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The creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) by the U.S. Department of Defense, later known for its role in the development of the ARPANET -
ARPANET, the first operational packet-switching network, is activated, connecting four universities: UCLA, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah -
Ray Tomlinson sends the first email on ARPANET, marking the beginning of email as a communication tool. -
Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn develop the TCP/IP protocol, which would become the standard for internet communication. -
The Domain Name System (DNS) is created, allowing users to use human-readable addresses (like www.example.com) instead of numeric IP addresses. -
The first commercial domain, symbolics.com, is registered by Symbolics Inc., a computer manufacturer. -
Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web as a system to enable the sharing of information over the Internet, using hypertext. -
Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN, creates the first website, "info.cern.ch," marking the birth of the web. -
The Mosaic web browser, developed by Marc Andreessen, is released. It helps popularize the World Wide Web with its user-friendly interface. -
Yahoo!, one of the first popular internet directories and search engines, is founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo. -
Microsoft releases Windows 95, which includes Internet Explorer, bringing the internet to millions of new users. -
Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, revolutionizing search engines with its PageRank algorithm. -
Wikipedia, a free, user-editable online encyclopedia, is launched by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. -
Facebook is launched by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates, initially as a platform for college students, before expanding globally. -
YouTube is launched by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, providing a platform for users to upload and share videos. -
Apple releases the iPhone, significantly increasing mobile internet usage and pushing forward the mobile web revolution. -
Google releases the Chrome web browser, providing a faster and more streamlined browsing experience. -
Instagram, a photo-sharing social media app, is launched, eventually growing into a global platform for content sharing and social interaction. -
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopts net neutrality rules, requiring internet service providers to treat all data on the internet equally. -
Web 3.0 (the decentralized web) begins to gain traction, with a focus on blockchain technology, decentralized applications (dApps), and user control over data. -
The internet sees a significant rise in the use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, transforming how users interact with content online.