Amazing Facts about Google

We all use Google in some way or the other. The way Google has evolved is a story worth telling. Here are some of the interesting facts about Google :

1. The name ‘Google’ was an accident. It was the result of a spelling mistake made by the original founders who thought they were going for ‘Googol’. The domain name “Googol.com” was already taken by the time Google was founded.
2. The domain Google.com was registered on 15 September 1997.
3. The first operations of Google was started in this garage

4. Google (aka Googol) is a mathematical term which means “1 followed by hundred Zeros”. The term ‘Googol’ was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasne.
5. Google receives daily search requests from all over the world, including Antarctica.
4. Google’s Homepage has 42 validation errors. Check Google Validation

5. Google’s homepage can be accessed in 88 languages including Urdu and Latin.
6. Every day the Google servers receives about a billion search requests . 20 to 25% of Google queries have never been searched before.
7. The main reason why the Google homepage is so simple is because the founders didn’t knew HTML. The submit button was included much later and hitting the return key was the only way to get the search results.
8. The “I am feeling lucky” button is almost never used by the end user. However it was found that removing the button would reduce the Google experience.
9. In the early days of testing Google employees noted people just sitting and looking at the screen. After a minute the tester asked “What are you waiting for ?”. To this the users replied “We are waiting for the page to load”.
To solve this issue the copyright message was added which acted as an end of the page marker.
10. Google has the largest network of translators in the world.
11. All Google employees are encouraged to use 20% of their time working in their own projects. Google news and Orkut are two big examples that grew from this working model.
12. Google consists of over 450,000 servers, racked up in clusters located in data centers around the world.
13. Google started in January, 1996 as a research project at Stanford University, by Ph.D. candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were 24 years old and 23 years old respectively.The original google project was named backrub.
14. When Google started it indexed 25,000 web pages. Today Google indexes billions of web pages and each time it grows by 10-25%.
15. According to Google “As the web grows search becomes more and more important”. It acts like a library , the bigger the library the more important is the index.
16. The pagerank algorithm uses more than 200 attributes to determine the rank of a given webpage.
17. Google has the largest corporate solar panel installation in the US.
18. The biggest break in search came when Google introduced their improved spell checker seen as “Did you mean ? ”.This feature doubled their traffic and soon the developers discovered that the ideal placement was at the bottom of the search results.
19. Every now and then Google makes small changes and test them with a given set of users. The users aren’t told of this. They are presented with a new interface and the testers observe how the users react to it.
20. Google believe in 20 % – 5% philosophy. According to this, if at least 20% of the users use a feature then it will be included. To make it to the advanced search preferences, at least 5 % of the users need to use a particular feature.
21. In the results found in user testing and design, Google testers found that only a small number of people are typical of the larger user base. Hence,Google labs was born and it monitors how people use each and every service.

22. Gmail – Free email from Google was used internally for nearly 2 years by Google employees before it was launched for public use. The engineers discovered that there are typically 6 types of email users and Gmail was made to satisfy the needs of them.
23. Google’s index of web pages is the largest in the world, comprising of 8 billion web pages. Google searches this immense collection of web pages often in less than half a second.
24. They listen to feedback actively. Emailing Google isn’t emailing a black hole.
25. Google’s first April fool prank went live on April 1st,2000 and was coined “MentalPlex” – Google’s ability to read your mind.

Some thought the announcement of Gmail in 2004 around April Fool’s Day was a joke. (Thanks Mani Karthik)
26. Google Groups comprises of more than 845 million Usenet messages, which is the world’s largest collection of messages or the equivalent of more than a terabyte of human conversation.
27.In a 2006 report of the world’s richest people, Forbes reported that Sergey Brin was #26 with a net worth of $12.9 billion, and Larry Page was #27 with a net worth of $12.8 billion
28. There isn’t any restriction for proper dress code in the Google office. This may include pajamas and even super hero costumes.

29. Tom Vendetta is the youngest google employee ever hired. He was hired by Google when he was 15 years old. Vendetta used to fool his friends by sending fake press releases and news. Vendetta was employed to know the know-how of the teen and to implement them in Gmail security flaws.
30. The first employee that google hired is Craig Silverstein.

31.The first human being named after Google is Oliver google kai. He was born on September 12th 2005 and his parents named him because they wanted Oliver to have as many friends as google has.

Facts about Human Body

1.   The average human brain has about 100 billion nerve cells.
2.  Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles (274 km) per hour.
3.  The thyroid cartilage is more commonly known as the adams apple.
4.  The only jointless bone in your body is the hyoid bone in your throat
5.  It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
6.  Your stomach needs to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it would digest itself.
7.  It takes the interaction of 72 different muscles to produce human speech.
8.  The average life of a taste bud is 10 days.
9.  The average cough comes out of your mouth at 60 miles (96.5 km) per hour.
10.  Relative to size, the strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.# Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
11.  When you sneeze, all your bodily functions stop even your heart.
12.  Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
13.  Children grow faster in the springtime.
14.  It takes the stomach an hour to break down cow milk.
15.  Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
16.  Blondes have more hair than dark-haired people do.
17.  There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye hip arm leg ear toe jaw rib lip gum).
18.  If you go blind in one eye you only lose about one fifth of your vision but all your sense of depth.
19.  The average human head weighs about 8 pounds.
20.  Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
21.  In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.
22.  An average human scalp has 100,000 hairs.
23.  The length of the finger dictates how fast the fingernail grows. Therefore, the nail on your middle finger grows the fastest, and on average, your toenails grow twice as slow as your fingernails.
24.  The average human blinks their eyes 6,205,000 times each year.
25.  The entire length of all the eyelashes shed by a human in their life is over 98 feet (30 m).
26.  Your skull is made up of 29 different bones.
27.  Your ears and nose continue to grow throughout your entire life.
28.  After you die, your body starts to dry out creating the illusion that your hair and nails are still growing after death.
29.  Hair is made from the same substance as fingernails.
30.  The average surface of the human intestine is 656 square feet (200 m).
31.  A healthy adult can draw in about 200 to 300 cubic inches (3.3 to 4.9 liters) of air at a single breath, but at rest only about 5% of this volume is used.
32.  The surface of the human skin is 6.5 square feet (2m).
33. 15 million blood cells are destroyed in the human body every second.
34.  The pancreas produces Insulin.
35.  The most sensitive cluster of nerves is at the base of the spine.
36.  The human body is comprised of 80% water.
37.  The average human will shed 40 pounds of skin in a lifetime.
38.  Every year about 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced.
39.  The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet (9 m).
40.  You were born with 300 bones. When you get to be an adult, you have 206.
41.  Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.
42.  Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.
43.  There are 45 miles (72 km) of nerves in the skin of a human being.
44.  The average human heart will beat 3,000 million times in its lifetime and pump 48 million gallons of blood.
45.  Each square inch (2.5 cm) of human skin consists of 20 feet (6 m) of blood vessels.
46.  During a 24-hour period, the average human will breathe 23,040 times.
47.  Human blood travels 60,000 miles (96,540 km) per day on its journey through the body.

20 Interesting and Useful Water Facts

1. Roughly 70 percent of an adult’s body is made up of water.
2. At birth, water accounts for approximately 80 percent of an infant’s body weight.
3. A healthy person can drink about three gallons (48 cups) of water per day.
4. Drinking too much water too quickly can lead to water intoxication. Water intoxication occurs when water dilutes the sodium level in the bloodstream and causes an imbalance of water in the brain.
5. Water intoxication is most likely to occur during periods of intense athletic performance.
6. While the daily recommended amount of water is eight cups per day, not all of this water must be consumed in the liquid form. Nearly every food or drink item provides some water to the body.
7. Soft drinks, coffee, and tea, while made up almost entirely of water, also contain caffeine. Caffeine can act as a mild diuretic, preventing water from traveling to necessary locations in the body.
8. Pure water (solely hydrogen and oxygen atoms) has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic.
9. Water dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Wherever it travels, water carries chemicals, minerals, and nutrients with it.
10. Somewhere between 70 and 75 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water.
11. Much more fresh water is stored under the ground in aquifers than on the earth’s surface.
12. The earth is a closed system, similar to a terrarium, meaning that it rarely loses or gains extra matter. The same water that existed on the earth millions of years ago is still present today.
13. The total amount of water on the earth is about 326 million cubic miles of water.
14. Of all the water on the earth, humans can used only about three tenths of a percent of this water. Such usable water is found in groundwater aquifers, rivers, and freshwater lakes.
15. The United States uses about 346,000 million gallons of fresh water every day.
16. The United States uses nearly 80 percent of its water for irrigation and thermoelectric power.
17. The average person in the United States uses anywhere from 80-100 gallons of water per day. Flushing the toilet actually takes up the largest amount of this water.
18. Approximately 85 percent of U.S. residents receive their water from public water facilities. The remaining 15 percent supply their own water from private wells or other sources.
19. By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount.
20. The weight a person loses directly after intense physical activity is weight from water, not fat.

Top 10 Horror Movies

The following horror films are sure to scare you out of your wits- you will be looking under your bed for months after watching any of these flicks!

1. Exorcist
The movie stars Linda Blair as Regan who plays the daughter of a famous actress. Regan soon makes an imaginary friend who ultimately takes possession of her body and is said to be the Devil. The images are chilling and will make you shiver and scream till the last scene!
The Exorcist (Extended Director's Cut & Original Theatrical Edition) [Blu-ray]

2. Rosemary’s Baby
The movie begins with Rosemary and Guy moving into a new apartment shortly after their marriage. The neighbors seem perfectly hospitable and friendly. However, after she announces her pregnancy, the atmosphere becomes eerie and uncomfortable in the apartment building. One question remains- Who or What is the father of Rosemary’s baby?
Rosemary's Baby

3. The Omen
The plot of this chilling film revolves around Damien who is said to be the Devil’s son. A well-known, political and extremely influential family adopts the child. Damien soon starts to destroy anything and anyone that creates obstacles between him and his ultimate aim of world domination.
The Omen [Blu-ray]

4. Poltergeist
A family finds that their home is haunted and instead of scaring the family, the ghosts initially amuse them by moving their furniture around. Soon after, they become nasty and take it upon themselves to terrorize the young family and kidnap their youngest daughter.
Poltergeist (25th Anniversary Edition)

5. The Shining
The plot of this movie focuses on Jack Torrance, a writer who takes on the post of a caretaker during the winter season at a hotel. Jack’s son and the chef of the hotel are said to have psychic abilities as they can see ghosts of those people who were murdered in the hotel years ago. Jack soon gets influenced by these supernatural entities during a snowstorm and tries to kill his son and wife.
The Shining [Blu-ray]

6. The Amityville Horror
Even though this film is not as terrifying as The Exorcist or as violent as The Omen, The Amityville Horror definitely deserves a mention. The movie is said to be based on a true story of a couple that moves into a haunted house.
The Amityville Horror

7. Alien
A suspicious SOS is received after which a mining ship visits a planet, unaware of the terror that is awaiting them. An alien soon attaches itself to a member of the crew and the team tries to separate the human from the alien. What they don’t know is that they have unleashed a series of events which will slowly terrorize them till the very end.
Alien Anthology [Blu-ray]

8. The Sixth Sense
Bruce Willis plays the character of a child psychologist, Malcolm Crowe. The movie begins with him getting awarded for his work in the field after which he returns to his apartment to find an ex-patient who is very dissatisfied with him. Crowe then starts seeing Cole who claims to see dead people. The two then go on a quest to find the truth behind his words.
The Sixth Sense (Collector's Edition Series)

9. The Blair Witch Project
This movie tells the story of three friends who decide to make a documentary on a local legend that goes by the name of the Blair Witch. The three then go on a hike through a forest and have said to never come back. A year later the footage was found.
The Blair Witch Project

  

10. The Changeling
John Russell rents out an old house after his daughter and wife die in a car accident.  The house is gigantic and is perfect for him- or so he thinks. It is soon revealed that a child who was murdered in the house lives with him and starts to use him for the purpose of uncovering the secrets that surround her death.
John Russell rents out an old house after his daughter and wife die in a car accident.  The house is gigantic and is perfect for him- or so he thinks. It is soon revealed that a child who was murdered in the house lives with him and starts to use him for the purpose of uncovering the secrets that surround her death.
The Changeling

Top 10 Android Applications

10. Layar

In some ways, this is a vote for the potential of Layar as much as the practical application. Walking around with your phone and seeing Wikipedia subjects, apartments for sale, and what Twitter users have raved about through your phone is a pretty neat thing, and potentially helpful when you're looking for things to do in a new city. But as Layar continues to add new layers, and as camera and mobile processing power continue to improve, Layar could become a lot more interesting than it already is. One thing worth mentioning is that if you don't like the 3-D camera view, or like the looks of yourself while using it, Layar can just show you points of interest on a Google-type map. Either way you use it, it's an intriguing look at what's happening just around the corner. 

9. Listen

Until the latest upgrade, we couldn't have really called Listen a king among podcast apps—it had a few irksome bugs, one of them being the loss of episodes and, sometimes, subscriptions. Now, however, Google's own app does a great job not only of finding audio content, but it exports your subscriptions to be managed in Google Reader, ensuring a full feed backup and easier retrieval of past episodes you want to head back and hear. If you need more fine-grained podcast control, try ACast, but Listen will work for most. 

8. AnyCut

You can drop a lot of neat things on your Android home screen, but you can't quite get one-click access to everything in your phone's settings and extras. AnyCut doesn't have a great interface, and it might take some trial and error before you get to exactly what you're looking for. Soon enough, though, you'll have access to the deepest guts of your settings, so switching 3G on and off, enabling location services, and other tricks are easy to pull off.

7. Secrets

There's no browser syncing on the Android—yet (c'mon, Mozilla, get on that Firefox Mobile!). In the meantime, there's Secrets, a secure, KeePass-compatible, master-password-locked vault for all your passwords. It's not that hard to export your passwords from your desktop or laptop onto your SD card, and with full-text search finally implemented, Secrets is a lot more convenient for those oh-shoot-what's-that-username-again moments. 

6. TasKiller Free

The downside to Android's multi-tasking is that sometimes, some apps can become unexpectedly become memory or bandwidth hogs, or bring your phone down with them when they crash. Few apps provide a direct, easy "Quit" option, though, and sometimes you can't get to the app to close it. Enter TasKiller, a free app-killing utility that works from its standard icon, or as one of a number of widgets you can add to your home screen for one-click system rescuing. The free version serves up ads and lacks a few advanced features, but generally serves the needs of anyone who's sick of needing to actually reset their phone just to clear up space for, you know, phone calls and such. Note: This app should be used as more of a last resort than regular maintenance tool—killing processes and apps willy-nilly can turn off alarms, kill background syncing, and have other unintended consequences.

5. SlideScreen

You use your Android smartphone differently than your desktop computer. You don't work with files and shortcuts, so much as you check in on the streams of data you care about—email, text messages, Facebook and Twitter, chat, and the like. SlideScreen replaces, or just augments, if you'd like, your phone's home screen, creating row after row of messages and feeds. Slide the center info bar up and down to look at more or less of your items, swipe to the right to dismiss items as read, and revel in having all your data on hand at once. SlideScreen also replaces the standard application tray, giving you 8 slots to put your most frequently accessed apps, and tucking all the others into a rolling deck below. It's a total makeover for your phone, in other words—one that might just make you fall in love all over again with the concept of mobile data. 

4. Shopper

Okay, at first we were pretty skeptical of Google's Shopper app, since it seemed like just a mashup of Google's own Goggles and barcode-smart apps likes ShopSavvy. Then we actually used Shopper, and were amazed at both how accurately it picked up both barcodes and simple cover shots, and at how very fast it worked. Turns out, according to one developer who appeared on This Week in Google, Shopper is actually uploading image data to Google's servers as it captures it, and decodes barcodes right on the phone. Speed for speed's sake is nice, sure, but it's pretty nice not to have to stand in front of a book display for a whole two minutes, waving your phone around a bunch of books you're trying to competitively price. Shopper answers the "Can I buy this cheaper" question, and answers it quickly.

3. PDANet

PDANet is the easiest way to use your phone's cellular net connection as a makeshift internet access point, for those hard-up situations when you just need to get online somehow, anyhow. The free version always offers basic internet access, but restricts secure site connections after a trial period. The paid version isn't cheap ($30), but it is the easiest of the three ways we know how to tether an Android phone. For the cost of nothing, we'll take some basic web site browsing—because, hey, can't you get to Gmail on your phone if you really need it? (Original post)

2. WaveSecure

This one's only free until March 31, so be sure to jump on it if you think there's even a remote chance you'll want some killer security tools available to you. WaveSecure not only backs up your contacts, SMS messages, photos and videos, and other files to the developer's cloud for later restoring if your phone gets lost, but can lock down a phone when you're stashing it for a while, locate a phone with GPS or text message triangulation (seriously), and, as a final option, pull off a total and complete remote wipe if you fear all is lost. Powerful peace of mind, especially for the price. 

1. ASTRO File Manager

This is one of those apps you hope gets some attention, if only to be bought by Google or otherwise integrated into the basic phone software. ASTRO File Manager does a great job of letting you navigate files on your SD card and accessible internal memory, sure, but it also has its own built-in task killer, backs up applications, can send files as email attachments (not all that easy or intuitive from the mail client, for some reason), and much more. It's the Leatherman of Android utilities, and a must-have on any serious geek's phone.