J-Lo’s been responsible for a lot of things: raising the profile of New York’s 6 subway line, introducing the world to Marc Anthony and defying ageing by continuing to be as beautiful as ever. Now we have to credit the actress-singer-dancer with helping in the creation of Google Images. Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, told Project Syndicate that it was people’s desire to see a photo of her headline-grabbing, palm-fronded, slashed Versace dress from the 2000 Grammys that meant the developers at Google needed to create a better way of image-hunting.
Schmidt explained, “People wanted more than just text. This first became apparent after the 2000 Grammy Awards, where Jennifer Lopez wore a green dress that, well, caught the world’s attention. At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen. But we had no sure-fire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: JLo wearing that dress. Google Image Search was born.”
So next time you’re image searching, put your hands up in praise of J-Lo and Donatella.