the BJP of using money power to influence the November 20 assembly polls in the state.
The legal notice sent to the three claimed that they were aware that they were pushing a "totally false story fabricated" by them.
"You all have deliberately, mischievously with the sole intention of damaging the reputation of our client intentionally fabricated the story distribution of money. You all have published false, baseless allegations against our client on various media for tarnishing his image in the eyes of right thinking people in the society," the notice read.
The Congress leaders were in a "great hurry" to damage Tawde's reputation, they did not bother to check the fact and or despite knowing the entire fact they made the false, baseless allegations, it said.
"The entire imputation made by you all are totally false, baseless, malicious and mala fide and as our client is in no way involved in any such illegal activity and as a responsible office bearer of the national political party he is aware of his duties," it added.
The notice demanded an "unconditional apology" to Tawde within 24 hours from the time the receipt of the notice, which was sent on November 21, and published in newspapers and X.
If they do not offer apology, then Tawde will initiate criminal proceedings under Section 356, which covers defamation, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and also civil proceedings for the damages of Rs 100 crore against the three Congress leaders, the notice said.
