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Things I Didn't Know About Google (also: the worst VC decision ever)

79 points by jaltucher 16y ago

paul 16y ago
False history. The Applied Semantics software was not needed to "generate 99% of its revenues at IPO time". They owned the trademark "AdSense", but the actual software used by Google was written by Google. Also, the product known as AdSense (at that time) was just for content targetted ads, not the search ads which produce most of the profits, so his bit of trivia is actually double wrong.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- staunch 16y ago
  Any idea if PageRank was named after Larry rather than Web Pages?
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    Rumor has it that's true, unless Google itself is lying: http://www.google.com/press/funfacts.html http://www.google.com/press/funfacts.html
    - barrkel 16y ago
      I'm fairly sure the name is a deliberate pun.
      - staunch 16y ago
        I guess Larry Page was inclined to create something with web pages the way people like Dennis are inclined to become dentists :-)
        staunch 16y ago
        s/like Dennis/named Dennis/
- zeroplus1 16y ago
  This is from an article about the Google press release when they bought A.S.: " Google said that Applied Semantics' products and engineering team will strengthen Google's search and advertising programs, including its "fast-growing content-targeted advertising offering"" . At the time, Applied Semantics had a license deal with Overture, which was also doing content-targeted advertising and AS software was used to enable it." My guess is whatever Google had in place was significantly enhanced by the A.S. software.
  - paul 16y ago
    Your guess is wrong.
dools 16y ago
"it was about how the jews control Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc. The funny thing about this particular site is that it had Google Ads all over it." I actually thought about this the other day in the context of how important Facebook was during revolutionary activity in Arab nations and the action Facebook took to protect people's passwords and privacy during the civil unrest in Tunisia. My first thought was that maybe that would take the wind out of the sails of the "Jewish Zionist World Conspiracy" types. Then I realised that those types probably don't read. Or think. C'est la vie.
- HelloBeautiful 16y ago
  You realized? Obviously you don't need to check your realizations with the facts. If you did check a conspiracy forum or subreddit, you would've 'realized' most ppl think these protests are orginized by the zionists/CIA.
- nir 16y ago
  Conspiracies are simply a replacement for religion. Just as religious people see God's will in any event, conspiracy theorists on Reddit see CIA/Mossad/etc behind everything. By definition, you can't disprove them.
DTrejo 16y ago
Please rename to "Unusual Things I Didn't Know About Google (also: the worst VC decision ever)". http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: I appreciate that you are participating more on HN. Edit2: To those who are downvoting: can I ask why?
diego 16y ago
That's like saying that not buying the winning lottery ticket was a bad decision. You did the best with the information you had at the time. Drinking and driving is a bad decision. Putting all your eggs in one basket is a bad decision. Passing on a given investment opportunity is just everyday business for a VC.
- metageek 16y ago
  But making investment decisions while playing Defender is harder to justify.
  - jaltucher 16y ago
    Although I will add that Defender was the all-time best game. Angry Birds vs Defender? I'll take Defender any day.
btilly 16y ago
Interesting trivia. One of the inspirations for Page Rank was undoubtably the Science Citation Index. Which was ultimately inspired by a 1945 article called As We May Think by Vanevar Bush. HTML is inspired by the idea of hypertext, which was inspired by the idea of a memex machine, which was invented in a 1945 article called As We May Think by Vanevar Bush. Yes, the same article. In other words Google lives in the intersection of two ideas whose history both trace back to the same essay. An essay written before most of us were alive. With that in mind it is interesting to read http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/3881/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-ma... to see how it lead in both directions.
- corporeal 16y ago
  Thanks for this. It's really interesting to find the source of ideas
  - btilly 16y ago
    You're welcome. I learned this tidbit from an essay called In Oldenberg's Long Shadow. It has disappeared from its original location, but http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20040204224231/http://www.arl.org/arl/proceedings/138/guedon.html http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20040204224231/http://www.a... still has it.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
RockyMcNuts 16y ago
I didn't downvote, but the value of HN is that it usually doesn't have this type of self-promotional claptrap or borderline content farm BS. Maybe users should be able to block certain domains/contributors.

79 points by jaltucher 16y ago

paul 16y ago

False history. The Applied Semantics software was not needed to "generate 99% of its revenues at IPO time". They owned the trademark "AdSense", but the actual software used by Google was written by Google. Also, the product known as AdSense (at that time) was just for content targetted ads, not the search ads which produce most of the profits, so his bit of trivia is actually double wrong.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
staunch 16y ago
Any idea if PageRank was named after Larry rather than Web Pages?
- nostrademons 16y ago
  Rumor has it that's true, unless Google itself is lying: http://www.google.com/press/funfacts.html http://www.google.com/press/funfacts.html
  - barrkel 16y ago
    I'm fairly sure the name is a deliberate pun.
    - staunch 16y ago
      I guess Larry Page was inclined to create something with web pages the way people like Dennis are inclined to become dentists :-)
      - staunch 16y ago
        s/like Dennis/named Dennis/
zeroplus1 16y ago
This is from an article about the Google press release when they bought A.S.: " Google said that Applied Semantics' products and engineering team will strengthen Google's search and advertising programs, including its "fast-growing content-targeted advertising offering"" . At the time, Applied Semantics had a license deal with Overture, which was also doing content-targeted advertising and AS software was used to enable it." My guess is whatever Google had in place was significantly enhanced by the A.S. software.
- paul 16y ago
  Your guess is wrong.

dools 16y ago

"it was about how the jews control Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc. The funny thing about this particular site is that it had Google Ads all over it." I actually thought about this the other day in the context of how important Facebook was during revolutionary activity in Arab nations and the action Facebook took to protect people's passwords and privacy during the civil unrest in Tunisia. My first thought was that maybe that would take the wind out of the sails of the "Jewish Zionist World Conspiracy" types. Then I realised that those types probably don't read. Or think. C'est la vie.

HelloBeautiful 16y ago
You realized? Obviously you don't need to check your realizations with the facts. If you did check a conspiracy forum or subreddit, you would've 'realized' most ppl think these protests are orginized by the zionists/CIA.
nir 16y ago
Conspiracies are simply a replacement for religion. Just as religious people see God's will in any event, conspiracy theorists on Reddit see CIA/Mossad/etc behind everything. By definition, you can't disprove them.

DTrejo 16y ago

Please rename to "Unusual Things I Didn't Know About Google (also: the worst VC decision ever)". http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: I appreciate that you are participating more on HN. Edit2: To those who are downvoting: can I ask why?

diego 16y ago

That's like saying that not buying the winning lottery ticket was a bad decision. You did the best with the information you had at the time. Drinking and driving is a bad decision. Putting all your eggs in one basket is a bad decision. Passing on a given investment opportunity is just everyday business for a VC.

metageek 16y ago
But making investment decisions while playing Defender is harder to justify.
- jaltucher 16y ago
  Although I will add that Defender was the all-time best game. Angry Birds vs Defender? I'll take Defender any day.

btilly 16y ago

Interesting trivia. One of the inspirations for Page Rank was undoubtably the Science Citation Index. Which was ultimately inspired by a 1945 article called As We May Think by Vanevar Bush. HTML is inspired by the idea of hypertext, which was inspired by the idea of a memex machine, which was invented in a 1945 article called As We May Think by Vanevar Bush. Yes, the same article. In other words Google lives in the intersection of two ideas whose history both trace back to the same essay. An essay written before most of us were alive. With that in mind it is interesting to read http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/3881/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-ma... to see how it lead in both directions.

corporeal 16y ago
Thanks for this. It's really interesting to find the source of ideas
- btilly 16y ago
  You're welcome. I learned this tidbit from an essay called In Oldenberg's Long Shadow. It has disappeared from its original location, but http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20040204224231/http://www.arl.org/arl/proceedings/138/guedon.html http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20040204224231/http://www.a... still has it.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

RockyMcNuts 16y ago

I didn't downvote, but the value of HN is that it usually doesn't have this type of self-promotional claptrap or borderline content farm BS. Maybe users should be able to block certain domains/contributors.