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1969 - Launch of ARPANET
It was the first public packet-switched computer network to connect research institutions and universities. -
1971 - Email is invented
The first email system is developed. -
1974 - The first online game
Maze War was written in 1973 by high school interns at NASA. It became the first online game in 1974. -
1978 - The first spam email
The first spam email gets sent over ARPANET. -
1984 - Domain name system introduced
This simplified addressing on the internet by mapping text-based names (like .com, .edu) to IP -
1989 - Proposal for the World Wide Web
Tim Berners-Lee proposes the concept of the World Wide Web as a way to link information across different computers. -
1990 - The first search engine
Archie was the world's first internet search engine. It made it much easier to find specific files on the constantly-expanding internet. The same year, the world's first website went live. -
1990 - ARPANET shuts down
ARPANET officially shut down as newer internet infrastructure become available. -
1994 - Yahoo! founded
Jerry Yang and David Filo create “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” which later becomes Yahoo!, one of the first popular web directories. -
1998 - Google is founded
Larry Page and Sergey Brin launch Google, which quickly revolutionizes how information is searched and accessed online. -
1999 - Wi-Fi
A group of important tech companies forms the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance. -
2001 - Wikipedia launched
Wikipedia goes live, offering a new, community-driven approach to creating and sharing knowledge on the internet. -
2004 - Facebook founded
Originally designed for Harvard students, Facebook expands to other universities and eventually opens to the public, becoming a major social networking site. -
2005 - The broadband revolution
In 2005, broadband use surpasses dial-up internet usage for the first time. -
2005 - YouTube introduced
YouTube is founded, creating a new platform for sharing, watching, and monetizing video content on the internet. -
2007 - iPhone released
Apple revolutionizes the way phone users access the internet when they release the first iPhone. -
2008 - Internet in space
NASA successful tests internet in space via DTN software. -
2010 - Instagram launched
Instagram starts as a photo-sharing app, quickly gaining popularity and helping to drive the trend of social media as a major part of internet culture. -
2013 - Smartphones everywhere
For the first time, the majority of American adults (56%) own a smartphone, up from 35% just two years earlier. Among adults ages 25-34, smartphone ownership is closer to 81%. -
2014 - Smart speakers & virtual assistants
Virtual assistants become more popular as smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home come on the market.