Looking back 25 years: Alta Vista and ‘high-speed’ search for the early Web
It was the go-to search engine of the early Web, and it was launched on this date in 1995. The pioneer was Alta Vista, and its technology of using spiders … Continue reading
Recalling Bill Gates’ ‘Internet Tidal Wave’ memo, seminal document of the unfolding digital age
Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, Bill Gates sent a lengthy internal memorandum to senior staff at Microsoft Corporation, declaring the internet “a tidal wave” that “changes the rules.” It was a … Continue reading
With us still: 1995, 25 years on
Twenty-five years have passed since the dawning of 1995 and the year’s enduring significance is more apparent than ever. Nineteen-ninety-five was a decisive time defined by watershed moments in new … Continue reading
The 1995 Blog turns five: A look back at five top posts
The 1995 Blog was launched five years ago today, in the run-up to publication of my book, 1995: The Year the Future Began. The blog has served to promote the … Continue reading
Checking out ‘Captain Marvel’s over-the-top, 1995-throwback Web site
Anyone familiar with the clunky early Web, vintage 1995, will be surely amused by the retro design features Marvel Studios has built into its site promoting the forthcoming Captain Marvel … Continue reading
When the Web was new: Remembering Netscape, its contributions, its fall
In late November 20 years ago, the end was at hand for the early Web’s most intriguing, flamboyant, and influential startup company — the one with the name that was … Continue reading
Rambling nostalgia: WETA’s ‘Washington in the ’90s’ documentary
A flaw common to documentary treatments of the 1990s (or of any decade, really) lies in the failure to address fundamental yet vital questions such as: “What’s the point?” “What … Continue reading
Re-reading Clifford Stoll’s 1995 Internet predictions: Bah!
Clifford Stoll’s 1995 newsmagazine critique of the emergent Internet is a digital classic, an off-target artifact that is constantly being rediscovered, and scoffed at, online. Few essays published in 1995 … Continue reading
The 15 ‘most influential’ Web sites? A third of them date to 1995
Sure, lists about the “most important this” or the “most fun that” tend to be inane. And eye-rolling in their contrivance. But Time magazine’s recent compilation of the “15 most … Continue reading
CNN series gives kitchen-sink treatment to the ’90s
Call it the kitchen-sink approach to documentary-making. That’s an effective summation of the seven-part, eight-hour CNN series, “The Nineties,” which wrapped up last night with a jumbled look at the … Continue reading
The 1995 Blog 