Happy Birthday, Google; search engine turns 14

Surfboards lean against a wall at the Google office in Santa Monica, California, on Oct 11, 2010. Google will report its third-quarter earnings on Thursday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

An employee rides her bike past a logo next to the main entrance of the Google building in Zurich on July 9, 2009. Google Inc plans to attack Microsoft Corp's core business by taking on the software giant's globally dominant Windows operating system for personal computers. Google, which already offers a suite of e-mail, Web and other software products that compete with Microsoft, said it would launch a new, free operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A person poses with a magnifying glass in front of a Google search page in this illustrative photograph taken in Shanghai on March 23, 2010. Google Inc moved its China search service to the more free environment of Hong Kong in an attempt to remain a player in the world's largest Internet market without censoring search results. The Chinese characters read "Weclome to the new home for Google searching in China". -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Attendees Mr Dominie Liang (Left) and Mr Ruslan Belkin utilize the common area at the Google I/O Developers Conference in the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, on May 11, 2011. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

An employee takes a nap in a nap pod which blocks out light and sound at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California on March 3, 2008. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

The Google logo is seen on the top of its China headquarters building behind a road surveillance camera in Beijing on Jan 26, 2010. Chinese state media stepped up their war of words with the United States (US) over Internet control on Tuesday, with a top newspaper claiming a US conspiracy and saying China can live without Google. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A Chinese Internet user browses for information on the popular search engine Google in Beijing on Jan 25, 2006. The Internet search giant will block politically sensitive terms on its new China site in a voluntary concession set on January 24, 2006, bowing to conditions set by Beijing in return for access to the world's number-two Internet market. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

An attendee uses Google Map on a Google Nexus 7 tablet during Google I/O 2012 Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California on June 27, 2012. Google Inc unveiled its first tablet PC on Wednesday, as the Internet company looks to replicate its smartphone success in a tablet market where it faces stiff competition from Apple Inc, Microsoft and Amazon. The "Nexus 7" tablet, built and co-branded in partnership with hardware maker Asus, will be priced starting at US$199 (S$244). -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Katharine Ng zooms in to Paris on panoramic Google Maps screens at the Google campus near Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, California on Jan 13, 2012. The 9290sq m campus was designed by architect Frank Gehry, and includes an entrance through an iconic pair of giant binoculars designed by Mr Claes Oldenburg and Mr Coosje van Bruggen. Around 500 employees develop video advertising for YouTube, parts of the Google+ social network and the Chrome Web browser at the site. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

The Google logo is seen on a door at the company's office in Tel Aviv on Jan 26, 2011. Search engine giant Google launched a massive archive retrieval project with Israel's national Holocaust museum on Wednesday with the aim of easing public access to Nazi-era documents and photographs. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A man walks past the iconic pair of giant binoculars designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen at an entrance of the Google campus near Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, California on Jan 13, 2012. The 9290sq m campus was designed by architect Frank Gehry. Around 500 employees develop video advertising for YouTube, parts of the Google+ social network and the Chrome Web browser at the site. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A posed picture shows a Motorola Droid phone displaying the Google search page in New York on Aug 15, 2011.  Google Inc. will buy phone hardware maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion to bolster adoption of its Android mobile software and compete with smartphone rival Apple Inc. In its biggest deal to date, Google said it would pay US$40 (S$49) per share in cash, a 63 per cent premium to Motorola Mobility's Friday closing price on the New York Stock Exchange. -- PHOTO: REUTERS  

An attendee takes a photo of the Google wallet application screen during a news conference unveiling the mobile payment system in New York on May 26, 2011. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Google homepage logos are seen on a wall at the Google campus near Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, California on Jan 13, 2012. The 9290sq m campus was designed by architect Frank Gehry, and includes an entrance through an iconic pair of giant binoculars designed by Mr Claes Oldenburg and Mr Coosje van Bruggen. Around 500 employees develop video advertising for YouTube, parts of the Google+ social network and the Chrome Web browser at the site. -- PHOTO: REUTERS 

Employees sit in abriefing room room designed as a tunnel at the Google building in Zurich on March 9, 2011. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

The home screen is shown on Google's latest Android operating system, Honeycomb, on a Motorola Xoom tablet device following a news conference at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California on Feb 2, 2011. -- PHOTO: REUTERS 

Attendees sits in front of a Google logo during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California on June 28, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Bicycles for use by employees are lined up at the Google campus near Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, California on Jan 13, 2012. The 9290sq m campus was designed by architect Frank Gehry, and includes an entrance through an iconic pair of giant binoculars designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Around 500 employees develop video advertising for YouTube, parts of the Google+ social network and the Chrome Web browser at the site. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A man walks through a tunnel of Google homepage logos at the Google campus near Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, California on Jan 13, 2012. The 9290sq m campus was designed by architect Frank Gehry, and includes an entrance through an iconic pair of giant binoculars designed by Mr Claes Oldenburg and Mr Coosje van Bruggen. Around 500 employees develop video advertising for YouTube, parts of the Google+ social network and the Chrome Web browser at the site. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Chihuahua dog Elmo, the dog of an employee, stands beside the slogan 'Top secret' at the Google building in Zurich on March 9, 2011. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Google and Yad Vashem officials hold a news conference to launch an archive retrieval project at the Google office in Tel Aviv on Jan 26, 2011. Search engine giant Google launched the massive archive retrieval project with Israel's national Holocaust museum on Wednesday with the aim of easing public access to Nazi-era documents and photographs. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A Google LA logo is seen on a pool table at the Google campus near Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, California on Jan 13, 2012. The 100,000 square-foot campus was designed by architect Frank Gehry, and includes an entrance through an iconic pair of giant binoculars designed by Mr Claes Oldenburg and Mr Coosje van Bruggen. Around 500 employees develop video advertising for YouTube, parts of the Google+ social network and the Chrome Web browser at the site. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

The logo of Google Inc. is seen outside their headquarters building in Mountain View, California on Aug 18, 2004. Google Inc. slashed the size of its closely watched initial public offering nearly in half to less than US$2 billion (S$2.4 billion) on Wednesday, splashing cold water on what has been touted as the hottest Internet IPO in years. Google shares could make their market debut on the Nasdaq stock market as soon as Thursday, ending the wait for the year's most anticipated IPO. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A man has his picture taken in front of Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, California, on May 8, 2008. Yahoo Inc's successful test of using Google Inc. search advertisements is good reason for the companies to discuss cooperation, but there is no deal yet, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Thursday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Google founder Mr Sergey Brin poses for a portrait wearing Google Glass glasses before the Diane von Furstenberg  Spring/Summer 2013 collection show during New York Fashion Week on Sept 9, 2012. The show was used as a launching event for Google's new product "Glass by Google". -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt (Right) speaks beside co-founders Mr Sergey Brin (Left) and Mr Larry Page at the Sun Valley Inn in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 8, 2010. The resort is the site for the annual Allen & Co's media and technology conference.

Mr Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Google Chrome, speaks during Google I/O Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California on June 28, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS