Skip to main content

Google celebrates 20 years with a slew of Easter eggs and new Google Images

Google is turning 20. The company may lead the way in mobile technology and self-driving cars these days, but 20 years ago it started as a humble search engine that ultimately changed the internet forever. To celebrate its 20th birthday Google has announced a slew of Easter eggs that flash back to when the company first started — and they can be found in a few different Google products.

For starters, as you might expect, there’s a Google Doodle celebrating the 20th birthday of the company. The Doodle is playable and when you click on it, the video will show a number of popular searches from the past 20 years.

Recommended Videos

For those searching some arguably outdated terms, Google will also now help you flash forward to 2018. For example, if you search “MP3 file,” Google will ask if you meant “stream music.” If you search “chat room,” Google will ask if you meant “text the group.” And so on.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

There are Easter eggs beyond those in Google Search. For example, you can stroll through the original Google Garage in Street View, and check out where the now-massive company was started 20 years ago. As you walk through the side door of the garage, you’ll find things like an old CRT computer monitor showing the original Google beta website. Then, you can walk through the house, you’ll find things like ideas for the Google logo, a series of power cables snaking through the house, and more. It’s a good look into the history of the company. As Google describes, as the company grew, it grew into the bedrooms and the rest of the bottom floor of the house, and as you explore that area, you’ll find different items like a collapsible mini rainbow sphere, surf-frog terrarium, and so on.

Google isn’t just celebrating with Easter eggs, it’s also launching a redesigned Google Images desktop website, which includes a new ranking algorithm designed to help you find what you’re looking for more easily.

“Over the last year, we’ve overhauled the Google Images algorithm to rank results that have both great images and great content on the page. For starters, the authority of a web page is now a more important signal in the ranking. If you’re doing a search for DIY shelving, the site behind the image is now more likely to be a site related to DIY projects. We also prioritize fresher content, so you’re more likely to visit a site that has been updated recently,” Google said in a blog post.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
Google Photos is getting a cool new feature to speed up your photo edits
Google Photos' year in review feature for 2024.

Google Photos for Android is introducing a new feature that simplifies photo editing right before sharing. A tipster from Android Authority first reported this tool.

The new “Quick Edit” tool lets users easily enhance or crop individual photos before sharing them. It features an “Enhance” button, which functions similarly to the “Enhance” effect in the standard photo-editing options. A crop button is also similar to the one in the regular photo editor. When multiple photos are selected before hitting the share button, the typical share sheet appears instead of the new “Quick Edit” screen.

Read more
Android 16 adds a new way to use the Google Pixel 9’s fingerprint sensor
Pixel 9 Pro in Rose Quartz.

Biometric security — the ability to unlock your phone with your fingerprint or face — is an amazing feature, but you often have to turn on the phone's screen before you can use it. That's because many fingerprint sensors are optical and need light in order to work. Fortunately, Android 16 will make it so that you can open your Pixel 9 without turning your phone screen on at all (while also avoiding the groan that comes from searing your eyes.)

The feature was noted in the Android 16 Developer Preview 2, or DP2, by 9to5Google. The findings imply that this only applies to the Google Pixel 9 series because while it does appear in the Settings search on the Pixel 8 Pro, there's no option to enable it. This is likely due to the Pixel 9's ultrasonic fingerprint scanner; the improved hardware doesn't require light to use it.

Read more
I tried out Google’s latest AI tool that generates images in a fun, new way
Google's Whisk AI tool being used with images.

Google’s latest AI tool helps you automate image generation even further. The tool is called Whisk, and it's based on Google’s latest Imagen 3 image generation model. Rather than relying solely on text prompts, Whisk helps you create your desired images using other images as the base prompt.

Whisk is currently in an experimental phase, but once set up it's fairly easy to navigate. Google detailed in a blog post introducing Whisk that it is intended for “rapid visual exploration, not pixel-perfect edits.”

Read more