Google turns 25! The tech giant is celebrating its birthday with hidden surprises, Easter eggs and its iconic spinner

In September 1998, Google was founded in a garage by two Stanford University students – a humble beginning to say the least.

Who would have thought, a quarter of a century later, that it would be the world’s most used search engine with unprecedented access to our personal data?

To mark its 25th birthday, Google packed its website with Easter eggs, including a new Google Doodle – a temporary change to its logo – with “25” in place of the two Os it would normally have.

Meanwhile, if you type “Google 25th birthday” into the search bar, colorful confetti will rain over your results.

The tech giant has also brought back its “Birthday Surprise Spinner,” which lets you play interactive games from its archives, including Pac-Man, Snake and Tic-Tac-Toe.

The new Google Doodle – a temporary change to the Google logo – has “25” instead of the two Os

The Google birthday surprise spinner selects an interactive game from the search engine’s archives for users to play

If you search for “Google Birthday Surprise Spinner,” the multi-colored carnival wheel will appear at the top of the search results.

It will automatically start spinning and select a game for you. However, you can choose to spin again if you want to play something else.

Google also released a gallery of 25 changes made to its search product since its launch, including Images in 2001, Voice Search in 2006 and Lens in 2017.

And a new video shows how search has evolved over the last quarter century with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

If you search Google for “how to cut a pineapple” in 1998, you might see a few websites, but if you do it today, you’ll be flooded with tons of pictures, how-to videos, recipes, and more.

In a blog post today, Google thanked the public for “25 years of curiosity” that has fueled the company’s amazing success.

“We love imagining new ways technology can help you every day and are endlessly inspired by what you’ve achieved with it,” it says.

“We are also proud of the opportunities that lie ahead and the potential of AI to help us continue to fulfill our mission and improve the lives of even more people around the world.”

If you search “how to cut a pineapple” on Google in 1998, you might see a few websites

But enter the same search query today and you’ll be flooded with images, explainer videos, blog posts, recipes and more

“All of us at Google thank you for the great 25 years.” Here’s to many more years of curiosity.”

Although it is now a billion-dollar company and owner of the world’s leading web-based search engine, Google’s origins were far more humble.

Google was officially founded in September 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Stanford University to market Google Search.

The duo used Susan Wojcicki’s (now known as the former CEO of YouTube) garage in California as their first office.

Their search project was originally called BackRub – a questionable choice – but fortunately it was changed to its now world-famous name before launch.

“Google” is a misspelling of the word “googol,” a term for the number one followed by a hundred zeros (as die-hard fans of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” probably know).

Although Google celebrated its birthday on September 27th, the company’s incorporation documents were actually filed on September 4th, 1998.

The company was incorporated three days later and the domain was registered on September 15th. It is unclear why the company is now celebrating today’s date.

Originally, Google was a one-product company with a name limited to just Google Search. Its hardware and software now seem to permeate every corner of our lives.

Online innovations introduced later include Google Maps, Google Street View and Google Earth, as well as the Chrome web browser, the Gmail email service and the Google Meet video conferencing platform.

Google founders Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin (right) in their first office, Susan Wojcicki’s garage, in 1999

Google Beta: This is what the billion-dollar company’s world-famous search function looked like 25 years ago

Its Android operating system is now one of the two dominant software programs for smartphones (alongside Apple’s iOS).

But unlike iOS, Android runs on phones from several companies, including Samsung, Xiaomi, Nothing and Google itself.

The first official Google phone – the Google Pixel – was released in 2016, although it had previously collaborated with HTC on the Nexus One.

Google even has a presence in our living rooms thanks to its Google Nest range of smart speaker products powered by Google Assistant.

Meanwhile, Google Glass, released in 2013, was one of the first smart glasses on the market that brought information directly to people’s eyes.