Know 11 little-known facts about Google on its 28th birthday:From Jennifer Lopez’s dress inspiring ‘Google Images’ to licensed throat tattoos

Every day, billions of people use Google to search, watch videos, send emails, and find directions. It has become so common that ‘Google it’ is now part of everyday language. But behind the world’s biggest search engine are some incredible stories that most people have never heard. From a small research project at Stanford University to one of the most recognisable technology companies in the world, Google has come a long way. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, Google began as a search engine designed to organise the rapidly growing information on the internet.
Over the years, it expanded far beyond search, launching products such as Gmail, Google Maps, Android and YouTube, while also investing heavily in areas such as artificial intelligence.
As Google turns 28 on September 27, here are 11 interesting facts about the company that you may not know. 1. Jennifer Lopez’s dress inspired Google Images
Before Google Images existed, Google could only show text-based search results. Everything changed after the 2000 Grammy Awards, when Jennifer Lopez appeared wearing her iconic green Versace dress. Millions of people rushed to Google hoping to see photos, but the search engine had no dedicated image search feature. The overwhelming demand made Google’s engineers realize people wanted visual results, not just links. Soon afterwards, the company launched Google Images, forever changing how people search online. 2. A spelling mistake gave Google its name Believe it or not, the name Google was never the original plan. Larry Page and Sergey Brin first called their search engine BackRub because it analysed links between websites. Later, they wanted a name that represented an enormous amount of information. A Stanford student suggested the mathematical word “googol”, which means the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. But while checking whether the website domain was available, the word was accidentally typed as Google, and the typo became one of the world’s most valuable brand names. 3. Google hires goats instead of lawnmowers In 2009, Google found an eco-friendly way to cut grass. Instead of using noisy lawnmowers, the company rented around 200 goats, along with a herder and a border collie, to clear wild grass around its Mountain View headquarters. The goats quietly trimmed the landscape while producing far less pollution than traditional mowing equipment, making it one of Google’s most unusual sustainability initiatives. 4. Google actually has several birthdays
When exactly was Google born? The answer isn’t as simple as it seems. The company has multiple important dates in its history: the search engine’s launch, the company’s incorporation, and the registration of its domain.
Despite this, Google officially celebrates its birthday on September 27 every year. That’s why its famous birthday Doodles usually appear on that date. Also read: Google launches ‘GoogleBook’ in US, coming to India soon: Premium laptop connects seamlessly with Android phone

5. One Google search uses as much computing power as Apollo 11 A single Google search may feel effortless, but enormous computing power works behind the scenes. Google has often cited estimates suggesting that one search can require roughly the same level of computing power that was available for guiding the Apollo 11 Moon mission in 1969. The comparison shows just how dramatically computers have evolved over the past few decades. 6. Google once patented a throat tattoo
This sounds like science fiction, but it was a real patent idea. Google-owned Motorola Mobility filed a patent for an electronic skin tattoo that could be worn on the throat. The flexible patch was designed to act as a highly sensitive microphone while also measuring skin responses linked to stress. Although it was only a patent and never became a commercial product, it showed Google’s interest in futuristic wearable technology. 7. The first Google Doodle was simply an ‘Out of Office’ message Today’s Google Doodles celebrate festivals, scientists and global events, but the first one had a much simpler purpose. In August 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin added a tiny stick figure behind the second “o” in the Google logo. It was their way of telling users they were attending the Burning Man festival and were effectively out of the office. It became the beginning of one of the internet’s most beloved traditions. 8. Google’s first storage server had a LEGO-built housing In 1996, while working at Stanford, Larry Page and Sergey Brin needed a large amount of storage to test their PageRank algorithm on web data. They assembled 10 hard drives, each with 4GB of capacity, for a total of 40GB.
Instead of using an expensive conventional enclosure, they housed the drives in a colourful structure made from plastic building blocks and packing tape. Stanford now preserves the unusual setup as part of Google’s early history. 9. The YouTube acquisition was sealed over mozzarella sticks One of the biggest tech deals in history happened in a surprisingly ordinary place. When Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006, the founders reportedly met at a Denny’s diner in California rather than a luxury boardroom. The acquisition discussions were famously completed while sharing mozzarella sticks, proving billion-dollar ideas don’t always need fancy meeting rooms. 10. Google helped popularise free meals and dog-friendly offices Google changed workplace culture across Silicon Valley. The company became famous for offering employees free breakfast, lunch and snacks, encouraging people to eat together and collaborate throughout the day. It also welcomed dogs into many of its offices, creating a relaxed and employee-friendly environment that many other tech companies later adopted. 11. Gmail’s launch looked like an April Fool’s joke On April 1, 2004, Google announced a brand-new email service called Gmail. Because the launch happened on April Fool’s Day, many people assumed it was a prank. The idea of offering 1 GB of free email storage sounded almost unbelievable at the time, especially when rival services offered only a fraction of that space. The joke turned out to be real, and Gmail eventually became one of the world’s most widely used email platforms.
Also read: Google is sending AI chips into space to study computing: What is Project Suncatcher, and why is Musk showing interest?

How Google is shaping the AI era Google is no longer just a search company; it has become one of the world’s biggest players in artificial intelligence. The company develops its own Gemini AI models, which can understand text, images, audio, and video, and is bringing AI features into products such as Search, Gmail, Docs, Maps, and Android.
Google is also building powerful AI infrastructure through its custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and investing in next-generation computing projects, including experiments that could one day place AI processors in space. Its goal is to make AI faster, more useful, and accessible to billions of users worldwide. Google’s journey is filled with unexpected twists: a typo became its name, a celebrity outfit led to image search, Lego bricks powered its first servers, and goats became unlikely employees. Twenty-eight years later, these quirky moments remind us that some of the biggest innovations in technology began with surprisingly simple ideas.