Casey Newton

So PJ, when the internet was young and exciting, it was just a series of webpages, famously delivered over a series of tubes. And these webpages were so vast in their number that to find them, we needed a box we could type into. And there were many boxes with names like Excite and Hotbot and Infoseek.

So PJ, when the internet was young and exciting, it was just a series of webpages, famously delivered over a series of tubes. And these webpages were so vast in their number that to find them, we needed a box we could type into. And there were many boxes with names like Excite and Hotbot and Infoseek.

But one day, a couple of Stanford grad students come along with this thing that is better at searching these webpages than anything we've seen before, and it's called Google. And basically from the minute anyone sees it, people are saying, this is the one. They've come up with some really clever stuff that helped them find webpages better than anything else.

But one day, a couple of Stanford grad students come along with this thing that is better at searching these webpages than anything we've seen before, and it's called Google. And basically from the minute anyone sees it, people are saying, this is the one. They've come up with some really clever stuff that helped them find webpages better than anything else.

But one day, a couple of Stanford grad students come along with this thing that is better at searching these webpages than anything we've seen before, and it's called Google. And basically from the minute anyone sees it, people are saying, this is the one. They've come up with some really clever stuff that helped them find webpages better than anything else.

And the story of the next 25 years is Google gradually wrapping its arms around the web until it essentially became synonymous with it.

And the story of the next 25 years is Google gradually wrapping its arms around the web until it essentially became synonymous with it.

And the story of the next 25 years is Google gradually wrapping its arms around the web until it essentially became synonymous with it.

They did a bunch of things, but the most famous is something called PageRank. PageRank, named after one of the co-founders of Google, Larry Page. And the idea was really simple. It was just that as they created this index of all of the web pages, they would look to see which web pages were linking to other web pages.

They did a bunch of things, but the most famous is something called PageRank. PageRank, named after one of the co-founders of Google, Larry Page. And the idea was really simple. It was just that as they created this index of all of the web pages, they would look to see which web pages were linking to other web pages.

They did a bunch of things, but the most famous is something called PageRank. PageRank, named after one of the co-founders of Google, Larry Page. And the idea was really simple. It was just that as they created this index of all of the web pages, they would look to see which web pages were linking to other web pages.

And if a bunch of webpages link to that webpage, that was a really strong signal that it was valuable. So if as they're crawling, they see 100 different webpages linking to the New York Times, that's going to rise up in search results as people search for the New York Times. And in fact, it is the website of the New York Times. And so everybody sort of gets what they want.

And if a bunch of webpages link to that webpage, that was a really strong signal that it was valuable. So if as they're crawling, they see 100 different webpages linking to the New York Times, that's going to rise up in search results as people search for the New York Times. And in fact, it is the website of the New York Times. And so everybody sort of gets what they want.

And if a bunch of webpages link to that webpage, that was a really strong signal that it was valuable. So if as they're crawling, they see 100 different webpages linking to the New York Times, that's going to rise up in search results as people search for the New York Times. And in fact, it is the website of the New York Times. And so everybody sort of gets what they want.

So that was a really good and useful thing. And it enabled them to become the default search engine for most of us. And after that, it turned into basically the greatest advertising business that anyone's ever seen. And why did it turn into the greatest advertising business that anyone's ever seen? Because it turns out that what search engines do is they capture intent and desire.

So that was a really good and useful thing. And it enabled them to become the default search engine for most of us. And after that, it turned into basically the greatest advertising business that anyone's ever seen. And why did it turn into the greatest advertising business that anyone's ever seen? Because it turns out that what search engines do is they capture intent and desire.

So that was a really good and useful thing. And it enabled them to become the default search engine for most of us. And after that, it turned into basically the greatest advertising business that anyone's ever seen. And why did it turn into the greatest advertising business that anyone's ever seen? Because it turns out that what search engines do is they capture intent and desire.

If you are typing in new car, you might be in the market for a new car. If you're typing in shoes, you might be in the market for new shoes. And so really quite easily, Google could just go out to people who wanted to advertise to people who were in the market for various products and services.

If you are typing in new car, you might be in the market for a new car. If you're typing in shoes, you might be in the market for new shoes. And so really quite easily, Google could just go out to people who wanted to advertise to people who were in the market for various products and services.

If you are typing in new car, you might be in the market for a new car. If you're typing in shoes, you might be in the market for new shoes. And so really quite easily, Google could just go out to people who wanted to advertise to people who were in the market for various products and services.