We’re taking a trip down memory lane today with Google. For part of their 10th birthday celebration, Google is giving users the option of searching the Internet in January 2001 and checking out the results on the Internet Archive.  It’s a nifty reminder of how far technology has come in the last seven years. For instance, a search for “iPod” yields a mere 1,300 results and the top hit is for Aperta.uk, which was touting its “Image Proof of Deposit Document Processing System (IPOD).” Today, the same search yields 411,000,000 results.

Bedford Communications, the publisher of LAPTOP Magazine, was just building its presence on the Web with a very basic Web site. Engadget and Gizmodo didn’t exist yet. Neither did Friendster, MySpace, or Facebook. However, Walt Mossberg was still a force to be reckoned with.

What were the presidential and vice presidential candidates up to? John McCain was running for president aboard his Straight Talk Express in the 2000 election, Barack Obama was an Illinois State Senator, Joe Biden was barely hanging on to his hair, and Sarah Palin returned zero results.