Take our survey • Win a prize
Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Instant Access: connect button on a computer via Shutterstock

11 internet firsts you probably never heard of

The first photo ever uploaded to the internet, the first registered domain name… let’s step back into the internet’s history.

FOR PEOPLE OF a certain age, it can seem like the the internet always existed.

For those of us who are a little more, how shall we put this, mature, we remember life before the World Wide Web.

But how many remember all the firsts that came with it? Here’s some of the more interesting ones…

The first… picture uploaded to the internet

Was… an image of a comedy band called Les Horrible Cernettes. And the person who uploaded it? None other than the man who invented the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

The first… email sent

Was… sent by Ray Tomlinson – to himself – in 1971. “The test messages were entirely forgettable… Most likely the first message was QWERTYIOP or something similar,” he said.

The first… spam email

We can blame the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) – the first network to implement TCP/IP – for the first spam email, that was sent to 393 people on 3 May, 1978.


(Monitor screen showing email spam mailbox – Shutterstock)

The first… domain name ever registered

Was… symbolics.com. The date? March 15, 1985.

The first… online banner ad

Was… created by Joe McCambley. It went live in October 1994 on hotwired.com, and it promoted seven art museums.

The first… item sold on eBay (then called AuctionWeb)

Was… a broken laser pointer for $14.83 in 1995. The man who bought it told founder Pierre Omidyar he collected broken laser pointers.

The first… book bought on Amazon

Was… Douglas Hofstadter’s Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought in 1995.

Try saying that five times fast.

The first… sentence uttered on Skype

Was… in Estonian in April 2003 by a member of the development team. It was “Tere, kas sa kuuled mind?” or “Hello, can you hear me?” in English.

The first… person of Facebook

Was… Mark Zuckerberg, who was given ID number four. The first three Facebook accounts were test accounts.

The first… YouTube video

Was… posted by co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. It was uploaded on April 23, 2005 and has been watched over 10 million times.

(jawed/YouTube)

The first… tweet

Was… written by co-founder Jack Dorsey on March 21, 2006.

- Alyson Shontell

Read: 11 ways social media is ruining your life >

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Published with permission from
View 30 comments
Close
30 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tim Henchin
    Favourite Tim Henchin
    Report
    Nov 16th 2011, 9:01 AM

    ………. what is the betting that not one of them will have a legitimate mandate. We live in a post-democratic age, it is disturbing to see how many accepted this.

    We have the man who fudged Greece’s books, so they could get in to the Euro, while he was the head of their banking system made leader. It is like having Sean Fitzpatrick rammed in as leader of this state by Europe.

    It will either go down in history as the start of a dark but temporary blot on European democratic history or else as a great day for Europe, written by our new technocratic masters in the future, the corporatization of the continent. There used to be a name for the merging of corporate power and State control in to one entity. A predecessor of this man invented it.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnTOiso08HM

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Uncle Mort
    Favourite Uncle Mort
    Report
    Nov 16th 2011, 9:40 AM

    Good link Tim,thanks for sharing it.
    The mention of the ‘intense talks’ by Monti begs the question as the what bribes were offered, by bribes I mean offers of position and power.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds