9 interesting facts about Google CEO Sundar Pichai

Originally from Tamil Nadu, India, Sundar Pichai studied at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, where he received a degree in Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech).

Today is the birth anniversary of Sundar Pichai, the CEO of tech giant Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc. The 48-years-old just recently addressed the class of 2020, which is graduating amidst a pandemic and told them to stay hopeful.Pichai also recalled his humble roots and highlighted the importance of staying positive in the face of difficulties.

Here are nine things you should know about the Indian-American executive 

Originally from Tamil Nadu, India, Pichai studied at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, where he received a degree in Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech).Pichai received MS degree from Stanford and obtained an MBA from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.Before his first job at Google, Sundar Pichai worked at Applied Materials as an engineer and then at McKinsey & Company.

In 2004, Pichai joined Google as the head of product management and development and initially worked on the Google Toolbar to enable easy access to Google search within the Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox Web browsers.Over the next few years, Pichai was directly involved in the development of Google’s own browser, Chrome, which was released to the public in 2008.

Within the same year, Pichai was named vice president of product development, and by 2012, he was a senior vice president, and two years later he was made product chief over both Google and the Android smartphone operating system.As per Britannica, Pichai was reportedly aggressively pursued for employment by microblogging service Twitter in 2011, and in 2014 he was touted as a possible CEO for Microsoft. However in both the instances he was granted large financial packages to remain with Google.

When Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced the creation of Alphabet Inc in August 2015, Sundar Pichai was named CEO of Google, which was reorganized as a subsidiary. In December 2019, Pichai was named CEO of Alphabet when Page stepped down, making him the chief executive officer of both Google and Alphabet.

8 Sustainable Lockdown Life-Lessons

1. WE’VE WOKEN UP TO FOOD WASTE

We throw away ⅓ of ALL the food we produce - that’s 1.3 billion tonnes every year. And around 815 million people worldwide are hungry (this figure does not include any knock-on effects from Covid-19). For those of us that usually take a full cupboard for granted, this could be the wake-up call we need to understand what it’s like for others and how we can do our bit in the future. Simply just buying what we need and what we know we will eat, as well as freezing food to make it last longer, could make a massive difference to food waste numbers, while donating to food banks both now and after the crisis will help those who struggle to put food on the table everyday.

2. WE’VE LEARNT TO LOVE LOCAL

While big supermarkets struggle to cope with demand, many local shops have stayed well-stocked and have been going above and beyond to adapt to help their communities. Understanding that our supply chains are complex, and often unnecessarily long geographically-speaking, could see us make more effort in the future to support our local producers, shops and businesses. Perhaps we will even take the time while we have it to grow our own fruit and vegetables.

3. WE’RE GETTING ON OUR BIKES

Because once this is all over, we will still remember what it was like when we were only allowed out once a day. Switching short trips in the car to a walk or a bike ride is great for your physical and mental well-being, pandemic or no pandemic.

4. WE’RE TAKING STOCK OF OUR TRAVEL HABITS

It’s not yet clear when we will be able to travel abroad as freely as we used to, so learning to embrace what your own country has to offer might be the way forward in the near future. And as things get back to normal, we might realise that we don’t need to take a long-haul flight and stay at an all-inclusive hotel to have a lovely vacation. Getting a train for hours will be positively exciting in comparison to three weeks indoors!

5. WE’RE APPRECIATING THE BIRDS AND THE BEES

For many of us, hearing birds singing in the joys of spring from our open windows and balconies has been the uplifting sound we’ve needed every day. Watching bees going about their pollination duties is a joy, and even city pigeons making nests on our windowsills has been a welcome distraction. You can continue to support your local wildlife by providing window boxes of flowers, feeding birds and setting up bug hotels. Remember to take the time to stop and watch them for a few minutes every day when things get back to normal.

6. WE SEE THE BENEFITS OF BUYING BETTER

Many of the items that have been panic-bought are products that when bought sustainably are never anything to panic about running out of. Buying eco-friendly toilet paper in bulk from companies like Greencane and Who Gives A Crap means you will always have a plentiful supply, using reusable sanitary products like a Mooncup or period pants ensures you have what you need every cycle, and subscribing to washing tablets from Smol will see it delivered through your letterbox, contact-free, at a frequency of your choosing.

7. WE’RE GETTING GOOD AT SEWING

With any luck, we won’t collectively go back to our fast fashion habits after the Covid-19 outbreak. And many people have been using self-isolation as an excuse to reach for a needle and thread to mend clothes that have been neglected at the back of the wardrobe. Some are even learning to make clothes themselves - try platforms like Tilly and the Buttons for patterns to keep you busy.

8. WE’RE ENGAGED AND ACTIVE

Lastly, we’ve seen how coming together the world over can affect real change, really quickly. When we have healed as a human population, we can turn our focus to the climate and our planet, with protests, petitions, movements and action. We’ve never felt more like a global community. Let’s not waste the opportunity to continue to make a difference for everyone who lives on planet Earth.

Meet the All-new Kindle - (10th Gen), 6" Display now with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi (White)

All-new Kindle

Accessibility Features	VoiceView screen reader, available over Bluetooth audio, provides spoken feedback allowing you to navigate your device and read books with text-to-speech (available in English only).Learn more. All-new Kindle also includes the ability the ability to adjust font size, font face, line spacing and margins.
Content Formats Supported	Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PMP through conversion.
Documentation	Quick Start Guide (included in box); All-new Kindle User’s Guide (pre-installed on device) [PDF]. Additional information in multiple languages available online.
Warranty and Service	1 year limited warranty and service included. Use of Kindle is subject to the terms found here. For information on out-of-warranty repair service options please see here.
Included in the Box	Kindle, USB 2.0 charging cable and Quick Start Guide.
Generation	All-new Kindle 10th Generation - 2019 release.
Maximum Retail Price (MRP)	Rs. 7,999

Display	Amazon's 6 inch display, 167 ppi, optimized font technology, 16-level gray scale.
Size	160 x 113 x 8.7 mm
Weight	174 g. Actual size and weight may vary by configuration and manufacturing process
System Requirements	None, fully wireless and doesn't require a computer to download content.
On-Device Storage	4 GB, holds thousands of books.
Cloud Storage	Free cloud storage for all Amazon content
Battery Life	A single charge lasts up to four weeks, based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at 13. Battery life will vary based on light settings, wireless usage.
Charge Time	Fully charges in approximately 4 hours from a computer via USB cable or with a 5W USB adapter.
Wi-Fi Connectivity	Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication or Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS).