Digital Immigrant Evolution

Google is born

Jan 1, 1996

Initially a research project entitled "Backrub"--because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a website--by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google has taken over the Internet landscape for the "go to site for immediate information." The original mission was to "organize the world's information and make it univerally accessible and useful."

Digital Immigrant Evolutionary Chart

Period: Jan 1, 1996 to Apr 8, 2016

Nintendo 64 arrives

Sep 20, 1996

Named for its 64-bit central processing unit, N64 was the video game industry's last major home console to use the cartridge as its primary storage format, although current handheld systems (such as the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS) also use cartridges. While the Nintendo 64 was succeeded by Nintendo's MiniDVD-based GameCube in November 2001, the consoles remained available until the system was retired in late 2003.

MacroMedia acquires FutureSplash

Nov 1, 1996

Flash's origination comes from SmartSketch, a drawing application for pen computers running PenPoint OS, published by FutureWave. When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac. As the Internet became more popular, FutureWave realized the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might challenge Macromedia Shockwave technology. FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and re-released it as FutureSplash.

Broadband expands to Internet

Feb 15, 1997

The advent of broadband networks meant that people were able download files, songs, TV shows and movies at greater speeds. This opened up a whole new world in online media - on 56k connection speeds, sites such as YouTube just weren't possible.

Palm-Pilot launched

Mar 10, 1997

Evolved from Personal Desktop Assistant, a software term for an application that prompts or prods the user of a computer with suggestions or provides quick reference to contacts and other lists, PDAs were largely discontinued in the early 2010s after the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in particular those based on iOS and Android

DVDs hit the scene

May 10, 1997

Toyota introduces the Prius

Dec 10, 1997

The first generation Prius, at its launch, became the world's first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car. At its introduction in 1997, it won the Car of the Year Japan Award, and in 1998, it won the Automotive Researchers' and Journalists' Conference Car of the Year award in Japan.

Netflix is born

Apr 14, 1998

The Netflix website was launched on April 14, 1998, with only 30 employees and 925 works available for rent through a traditional pay-per-rental model Netflix introduced the monthly subscription concept in September 1999, and then dropped the single-rental model in early 2000. Since that time, the company has built its reputation on the business model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling.

MPMan first portable MP3 player

May 2, 1998

Manufactured by the S. Korean company, SaeHan, the MPMan music player, debuted in Asia in March 1998, and was the first mass-produced portable solid state digital audio players.

USB debuts

Sep 1, 1998

A group of seven companies began the development of USB in 1994: Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Nortel. The first widely used version of USB was 1.1, which was released in September 1998.

CGI comes to widescreen

Nov 25, 1998

First ever computer animated anamorphic widescreen film. First all digital transfer to DVD. First film to be reframed for home video releases.

Tivo introduced

Jan 7, 1999

Introduced at the Consumer electronics show in January 1999.

Adobe 5.5 relased

Feb 10, 1999

MS Internet Explorer 5.5 released

Mar 18, 1999

First Wiki introduced

Mar 25, 1999

WikiWikiWeb

Wi-Fi steps forward

Aug 26, 1999

In 1999, the Wi-Fi Alliance formed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark under which most products are sold. Later that year was with 802.11b to permit 11 Mbit/s link speeds, and this proved to be popular. Its considered "the birth of public wi-fi."

Y2K

Jan 1, 2000

The world panics that the tech world will crash. Nothing happens.

Twitter.com comes online

Jan 21, 2000

The ground floor of what would become a social media empire

Windows 2000

Feb 17, 2000

Microsoft Pocket PC

Apr 19, 2000

Released to counter Blackberry and Palm PDA in the portable computer battles.

iTunes released on the Mac

Jan 9, 2001

Napster is growing

Feb 10, 2001

Napster reaches over 26 million users February of 2001.

AOL membership peaks

Mar 8, 2001

On March 8, 2001, AOL memberships surpasses 28 Million.

Google Image Search

Jul 10, 2001

Google Image Search is introduced offering access to 250 million images in July of 2001.

Internet Explorer 6.0

Aug 27, 2001

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 6.0 in August 27, 2001.

iPod released

Oct 23, 2001

Apple introduces the iPod and it goes on sale October 23, 2001.

Windows XP

Oct 25, 2001

XBox debuts

Nov 15, 2001

Microsoft releases the original Xbox game console November 15, 2001.

Rhapsody hits the scene

Dec 10, 2001

Rhapsody is released in December of 2001.

Adobe Photoshop 7.0

Mar 10, 2002

Adobe Photoshop 7.0 is released in March of 2002.

Wordpress

May 27, 2003

WordPress is first released on May 27, 2003.

Windows Mobile

Jun 23, 2003

Microsoft introduces Windows Mobile 2003 on June 23, 2003

Safari Internet

Jun 30, 2003

The Safari Internet browser is released June 30, 2003.

Adobe Photoshop 8.0

Oct 10, 2003

Adobe Photoshop CS (8.0) is released in October of 2003.

Myspace

Jan 5, 2004

MySpace official site is launched January 2004.

Thefacebook

Feb 4, 2004

Mark Zuckerberg launches Thefacebook February 4, 2004, which later becomes Facebook.

GMail

Apr 1, 2004

Google announces Gmail on April 1, 2004. Many people take it as an April Fools joke.

Firefox 1.0

Nov 9, 2004

Firefox 1.0 is first introduced on November 9, 2004.

World of Warcraft

Nov 23, 2004

Blizzard's World of Warcraft game, the most popular and successful MMORPG is released November 23, 2004.

Google Maps

Feb 8, 2005

Google Maps is launched February 8, 2005.

Kubuntu

Feb 13, 2005

YouTube

Feb 15, 2005

YouTube is founded and comes online February 15, 2005.

Photoshop 9.0

Apr 4, 2005

Adobe Photoshop CS2 (9.0) is released April 4, 2005.

uTorrent

May 6, 2005

Pirates rejoice and downloading takes off!

Reddit

Jun 23, 2005

Reddit is launched on June 23, 2005

Pandora

Aug 25, 2005

The Pandora Internet Radio service is launched August 25, 2005.

XBox 360

Nov 22, 2005

Microsoft releases the Xbox 360, the second generation of their popular game console November 22, 2005.

Blu-ray

Jan 4, 2006

The Blu-ray is first announced and introduced at the 2006 CES on January 4, 2006.

First Tweet

Mar 21, 2006

Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter posts the first Twitter post "Just setting up my twttr" on his account March 21, 2006.

HD DVD player

Mar 31, 2006

Toshiba releases the first HD DVD player in Japan on March 31, 2006.

Skype

Jun 10, 2006

Skype announced that it had over 100 million registered users.

Twitter

Jul 15, 2006

Twttr, now known as Twitter is officially launched July 15, 2006.

iTV

Sep 12, 2006

Apple introduces the iTV (now known as the Apple TV) September 12, 2006.

Internet Explorer 7

Oct 18, 2006

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 is introduced October 18, 2006.

PS3

Nov 3, 2006

Sony releases the PlayStation 3 November 11, 2006.

Wii

Nov 19, 2006

Nintendo releases the Wii November 19, 2006.

Windows Vista

Nov 30, 2006

Microsoft releases Microsoft Windows Vista to corporations on November 30, 2006.

iPhone

Jan 9, 2007

Apple introduces the iPhone to the public at the January 9, 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo.

Justin.tv

Mar 19, 2007

Justin Kan begins live streaming his life 24/7 on March 19, 2007 on the website Justin.tv.

Photoshop 10

Apr 16, 2007

Adobe Photoshop CS3 (10.0) is released April 16, 2007.

Tumblr

Apr 27, 2007

Tumblr is launched April 27, 2007.

iPhone

Jun 29, 2007

Released for sale to public on June 29, 2007.

Zynga

Jul 10, 2007

Zynga is founded in July of 2007.

Dropbox

Sep 17, 2007

Dropbox founded in 2007

Android

Nov 5, 2007

Google releases Android November 5, 2007.

Kindle

Nov 19, 2007

Amazon.com releases the first Kindle in the United States November 19, 2007.

Hulu

Mar 12, 2008

The Hulu website is released to the public on March 12, 2008.

iPhone 3G

Jun 9, 2008

Apple releases the iPhone 3G June 9, 2008.

HTC Dream/Android

Sep 23, 2008

T-Mobile's G1 phone (HTC Dream) is the first phone to be released with Google Android 1.0 on September 23, 2008.

Photoshop 11

Oct 15, 2008

Adobe Photoshop CS4 (11.0) is released October 15, 2008.

Chrome

Dec 11, 2008

Google releases the first public version of Chrome December 11, 2008.

Bitcoin

Jan 3, 2009

A person under the fake name of Satoshi Nakamoto introduces the Internet currency Bitcoin January 3, 2009.

Internet Explorer 8

Mar 19, 2009

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is introduced March 19, 2009.

HP Probook

Apr 10, 2009

Probook introduced by Hewlett Packard.

Kickstarter

Apr 28, 2009

The Kickstarter service and website are started April 28, 2009.

bing

Jun 3, 2009

Microsoft launches the Bing search engine June 3, 2009.

Farmville

Jun 10, 2009

Zynga launches its most successful game, Farmville, in June of 2009.

Death of analog

Jun 12, 2009

The analog TV signal begins to be phased out as broadcasts moved to high-definition on June 12, 2009.

iPhone 3Gs

Jun 19, 2009

Apple releases the iPhone 3Gs (s for successor) June 19, 2009.

Gmail

Jul 7, 2009

After more than five years in beta, Gmail finally gets out of beta July 7, 2009.

Minecraft

Aug 22, 2009

Windows 7

Oct 22, 2009

Microsoft releases Windows 7 on October 22, 2009.

Nook

Nov 30, 2009

The first Barnes & Noble Nook is released on November 30, 2009.

iPad

Jan 27, 2010

Apple introduces the iPad on January 27, 2010.

Photoshop 12

Apr 30, 2010

Adobe Photoshop CS5 (12.0) is released April 30, 2010.

Google Font

May 28, 2010

Google releases Google Web Fonts, which is now known as Google Fonts.

iPhone 4

Jun 7, 2010

Apple introduces the iPhone 4 on June 7, 2010.

Instagram

Oct 13, 2010

Instagram is launched in October 2010.

Kinect

Nov 4, 2010

Microsoft first releases the Kinect for the Xbox 360 on November 4, 2010.

Internet Explorer 9

Mar 14, 2011

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 9 March 14, 2011.

PlayBook

Apr 19, 2011

BlackBerry releases the PlayBook on April 19, 2011.

Chromebook

Jun 15, 2011

The first Chromebooks with Chrome OS begin shipping on June 15, 2011.

Picaboo

Jun 16, 2011

Picaboo, which later became Snapchat, is launched in June 2011.

Office 365

Jun 28, 2011

Microsoft introduces Office 365 June 28, 2011.

Netflix streams

Sep 4, 2011

Netflix introduces its online video streaming in September of 2011. The service allows users to stream full movies over the Internet.

Galaxy Note

Oct 2, 2011

Samsung first releases the Galaxy Note smartphone in October of 2011 and the term phablet becomes a new way of describing larger phones.

iPhone 4s

Oct 4, 2011

Apple introduces the iPhone 4s on October 4, 2011.

Kindle Fire

Nov 15, 2011

The Kindle Fire is released for sale on November 15, 2011.

Photoshop 13

May 7, 2012

Adobe Photoshop CS6 (13.0) is released May 7, 2012.

Vine

Jun 24, 2012

Vine is founded by Dom Hofmann and Rus Yusupov in June 2012.

Pintrest

Aug 10, 2012

Pinterest is made available to everyone August 10, 2012.

iPhone 5

Sep 21, 2012

Apple iPhone 5 goes on sale September 21, 2012.

Facebook milestone

Oct 4, 2012

Facebook officially crosses the one billion active users mark on October 4, 2012.

iPad Mini

Oct 23, 2012

Apple introduces the iPad mini October 23, 2012.

MS Surface

Oct 26, 2012

Microsoft Windows 8 and Microsoft Surface is released October 26, 2012.

Windows 8

Oct 26, 2012

Microsoft Windows 8 and Microsoft Surface is released October 26, 2012.

Chromecast

Jul 24, 2013

Google introduces the Chromecast July 24, 2013.

iPhone 5s & 5c

Sep 10, 2013

Apple introduces the iPhone 5s and 5c on September 10, 2013.

PS4

Nov 15, 2013

Sony releases the PS4 November 15, 2013.

XBox One

Nov 22, 2013

Microsoft releases the Xbox One November 22, 2013.

Apple Watch

Apr 24, 2014

Apple officially releases the Apple Watch on April 24, 2015.

iPhone 6, 6+, Apple watch

Sep 9, 2014

Apple introduces the new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch September 9, 2014.

WIndows 10

Jul 29, 2015

Microsoft releases Windows 10 on July 29, 2015.

Surface Book

Oct 26, 2015

Microsoft releases the Surface Book on October 26, 2015.