Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
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25 posts
A website that chronicles internet history and its cultural impact, from the pre-web era to the dot-com boom, Web 2.0, and beyond. Written by @ricmac.cybercultural.com.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Oct 1
2000: The Napster Monster and Apple’s Heavenly Jukebox
Napster's legal woes intensify in 2000, even as creator Shawn Fanning is celebrated on MTV and on magazine covers. Meanwhile, Apple acquires a startup called SoundJam and turns it into iTunes.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Sep 24
Social Karma in 2000 With Slashdot and BowieNet Version 2.0
By 2000, Slashdot's pioneering karma system is helping other online communities — like BowieNet — moderate user contributed content. Meanwhile, Google and Amazon enjoy good karma over 2000.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Sep 17
2000: Bloggers Make Friends, but RSS Format Wars Kick Off
In 2000, the blogroll becomes a trend as bloggers increasingly link to each other. Meanwhile, RSS bifurcates into two opposing formats: Dave Winer's RSS 0.92 and the RDF-based RSS 1.0.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Aug 29
1999: Blogs Burst Onto the Scene, but RSS Is Slow To Settle
The launch of Blogger in August 1999 signals the arrival of weblogs into mainstream web culture. At the same time, web syndication formats are being worked out — starting with Netscape's RSS 0.90.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Aug 19
The Emergence of Napster and P2P File Sharing in 1999
Napster launched in May 1999 and soon there were millions of pirated songs online. Not even David Bowie, who released an album via digital download that year, could foresee Napster's future influence.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Aug 12
Second Life and the Beginnings of the Metaverse in 1999
After seeing the movie 'The Matrix', Philip Rosedale started a dot-com company and attempted to build a full-body virtual reality rig. He soon pivoted to creating a virtual world on the Web.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Aug 5
David Bowie’s 1999 Gaming Adventure and Virtual Album
Continuing his exploration of virtual personas, in 1999 David Bowie played two 3D characters in a game called 'Omikron: The Nomad Soul'. The songs he contributed were later added to his album, Hours.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Jul 30
From BowieWorld to Facebook: How Online Identity Evolved
Exploring different personas on the web was a widespread trend in the late-1990s. Later, Facebook would neuter online identity, but in 1999 you could invent virtual characters on sites like BowieWorld...
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Jul 23
Google in 1999: Search Engines Escape the Portal Matrix
Like Morpheus in The Matrix, Google gave web users a stark choice in 1999: take the red pill and experience a new world of search quality, or choose the blue pill and stick with the bloated world of p...
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Jul 8
Search Engines in 1998, Before Google Takes the Spotlight
Google makes the transition from Stanford project to company over 1998, but it is portals like Yahoo! and portal-wannabes like AltaVista that feature in Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch that year.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Jul 1
1998: How Amazon Conquered Online CD Retailers Like CDnow
At the start of 1998, CDnow and Music Boulevard were the leading online CD shops. Then in June, Amazon branched out from books and began to sell music on its fast growing e-commerce website.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Jun 25
Launch of BowieNet and the First Inklings of Social Networks
When BowieNet launched in 1998, it became the default online community for David Bowie fans. It also anticipated the social networks that would emerge in the 2000s, like Facebook and Reddit.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· Jun 18
Portals in 1998: The Rise and Fall of Excite and Netcenter
1998 was the year of the portal: Excite, Netscape Netcenter, Yahoo, AOL, MSN and others all competing for eyeballs and trying to be sticky. But with so many portals, some inevitably failed.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· May 29
The 3 Gurus of 90s Web Design: Zeldman, Siegel, Nielsen
With the rise of Flash and CSS in 1997, three web design philosophies emerged. David Siegel advocated for 'hacks', Jakob Nielsen kept it simple, while Jeffrey Zeldman combined flair with usability.
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Cybercultural
@cybercultural.com
· May 29
The Age of Buffering: Video Streaming and Webcasts in 1997
During 1997, video streaming came to web browsers through plug-ins like RealVideo, VDOLive and Microsoft's NetShow. David Bowie even attempted to 'cybercast' one of his concerts that year.
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