-
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) is created
Found a way that computers can talk to each other in case of
nuclear attack. -
computers at Stanford and UCLA connected for the first time
The first hosts on what would one day
become the Internet. -
An Arpanet network was established
Network between Harvard, MIT, and BBN (the company that created the
"interface message processor" computers used to connect to the network) in 1970 was created. -
Email was first developed
Developed by Ray Tomlinson, who also made the decision to use the "@" symbol to separate
the user name from the computer name (which later on became the domain name). -
The beginning of TCP/IP
A proposal was published to link Arpa-like networks together into a so-called "inter-network",
which would have no central control and would work around a transmission control protocol (which eventually became TCP/IP). -
The first Personal Computer Modem is Invented
The modem was invented by Dennis Hayes and Dale Heatherington, and was introduced and initially sold to computer hobbyists. -
Spam is born
The first unsolicited commercial email message(later known as spam), was sent out to 600 California
Arpanet users by Gary Thuerk. -
MUD
The earliest form of multiplayer games was debuted- The precursor to World of Warcraft and Second Life was
developed in 1979, and was called MUD (short for MultiUser Dungeon). MUDs were entirely text-based virtual worlds, combining
elements of role-playing games, interactive, fiction, and online chat. -
The first emoticon :-)
The first emoticon was used While many people credit Kevin MacKenzie with the invention of
the emoticon in 1979, it was Scott Fahlman in 1982 who proposed using :-) after a joke, rather than the original -) proposed by
MacKenzie. -
The domain name system was created
The first Domain Name Servers (DNS) was created. The domain name system
was important in that it made addresses on the Internet more human-friendly compared to its numerical IP address counterparts.
DNS servers allowed Internet users to type in an easy-to-remember domain name and then converted it to the IP address
automatically -
The World (world.std.com) debuts as the first provider of dial-up Internet access for consumers
Dial-upThe World (world.std.com) debuts as the first provider of dial-up Internet access for consumers.
Tim Berners-Lee of CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics) develops a new technique for distributing information on the Internet. He calls it the World Wide Web. The Web is based on hypertext, which permits the user to connect from one document to another at different sites on the Internet via hyperlinks (specially programmed words, phrases, buttons, or graphics). Unlike other Internet protoc -
World Wide Web protocols finished
The code for the World Wide Web was written by Tim Berners-Lee, based on his
proposal from the year before, along with the standards for HTML, HTTP, and URLs. -
First web page created
First web page created 1991 brought some major innovations to the world of the Internet. The first web page was created
and, much like the first email explained what email was, its purpose was to explain what the World Wide Web was. -
The White House launches its website, www.whitehouse.gov
White HouseThe White House launches its website, www.whitehouse.gov.
Initial commerce sites are established and mass marketing campaigns are launched via email, introducing the term “spamming” to the Internet vocabulary.
Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark start Netscape Communications. They introduce the Navigator browser. -
College student Shawn Fanning invents Napster
NapsterCollege student Shawn Fanning invents Napster, a computer application that allows users to swap music over the Internet.
The number of Internet users worldwide reaches 150 million by the beginning of 1999. More than 50% are from the United States.
“E-commerce” becomes the new buzzword as Internet shopping rapidly spreads.
MySpace.com is launched. -
Ebay's Creator
Ebay
Omidyar designed and developed AuctionWeb personally; it went live on Sept. 4, 1995, as part of a larger site. Then AuctionWeb changed to Ebay. -
Founders of Google
GoogleLarry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford University in 1995. By 1996, they had built a search engine (initially called BackRub) that used links to determine the importance of individual webpages. -
On July 8, 1997, Internet traffic records are broken
Internet trafficOn July 8, 1997, Internet traffic records are broken as the NASA website broadcasts images taken by Pathfinder on Mars. The broadcast generates 46 million hits in one day.
The term “weblog” is coined. It’s later shortened to “blog.” -
Internet Worm, called MyDoom or Novarg, spreads through Internet servers.
WormInternet Worm, called MyDoom or Novarg, spreads through Internet servers. About 1 in 12 email messages are infected.
Online spending reaches a record high—$117 billion in 2004, a 26% increase over 2003. -
Facebook was created.
Facebook
The origins of Facebook have been in dispute since the very week a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg launched the site as a Harvard sophomore on February 4, 2004. -
Legal online music downloads triple to 6.7 million downloads per week.
DownloadsLegal online music downloads triple to 6.7 million downloads per week.
Colorado Rockies' computer system crashes when it receives 8.5 million hits within the first 90 minutes of World Series ticket sales.
The online game, World of Warcraft, hits a milestone when it surpasses 9 million subscribers worldwide in July. -
In a move to challenge Google's dominance of search and advertising on the Internet, software giant Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion.
Google Vs. YahooIn a move to challenge Google's dominance of search and advertising on the Internet, software giant Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion.
In a San Fransisco federal district court, Judge Jeffrey S. White orders the disabling of Wikileaks.org, a Web site that discloses confidential information. The case was brought by Julius Baer Bank and Trust, located in the Cayman Islands, after a disgruntled ex-employee allegedly provided Wikileaks with stolen documents that implicate the bank in a
