Let me Google that for you

I am confident that many of us would have said that at least once in the past week or used Google's mapping service, at least once a month.

When you really think about it, we have become accustomed to using Google's technology to organise a large portion of our lives -- electronic mails, calendar, contacts, maps, text translation and web browsing history.

While Google has became an indispensable part of our lives, I have a hunch that the “non-tech geeks” may not be aware; or rather hardly notice what Google is, beyond Search, Gmail, Android and YouTube.

I sometimes find myself enthused over opportunities to explain to friends that Google is more than just a search engine, a web-based email service, mobile operating system or video sharing website — Google is also a tech giant that has the ambition to achieve, so much more.

The entrepreneurial drive and vision the co-founders of Google share are admirable and to some extent some of their projects have raised concerns – mainly privacy related.

Having said that, Larry Page and Sergey Brin are one of the two visionaries that I admire who have the power and motivation to turn their ideas into reality.

The private innovation lab, Google X, which is dedicated to making major technological advancements is home to Google’s ‘moonshot projects’ -- self-driving cars, Google Glass (Internet-connected glasses), Project Loon (Balloon-powered Internet for rural and remote areas), Life Sciences (fighting aging and specific diseases), machine learning, among other ambitious projects.

An interview with Google co-founder, Larry Page that was published in the Wired magazine in January, 2013 explored Google’s pursuit of innovation and why the co-founders (Larry and Sergey) are making big bets in discovering the new frontier in science and technology.

“Larry Page lives by the gospel of 10x,” penned American journalist, Steven Levy in Google’s Larry Page on Why Moon Shots Matter. “Most companies would be happy to improve a product by 10 percent.

Not the CEO and Google co-founder.

The way Page sees it, a 10 percent improvement means that you’re basically doing the same thing as everybody else. You probably won’t fail spectacularly, but you are guaranteed not to succeed wildly,” he wrote.

In a more recent interview with the Financial Times (FT) that was published on October 31st 2014, Larry Page told the FT’s editor, Richard Waters that Google is exploring the uncharted territory. “We’re trying to figure it out. How do we use all these resources, and have a much more positive impact on the world?”

While there are no shortages of criticism to the direction Google is moving towards at a market cap of USD382.24 billion, the deep-pocketed tech giant is forging full speed ahead as they invite more like-minded scientists, researchers and engineers on board on a quest to build a better world.

Apart from the ‘moonshot projects’, in 2014 alone Google has made up to 20 acquisitions, including a USD3.2billion deal for Nest Labs, a company that reinvents home products including thermostat and smoke alarm.

Aside to acquisitions, Google has also announced a direct investment to Magic Leap, a company that is developing “cinematic reality” technology that will enable users to see virtual 3D objects in the physical world.

In ten to fifteen years, “let me Google that for you” may no longer meant accessing knowledge or information through the search engine; or to check when is the next flight to Beijing. The phrase will have a wider meaning and one of them would be “let me pull your medical data from Google”.