World

Google turns 25: A look at the world’s top performing searches

Published

1 year ago

September 4, 2023

Press Room

Google turns 25: A look at the world’s top performing searches

Al Jazeera visualises the most popular global search terms as the world’s top search engine turns 25.

Google turns 25 on Monday.

The world’s most popular search engine started as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both doctoral students at Stanford University in the late 1990s.

Working from their dorm rooms, the two developed a new algorithm for search engines that ranked websites based on the number of other websites that linked to them, which they called PageRank. This algorithm proved to be much more effective than the existing algorithms, and Google quickly became the most popular search engine on the web.

As of last month, Google had a global market share of about 92 percent. Its nearest competitor, Bing, held about 3 percent market share, followed by Yahoo at just over 1 percent.

(Al Jazeera)

Google’s name is derived from the mathematical term “googol”, which refers to the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. The choice of this name reflects the founders’ intention to organise large amounts of information.

Through the years, the Google Search engine has become an integral part of our daily lives, shaping the way we search, communicate and interact with information online.

In 2006, the Oxford Dictionary added the word “google” as a verb to refer to searching for information on the internet, regardless of the search engine used.

That same year, Google launched Google Trends, an online platform that provides a window into the trillions of searches the world googles each year. At the end of each year, Google releases its “Year in Search”, which summarises the biggest events, personalities and trends that captured the world’s attention that year.

Al Jazeera compiled all these reports and visualised the top five global search terms from 2003 to 2022.

INTERACTIVE - Google trends G01-1693817820

What were the most searched categories?

To get a better picture of which categories these 100 search terms fit into, we grouped them into six categories:

Person, celebrity, politician (38 appearances)
Technology products (27 appearances)
Sports event (15 appearances)
Disaster, accident (eight appearances)
Movie, TV show, song (seven appearances)
Other (five appearances)

INTERACTIVE google topics-1693817878 — (Al Jazeera)

The most popular searched category was that of people, celebrities or politicians with 38 percent of all appearances. Among these results were Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Nelson Mandela, Donald Trump and Queen Elizabeth II.

Technology products appeared second most with 27 appearances. These include Myspace, Facebook, Apple’s iPhone, Pokemon Go and Zoom.

Next up were sporting events with 15 appearances, including several FIFA World Cups, the NBA and more than a handful of big cricket matches.

With eight appearances were natural disasters and accidents, including Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 tsunami, Ebola, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and COVID-19.

Movies, TV shows and songs had seven results, including Harry Potter, The Matrix, American Idol, Gangnam Style and Black Panther.

Other top searches include the Ice Bucket Challenge, Paris, election results, Wordle and Ukraine.

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World

Italian state railways plans 1.3 bln euro investment in solar plant

Published

3 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Italian state railways plans 1.3 bln euro investment in solar plant

Italian state railways Ferrovie dello Stato plans to invest 1.3 billion euros ($1.36 billion) in a photovoltaic plant with an initial 1 gigawatt (GW) capacity that would cover 19% of its energy needs by 2029, the CEO said in a newspaper interview.

World

Christmas in Puerto Rico is a 45-day celebration with caroling, festive decorations, family feasts and more

Published

4 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Christmas in Puerto Rico is a 45-day celebration with caroling, festive decorations, family feasts and more

Christmas, Navidad in Puerto Rico, extends far beyond Dec. 25.

The island proudly proclaims itself as having the “longest holiday season in the world,” according to the website Discover Puerto Rico.

On average, the holiday festivities in Puerto Rico last about 45 days, per the source, commencing right after Thanksgiving, and stretching all the way through mid-January.

The Christmas season in Puerto Rico typically lasts around 45 days. (iStock)

HOW TO SAY ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ IN 10 LANGUAGES TO FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD

The holiday season in Puerto Rico is full of rich traditions beloved by families.

One tradition those who visit Puerto Rico will immediately notice during the holiday season is decorations.

In Puerto Rico, decorations are typically put up by Thanksgiving, and kept up until the season concludes in mid-January, with opportune picture moments at every corner.

Parrandas, Christmas caroling, is a holiday staple.

17 SECRET TRAVEL TIPS FOR FALL AND WINTER THAT AREN’T SO SECRET AFTER ALL

Carolers choose houses of family and friends to visit, typically starting around 10 p.m., performing aguinaldos (traditional Christmas songs), with not only their voices, but often with instruments as well, according to Discover Puerto Rico.

The group you begin caroling with is likely not the same group you end with.

In Puerto Rico, when carolers visit a house, they’ll often stop inside for conversation, food and drink before moving to the next residence.

Coquito is a popular beverage enjoyed during the holiday season in Puerto Rico. Coconut, vanilla and rum are among the ingredients. (Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Usually, the residences of the house visited will join the group for the next house, according to Discover Puerto Rico.

CHRISTMAS TREES IN GERMANY WERE DECORATED WITH APPLES INSTEAD OF ORNAMENTS IN THE 1600S FOR ‘ADAM AND EVE DAY’

A night of serenading loved ones can last quite a while, often stretching into the early morning hours of the following day, according to the source.

The biggest day of the holiday season in Puerto Rico actually isn’t Christmas, but instead, the night before.

In Puerto Rico, Dec. 24 is Nochebuena. On that day, loved ones gather for the exchange of gifts, caroling and a large feast.

Many families will also attend a midnight Mass on the day, known as Misa de Gallo.

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS REVEAL THE SURPRISING DAY TO TRAVEL AHEAD OF THE CHRISTMAS RUSH

After Christmas passes, the festivities go on in Puerto Rico.

Another big event in the holiday lineup is Three Kings Day on Jan. 6, a holiday that “commemorates the visit that the Three Wise Men paid to Jesus after his birth,” according to Discover Puerto Rico.

On the eve of the day, children fill up a shoebox with grass to be left for camels to munch on while the Three Kings leave behind gifts for them, according to PuertoRico.com.

For a particularly festive Three Kings Day, Juana Díaz is the place to go, as it hosts the largest celebration in Puerto Rico for the holiday. In Juana Díaz, there is an annual festival and parade in honor of Three Kings Day that brings together over 25,000 people every year, according to Discover Puerto Rico.

Gifts are primarily exchanged between loved ones on Christmas Eve in Puerto Rico. (iStock)

Then, eight days later is Octavitas, a post-holiday celebration where families get together and celebrate one last time for the season.

The end of the holiday season is marked with the San Sebastián Street Festival.

This festival, spanning over multiple days, takes place in Old San Juan, and is filled with live music, dancing, shopping and parades.

Ashlyn Messier is a writer for Fox News Digital.

World

Small plane crashes into Brazil town popular with tourists, killing 10

Published

5 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Small plane crashes into Brazil town popular with tourists, killing 10

Twin-engine plane crashed in largely residential neighborhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff, authorities say.

A small plane has crashed into a tourist hotspot in southern Brazil, killing all 10 people on board and injuring more than a dozen people on the ground, officials have said.

The twin-engine Piper PA-42-1000 hit the chimney of a home and the second floor of a different house before crashing into a shop in a largely residential neighbourhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff from Canela, Brazil’s Civil Defense agency said on Sunday.

Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite told a news conference that the aircraft’s owner and pilot, Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, was killed along with nine members of his family.

Leite said that 17 people on the ground were injured, 12 of whom were still receiving treatment in hospital.

Galeazzi’s company, Galeazzi & Associados, confirmed that its CEO and Galeazzi’s wife and three daughters had died in the crash.

“Luiz Galeazzi will be forever remembered for his dedication to his family and for his remarkable career as a leader of Galeazzi & Associados,” the company said in a post on LinkedIn.

“In this moment of immense pain, Galeazzi & Associados is deeply grateful for the expressions of solidarity and affection received from friends, colleagues and the community. We also sympathize with all those affected by the accident in the region.”

Gramado, located in the Serra Gaucha mountains, is a popular destination for vacationers, especially during the Christmas season.

The crash comes a little more than a year after Brazil suffered its worst air disaster in nearly two decades when a twin-engine plane crashed in the southeastern city of Vinhedo, killing all 62 people on board.