Google turns 25: Key moments in search giant’s history – including that iconic J-Lo dress

Published

2 years ago

September 6, 2023

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Google celebrated the 25th anniversary of its launch this week – and it’s hard to envisage what life was like before.

Few companies have become so integral to society that they become a verb, but the search giant remains the shorthand for looking something up online despite AI threatening the habit.

Google has of course seen off plenty of would-be rivals before (any Ask Jeeves aficionados out there?) – it would be foolish to write off one of the world’s best-known brands after all it’s been through.

Here are 25 moments that helped get Google to where it is today.

1. Launch day (1998)

In 1996, Stanford University computer whizzes Larry Page and Sergey Brin dreamt up a search tool that could better organise the internet’s websites.

Two years later their project was noticed by investor Andy Bechtolsheim, who wrote them a $100,000 cheque.

They used the cash to start an office in the California garage of their friend, and future YouTube boss, Susan Wojcicki.

After buying the domain name Google.com, they got to work.

2. Here comes the money train (2000)

Google’s growth was rapid and it had moved offices several times by 2000, which is when its transformation into a global behemoth would really begin.

Having set up its own campus in Mountain View, California (the area of Silicon Valley where it’s still based), the company launched AdWords.

This allowed advertisers to purchase search terms they wanted to be in the results for – and started a money train that would turn Google into one of the world’s richest firms.

3. Beyond words (2001)

Google had a big year in the boardroom and on its website in 2001, with experienced tech boss Eric Schmidt named chief executive and its co-founders becoming company presidents.

For users, this year saw images added to the website’s search results. It was driven by demand for snaps of a dress Jennifer Lopez had worn at the Grammy Awards in 2000.

4. From email to Gmail (2004)

Generally you should take anything you see announced online on 1 April with a pinch of salt, but Google’s Gmail announcement was no joke.

The free web email client, which now has more than 1.8 billion users, was joined in 2001 by Google Autocomplete, which helped people fine-tune their search queries and would go on to inspire a generation of memes.

5. Getting around (2005)

Not content with changing how we navigate the web, Google started to change how we navigate the real world with Google Maps and Google Earth.

The former is now de-facto satnav for commuters and delivery drivers alike, while the latter gave anyone with a computer the chance to explore far-flung parts of the world in 3D.

6. Android joins the family (2005)

Another 2005 milestone that deserves its own slot on the list is Google’s $50m purchase of Android, which some might say is one of the most important moments in the history of mobile phones.

It’s the backbone of just about every non-Apple handset, and batted away competitors like Microsoft and Nokia to become the iPhone maker’s only real rival.

7. And so does YouTube (2006)

Just a year later, Google made another significant purchase: YouTube for $1.65bn.

The internet’s most ubiquitous video platform has been the backbone of the creator economy for years now, and created an entirely new breed of celebrity. And you can watch Sky News there, too – all day, every day.

8. The great firewall of China (2006)

One place you can’t watch YouTube is China, as it has fallen victim to the country’s infamously tough restrictions on what its citizens can see online.

Not that Google didn’t try to make it work, launching a highly censored version of its search engine there in 2006, before shutting down four years later after criticism from US politicians.

9. I’m a real word! (2006)

The final entry in a trifecta of 2006 milestones is Google’s addition to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006.

Listed as a verb, the dictionary entry said: “To use the Google search engine to find information on the internet. To search for information about (a person or thing) using the Google search engine.”

10. The streets won’t forget (2007)

Google Maps was bolstered by the launch of Street View in 2007, which saw the company send out cars with huge cameras strapped to the top of them to capture pictures of the world’s roads.

You have probably seen them out and about over the years – and may even have ended up on Street View itself…

11. Chrome is where the heart is (2008)

Much as Gmail has become many people’s preferred email client, so too has Chrome become the browser of choice since launching back in 2008.

Its dominance of the market is quite something given it’s not the default option on Windows PCs or Apple Macs, although anyone with the latter’s laptops will tell you no other software drains the battery quite like it.

12. Google’s first smartphone (2010)

Five years after buying Android, Google took its own stab at making a phone that ran it with the Nexus.

It was pitched as the purest Android experience you could get, providing rapid updates whenever the latest version (always named after a dessert) was released.

13. Chrome’s not alone (2011)

The Chrome name was unshackled from the web browser market in 2011 as Google began work on a computer operating system to rival Windows and macOS.

Chrome OS has since become the backbone of Google’s Chromebook laptops, which are especially popular in universities and schools.

14. The launch of the Play Store (2012)

Google’s answer to Apple’s App Store opened in 2012, replacing Android Market. The timing turned out well, as that year also saw the launch of a certain game called Candy Crush.

The Play Store raked in a whopping $42bn in revenue last year.

15. Remember Google Glass? (2012)

Google might be one of the world’s biggest companies, but its history is littered with failed experiments.

One of the most notable is Google Glass, its high-tech spectacles powered by augmented reality that were first introduced back in 2012 and killed off three years later. Clearly no one told Apple what people thought of them.

16. In at the deep end (2014)

It wasn’t as immediately eye-catching as its purchase of YouTube or Android, but Google snapping up British AI research company DeepMind now looks rather prescient.

Its team is key to Google’s overarching AI strategy as it looks to compete with rivals like OpenAI and Microsoft.

17. A new look (2015)

Google got a major makeover in 2015, with a new logo across its search engine and other products.

It was also the year of a major restructuring, as the company folded itself into a new company called Alphabet alongside other divisions, like the smart home platform Nest.

18. Pixel perfect (2016)

Google started making its own phones with the Pixel, replacing the old Nexus branding and joining its recently launched smart speakers – Google Home – on shop shelves.

The annoying adverts about removing chips from your photos didn’t arrive until six years later but they haven’t put people off the phones, with the next version due in just a few weeks.

19. Waymo (2016)

Google’s driverless car project was spun off into a company called Waymo in 2016, with the aim of taking the technology mainstream.

Seven years on and its fleet of taxis are working the streets of San Francisco 24/7, despite occasional navigational problems that have blocked traffic and even delayed emergency services.

20. EU inflicts record fine (2017)

Politicians and regulators have taken a tougher stance on big tech in recent years, and Google has been made an example of on more than a few occasions.

The EU hit it with a record £2.1bn fine in 2017 for favouring its own shopping service in its search results.

21. Big earnings – but another big fine (2018)

Alphabet reported $100bn in annual sales for the first time in Google’s history in 2018, largely thanks to ads.

It certainly made another record fine from the EU easier to stomach, as it inflicted a £3.8bn penalty for forcing Android phone makers to pre-install Google apps.

22. End of an era (2019)

Co-founders Page and Brin relinquished control of Alphabet in December 2019, handing the reins over to Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai.

He still leads the company and is one of the highest-paid tech bosses in the world, while this year saw him attend meetings with world leaders including Rishi Sunak to discuss the potential and threats of AI.

23. ‘Sentient’ AI (2021)

Speaking of AI, Google’s work in the field made headlines in 2021 when a senior engineer was sacked for claiming the company’s chatbot was “sentient”.

The company said Blake Lemoine’s claims about LaMDA (its GPT-style language model for engaging in human-like conversations) were “wholly unfounded”.

24. The death of Stadia (2022)

Google’s attempt to gatecrash gaming with a Netflix-style streaming service called Stadia was announced in 2019.

However, it flopped in the face of competition from established platforms PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo.

Its demise was confirmed in 2022 and the service shut down in January, joining a long line of Google products like Glass and would-be Facebook rival Google+ on the scrap heap.

25. The Bard will see you now (2023)

Google’s internal work on LaMDA came to fruition earlier this year with the release of Bard.

The chatbot’s launch was fast-tracked following the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and is becoming integral to Google’s business model, integrated into everything from Gmail to Docs.

Whatever happens next for Google, it’s clear Bard – and AI – will be key.

World

Why do so many from around the world try to cross the English Channel?

Published

8 hours ago

July 9, 2025

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Why do so many from around the world try to cross the English Channel?

While the politicians talk, so many people come from around the world to try to get across the Channel on small boats. But why?

Why make such a perilous crossing to try to get to a country that seems to be getting increasingly hostile to asylum seekers?

As the British and French leaders meet, with small boats at the forefront of their agenda, we came to northern France to get some answers.

It is not a new question, but it is peppered with fresh relevance.

Over the course of a morning spent around a migrant camp in Dunkirk, we meet migrants from Gaza, Iraq, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and beyond.

Some are fearful, waving us away; some are happy to talk. Very few are comfortable to be filmed.

All but one man – who says he’s come to the wrong place and actually wants to claim asylum in Paris – are intent on reaching Britain.

They see the calm seas, feel the light winds – perfect conditions for small boat crossings.

John has come here from South Sudan. He tells me he’s now 18 years old. He left his war-torn home nation just before his 16th birthday. He feels that reaching Britain is his destiny.

“England is my dream country,” he says. “It has been my dream since I was at school. It’s the country that colonised us and when I get there, I will feel like I am home.

“In England, they can give me an opportunity to succeed or to do whatever I need to do in my life. I feel like I am an English child, who was born in Africa.”

He says he would like to make a career in England, either as a journalist or in human resources, and, like many others we meet, is at pains to insist he will work hard.

The boat crossing is waved away as little more than an inconvenience – a trifle compared with the previous hardships of his journey towards Britain.

We meet a group of men who have all travelled from Gaza, intent on starting new lives in Britain and then bringing their families over to join them.

One man, who left Gaza two years ago, tells me that his son has since been shot in the leg “but there is no hospital for him to go to”.

Next to him, a man called Abdullah says he entered Europe through Greece and stayed there for months on end, but was told the Greek authorities would never allow him to bring over his family.

Britain, he thinks, will be more accommodating. “Gaza is being destroyed – we need help,” he says.

A man from Eritrea tells us he is escaping a failing country and has friends in Britain – he plans to become a bicycle courier in either London or Manchester.

He can’t stay in France, he says, because he doesn’t speak French. The English language is presented as a huge draw for many of the people we talk to, just as it had been during similar conversations over the course of many years.

I ask many of these people why they don’t want to stay in France, or another safe European country.

Some repeat that they cannot speak the language and feel ostracised. Another says that he tried, and failed, to get a residency permit in both France and Belgium.

But this is also, clearly, a flawed survey. Last year, five times as many people sought asylum in France as in Britain.

And French critics have long insisted that Britain, a country without a European-style ID card system, makes itself attractive to migrants who can “disappear”.

A young man from Iraq, with absolutely perfect English, comes for a chat. He oozes confidence and a certain amount of mischief.

It has taken him only seven days to get from Iraq to Dunkirk; when I ask how he has made the trip so quickly, he shrugs. “Money talks”.

He looks around him. “Let me tell you – all of these people you see around you will be getting to Britain and the first job they get will be in the black market, so they won’t be paying any tax.

“Back in the day in Britain, they used to welcome immigrants very well, but these days I don’t think they want to, because there’s too many of them coming by boat. Every day it’s about seven or 800 people. That’s too many people.”

“But,” I ask, “if those people are a problem – then what makes you different? Aren’t you a problem too?”

He shakes his head emphatically. “I know that I’m a very good guy. And I won’t be a problem. I’ll only stay in Britain for a few years and then I’ll leave again.”

A man from Sri Lanka says he “will feel safe” when he gets to Britain; a tall, smiling man from Ethiopia echoes the sentiment: “We are not safe in our home country so we have come all this way,” he says. “We want to work, to be part of Britain.”

Emmanuel is another from South Sudan – thoughtful and eloquent. He left his country five years ago – “at the start of COVID” – and has not seen his children in all that time. His aim is to start a new life in Britain, and then to bring his family to join him.

He is a trained electrical engineer, but says he could also work as a lorry driver. He is adamant that Britain has a responsibility to the people of its former colony.

“The British came to my country – colonising, killing, raping,” he said. “And we didn’t complain. We let it happen.

“I am not the problem. I won’t fight anyone; I want to work. And if I break the laws – if any immigrant breaks the laws – then fine, deport them.

“I know it won’t be easy – some people won’t like me, some people will. But England is my dream.”

World

Trump applying ‘heavy pressure’ on Netanyahu to end war in Gaza

Published

17 hours ago

July 9, 2025

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Trump applying 'heavy pressure' on Netanyahu to end war in Gaza

US President Donald Trump is putting “heavy” pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza, two sources close to the ceasefire negotiations have told Sky News.

One US source said: “The US pressure on Israel has begun, and tonight it will be heavy.”

The source, who is not authorised to speak publicly, was referring to the White House dinner on Monday night between Trump and Netanyahu.

A second Middle Eastern diplomatic source agreed that the American pressure on Israel would be intense.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington DC in the early hours of Monday morning and held meetings on Monday with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser.

The Israeli prime minister plans to be in Washington until Thursday with meetings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Trump has made clear his desire to bring the Gaza conflict to an end.

However, he has never articulated how a lasting peace, which would satisfy both the Israelis and Palestinians, could be achieved.

His varying comments about ownership of Gaza, moving Palestinians out of the territory and permanent resettlement, have presented a confusing policy.

Situation for Palestinians worse than ever

Over the coming days, we will see the extent to which Trump demands that Netanyahu accepts the current Gaza ceasefire deal, even if it falls short of Israel’s war aims – the elimination of Hamas.

The strategic objective to permanently remove Hamas seems always to have been impossible. Hamas as an entity was the extreme consequence of the Israeli occupation.

The Palestinians’ challenge has not gone away, and the situation for Palestinians now is worse than it has ever been in Gaza and also the West Bank. It is not clear how Trump plans to square that circle.

Trump’s oft-repeated desire to “stop the killing” is sincere. Those close to him often emphasise this. He is also looking to cement his legacy as a peacemaker. He genuinely craves the Nobel Peace Prize.

In this context, the complexities of conflicts – in Ukraine or Gaza – are often of secondary importance to the president.

If Netanyahu can be persuaded to end the war, what would he need?

The hostages back – for sure. That would require agreement from Hamas. They would only agree to this if they have guarantees on Gaza’s future and their own future. More circles to square.

Was White House dinner a key moment?

The Monday night dinner could have been a key moment for the Middle East. Two powerful men in the Blue Room of the White House, deciding the direction of the region.

Will it be seen as the moment the region was remoulded? But to whose benefit?

Trump is a dealmaker with an eye on the prize. But Netanyahu is a political master; they don’t call him “the magician” for nothing.

Trump makes decisions instinctively. He can shift position quickly and often listens to the last person in the room. Right now – that person is Netanyahu.

Gaza is one part of a jigsaw of challenges, which could become opportunities.

Diplomatic normalisation between Israel and the Arab world is a prize for Trump and could genuinely secure him the Nobel Peace Prize.

But without the Gaza piece, the jigsaw is incomplete.

World

IDF presence in Gaza ‘only issue’ still to be resolved in push for Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Sky News understands

Published

17 hours ago

July 9, 2025

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IDF presence in Gaza 'only issue' still to be resolved in push for Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Sky News understands

Only one issue remains unresolved in the push to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, according to Sky sources.

Intense negotiations are taking place in Qatar in parallel with key talks in Washington between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations have told Sky News that disagreement between Israel and Hamas remains on the status and presence of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza.

The two sides have bridged significant differences on several other issues, including the process of delivering humanitarian aid and Hamas’s demand that the US guarantees to ensure Israel doesn’t unilaterally resume the war when the ceasefire expires in 60 days.

On the issue of humanitarian aid, Sky News understands that a third party that neither Hamas nor Israel has control over will be used in areas from which the IDF withdraws.

This means that the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – jointly run by an American organisation and Israel – will not be able to operate anywhere where the IDF is not deployed. It will limit GHF expansion plans.

It is believed the United Nations or other recognised humanitarian organisations will adopt a greater role.

On the issue of a US guarantee to prevent Israel restarting the war, Sky News understands that a message was passed to Hamas by Dr Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian American who has emerged as a key back channel in the negotiations.

The message appears to have been enough to convince Hamas that President Trump will prevent Israel from restarting the conflict.

However, there is no sense from any of the developments over the course of the past day about what the future of Gaza looks like longer-term.

Final challenge is huge

The last remaining disagreement is, predictably, the trickiest to bridge.

Israel’s central war aim, beyond the return of the hostages, is the total elimination of Hamas as a military and political organisation. The withdrawal of the IDF, partial or total, could allow Hamas to regroup.

One way to overcome this would be to provide wider guarantees of clear deliverable pathways to a viable future for Palestinians.

But there is no sense from the negotiations of any longer-term commitments on this issue.

Two key blocks have been resolved over the past 24 hours but the final challenge is huge.

The conflict in Gaza erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 20 hostages are believed to remain alive in Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.