Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau proposed a 'hypertext' system starting the modern Internet. Berners-Lee invented the Web while at CERN, he developed HTML, HTTP and URIs which have been further refined and form the basis of the modern internet.
Release of Linux
Linux was developed by Linus Torvalds, which is the basis for Android and Chrome OS. Linus was also responsible for developing Git, a distributed revision control system. He is a vocal advocate for Open Source software.
First Microsoft Windows browser released
Cello was the first Microsoft Windows browser released and was used at Cornell Law School as Windows access was more widespread amongst lawyers than Unix. As hated as IE? Who knows!
This web comic was created by David Farley and was one of the first on the world wide web. (unfortunately the original URL now 404s)
The first ecommerce site & transaction
This is a contended fact but NetMarket claims to have conducted the first online sale for a Sting CD for the grand total of $12.48 plus postage and packaging.
The first banner ad!
Our banner ad helps pay for the site ❤️
Yahoo incorporated
Believe it or not Yahoo were one of the pioneers of the early internet.
WinPlay3 release
With the release of the first real-time software MP3 player, many people were able to encode and play back MP3s on their PCs.
Hotmail goes live
Hotmail was bought by Microsoft a year after launch and is now known as Outlook.
First mobile phone with internet access
The phone was large and heavy but the first that could access the internet.
Google goes live
Now a household name, since incorporation Google has had rapid growth offering a range of services including email, social networking, cloud storage, mapping and video sharing. They lead development on the Android mobile operating system and Google Chrome. They have recently made rapid developments and innovations in hardware.
First major online leak
One of the first major online leak scandals happened when the name of British intelligence agents appeared on an American website -pre Wikileaks!
Millennium Bug
The Y2K bug was something that could’ve caused problems with dates beyond 31st December 1999, as computers often dealt with the last two numbers in a year, making 1900 the “same” as 2000. Very few problems were ever reported and despite my Father’s panic, our home PC was fine.
First iPod released
Thus began Apple’s domination.
Facebook launches
Facebook first launched as The Facebook for Harvard University students.
The first YouTube video
Uploaded by cofounder Jawed Karim. It was a video of of himself at the San Diego Zoo called "Me at the zoo".
Twitter founded
Quite often the source of breaking news the world over.
First iPad launched
Although not the first tablet, it's the ubiquitous term for tablet devices.
First video with 1 billion views on YouTube
South Korean superstar Psy was the first to reach 1 billion views with the viral hit Gangnam Style.
TikTok launched
A new social media platform for a new generation.
Chat GPT launched
ChatGPT is a large language model trained by OpenAI, capable of generating human-like responses to natural language inputs (we asked ChatGPT for this description!).
NOW
Something we left out? Something happened that you think we should include? Contact us!
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