The year Google stopped being Google and became Alphabet... but what's in a name? Surely the company once synonymous with web search has become a true tech giant and a leader in cloud, mobile, software, mapping, and a contender in other related areas not limited to hardware, wearables, and car tech. Here are Google's top stories in 2015:

#10 Google Photos offers unlimited, free photo and video storage plus much more

Unveiled during its I/O conference, Google Photos was designed with three big ideas in mind: to provide a home for your photos that's available from any device, to help you organize and bring moments together and make it easy to share what matters.

#9 Google Maps knows everything about where you've been

A new Google Maps feature called Timeline lets you look back and see everywhere that you, or at least your mobile device, have been.

#8 Google is reportedly developing new versions of Google Glass - some without the display

Even though Google Glass wasn't the resounding success the company hoped it would be, Google hasn't given up on the wearable technology.

#7 Chrome to automatically pause Flash-based ads

Google announced a new Chrome feature that would pause non-essential Flash ads by default. The change launched with the public version of Chrome on September 1.

#6 Google announces massive reorganization, becomes subsidiary of umbrella corporation Alphabet

Google announced a major reorganization and management shuffle that includes a new holding company called Alphabet as well as a new CEO for Google.

#5 Google looking at designing its own Android chipsets to bring uniformity to the platform

Google is reportedly looking to follow in Apple's footsteps and start co-developing Android components based on its own designs.

#4 Police pull over Google self-driving car for driving too slow

A California police officer pulled over one of Google's prototype vehicles for driving so slowly it was backing up traffic. Speed is capped at 25 mph for safety reasons.

#3 Google Earth Pro, once $399 per year, is now completely free

Google Earth Pro had largely been reserved for businesses at $399 per year, but its advanced mapping tools are now available to anyone for free.

#2 Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages will arrive early next year

Early next year, Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages will enable articles from news publications to load almost instantly on smartphones and tablets.

#1 New Google algorithm transforms Street View images into seamless animations

Dubbed DeepStereo, Google's new algorithm will make it possible to simulate the exploration of foreign landscapes in a seamless series of images.