Brain Teasers

Test your Internet I.Q. and maybe even learn something new! Try answering all the questions below, click the links for the correct answers then share this page with a friend and compare scores.

1. The name Google was chosen to represent the immense amount of material indexed by the search engine. It comes from the word "googol" which is the number 1 followed by how many zeros?

   A. 10 zeros

   B. 100 zeros

   C. 1,000 zeros

   D. 1,000,000 zeros

   Answer

   B. 100 zeros A googol is the number 10 to the 100th power or the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.

2. One of Apple's three founders sold his shares back after only two weeks. That 10% stake in the company is now worth nearly $8 billion. How much did he get for it?

   A. $800

   B. $8,000

   C. $80,000

   D. $800,000

   Answer

   A. $800 Ronald Wayne, who created the logo, drew up the first contract, and wrote the Apple I manual, received $800 for his shares.

3. How many songs have been downloaded from iTunes?

   A. 1 billion

   B. 3 billion

   C. 5 billion

   D. 8 billion

   Answer

   D. 8 billion As of July 2009, 8 billion songs had been downloaded from iTunes with downloads estimated to hit the 10 billion mark by year end.

4. In 1969, the first email message was sent via ARPANET, the Defense Department's predecessor to to today's Internet.  What was the one-word message?

   A. Hello

   B. Testing

   C. Login

   D. ARPANET

   Answer

   C. Login The "L" and the "o" transmitted without a problem, but then the system crashed. They successfully sent the full word, login, about an hour later.

5. In 2003 Harvard shut down a sophomore's site which placed fellow students' photos side by side and asked visitors to choose the hotter person. What was the creator's next site?

   A. MySpace

   B. Facebook

   C. LinkedIn

   D. Hot or Not

   Answer

   B. Facebook The shuttered site was known as Facemash. 

6. Which online retailer got a boost in sales following its name change from Cadabra.com?

   A. Potterybarn.com

   B. Amazon.com

   C. Qvc.com

   D. Overstock.com

   Answer

   B. Amazon.com

7. The average YouTube video is 3.5 minutes in length. About how many minutes of video are uploaded to YouTube each week?

   A. 3 million minutes

   B. 6 million minutes

   C. 9 million minutes

   D. 12 million minutes

   Answer

   C. 9 million minutes

   More than 9 million minutes of video are uploaded each week. That's roughly the equivalent of 86,000 full-length feature films.

8. Which is not one of the interface languages offered by Google?

   A. Basque

   B. Bork bork bork!

   C. Pirate

   D. Sumo

   E. Tajik

   Answer

   D. Sumo

   In preferences, Google offers you 124 options for your interface language. While made-up languages Pirate, Elmer Fudd and Klingon are on this list, Sumo is not.

9. How many laptops are left in U.S. airports each week?

   A. 500

   B. 2,500

   C. 7,500

   D. 12,000

   Answer

   D. 12,000

   More than 12,000 laptops are lost in U.S. airports each week according to a 2008 study of 106 airports in 49 states. Approximately 7% are lost in restaurants, 9% in restrooms, 23% at departure gates and a whopping 40% are left at security checkpoints.

   Travel tip: Tape your name and mobile phone number to the outside of your laptop, so security can call you back to the screening area to pick up your machine.

10. What was Google's original nickname?

    Google began in 1996 as a research project by Larry Page who was soon joined by Sergey Brin—both Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Was the project's nickname:

    A. GoTo

    B. BackRub

    C. SergeySays

    D. Betelgeuse

    Answer

    B. BackRub

    Page and Brin’s search engine was originally nicknamed "BackRub" because the system checked a Web site's back links to estimate the importance of the site.

11. Which concepts are part of cloud computing?

    A. Virtualization

    B. Software as a service

    C. Hardware as a service

    D. Online data storage

    E. All of the above

    Answer

    E. All of the above

    Cloud computing is one of the latest trends in Internet development. Increasingly, companies are looking for ways to make technology more efficient and cost effective. Cloud computing addresses each of those goals by leveraging services over the Internet for scalable solutions and outsourced maintenance.

12. What is the average savings hosted Exchange gives you in the first year?

    A. $114

    B. $1,140

    C. $11,400

    D. $114,000

    Answer

    D. $114,000

    When you consider the initial hardware/software expenses, licensing fees, backup requirements, staff and hosting fees, the first year of running Microsoft Exchange in house totals about $115,238. Additional years are likely to cost about $34,200. Hostway can give you the same functionality for about $1,434 for the first year and each year after that. Want to see the breakdown?

13. What is a podcasting feed?

    A. The tool that allows marketers to download their podcasts to their Web site.

    B. A Web site where podcasts play continually.

    C. A subscription-based service that automatically downloads new podcasts to a subscriber's computer as soon as it's released.

    Answer

    C. A subscription-based service that automatically downloads new podcasts to a subscriber's computer as soon as it's released

    A podcasting tool that makes it easy to upload audio files and create and manage feeds is included free in every Web hosting plan.

14. What is the name of Google's pay per click advertising program?

    A. AdSense

    B. AdClick

    C. AdSearch

    D. AdWords

    Answer

    B. AdWords

    To launch a pay per click campaign on Google, you must sign up for an AdWords account. You get up to a $100 AdWords credit free when you order a Hostway Web hosting plan.

15. What is the difference between the Internet and an intranet?

    A. There is no difference, they can be used interchangeably.

    B. An intranet is restricted to specific users whereas the Internet refers to all the computer networks worldwide that are connected together.

    C. The Internet is restricted to specific users whereas an intranet refers to all the computer networks worldwide that are connected together.

    Answer

    B. An intranet is restricted to specific users whereas the Internet refers to all the computer networks worldwide that are connected together.

    It’s easy to set up a company intranet with Hostway’s hosted Microsoft SharePoint plans. SharePoint includes built-in Web parts that can be toggled on and off to give you the exact mix of functionality your company needs.

16. What is the average time spent viewing a Web page?

    A. One minute

    B. Five seconds

    C. Half a second

    Answer

    C. Half a second

    People quickly scan Web sites for information—rarely do they take the time to read every word. Make a good impression instantly with a professional Web site design from Hostway.

    Source: Nielsen Online, February 2008

17. If you use a Windows computer, do you have to choose Windows Web hosting plan?

    A. Yes. Microsoft's operating system makes it impossible to launch content to a Windows-based server from a Mac.

    B. No. You can post and update your Web site content from any computer with Web access no matter which operating system you choose for your Web hosting plan.

    C. No. You can choose a Linux plan if you use a Windows computer, but you won't be able to access your site.

    Answer

    B. No. You can post and update your Web site content from any computer with Web access no matter which operating system you choose for your Web hosting plan.

    In fact, unless you use a database or script on your Web site that can only run on a Windows server, a Linux plan will give you all the functionality you need and save you money.