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TIm Berners-Lee pubishes the first paper proposing the idea for a "hypertext database with typed links". The world launches. It was the first dial -up internet Service Provider availible to the public in the U.S.
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Tim Berners-Lee publishes the code for his system.
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Tim Berners-Lee posts the first summary of the WWW to the alt-hypertext newsgroup.
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Mosiac, the first commerically popular graphical web browser, is announced. There are 130 websites. AOL begins mailing software discs to potential users the year after the company goes public. Within two years, it has 1 million subscribers.
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Time Berners-Lee founds the World Wide Web Consortium. Geocities is born, allowing anyone to create their own Web page. EarthLink, a popular dial-up internet service provider, launches. Netscape Navigator launches. It became the most widely used web browser of the late 1990s before being eclipsed by Internet Explorer and others.
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Amazon.com launches as an online bookstore. It didn't turn a profit until 2001. CNN.com makes its debut.
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There are 230,000 websites.
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The web has 1 million websites. The first popular social network, Sixdegrees.com, launches. At its peak, the site had 3.5 million members. The Google.com domain is registered. founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporated Google one year later.
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Peer-to-peer file sharing service Napster makes its debut, allowing millions to download free music online. It became an instant sensation - and the bane of the music industry - before legal challenges fiorced it to shut down in 2001.
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Google indexes 1 billion web pages. 361 million people are using the internet around the world.
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Apple launches iTunes, which become the world's biggest music retailer and ushers in a digital-content revolution.
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Social network Friendster launches.
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Social network MySpace launches.
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Social network Faceboook launches.
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Video sharing site Youtube is launched. Google buys the company in 2006.
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Micro-blogging service Twitter launches.
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Apple releases the iPhone. It'the first commercially successful smartphone with access to the full web through its browser, mobile safari.
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The first public draft of HTML 5 is published.
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An estimated 2.7 billion people are using the Internet around the world.