Where innovation happens

Innovation can happen anywhere. Take a look at the headquarters, quirky office set-ups, labs and gathering places of some of the world’s most powerful and innovative tech companies and their employees.

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Apple Inc.

Apple's current headquarters are located in Cupertino, Calif. The company has gone from a start-up out of Steve Jobs's garage, to a company that, at one point, was calculated to have more cash on hand than the U.S. Treasury.

David Paul Morris / Bloomberg

Apple's proposed headquarters

This rendering provided by Apple shows a proposed 150-acre campus built around a circular building made almost entirely of curved glass. Apple CEO Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance at a Cupertino City Council meeting on June 7, 2011, to announce plans for a major expansion.

/ AP

Hewlett-Packard garage

George Bodway, center, takes a peek at the historic garage where Hewlett-Packard was founded in Palo Alto, Calif. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, used the garage as a research lab, development workshop and manufacturing facility for the company founded in 1939.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Hewlett-Packard headquarters

Hewlett-Packard printers and computers sit on display in the lobby of the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

Tony Avelar / Bloomberg

Linkedin, the social media site that allows users to network based on their professional and personal connections, is based in Mountain View, Calif. The company's initial public offering in May shattered expectations, with its stock nearly doubling within minutes of the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Reid Hoffman, right, co-founder and chairman of Linkedin, speaks with Jeffrey "Jeff" Weiner, Linkedin’s CEO, at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in July 2011. Allen & Co. is one of the leading investment houses in media and entertainment, and its annual conference is one of the most high-profile corporate events of the year.

Matthew Staver / Bloomberg

Netflix

Netflix headquarters are located in Los Gatos, Calif. The company recently announced it would be raising monthly fees for its DVD mailing service. The announcement was met with a rash of negative feedback from customers.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Netflix

Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix, poses at his company's Los Gatos, Calif., headquarters in 2007. According to a report by Forbes, in a call with investors in July 2011, Hastings said the feedback the company received after the price-increase announcement was not as harsh as they expected. "Believe it or not, the noise level was actually less than we expected, given a 60 percent price increase for some subscribers,” Hastings said.

Noah Berger / AP

Intel

A photo of Intel Corp. headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Intel

President Obama, accompanied by Barbara Miner, the manager of Intel’s Transmission Electronic Microscope Lab, looks at a computer screen at the Intel Corp. offices in Hillsboro, Ore., in February 2011.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

Sun Microsystems

The exterior of Sun Microsystems headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Future home of Facebook

Facebook announced in February 2011 that it will move its headquarters from Palo Alto, Calif., to Menlo Park, Calif., and take over the former Sun Microsystems campus, pictured here, which consists of 57 acres, nine buildings and about one million square feet of space.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Sun Microsystems

Jochen Furthmueller demonstrates Project Sun SPOT, which stands for Small Programmable Object Technology, by controlling a robotic arm with hand gestures at the Sun Microsystems Sun Labs Open House in Menlo Park, Calif., in June 2006.

Don Feria / PR Newswire

Google Inc.

A view of the Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Google Inc.

A worker takes a "G-bike" for a ride outside Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., in January 2011. Google provides a number of employee perks, including, at some office locations, a slide, complimentary laundry service and cafeterias.

Tony Avelar / Bloomberg

Google

Scooters sit in a hallway for use by Google employees at the company offices inside historic Chelsea Market in New York. The space, which is across the street from the older Google office, houses around 300 employees.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Google

Google employees work at a "Tech Stop" at the Internet company's New York office complex. "Tech Stop" is the company's internal tech support hotline.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

YouTube

The YouTube headquarters are located in San Bruno, Calif. The popular video Web site launched in 2005 and was purchased by Google in 2006.

Gabriel Bouys / AFP/Getty Images

YouTube

Employees work at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., in 2006. The company recently launched a new interface for its web video service. The project was named "Cosmic Panda."

Gabriel Bouys / AFP/Getty Images

Groupon Inc.

Groupon Inc. signage is displayed on the screensaver of a computer at company headquarters in Chicago. The company provides deal-of-the-day coupons to customers.

Tim Boyle / Bloomberg

Groupon Inc.

Groupon team members sit on rubber exercise balls as they work at the company's headquarters in Chicago.

Tim Boyle / Bloomberg

Groupon

Groupon Inc. team members work at the company's headquarters in Chicago. In June 2011, Groupon announced it planned for a $30 billion valuation, according to reports.

Tim Boyle / Bloomberg

Facebook

Employees play pool during a break at the headquarters of Facebook Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2009.

Tony Avelar / Bloomberg

Facebook

Branded refrigerators greet visitors at the headquarters of Facebook Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif., in August 2010. Perks like free food and unconventional office spaces are the hallmark of Silicon Valley start-ups and tech companies.

Noah Berger / Bloomberg

Proposed Facebook campus

Facebook Director of Global Real Estate John Tenanes is silhouetted against a projection of the new Facebook campus during a February 2011 news conference at the Menlo Park City Council Chambers in Menlo Park, Calif.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Facebook

Offices at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., in April 2011.

Ryan Anson / AFP/Getty Images

Facebook

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to speak at a news conference in July at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. Zuckerberg announced new features coming to Facebook: video chat and a group chat.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Featured Photo Galleries

Chip Ganassi Racing driver Dario Franchitti of Scotland (L) celebrates as he crosses the finish line ahead of teammate Scott Dixon of New Zealand and KV Racing Technology driver Tony Kanaan of Brazil during the Indianapolis 500 autorace at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana, May 27, 2012. REUTERS/John Sommers II(UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT MOTORSPORT)

Dario Franchitti wins the Indianapolis 500

Dario Franchitti wins his third Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis.

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 27: Christian Slayton, 12 prays to a fallen soldiers memorial as motorcycles from the Rolling Thunder event pass by in Washington, DC on May 27, 2012. Slayton, who is from Raleigh, NC ran out to the makeshift memorial to say a prayer of thanks for all the veterans living and fallen. He said he wanted to thank them for letting us be free and able to have the rights that some countries never had. Riders from across the nation come together every year to ride from the Pentagon over to the National Mall as a rememberance those POW and MIAs in the Vietnam War. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Rolling Thunder descends on Washington

Motorcyclists take part in the annual parade ahead of Memorial Day.

Visitors stop to read the names on the Vietnam Memorial at sunrise on the fist day of the Memorial Day weekend in Washington Saturday, May 24, 2008. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Honoring the Vietnam War’s fallen

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the most visited sites in the nation’s capital.

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 24: Aaron Rubinstein, center, with fellow students, lights candles before the annual Mass for family members of the cadavers used in anatomy studies on May, 24, 2012 in Washington, DC. At right are Steven Kazuska and Meghan Kuska. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Students express gratitude for cadavers

Georgetown University students thank the families who allowed the use of cadavers for study.

Cambodian Grilled Corn is basted with a mix of coconut milk and sugar, then grilled until caramelized. Recipe by grilling expert Steven Raichlen, for a Chef on Call lesson. (Michael Temchine for The Washington Post) Freelance Photo imported to Merlin on Fri May 16 15:10:05 2008

Memorial Day recipes

Here are some favorite burgers, entrees and desserts from our Recipe Finder database.

FAIRFAX, VA - MAY 23: US Army Veteran Sandra Strickland embraces her daughter, Heaven, 8, after dinner Wednesday May 23, 2012 in Fairfax, VA. After losing her job, custody of her children and being evicted from her apartment, Strickland moved into a home for homeless female veterans provided by Final Salute, Inc. (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Fairfax shelter becomes a lifeline for homeless female veterans

A former Army captain opened the shelter with last fall.

Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament Volodymyr Litvin (Bottom) looks on as deputies of the Ukrainian opposition fight with deputies of the pro-presidential majority during a session of parliament in Kiev, as opposition parties protest a bill proposed by the ruling party which would make Russian an official state language along with Ukrainian. AFP PHOTO/STRINGERSTR/AFP/GettyImages

Ukrainian parliament fight, SpaceX cargo craft, Mars rover Opportunity and more in the day in photos

Ukrainian parliament fight, SpaceX cargo craft, Mars rover Opportunity and more.

Red Panda Bears sleep in the Panda Bear enclosure at the Beijing Zoo on May 22, 2012. The zoo grounds were originally a Ming Dynasty imperial palace and finally opened to the public in 1908. The zoo's history states that during the WWII, most of the zoo's animals died of starvation with only 13 monkeys and one old emu surviving the war. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTONMARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages

Barn owls, pit bulls, red pandas, cheetah cubs and more in animal views

Barn owls, pit bulls, red pandas, cheetah cubs and more.

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Where innovation happens

Innovation can happen anywhere. Take a look at the headquarters, quirky office set-ups, labs and gathering places of some of the world’s most powerful and innovative tech companies and their employees.

Featured Photo Galleries