ARPA
The US Government sets up the Advanced Research Projects Agency in response to Sputnik launch. ARPA soon develops a successful satellite and starts working on computer networking and communications technology.
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Modem
Bell Laboratories invents the modem which converts digital signals into analogue signals and back. Computers can now communicate over telephone lines.
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Intergalactic Network
J.C.R. Licklider writes about his idea for an 'Intergalactic Network' of computers. He becomes head of computer research at ARPA.
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ASCII
ASCII is a system for representing alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers) in binary code (0s and 1s). It becomes the standard and now computers from different manufacturers can communicate with each other.
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Paul Baran invents packet switching
Packet switching is a technology for breaking messages into small chunks and routing them over a distributed network. Messages can reach their destination intact even when part of the network is damaged.
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ARPANET
The earliest internet, ARPANET, links together the networks of four US universities.
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Ray Tomlinson invents email. The @ symbol is used to separate the name from the domain.
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Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg begins. It's a volunteer effort to digitise books that are out of copyright and provide them free to the public. The collection now has over 50,000 e-books.
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TCP/IP
"Fathers of the internet" Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn invent TCP/IP and coin the word internet. TCP/IP are the internet's core communication protocols.
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Usenet
The Usenet Bulletin Board System (BBS) is introduced. Modern internet forums are based on the original BBS idea.
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First Emoticon
Smiley emoticon is used in a message posted to the computer science discussion board at Carnegie Mellon University.
Image via Carnegie Mellon University
Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is invented and makes IP addresses more human friendly. For example, wikipedia.org is easier than 208.80.154.224.
IRC
Internet Relay Chat, the forerunner to modern instant messaging apps, is introduced.
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First Internet Attack
Cornell University student Robert Morris releases the Morris Worm. The virus infects thousands of computers within hours. The source code is held at the Computer History Museum on its original floppy disk.
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Internet comes to Australia
Australia's Academic and Research Network is connected to the international internet.
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HTTP
British computer scientist Tim Berners Lee finalises HTTP - the key technology enabling the transfer of hypertext web pages.
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The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is introduced to the public, and the first ever webpage is published. The Web is made up of hypertext (HTML) documents connected to each other via hyperlinks, creating a vast information space.
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Mosaic
The Mosaic web browser is released. It is the first browser with a graphical user interface (GUI) making the web much easier to access.
Image via Advisory Group on Computer Graphics
First Web Purchase
A Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza is ordered over the internet. The original site is still live!
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eBay
Auction site eBay is launched. The first item sold is a broken laser pointer for $14.83.
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Sydney Morning Herald Online
Sydney Morning Herald launches its online edition. The image shows the home page as it appeared on January 1, 1997.
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Nokia 9000
The Nokia 9000 Communicator is released. It's the first mobile phone with internet connectivity.
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Hotmail
Hotmail is launched, the first web based email service. The name comes from HTML - HoTMaiL.
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Internet Banking
24 hour internet banking becomes available in Australia through Commonwealth Bank's NetBank.
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PayPal
Online payment system PayPal is launched, making internet transactions easier and more secure.
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Napster
The peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application allows people to swap personal music collections online. Most of the content is copyright and Napster is shut down in 2001.
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Australia gets Broadband
ADSL broadband internet is made available via Telstra and download speeds increase.
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Wikipedia
Jimmy Wales launches Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
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Skype
Skype starts offering free video calls over the internet using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology.
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Facebook is developed by Harvard college student Mark Zuckerberg as a social networking application for university students.
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Firefox
Mozilla Foundation releases the Firefox browser. The browser's open source code is publicly available.
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World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is launched. It's currently the world's most popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) with over 10 million active player accounts.
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YouTube Launches
Me at the Zoo is YouTube's first video, uploaded by co-founder Jawed Karim.
Social networking platform Twitter is launched. Users read and post 140-character messages called 'tweets'.
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Street View
Google uses roving vehicles fitted with cameras to gather street level images from around the world. They are stitched together into panoramas and become a feature of Google Maps.
via Google Maps
Bitcoin
Digital currency Bitcoin is invented by Satoshi Nakamoto. It can be used to purchase goods and services online in place of credit card.
In 2020, 1₿ = A$12,756
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Photo-sharing service Instagram is launched. In 2019 it had over 500 million active daily users.
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National Broadband Network
NBN Co. begins laying fibre-optic cable across Australia. In 2019 over 10 million customers had access to high speed broadband.
Image via Australian Financial Review
Uber
The car ride-sharing service Uber is launched in Australia. Uber's smartphone app connects drivers with passengers.
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Airbnb
Airbnb is launched in Australia. The web-based accommodation sharing service puts home owners and travellers in direct contact.
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TikTok
Video-sharing social media network TikTok is launched. At the end of 2019 it had over 500 million active users.
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Mobile Traffic
Mobile phones now generate over 50% of worldwide website traffic.
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Global Users
The number of internet users worldwide exceeds 4.5 billion.
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