A world without Google would almost be akin to a world without water or air. Indeed, the internet behemoth’s power is so great that it’s even become its own verb. And sure, there are other search engines, but when have you ever heard someone say: “Let me just Bing that”? Yet, it turns out the iconic tech company could have had a very different fate had it stuck to its original name. That’s right, Google hasn’t always been Google. And at its inception back in 1996, it had a somewhat more risqué title. It was called… BackRub. Yep, BackRub. According to Standford University computer scientist David Koller, who wrote about the brand’s genesis back in 2004, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin came up with the search engine's first name as a nod to its analysis of the web’s “back links”. However, a year after BackRub was born, Page and his officemates – including fellow graduate students Sean Anderson, Tamara Munzner, and Lucas Pereira – discussed a number of possible alternatives to the massage-evoking moniker. According to Koller, the final, fateful brainstorming session occurred one day in September of that year. “Sean and Larry were in their office, using the whiteboard, trying to think up a good name - something that related to the indexing of an immense amount of data,” he recalled. “Sean verbally suggested the word ‘googolplex,’, and Larry responded verbally with the shortened form, ‘googol’ (both words refer to specific large numbers). “ Anderson then searched the Internet domain name registry database to see if the newly suggested name was still available to use. But, since “Sean is not an infallible speller”, “he made the mistake of searching for the name spelt as ‘google.com,’ which he found to be available,” Koller continued. “Larry liked the name, and within hours he took the step of registering the name ‘google.com’ for himself and Sergey.” And the rest, as they say, is history. Sill, 25 years on from that simple domain name registration that would go on to change the world, people have shared their bewilderment that “BackRub” could have become a household name. “I could die without knowing that this was Google's old name,” one X/Twitter user commented. “What were they smoking back in 90s??” asked another. Meanwhile, a third responded with what we’re all now thinking: “Tbh I need a backrub.” At least the tech titans can now give themselves a pat on the back for a job well done with “Google”. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

To unlock the Accelerator Takeover Perk in NBA 2K24, players must unlock all nine other Takeover Perks in the game by completing specific on-court objectives.

Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 31, 2023--

Months after the spectacular launch of ChatGPT, the AI revolution is well underway but hints of caution are emerging, especially over letting one...

Batteries in older Nissan Leaf electric vehicles are getting a new life as portable power sources that can be used to run gadgets on the go or deliver emergency power in disasters

The US International Development Finance Corp. pledged up to $500 million to help increase Poland’s natural gas imports

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 13, 2023--

A terrifying video has shown just how little time world leaders have to act in the event that nuclear weapons are launched. In the video, shared by the educational channel Kurzgesagt, a potential scenario of a country launching nuclear weapons is set up, with a commander talking the viewer, from the point of view of a world leader, through what is going on. The commander explained that an enemy had released nuclear weapons primarily targeting military bases and nuclear command centres. Secondary targets include oil refineries, power stations and ports. The commander grimly explained: “Deaths from the blast and burns may be a few million today. It’s morning rush hour and there’s not much to be done for people stuck in traffic.” Radiation effects from the blast, the commander explained, would be dependent on the weather and direction of the wind. Those in populated urban areas would be less able to flee and there would be “dozens of millions of deaths” in just a few weeks. It is explained that the 400 nuclear weapons in silos need to be launched “now” before they are taken out by the enemy warheads. Nuclear-capable bomber planes need to take off within two minutes to stand any chance of getting out of the blast. The horrifying intensity of the nuclear war continues as the commander explains that there is nothing that can be done for civilians and that if the order is not given immediately, the war could be over before they even have a chance to retaliate. Thankfully, the scenario was only fake, but the video ended by explaining that the world has been very close to a similar situation unfolding several times due to mistakes or errors – and that it only takes one person to give the order. In 1955, a Russian radar detected what it thought was a missile launch from a submarine, causing its military to be on high alert. But, it turned out it was actually a scientific rocket studying the auroras. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been very loud about the need for AI regulation during

Virtual reality could help footballers improve their heading without the repetitive head impacts from a ball, a new study indicates. Players involved in a study at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Sport and its Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences demonstrated greater performance in ‘real world’ heading after training with a VR headset compared to a control group who did no training. The VR group also reported greater self-confidence and efficacy in their heading compared to the control group, the study found. Our findings show that virtual reality (VR) based training can be used to improve real-world heading performance. Dr Ben Marshall, Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport The study, titled: ‘A preliminary investigation into the efficacy of training soccer heading in immersive virtual reality’, has been published in the journal Virtual Reality on Tuesday. It provides some insights into how players may be able to improve heading technique amid restrictions on training. Football Association guidelines advise against any heading training in under-12s, while a trial is ongoing in the current season and next season to eliminate deliberate heading completely from matches up to and including that age group. At ages 12 and 13, heading should be limited to a single session of no more than five headers, and no more than 10 headers per session for children aged 14 to 17, according to FA guidance. Even in adult football at all levels, players are advised to perform only 10 ‘higher force headers’ per training week, such as headers from crosses, corners, free-kicks and returning of goal kicks. The exposure to heading has been limited because of concerns over the sub-concussive impact of repetitive heading on a player’s longer-term wellbeing. The 2019 FIELD Study found professional footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the general population. “With increasing restrictions of heading exposure to professional and youth soccer, it is evident that alternative methods for training heading confidence and technique will be required while it remains an integral part of the game,” the VR paper concluded. “The work presented here provides some initial evidence suggesting that immersive VR may have a place in any new approach to training this important skill.” A group of 36 adult recreational-level players, made up of 30 men and six women, participated in the study in total. The 36 were split into two groups of 18, with 16 men and two women in the control group who did not use the VR headsets between ‘real world’ heading sessions, and 14 men and four women in the VR group. The VR group used the Oculus Quest 2 head-mounted display, with the Rezzil Player 22 application used to provide the VR football heading training. Dr Ben Marshall, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport, said: “Our findings show that virtual reality (VR) based training can be used to improve real-world heading performance and that this method is more effective than not training the skill at all. “This is important as current training guidelines recommend limiting the number of physical headers performed in training for all age groups due to the associated long-term risks to player health. “Our findings suggest the inclusion of VR-based training could play an important role in developing football heading skills whilst reducing the number of real-world headers and sub-concussive head impacts that players need to be exposed to – which is really positive.”

Tesla vehicles appear to have a secret hands-free driving feature named “Elon Mode”, an anonymous hacker has revealed. The hacker, who goes by the handle @greentheonly on Twitter, is known for assessing the electric vehicle manufacturer’s software code and uncovering features before their official rollout. In the latest reveal, the hacker unveiled the hidden “Elon Mode” feature which doesn’t require any attention from the driver while using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. Tesla’s FSD is the EV maker’s advanced driver-assist system that is in beta testing, but is available for those who pay as much as $15,000 or $199 per month for the option. FSD Beta is a work in progress for the EV company and gives drivers an “autosteer on city streets”. Tesla recently recalled a number of vehicles for a free over-the-air software update of its experimental FSD Beta package amid fears of crashes. In February, a recall notice posted by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noted that the FSD Beta system may cause the vehicles to crash. The notice said this could happen by allowing the vehicles to “act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution”. More recently, a leaked internal report indicated last month that the FSD had thousands of user complaints of sudden braking and abrupt acceleration. On Saturday, the hacker posted a video on Twitter testing out the secret self-driving feature after finding and enabling it. Tesla’s Autopilot system is known to require drivers to nudge the steering wheel to confirm they are paying attention to the road. It also constantly assesses the feed of the vehicle’s interior camera above the rearview mirror to observe drivers and make sure they’re looking at the road, leading to some users calling the system’s checks “nagging”. But @greentheonly found from their “nearly 600 miles” test of Elon Mode on a company-owned vehicle that they “did not need to watch for the dreaded nag”. The hacker noted that the AI system drove slow on the highway and also seemed to randomly change lanes. “This also explains the barrage of people that claim the car works very good and they are happy – perhaps they like to drive slow, content with random lane changes and such,” the hacker tweeted. It remains unclear if “Elon Mode” will come to regular users of the EV, with Mr Musk hinting last December that nag-free driving was coming. Tesla did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment. Read More From Elon Musk to Neil deGrasse Tyson: The business and thought leaders set to meet Modi on US visit Elon Musk and Joe Rogan challenge Covid vaccine scientist to ‘debate’ anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr Elon Musk’s sister claims she’s been overcharged because she shares last name with Tesla billionaire Over 100,000 ChatGPT accounts compromised over last year, report says Facebook Marketplace is most complained-about online retail platforms Scientists create tiny robot that works like an animal and swims around your body