Comments on: Fun Places on the Internet (in 1995) http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/ A history of the future that never was Fri, 17 May 2013 21:40:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: Hmmm... http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1953 Hmmm... Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:18:09 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1953 Oh yeah. Must have been late '95/early '96. I'm pretty sure the first website I ever went to was starwars.com. Of course, the main function of the internet for me was multiplayer matches in Warcraft II with my friend...try talking on the phone together, hanging up at the same time, counting 5 seconds, and trying to synchronize your modems so that you actually connected. Some days it went pretty easily, other days, not so much... Oh yeah. Must have been late ’95/early ’96. I’m pretty sure the first website I ever went to was starwars.com. Of course, the main function of the internet for me was multiplayer matches in Warcraft II with my friend…try talking on the phone together, hanging up at the same time, counting 5 seconds, and trying to synchronize your modems so that you actually connected. Some days it went pretty easily, other days, not so much…

]]> By: Kelly http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1815 Kelly Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:52:06 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1815 My first significant exposure to the internet was the world of chat rooms. My high school didn't really understand the potential of the internet to suck up all your time, take you away from your school work and possibly get you hunted down by a lunatic, so we were allowed to hop on anytime we wanted, in the classroom. I can remember a room called Kyoto Cafe, where I chatted with people, about god-knows-what. I can also remember that people with better connections would purposely post giant photos in the chat so that the room would come to a stand-still. My first exposure to trolls! It's interesting to me that my formative memory of the internet is about communication, rather than access to information. I value both aspects, but throughout my nearly 20 years online, the most significant differences it has made in my life are communication-based. My first significant exposure to the internet was the world of chat rooms. My high school didn’t really understand the potential of the internet to suck up all your time, take you away from your school work and possibly get you hunted down by a lunatic, so we were allowed to hop on anytime we wanted, in the classroom. I can remember a room called Kyoto Cafe, where I chatted with people, about god-knows-what. I can also remember that people with better connections would purposely post giant photos in the chat so that the room would come to a stand-still. My first exposure to trolls! It’s interesting to me that my formative memory of the internet is about communication, rather than access to information. I value both aspects, but throughout my nearly 20 years online, the most significant differences it has made in my life are communication-based.

]]> By: Betsi http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1626 Betsi Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:12:30 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1626 my first visit was to Ebay my first visit was to Ebay

]]> By: Ginny http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1624 Ginny Tue, 15 Jan 2013 05:11:58 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1624 My first experience with the internet was the first class I took in a Master's in Educational Technology program in 1995. I was 48 years old and started with a Mac LC 3, but I had been fascinated with the possibilities I could see for technology in an educational setting. It was also the year the school where I was teaching installed a Mac Lab though we didn't yet have internet access. At home I used Netscape before it became that. It was Mosaic. During the four years I took to complete the master's degree, I took 3 classes that dealt with using the internet. It exploded that fast! In one of the classes I wrote a Virtual Field Trip to Washington, DC with HTML programing, and used with the few 8th graders who didn't go on the actual field trip. The third class I took was on joining internet projects with other schools, and following websites on Web Quests. :-D I spent the last 12 years of my 40 year career, teaching 5th through 8th graders to use computers as a tool. This included all kinds of uses of the internet. I am still fascinated with the technology explosion. I have gotten the Smithsonian Newsletter for years with students. What a great communication tool it has become! And I am amazed at how many people my age who are working very hard to learn to use it in their 60's and 70's! My first experience with the internet was the first class I took in a Master’s in Educational Technology program in 1995. I was 48 years old and started with a Mac LC 3, but I had been fascinated with the possibilities I could see for technology in an educational setting. It was also the year the school where I was teaching installed a Mac Lab though we didn’t yet have internet access. At home I used Netscape before it became that. It was Mosaic. During the four years I took to complete the master’s degree, I took 3 classes that dealt with using the internet. It exploded that fast! In one of the classes I wrote a Virtual Field Trip to Washington, DC with HTML programing, and used with the few 8th graders who didn’t go on the actual field trip. The third class I took was on joining internet projects with other schools, and following websites on Web Quests. :-D I spent the last 12 years of my 40 year career, teaching 5th through 8th graders to use computers as a tool. This included all kinds of uses of the internet. I am still fascinated with the technology explosion. I have gotten the Smithsonian Newsletter for years with students.

What a great communication tool it has become! And I am amazed at how many people my age who are working very hard to learn to use it in their 60′s and 70′s!

]]> By: Mike http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1620 Mike Mon, 14 Jan 2013 23:40:19 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1620 Great article! I have been on the Net since the early 90's. Great article! I have been on the Net since the early 90′s.

]]> By: Ann http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1594 Ann Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:27:03 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1594 I graduated high school in 1994. I wrote for the school paper and wrote an op-ed piece about this wondrous new "internet" that had come into being. My family didn't actually get connected for another year or so, though, so it was all talk at that point. However, I was excited and saw the potential in it easily. Anyway, my father signed up for Compuserve. We had a number for an e-mail address, and the address and password were written down and taped up on the desk for our reference. :-) Of course, it was all modem handshakes and not being able to be online and use the phone at the same time...kids today won't know that joy. I don't remember where I used to go with it all, but at some point, I signed up for Yahoo, which is my oldest e-mail account now, although I can't tell you how old because Yahoo is now stripping out all its old useful functions. Nice. Moving away from the old modems was the beautiful part, I think. Websites improved in the expected fashion, but being online easily and all the time is what rocks. I graduated high school in 1994. I wrote for the school paper and wrote an op-ed piece about this wondrous new “internet” that had come into being. My family didn’t actually get connected for another year or so, though, so it was all talk at that point. However, I was excited and saw the potential in it easily.

Anyway, my father signed up for Compuserve. We had a number for an e-mail address, and the address and password were written down and taped up on the desk for our reference. :-) Of course, it was all modem handshakes and not being able to be online and use the phone at the same time…kids today won’t know that joy.

I don’t remember where I used to go with it all, but at some point, I signed up for Yahoo, which is my oldest e-mail account now, although I can’t tell you how old because Yahoo is now stripping out all its old useful functions. Nice.

Moving away from the old modems was the beautiful part, I think. Websites improved in the expected fashion, but being online easily and all the time is what rocks.

]]> By: Gary J. Tait http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1538 Gary J. Tait Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:09:29 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1538 I got onto the web in 1995 with an old PC-XT, 14.4 modem, and a local independent ISP that let me have a shell account. It was on the overlap of the "geeky" university Internet and commercial WWW, and got to use things like Archie, telnet, and usenet. I did WWW with Lynx browser and mail/usenet with Pine. It wasn't until early 96 I got a computer that could run Windows and what was by that time Netscape and/or IE, with Trumpet Windsock. In late 96 I got a Windows 95 computer and upgraded to a 33.6 and eventually 56K and DSL. I got onto the web in 1995 with an old PC-XT, 14.4 modem, and a local independent ISP that let me have a shell account. It was on the overlap of the “geeky” university Internet and commercial WWW, and got to use things like Archie, telnet, and usenet. I did WWW with Lynx browser and mail/usenet with Pine. It wasn’t until early 96 I got a computer that could run Windows and what was by that time Netscape and/or IE, with Trumpet Windsock. In late 96 I got a Windows 95 computer and upgraded to a 33.6 and eventually 56K and DSL.

]]> By: Mary http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1528 Mary Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:54:09 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1528 I don't remember the first website I visited, but I was a kid at the time, so it was probably the Nickelodeon website. I remember sitting there for 5 minutes waiting for shockwave games to load. And I got on TELNET once, even though it was about 10 years outdated, just to see the Star Wars easter egg the programmers put in. I'm also surprised you didn't mention the Wayback Machine at http://archive.org/web/web.php. Just type your URL into the Wayback Machine, and you can explore old, defunct websites from as far back as the mid 1990s. I will warn you, though, they can be addicting to browse! I don’t remember the first website I visited, but I was a kid at the time, so it was probably the Nickelodeon website. I remember sitting there for 5 minutes waiting for shockwave games to load. And I got on TELNET once, even though it was about 10 years outdated, just to see the Star Wars easter egg the programmers put in.

I’m also surprised you didn’t mention the Wayback Machine at http://archive.org/web/web.php. Just type your URL into the Wayback Machine, and you can explore old, defunct websites from as far back as the mid 1990s. I will warn you, though, they can be addicting to browse!

]]> By: DickStock http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1520 DickStock Mon, 31 Dec 2012 01:36:21 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1520 The first ever audio clip I downloaded was from the "CoolSiteOfTheDay.com". Ahhhhh The first ever audio clip I downloaded was from the “CoolSiteOfTheDay.com”. Ahhhhh

]]> By: Kaleberg http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/12/fun-places-on-the-internet-in-1995/#comment-1500 Kaleberg Thu, 27 Dec 2012 03:40:39 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/?p=6467#comment-1500 I had used commercial packet switching networks like Tymnet and TeleNet in the late 60s, but my first internet encounter was in the summer of '73. There were 256 internet addresses. The bottom six bits said which node, usually an IMP, and the top two said which of the four computers attached to the node you were referencing. There were machines in the Boston area, upstate New York, Sweden, England, California, Illinois and even Hawaii. You could log in as a guest and just poke around, compile programs, print manual, see who was logged in and so on. Stanford University's site had access to an AP ticker so you could look up the latest articles by keyword. I remember following Watergate and the Yom Kippur War. The internet we all know and love grew from this early version, and emerged from the government military and research ghetto thanks to Al Gore who insisted on opening the network to private parties. It's interesting how much impact a VP can have by doing this kind of thing. Dan Quayle nearly destroyed the remote sensing business by insisting that it be profitable for the government. Before Quayle, you could order satellite imagery for the price of writing the magnetic tape, plus shipping, maybe $50-$150. After Quayle, the same data would cost $3,000-$5,000. Needless to say, you only bought satellite data if you had to. The internet could have remained a specialized research and defense oriented network, but for a VP who had a vision. I had used commercial packet switching networks like Tymnet and TeleNet in the late 60s, but my first internet encounter was in the summer of ’73. There were 256 internet addresses. The bottom six bits said which node, usually an IMP, and the top two said which of the four computers attached to the node you were referencing. There were machines in the Boston area, upstate New York, Sweden, England, California, Illinois and even Hawaii. You could log in as a guest and just poke around, compile programs, print manual, see who was logged in and so on. Stanford University’s site had access to an AP ticker so you could look up the latest articles by keyword. I remember following Watergate and the Yom Kippur War.

The internet we all know and love grew from this early version, and emerged from the government military and research ghetto thanks to Al Gore who insisted on opening the network to private parties. It’s interesting how much impact a VP can have by doing this kind of thing. Dan Quayle nearly destroyed the remote sensing business by insisting that it be profitable for the government. Before Quayle, you could order satellite imagery for the price of writing the magnetic tape, plus shipping, maybe $50-$150. After Quayle, the same data would cost $3,000-$5,000. Needless to say, you only bought satellite data if you had to. The internet could have remained a specialized research and defense oriented network, but for a VP who had a vision.

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