The Chronology of New Media

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Note: These entries have been loosely complied from hundreds of online and print sources. Make independent confirmation and proper citation before using any of this material for professional or academic purposes.

Complete Listing of All Events

c. 3000 B.C.

Chinese entertainers use firelight to project silhouettes of puppets onto a screen. Fundamentally, movies and video representations throughout all future technologies rely on this same principle: casting light onto a flat surface to communicate visually.

165

Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy proves the phenomena of rapidly moving still pictures appearing as one moving image. This idea had originally been conceived by the Roman poet Lucretius in 65 B.C.

793

Caliph Haroun-el-Raschid employs Chinese workmen to found a paper factory in Baghdad.

c. 1450

Johann Gutenberg invents movable type, allowing mass production of documents.

1771

England's Parliament formally concedes the right of journalists to cover its proceedings.

1776

Americans spread the cause of the revolution by distributing printed copies of the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

1791

The First Amendment of the United State Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

1834

Charles Babbage designs the first automatic digital computer, the Analytical Engine. (A working model is not built until 1991.)

1837

Samuel Morse debuts the telegraph, connecting Philadelphia and Washington D.C. and revolutionizing long-distance communication.

1848

Six U.S. newspapers pool their resources to establish The Associated Press. The partnership is designed to defray the costs of sending news via telegraph.

1858

North America and Europe are temporarily linked by transatlantic telegraph cable, but the connection is not permanent until 1866.

1875

Despite objections from Western Union, The Associated Press leases its own telegraph line from New York to Washington, D.C.

1876

Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.

1877

Thomas Ava Edison invents the Phonograph. Two years later he invents the light bulb.

1880

While tabulating the 1880 U.S. census, statistician Herman Hollerith invents an electro-mechanical machine that reads holes in perforated cards.

1889

Fusajiro Yamauchi begins manufacturing "Hanafuda" playing cards in Kyoto, Japan. Over the next four generations, the Yamauchi family business will evolve from playing cards into electronic games, becoming the modern Nintendo Company Ltd.

1896

Herman Hollerith founds the Tabulating Machine Company, which later becomes International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

1900s

Nickelodeons become popular in the United States.

1901

Guglielmo Marconi perfects a wireless radio system that transmits Morse code over the Atlantic Ocean.

1903

German scientist Arthur Korn invents the fax machine.
The Great Train Robbery becomes the first feature film.

1912

David Sarnoff, a Marconi wireless operator in New York, receives the SOS from the sinking H.M.S. Titanic. (Sarnoff later goes on to create RCA and its spinoff, NBC.)

1914

Teletype is introduced; journalism no longer requires knowledge of Morse Code.

1915

Transcontinental telephone service is established between New York and San Francisco.

1920

KDKA-AM radio signs on the air in Pittsburgh to becomes the world's first commercial radio station.

1922

Time becomes the first weekly news magazine.

1926

J.L. Baird demonstrates the first practical television system based on designs created in 1884 by German scientist Paul Nipkow. Baird debuts the first color TV two years later.
NBC becomes the first radio network.

1927

Philo Farnsworth transmits the first electronic TV picture. Bell Telephone Laboratories tests wireless TV broadcasts.

1928

WGY in Schenectady, New York, becomes the first experimental television station.

1935

Germany begins airing regular public TV broadcasts.

1936

German aircraft engineer Konrad Zuse creates the first binary computer, the Z1 mechanical calculator.
Life becomes the first American magazine using photographs.

1937-1942

At Iowa State University, professor John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry develop the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, or ABC, the first electronic digital computer.

1937

While the Hindenburg explodes in flames above Lakehurst, New Jersey, Herbert Morrison delivers the first U.S. coast-to-coast radio broadcast ("Oh, the humanity").

1938

Edward R. Murrow, later dubbed "the father of broadcast journalism," begins making war reports from Europe for CBS.

1939

Konrad Zuse completes the Z2, the first fully-functioning electro-mechanical computer.

1941

NBC and CBS launch commercial television stations in New York City.

1945

Vannevar Bush writes "As We May Think," an article in August's The Atlantic Monthly, describing a photo-electrical-mechanical device called Memex (from memory extension). Bush's device in theory could make and follow links between documents called microfiche.
On Dec. 5, Konrad Zuse completes the Z3, the first electronic, fully programmable computer. A year later Zuse writes Plankalkul, the first algorithmic programming language, which Zuse later uses to create a chess-playing program.

1946

John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert develop ENIAC I (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator), a massive computer using vacuum tubes to perform calculations for the U.S. military.

1947

AT&T proposes idea of cellular phones to the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC responds by limiting frequencies for only 23 possible phone conversations, so AT&T drops research for decades.

1948

The transistor is invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

1950s

Computer technology is used in flight simulators, arguable the first application of computer interactivity.

1951

The first U.S. coast-to-coast television broadcast takes place as President Harry S Truman addresses the opening of the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco.

1953

In order to raise funds, Stanford University in California starts leasing nearby land to high-tech companies. Varian Associates puts up the first building in Palo Alto's new Stanford Industrial Park, part of the area soon to become known as "Silicon Valley."

1958

Willy Higinbotham builds a computer-generated tennis-like game which almost becomes the first video game, but the idea fails to gain popular support.

1959

Debut of the integrated circuit.

1960s

Doug Engelbart prototypes an "oNLine System" (NLS) which does browsing among linked documents, editing and email. He invents the mouse for helping perform these tasks.
Influenced by Engelbart and Bush, Ted Nelson begins work about a form of non-sequential writing he calls hypertext. Nelson also imagines Xanadu, a global chain of public access "Silver Stands" which enable people to pull information from hypertext documents all over the world.

1962

Launch of Telstar, the first orbital communications satellite.
MIT programmers use a DEC PDP-1 (the world's first minicomputer) to create Spacewar, the first video game. Soon similar versions of the game are created on campuses around the nation.

1964

Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, predicts the number of transistors that can be built on a piece of silicon will double every 18 months. This axiom becomes known as Moore's Law.

1965

IBM introduces the word processor.

1966

On Sept. 8, Star Trek debuts on NBC.
Ralph Baer's Odyssey, produced by Magnavox, becomes the first commercial computer game.

1969

Xerox PARC founded.
First use of computer-generated graphics in a commercial, an ad for IBM.
Alan Kay at Xerox develops the graphical user interface (GUI).
Spin-off technologies from NASA's moon mission include laptop computers, small solid-state lasers, cordless power tools, solar power cells, liquid crystals, and Tang.
And now, for something completely different: Monty Python's Flying Circus debuts on BBC-1.

1971

Ted Hoff invents the microprocessor.
First edition of the UNIX operating system released from Bell Labs. (Various varieties of UNIX follow.)
Computer engineer Ray Tomlinson sends the first e-mail message and designates "@" as the locator symbol for electronic addresses.

1972

Nolan Bushnell founds Atari and introduces Pong, the first modern commercial video game. (In 1976, Bushnell sells Atari for $28 million. A year later he opens the first Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant, which he also later sells.)

1974

MITS releases the first successful personal computer, the Altair. Elsewhere, the 64K RAM mouse-equipped Alto is developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The Alto would later inspire Steve Jobs at Apple Computers to create the Macintosh.
Motion Pictures Product Group forms.

1975

Bill Gates and Paul Allen adapt BASIC to run on the Altair 8800 and sell the interpreter to MITS. By November, Gates and Allen found a new company called Micro-soft.
The term "data highway" is used in some articles to describe global networking.
Sony Betamax video cassette recorder released.

1976

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computers and introduce the Apple II, the first PC to use color graphics.

1977

AT&T and Bell Labs construct a prototype cellular phone system; public trials happen a year later.
JVC VHS videocassettes introduced.
Atari Video Computer System (VCS/2600) released.
The first Star Wars movie debuts.

1978

Taito's Space Invaders coin-operated videogame sweeps Japan; Bally Midway releases the game in the United States.
Video laser disc introduced.

1979

On April 12, Kevin MacKenzie suggests to the MsgGroup they start using text to suggest emotions, like ;-) for meaning something is meant tongue-in-cheek. Despite an initial poor reaction, emoticons become widely used.
USENET and newsgroup protocols are created by Tom Truscott, Jim Ellis and Steve Bellovin.
Tokyo becomes the market for the first commercial cellular telephone system.

1980

Tim Berners-Lee writes a notebook program, "Enquire-Within-Upon-Everything," which allows links to be made between arbitrary nodes. Each node has a title, a type, and a list of bidirectional typed links.
Sony Walkman introduced, changing music into a more exclusive/singular experience.
IBM licenses DOS from Microsoft.
Namco's Pac-Man hits coin-operated arcades worldwide.
Ted Turner's Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.

1981

IBM introduces the IBM Personal Computer on August 12; the single disk drive, 16k RAM PC sells for about $1,600. This PC debut's MS-DOS 1.0, a new operating system from Microsoft.
Motorola and American Radio telephone test a cellular phone system in the Washington/Baltimore area.
Adam Osbourne completes the first portable computer, the Osbourne 1, weighing 24 pounds at a cost of $1,795. However, although the unit sells well at first, Osbourne openly promotes the power of his company's next generation computer. Consumers become anxious for the Osbourne 2 and opt to wait for it, causing sales of the Osbourne 1 to dry up and put Osbourne out of business. This sort of suicidal marketing becomes known in the technology business as the Osbourne Effect.
MTV debuts.

1982

Gannett Corp. begins publishing USA Today, the first newspaper marketed specifically to a nationwide audience.
Lotus announces 1-2-3 for the IBM PC.
Disney releases the movie Tron, featuring groundbreaking computer-generated images throughout most of the movie.
Atari develops the data glove.
In the United States, the FCC finally authorizes commercial cellular service.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is established at the protocol suite for ARPANET.
Sun Microsystems is incorporated with just four employees.

1983

IBM introduces the XT, an "extended" PC with a built-in 10 MB hard drive and 128K RAM.
Apple debuts a new computer called Lisa, a forerunner to the Macintosh.
The movie WarGames popularizes the "hacker hero" character.
Compact Discs debut as a popular format for music albums, computer data storage, and multimedia.

1984

Apple Computers buys airtime during Super Bowl XVII to preview its next new personal computer, the Macintosh. The 30-second commercial, directed by Ridley Scott, is broadcast only once but becomes a milestone in television advertising history.
The first Macintosh released later in January features a 3.5-inch floppy drive, 128k of RAM, a built-in 9-inch black and white screen and speakers - no internal hard drive. A 512K Mac is released in September.
In December, Apple gives free Macintosh computers to Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol and other strategic celebrities.
Paul Mockapetris of USC releases proposals for the Domain Name System to route traffic over networks.
William Gibson's book Neuromancer wins several science fiction awards and puts the term "cyberspace" into popular use.

1985

On May 24, Quantum Computer Services is incorporated in Delaware. The company will later change its name to America Online.
On Nov. 20, Microsoft ships Windows 1.0, a DOS shell which looks very similar to the new Macintosh "desktop" GUI (graphic user interface).
Apple introduces a laser printer with built-in PostScript controller.
In September, Steve Jobs resigns from Apple to form NeXT.
The Commodore Amiga debuts as the first true multimedia computer.
Fed up with current versions of Unix, Richard Stallman publishes the "GNU Manifesto" calling for "anticopyrighted" (later called open source) programs.
Ninendo Entertainment System (NES) comes to the United States.
Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into The Future movie airs on British television. (An American TV series on ABC debuts the following year.)
Attributed to Nathan J. Mehl: Around this time a new user disrupts a text-based online adventure game by continually submitting the word "SPAM" to other players. The story of "that asshole who spammed us" gets passed around the Internet and eventually becomes associated with the type of "junk" e-mail which clutters up users' accounts. The original joke stems from a Monty Python comedy sketch in which Vikings loudly sing the word "Spam" over and over to drown out all conversation in a restaurant specializing in the canned meat product. (Note: Other sources date the "spamming" of this online game as sometime in 1991.)

1986

Intel ships the 80386 CPU.
The Academic American Encyclopedia becomes the first CD-ROM encyclopedia.
Larry Wall creates the Perl scripting language to create reports for his boss. Perl later becomes the dominant Web scripting language used throughout the 1990s on many Web servers.

1987

Apple announces the Mac II with 1 MB of RAM.
U.S. Robotics unveils a 9600 bps modem which sells for $495.
Apple Human Interface Guidelines: The Apple Desktop Interface is published.
3M introduces a 2MB 3.5-inch floppy disk.
Andrew S. Tanenbaum creates Minix, an open-source clone of Unix.
CompuServe introduces the GIF image file format.
Apple debuts Hypercard, Bill Atkinson's hypertext-linking multimedia program.
Adobe Illustrator released.

1988

Apple sues Microsoft for copyright infringement of its OS GUI. Courts later side with Microsoft.
Starting on Nov. 3, Robert Tappan Morris's self-replicating Internet Worm infects servers all over the world.
Macromind (later renamed Macromedia) releases Director.

1989

Tim Berners-Lee writes "Information Management: A Proposal" and circulates it for comment at CERN.
MCI mail and Compuserv create the first relays between the Internet and a commercial e-mail carrier.
In September, Quantum Computer Services launches a new service called "America Online" available for Macintosh and Apple II users.

1990

Tim Berners-Lee creates a hypertext GUI (graphic user interface) browser and editor under a program he calls "WorldWideWeb." (Rejected names for this project include Information Mesh, Mine of Information, and Information Mine.) A demonstrable WWW program is working by Christmas.
Mitch Kapor founds the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a free expression action group.
Mike Godwin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation makes a memetic observation: The longer a Usenet discussion grows, the more likely it becomes someone will make a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler. This axiom becomes known as Godwin's Law.
Adobe Photoshop is released.

1991

The first crude WWW browsers are released over the Internet.
In February, Quantum Computer Services launches a DOS version of its America Online service.
In September, Quantum officially changes the name of its business to America Online.
In October, Microsoft demonstrates Windows NT to the public at COMDEX.
Also in October, Linus Torvalds posts the first version of his Linux OS, available for free over the Internet.
Adobe Premiere is released.

1992

AOL goes public on Nasdaq.
Campus-wide e-mail and Internet accounts begin using SLIP (modem) access to the Internet.
Apple's QuickTime digital video technology debuts.

1993

America Online launches a Windows version of its online service in January.
On April 30, CERN's directors declare WWW technology will be freely usable by anyone with no fees being payable to CERN.
In August, Windows NT 3.1 is released.
In November, Mosaic 1.0, a graphical WWW browser created by Wisconsin native Marc Andreessen, is released.
Intel introduces the Pentium processor.
Adobe Acrobat is released.
Wired magazine begins publishing.

1994

The dot-com gold rush begins; markets begins an unprecedented climb fueled partly due to increased efficiency and partly due to hype about the Internet's potential.
Marc Andreessen and colleagues leave NCSA in March to form Mosaic Communications Corp. The company is soon renamed Netscape Communications.
Stanford graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo create Yahoo! to catalog Web sites. Yahoo! incorporates in March 1995 and goes public in April 1996.
On August 16, AOL reaches 1 million users.
In October, Tim Berners-Lee founds the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
By December, Netscape Navigator 1.0 is released to the public.
During this year, the Web edges out telnet as the second most popular service on the Internet (e-mail remains first).
The videogame Doom motivates many home PC users to upgrade in order to play the game.
GNN and Hotwired being putting banner ads on their Web sites.
Broderbund releases the CD-ROM game Myst which goes on to sell more than 6.3 million copies.
Apple announces plans to make PowerMacs based on the PowerPC chip.

1995

Netscape Navigator 1.1 released in April.
Also in April, the first public release of the Apache Web server is introduced. The software is soon the most popular Web server on the Internet.
On May 23, Sun Microsystem's Java is launched as a cross-platform programming language.
Internet Explorer 1.0, Microsoft's first WWW browser, is released in August and is soon followed in November by IE version 2.0.
Windows 95 is released on Aug. 24, causing consumer riots at software stores nationwide.
In December, Digital Equipment Corp. creates the Alta Vista WWW search engine.
Also in December, Bill Gates announces Microsoft strategy is shifting to focus on the Internet.
RealAudio introduces streaming audio to the Web; streaming video soon follows.
Disney and Pixar make Toy Story, the first feature-length movie totally comprised by computer graphics. (The 77-minute film takes four years to make and 800,000 machine hours to render.)
Macromedia begins marketing "Shockwave-enabled" software for creating Web-friendly content.
Rasmus Lerdorf creates a script on his Web page which leads others to create the PHP scripting language (from "Personal Home Page").
Sony Playstation game system introduced.
Jakob Nielsen begins posting his Alertbox column on the Web (www.useit.com).

1996

In February, President Clinton signs the Telecommunications Act of 1996 mandating new television sets must be equipped with V-Chips. The signal-blocking chips will allow parents to screen-out programs rated by the shows' sexual, indecent and violent content.
Netscape Navigator 2.0, which introduces HTML frames, released in March.
In April, JenniCAM.org debuts when Dickinson College economics student Jennifer Ringley begins posting pictures of herself on her Web site. The pictures are later automated to update from cameras in her home every few minutes.
On July 17, TWA Flight 800 crashes off the coast of NYC's Long Island. Richard Russell, a retired United Airlines pilot living in Florida, sends out a hoax e-mail message saying a U.S. Navy missile is to blame. ABC reporter Pierre Salinger suffers disgrace by later reporting the story from the e-mail and insisting "the truth must come out."
Electronics companies Sony and Phillips debut WebTV as a joint venture.
Netscape Navigator 3.0 and Internet Explorer 3.0 are both released in August.
AOL version 3.0 for Windows launches.
Opera, another WWW browser for Windows, released in December.
MCI upgrades its Internet backbone by adding 13,000 ports and bringing the effective speed from 155 to 622 Mbps.
U.S. Robotics introduces the Palm Pilot.
In December, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warns the so-called new economy may be overvalued on "irrational exuberance," but the dot-com gold rush continues anyway.
Adobe PageMill is released.
Internet 2 creates a network reserved for universities.
Debut of MSNBC, a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC.
Affordable digital cameras become widely available in the United States.
WRAL-HD in Raleigh, North Carolina, becomes the first commercial high-definition TV station in the United States.
DVD video is introduced.
In late December, Apple Computers announces plans to acquire NeXT; Steve Jobs returns to his former company.

1997

In June, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) finalizes the initial standard for wireless LANs, IEEE 802.11. This standard will later evolve as the WiFi movement gains popularity.
In August, former Silicon Graphics executives Michael Ramsay and James Barton found TiVo Inc. to market a personal video recorder service.
In September, the Web site Slashdot launches "news for nerds."
In October, the U.S. Justice Department sues Microsoft, alleging it violated the 1994 consent decree by forcing computer makers to sell its Internet browser as a condition of selling Windows software.
In December, programmer Jorn Barger coins the term "web log." By early 1999, the term is shortened to just "blog" by blogger Peter Merholz.
Macromedia buys FutureWave Software and begins producing the company's FutureSplash Animator program under a new name, Macromedia Flash.
Microsoft buys control of WebTV.
3Com buys U.S. Robotics and takes over production of the Palm Pilot.
Mosaic 3.0, the last version of this browser, released in January.
AOL opens its chat rooms to advertisers in March.
Netscape Navigator/Communicator 4.0 released in June.
America Online announces plans to acquire CompuServe Online Services.
Internet Explorer 4.0. released in October.

1998

On Feb. 2, AOL completes its acquisition of CompuServe.
On March 12, the FCC accepts the Industry Video Programming Rating System and adopts technical requirements for the V-Chip.
In May, U.S. Justice Department and state attorneys general sue Microsoft, charging it illegally thwarted competition to protect and extend its monopoly on software.
On June 15, Time magazine and CNN report about U.S. soldiers alledgedly dropping nerve gas on American defectors during the Vietnam war. The story is retracted after criticism from the U.S. military and veterans groups, many mobilized through the Internet.
On June 28, Windows 98 is released.
Netscape Navigator/Communicator 4.5 released in October.
In September, Larry Page and Sergrey Brin found Google Inc. to develop their Web search engine.
On Sept. 11, the Starr Report is released online allowing millions of Web users to read the uncensored details of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal.
In November, America Online announces plans to acquire Netscape and form a strategic partnership with Sun Microsystems.
In November, Cameron Barrett publishes Camworld.com, the first list of blog sites.
WorldCom merges with MCI Communications, Brooks Fiber Properties, and CompuServe in deals totalling more than $42 billion.
Apple iMac released, creating a fashion for all types of small electronics. Phones, paper shredders, clothing irons and more gadgets become available sporting blue-tinted translucent plastic covers.
Adobe ImageReady released.

1999

In January, Northwestern University freshman Shawn Fanning develops the original Napster application for sharing MP3 files. Napster Inc. is founded in May.
In March, The Matrix revives the model of science-fiction virtual reality with innovative special effects, lots of firearms, lots of martial arts and lots black leather outfits.
In August, Pyra Labs launches Blogger, a service which helps bring blogging mainstream and vastly expands online self-publishing.
On Nov. 5, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues preliminary findings declaring Microsoft a monopoly whose actions are "stifling innovation" and hurting consumers.
America Online announces plans to acquire MovieFone, a movie listing and ticketing service.
Internet Explorer 5.0 released in March.
On March 9, during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Al Gore says: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Blitzer never questions Gore's statement during the interview, but later many others do - Gore was a 21-year-old law student when funding for ARPANET was commissioned.
Sony launches Everquest, a fantasy adventure game played online.
Five U.S. cities reach 50% Internet penetration: Washington, D.C. (59.9%); San Francisco (56.1%); Austin (55.5%); Seattle/Tacoma (53.3%); and Salt Lake City (50.0%).
Film producers use a documentary-like Web site to build up hype for The Blair Witch Project movie.
By year's end, AOL has topped 20 million subscribers.

2000

Despite projections of doom, the Y2K bug based on year date limitations in old software actually causes few problems worldwide.
In January, America Online and Time Warner announce plans to merge.
In March, the dot-com crash begins; the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index falls 37% from March to May.
In April, Ananova.com launches a lightweight British news site using "the world's first virtual newscaster," a talking animation of a green-haired woman.
On June 7, Judge Jackson orders the breakup of Microsoft Corp. into two companies since the company had "proved untrustworthy in the past." Bill Gates immediately vows to appeal.
On July 26, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issues an injunction against Napster Inc., halting the peer-to-peer trading of MP3 music files. (Several Napster-like clone sites are running strong the next day.)
On Sept. 14, Windows Millennium Edition becomes available in stores.
In November, Netscape 6.0 is released.
Sony releases Playstation 2.

2001

Business reviews of 2000 confirm the dot-com gold rush is over: webmergers.com reports one-third of all dot-com companies shut down in 2000, most in the fourth quarter and most in the B2C (business-to-consumer) sector.
On Jan. 11, AOL and Time Warner complete their merger.
On Feb. 22, Glenn Fleishman writes in New York Times Circuits about public space wireless ISPs. The WiFi movement soon goes mainstream among consumers.
In March, Apple releases the first consumer version of Mac OS X.
On April 12, Peter Shipley coins the term "wardriving" in reference to finding wireless access points by driving around with a WiFi-enable device.
On April 23, Intel introduces its Pentium 4 chip.
In June, Nielsen/NetRatings reports more than 42 million U.S. office workers have Internet access at work, an increase of 23% since the previous year.
On June 27, a U.S. federal appeals court throws out the antitrust judgment against Microsoft, citing errors by the Judge Jackson.
On July 2, Napster officially shuts down. The brand is revived by Roxio to relaunch as a legal online music store in the fall of 2003.
On Sept. 11, terrorists destroy the World Trade Center in New York and damage the Pentagon; another hijacked passenger jet crashes in Pennsylvania. High traffic from users looking for online coverage cripples some major news Web sites.
Beginning in October, postal letters and packages tainted with anthrax are shipped to news organizations in New York and Florida, while similar cases involve government offices Washington, D.C. A photo editor in Florida and three postal workers die from anthrax exposure.
In October, Internet Explorer 6.0 is released.
On Oct. 2, several entertainment industry companies file suit against Kazaa, attempting to shut the file-sharing service down as had happened to Napster. Within days, Kazaa restructures its business operations to become a joint venture by companies operating from different countries, making effective prosecution almost impossible.
On Oct. 16, AOL launches Radio@AOL.
On Oct. 23, Apple introduces its iPod MP3 player.
On Oct. 25, Microsoft releases the retail version of Windows XP.
On Nov. 1, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approves a settlement deal in the antitrust case between Microsoft, the Justice Department, and nine states.
In November, Microsoft joins the game console business with the release of its XBox system.

2002

In January, Apple introduces a redesigned iMac sporting a flat-panel display mounted on a swivel arm.
In February, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped and murdered by Islamic militants in Pakistan. The killers release to the media a video presentation which includes graphic scenes of Pearl's execution. U.S. authorities are unsuccessful in limiting the video's spread across the Internet.
On March 11, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission begins questioning Worldcom about the company's accounting procedures. Within months, scandals rock the firm, civil fraud charges are filed against senior officers, and trade of Worldcom's stock is frozen. In July, Worldcom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In May, Microsoft announces plans to change its bulk licensing system from one-time upgrade charges to on-going annual fees.
On June 25, Matt Jones coins the phrase "warchalking" for using hobo signs to mark local WiFi connections discovered through wardriving.
On July 24, AOL surpasses 35 million subscribers.
In August, Apple releases "Jaguar," aka OS X 10.2, an upgrade to Mac OS X.
On Dec. 27, eBay bidding for the small town of Bridgeville, California, closes at $1.8 million.
George Lucas' Star Wars: Attack of the Clones becomes the first major movie entirely shot with digital cameras.
Sales of DVD players surpass VCR sales for the first time. Also a first, revenues from videogame sales surpass movie box office revenues.
The open-source movement gains support overseas when several governments in Europe and Asia consider adopting Linux as their national bureaucracies' operating system.
Layoffs continue throughout the computer industry.

2003

In January, AOL co-founder Steve Case announces he will resign as chairman of AOL Time Warner. Since its parent companies merged, the corporation has been struggling to meet revenue projections and investor expectations.
On Jan. 15, Google launches the beta version of its Froogle shopping search engine.
On Jan. 20, a MORI Research report to the Online Publishers Association shows how "dayparting" - changing content by time of day - helps maintain Web site traffic and audience.
On Jan. 25, the "Slammer" worm spreads to infect Microsoft SQL servers all around the world.
On Feb. 1, NASA's space shuttle Columbia disintegrates upon reentry over Texas.
On Feb. 15, Google buys Pyra Labs' Blogger.
On Feb. 19, Overture buys Alta Vista and FAST Search in a move to compete against Google.
On March 6, SCO Group Inc. sues IBM claiming infringement of Linux code previously considered open source. The move sparks ongoing legal battles and industry-wide debate for UNIX and open source developers.
In March, U.S.-led forces attack Iraq. Several journalists are allowed to report while "embedded" with military units. Veteran journalist Peter Arnett is fired by his American employers following an interview he does for Iraqi television. Geraldo Rivera is briefly suspended from covering the war when U.S. military commanders deem the reporter is revealling too much tactical information. By the time U.S. forces seize Baghdad in mid-April, two Western journalists haved died reporting from the battlefields.
In March, the Truth in Domain Names Act is introduced in Congress to combat the use of misleading domain names redirecting users to pornographic Web sites.
In March, AOL Time Warner limits access the Web versions of several of its magazines, allowing only print version subscribers to read content online.
On April 9, the Wall Street Journal reports Worldcom plans to change its name to MCI.
In April, Madonna attempts to thwart pirating of her "American Life" album by posting misleading MP3 files online featuring the pop star obscenely scolding would-be listeners. Within days, a hacker replaces the main page of madonna.com, the official site, with multiple download links to the album's songs and a marriage proposal to Morgan Webb, host of a gaming show on TechTV.
In May, the Federal Communications Commission considers relaxing media ownership rules to allow larger companies to own more properties in each market.
On May 7, Internet Explorer program manager Brian Countryman says Microsoft will no longer support IE as a stand-alone product separate from Windows upgrades.
In May, Apple releases an upgrade to its iTunes software allowing users to purchase individual songs for 99 cents each. The service generates more than $1 million in revenue its first week.
On May 29, Microsoft announces it will pay $750 million to AOL Time Warner in settlement of the companies' feud over their Web browser products, Internet Explorer and Netscape. The two firms also announce plans to partner on future joint ventures.
In June, Recording Industry Association of America begins filing lawsuits against hundreds of individuals accused of illegally sharing copyrighted music files over the Internet.
In June, Google broadens its offering of Google AdSense to serve keyword-based text ads on other Web sites.
In July, the Federal Bureau of Investigation proposes new rules to the FCC which would allow for new Internet eavesdropping.
On July 14, Yahoo! announces plans to buy Overture in a move to make the company's portal product compete directly against Google.com.
In July, Friendster.com surpasses 1 million registered users; several other social network Web sites claim rapid growth.
In September, the U.S. House of Representatives cuts funding for the Terrorism Information Awareness project which would have allowed the Pentagon to assemble computerized dossiers on Americans.
On Sept. 15, VeriSign's Site Finder program makes non-existent .com and .net domains redirect to the company's own site. Pressure from critics and threats from ICANN bring VeriSign to reverse the move after a few days.
On Sept. 19, the AOL Time Warner board votes to drop "AOL" from the corporation's name.
In October, two researchers at UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business report 14 million U.S. tech jobs are at risk of being outsourced to overseas markets. Among those companies already outsourcing to India are Dell, EDS, General Electric and Microsoft.
On Oct. 24, Apple releases "Panther," aka OS X 10.3, an upgrade to Mac OS X.
On Nov. 1, the Internet Tax Freedom Act expires, ending a five-year ban on imposing taxes on Internet access.
On Nov. 6, a U.S. federal appeals court renews review of the Microsoft antitrust case, although no decision on final action is made.
On Nov. 12, U.S. legislators propose the Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act which would create a penalty of up to three years in prison for file sharers.
On Nov. 17, the "Florida Update" of Google's search algorithm makes pronounced changes to its keyword search result listings.
On Dec. 3, the National Cyber Security Summit brings several tech industry leaders to meet with Department of Homeland Security officials on ways to improve national security through the Internet.
On Dec. 16, President Bush signs into law the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, better known as the "Can-Spam" bill.
According to the Year-End Google Zeitgeist, the most popular keyword queries in 2003 were "britney spears," "harry potter," "matrix," "shakira," "david beckham," "50 cent," "iraq," "lord of the rings," "kobe bryant," and "tour de france." Among news queries, top keywords were "iraq," "laci peterson," "kobe bryant," "bertrand cantat," "riaa," "jessica lynch," "michael jackson," "elizabeth smart," "korea," and "dixie chicks."

2004

On Jan. 1, the "Can-Spam" Act goes into effect.
On Feb. 1, Janet Jackson's left breast is exposed while performing during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII. The event is reported as the most replayed moment ever measured by TiVo Inc.
On Feb. 18, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean ends his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Going into the primaries, Dean was reported as the front-runner in large part due to record-setting campaign fund-raising via the Web and grassroots support from hundreds of bloggers. Dean failed to win a single state primary or caucus.
On Feb. 20, Apple introduces the iPod Mini, a smaller version of its MP3 player.

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