A search engine so popular it even got its name into the dictionary.

Ten years ago Google was just like any other internet start-up fad, beginning with two uber smart college students out of a prestigious university.

Now it is one of the world’s most recognizable brands worth around $150 billion. The 10th anniversary of Google was celebrated on Sunday, Sept. 7, and has people wondering what the company will come up with next.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin created Google as a research project at Stanford University. They initially developed the search engine to pick up content that Yahoo! and Excite were passing over. It’s hard to believe where Google is today.

Google is even dominating the market in the mobile phone industry. The number of people using mobile devices to search for information is steadily rising. In June 2008 20.8 million US mobile subscribers accessed the search option on their phones.

Google is the ultimate source of unanswered questions. As college students it is a vital lifeline for us in crunch time. Procrastinated for too long and are in desperate need of research for a paper? Google it. Need the lyrics to a song? Google it. It’s amazing how that search engine has wormed its way into our vocabulary.

It’s also easy to navigate. Simply type your topic in the box and browse through pages of information. Something I’ve found handy about this site is the options to narrow your search into images, scholarly articles, news stories, and maps. When it comes to those late night, last minute searches for paper sources and articles, searching Google’s Scholar is key.

Another aspect of Google is their free email system, Gmail. Along with email you can also personalize Google as your homepage, including the weather in your area, news that relates to you, and add fun themes to make it your own.

Google also offers a free software download called Picasa, with which you can organize, edit and share your photos. This is a fun way to add effects to photos like you see people do with Photoshop, but sold at a college student price, free.

After just ten years of being active, it’s amazing to see how two college student’s dorm room project has changed the way the world finds information. However few and far between these college student success stories are, it is a good reminder for you young entrepreneurs that your idea could revolutionize the way the world exists.