The Internet
Netscape Discontinued
March 1, 2008
America Online discontinues the Netscape web browser. Netscape was the first commercial web browser, largely responsible for helping popularize the Internet in the mid-1990’s. Netscape eventually was overtaken by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, as Microsoft included it for free with every copy of Windows. However, the computer code for Netscape lives on as the basis of the Mozilla Firefox browser project, which continues to gain popularity to this day.
The First Web Browser Introduced
February 26, 1991
Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, introduces WorldWideWeb, the first web browser and WYSIWYG HTML editor. This software was later renamed Nexus to remove confusion from the World Wide Web itself.
First Internet Only Bank
February 22, 1999
The First Internet Bank of Indiana opens, becoming the first full-service bank accessible only through the Internet. Who knew it would take a couple of hoosiers to start the first Internet bank?
In the Beginning Apple.com Was Created
February 19, 1987
The Internet domain apple.com is created. Note that this was a full 4 years before the World Wide Web was launched or microsoft.com was registered … I’m just sayin’.
They Put the “You” in “Tube”
February 15, 2005
The now-ubiquitous video sharing site, YouTube, is launched. Few web sites have had such an immediate impact on our usage of the Internet. Less than 2 years after its launch, Google paid $1.65 billion dollars to purchase it. Today, it only trails Facebook, Google, and Gmail as the most visited web sites in the world. Additionally, they created a new marketplace for the words “you” and “tube”.
She Was Also Famous for Tennis
February 12, 2001
Jan de Wit sends out an email stating that it is a picture of the famous tennis player Anna Kournikova. Rather than being a picture of the Russian known more for her looks than her play (although she was ranked as high as #8 in the world in singles and #1 in doubles), it was a malicious script that tried to send itself to every address in a user’s address book and e-mail inbox (Windows users only, of course). The malware was so efficient, it was known to be spreading twice as fast as the “Love Bug” virus that devastated corporate networks a year earlier. The moral of the story is that men are easily manipulated.
First Use of the Word “Podcast”
February 11, 2004
In an article “Audible Revolution” published by The Guardian on this date, Ben Hammersley described a trend of amateur radio on the Internet. With no established name for this new phenomenon, Hammersley suggested the terms Audioblogging, GuerillaMedia, and Podcasting. Given the popularity of the Apple iPod and how many people were using the iPod to listen to these prerecorded audio shows, the term Podcasting stuck and the rest is history!
Google Maps is Unleashed
February 8, 2005
Google Maps is launched to the public. I never had to ask for directions again. Not that I did before.
24 Hours in Cyberspace
February 8, 1996
The massive Internet collaboration “24 Hours in Cyberspace” takes place. It was so early in the history of the mainstream Internet, I bet none of you remember this. I didn’t!
First Victoria’s Secret Webcast
February 5, 1999
Victoria’s Secret holds their first annual online fashion show. The event attracts 1.5 million visitors. While the technology was no where near as advanced as it was today, it was considered the first major successful webcast.