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Creation of the Internet
The predecessor of what we currently know as the Internet, which was known as ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), was officially created. A connection between the University of California, Los Angeles to the Stanford Research Institute was established, with the first message being sent were the characters "lo". These technologies became the foundation of what we have as the Internet, as this was the first computer network to transfer data digitally. -
ARPANET spans across the continent
First ARPANET node established on the East Coast of the United States in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This officially marks the expanse of the Internet across the continental United States, as previously, ARPANET only operated within California. ARPANET would grow to include more IMPs within New England, and eventually in locations all over the US and the world, with the first international connection being established in England and Norway. -
First E-Mail Sent
The first ever e-mail sent was sent by Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer at Bolt, Baranek, and Newman (BBN) Technologies, to himself. This e-mail was sent over ARPANET, and the message is not remembered exactly by Tomlinson, but is assumed to be "QWERTYUIOP." Today, e-mails are a part of many people's everyday lives, with hundreds of billions being sent daily. -
First Newspaper Goes Online
The first mainstream news publication to transition into being online was The Columbus Dispatch, a newspaper company based in Ohio. The rise of online news transformed the way our society works, including changing how information spreads, including breaking news being spread at faster speeds, celebrity gossip and rumours being more common, the rise of misinformation, the polarization of society, and much more. -
NSFNET Introduced
NSFNET was a network funded by the National Science Foundation whose primary goal was to be able to share resources amongst sciences that were physically distant from each other. NSFNET was built off of technologies introduced by ARPANET, namely the TCP/IP protocols, and thus served as its successor. NSFNET allowed scientists to send information and data to others and allowed for further collaboration. NSFNET served as a backbone to introduce Internet Service Providers (ISP) to the public. -
Google Created
Google was created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Ph.D. students at Stanford, as a research project. Originally, it began as a simple search engine, which it still functions as today, with Google being the most used search engine; Google has grown into one of the world's largest companies since its public launch years later. Today, it has grown into providing services like video-sharing (YouTube), e-mail (Gmail), cloud computing, data storage, navigation, and much more. -
First publicly-available ISP
The World, which was the first commercial ISP (Internet Service Provider) that was available to the general public was introduced. Previously, the Internet was restricted by the National Science Foundation to those who were using it for research or other government-approved uses. This changed, as The World provided Internet to others, despite a ban being placed by the NSF. This ban was eventually lifted in 1991, making it freely available to the public. -
World Wide Web Created
The World Wide Web is a vast collection of documents are resources that are connected through hyperlinks and URIs (Uniform Resource Identifier), which includes URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). It is more user-friendly to the average person. It was introduced by Tim Berners-Lee, who was a researcher at CERN, in 1989, but was released two years later. Berners-Lee further introduced related technologies, like HTML, web servers, web browsers, etc. -
First Photo Uploaded
The first photo uploaded to the Internet was four women standing together, under words titled "Les Horribles Cernettes," which translates to "The Horrible CERN Girls" in English. This photo was uploaded as a joke, and the women pictured were a parody pop group. This photo was uploaded by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web (WWW), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), and much more. Now, over 750 billion photos exist on the Internet. -
Telecommunications Act Assented to
The Telecommunications Act is a Canadian federal legistlation that handles communication through radio, wire, and most notably, the Internet. This act is administered by Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commision (CRTC). This act does many things, including regulating safety and privacy, ensuring reliability, and establishing Internet access as a utility, meaning that net neutrality is enforced; ISP's cannot decide to who and what they allow on the Internet. -
Yahoo! Launched
Yahoo!, which stands for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," was created by Stanford students Jerry Yang and David Filo. It was originally created as a web browser on the World Wide Web, but during its prime years of rapid growth in the 90's, it expanded into more, including an e-mail platform. However, after its decline, including rejecting an acquisition bid from Microsoft, and being replaced by other, more dominant companies in the market, like Google, it slowly became less relevant. -
Fiber Optic Cables Laid in Pacific Ocean
The first set of fibre optic cables placed underwater was put in the Pacific Ocean. The preceding technology was underwater cables that connected telephones. The backbone of the Internet are wires that can transmit information. Fibre optic cables are a special type that uses light to transmit the data. They are often faster and lighter than other methods. Now, there are large networks of fiber optic cables that span across and connect the globe. -
e-Transfer Made Available to Canadians
Interac e-Transfer is a payment system in which Canadians can transfer money from person to person or account to account digitally. This technology was developed by Interac, a Canadian banking network. E-transfer marks the further ease of daily life through the integration of the Internet. -
Wikipedia Founded
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia. Compared to its physical counterpart, it is much more accessible, as anyone with Internet access can reach it, rather than having to buy or borrow it, easy, as it can be accessed with a search, reaches a wider range of topics, and more up-to-date information, as information can be edited much more easily. Today, Wikipedia is one of the most visited web pages on the Internet and is used by millions of people daily. -
MySpace Founded
MySpace is a social networking site in which users can create their own profile and customize it to a great extent, including including one's interests, feature videos and photographs, and link their account to another person's, which allowed people to stay in touch. It was one of the most popular web sites of the early 2000's, as it had the most active users, website visits, and high revenue at one point in time. It was a pioneer for other social media sites, but lost most of its users. -
First Tweet
X, formerly known as Twitter, is a social media network where users are able to share posts (known as "Tweets"), repost, like, comment, share, etc. The first tweet on Twitter was posted by one of its creators, Jack Dorsey, which read "just setting up my twttr." Twitter soon became one of the most influential social media sites, where celebrities and public officials often interacted with the general public, people shared their opinions very freely, and the world became much smaller as a result. -
Microsoft Releases OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive is an online file-hosting service that allows its users to store, share, and sync their files. OneDrive is an Office product, and when used in conjunction with other Office products, like Word, PowerPoint, or Excel, OneDrive becomes an incredibly easy and convenient way to keep one's files. Microsoft's OneDrive and other cloud storage services, like the ones offered by Google or Amazon, make other existing technologies, like USB's, more obsolete, as they can make lives easier. -
Blockbuster Closes
Blockbuster was a chain retail store that rented and sold VHS tapes, DVDs, Blu-rays, etc. of movies, TV shows, video games, and other similar products. It was originally one of the largest companies; Blockbuster officially became defunct on September 23, but was declining for several years prior. One of the major causes of Blockbuster going out of business was its competition with Netflix, which showed the beginning of the dominance of online platforms. -
Instagram Debuts
Instagram is a social media site currently ran by Meta Network, who also run other popular sites like Facebook and Messenger. At its release, by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, it originally was meant for sharing photos and videos. As it developed and became more popular, it included more features, like posting limited time "stories," direct messaging other people, having a shop, and much more. Instagram is one of the most influential social media sites of this generation. -
Zoom Launced
Zoom is an online video communication software that allows its users to make video calls with others over the Internet. Its beta release was in August of 2012, with its official release being half a year later. Despite it having thousands of users in its infancy, it began to take off during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, where quarantine and restrictions forced offices, schools, and other institutions to transition to the Internet, with Zoom being one of the most favoured options.