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Paul Baran of RAND Corporation and Donald Davies of the National Physical Laboratory (UK) each independently developed the concept of packet switching, a key technology that underpins the internet. -
The ARPANET, which stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, is established by the U.S. Department of Defense's ARPA. The first message is sent between computers at UCLA and Stanford. ARPANET is the precursor to the modern internet. -
Ray Tomlinson implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system. It was the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to ARPANET. -
The first spam email is sent. -
Domain Name System, commonly known as DNS, is introduced, allowing for the use of readable domain names (like ".com" or ".org") instead of numerical IP addresses. -
The World Wide Web becomes available to the public. The first website is created at CERN. -
The term “surfing the internet”
is coined and popularized. -
The first White House website went live under the Clinton administration in 1994. -
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Internet Explorer is launched in 1995. Created by Thomas Reardon, for many years it was the dominant browser in terms of usage, mainly because it was the default browser on Windows machines, the most widely used desktop operating system. -
The Dancing Baby, a 3D animation, becomes one of the first viral videos. -
Nokia releases the Nokia 9000 Communicator, the first cellphone with internet capabilities. -
Google is officially launched and revolutionizes search engines. -
MP3 downloading service Napster launches, overloading high-speed networks in college dormitories. Many colleges ban the service, and it is later shut down for enabling the illegal sharing of music files. -
The dot-com bubble bursts, leading to the collapse of many early internet companies. -
Microsoft launches Xbox Live, its online multiplayer gaming service, revolutionizing online gaming. -
President George W. Bush signs the CAN-SPAM Act into law, establishing the first national standards for the sending of commercial email. -
Facebook is founded, leading to the rise of social media. MySpace and LinkedIn had launched earlier but Facebook gained enormous popularity. -
YouTube is founded, revolutionizing online video sharing. The first video, an explanation of what’s cool about elephants, is uploaded by co-founder Jawed Karim on April 23. Google acquires the company a year later. -
The first iPhone is released, making mobile internet widely accessible and leading to the rise of mobile apps. -
TikTok was launched. It became one of the world's most popular social media platforms, using recommendation algorithms to connect content creators with new audiences. In April 2020, TikTok surpassed two billion mobile downloads worldwide. -
The COVID-19 pandemic leads to a surge in internet usage, remote work, online learning, and streaming services. -
Advancements in AI and machine learning are integrated into many online services, including chatbots and recommendation systems.
