NASA’s mission to Mars becomes a massive web event, with millions of people logging on to see the first high-res images of the Martian surface. Part of the 18 Internet Evolution Facts: The 1997 Edition… Read More »The Mars Pathfinder Landing
The search engine Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) launches, allowing users to search using natural language questions rather than just keywords. Part of the 17 Internet Evolution Facts: The 1996 Edition archive. HistoricallyVerified
Digital Equipment Corporation launches AltaVista, the first search engine to allow natural language queries. It remains the king of search until the arrival of Google. Part of the 16 Internet Evolution Facts: The 1995 Edition archive.… Read More »The Launch of Altavista
Opera removes its banner ads and registration fee requirements, making the browser completely free. It forces competitor browsers to innovate on speed and tab management. Part of the 20 Internet Evolution Facts: The 2005 Edition… Read More »The Release of the Opera Browser for Free
Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake begin building an e-commerce platform after trying to launch an online snowboard store. It would grow to democratize independent digital retail. Part of the 18 Internet Evolution Facts:… Read More »The Launch of Shopify (Founding)
Google introduces an advertising program that allows independent website publishers to serve targeted automatic text, image, and video ads. It funds the independent web. Part of the 16 Internet Evolution Facts: The 2003 Edition archive.… Read More »The Launch of Google AdSense
Cable and DSL connections double in residential homes across developed nations. The shift permanently kills the dial-up connection sound for millions. Part of the 16 Internet Evolution Facts: The 2002 Edition archive. HistoricallyVerified
Websites like Newgrounds and Homestar Runner achieve massive viral status. They prove interactive vector animation is the web’s dominant creative medium. Part of the 16 Internet Evolution Facts: The 2001 Edition archive. HistoricallyVerified
Bob Parsons founds Jomax Technologies, later renamed GoDaddy, simplifying the process of domain registration for small businesses. Part of the 18 Internet Evolution Facts: The 1997 Edition archive. HistoricallyVerified
The W3C begins work on ensuring the web is accessible to people with disabilities, a crucial step in making the internet a universal human resource. Part of the 17 Internet Evolution Facts: The 1996 Edition… Read More »The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)