- The first computer virus: The first computer worm, Creeper , was created in 1971 as an experiment. It displayed the message Im the creeper, catch me if you can! and didnt harm any data.
- Apple's original logo: Apple's first logo featured Sir Isaac Newton sitting under a tree, with an apple about to fall on his head, a far cry from the sleek bitten apple logo we know today.
- The internet predates the web: The internet was developed in the late 1960s with the creation of Arpanet, but the world wide web, which made the internet accessible to everyone, wasn't invented until 1989.
- The first 1GB hard drive: IBM introduced the first 1GB hard drive in 1980. It weighed more than 225kg and cost US$40 000.
- The first webcam: The first webcam was invented at the University of Cambridge in 1991 to monitor a coffee pot, so researchers wouldn't waste a trip to an empty pot.
- The origin of the @ symbol: The @ symbol, used in e-mail addresses, was chosen by Ray Tomlinson because it wasn't commonly used in names and wouldn't be confused with anything else.
- Google's first office: Google's first office was a rented garage belonging to the late Google executive and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki in Menlo Park, California. Today, it's a multibillion-dollar global company.
- Twitter's original name: Twitter was originally called "twttr", inspired by the photo-sharing site Flickr. The founders added vowels later to make it more user-friendly.
- The first domain name: The first domain name ever registered was symbolics.com, on 15 March 1985, by a computer manufacturer called Symbolics.
- Microsoft's first product: Microsoft's first product was a version of the Basic programming language for the Altair 8800 computer, not an operating system.
- First smartphone: The first smartphone, IBM's Simon Personal Communicator, was released in 1994 and included a touchscreen, e-mail capability and a handful of built-in apps.
- Wi-Fi's origin: Wi-Fi technology was derived from a failed project to detect exploding black holes in the universe, led by an Australian scientist John O'Sullivan.
- The first computer mouse: The first computer mouse, invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1964, was made of wood and had only one button.
- The bug in debugging: The term "debugging" originated in 1947 when Grace Hopper found a moth causing issues in a computer. She taped it into the logbook, calling it the "first actual case of bug being found".
- Napster's impact: The peer-to-peer file-sharing service Napster, launched in 1999, revolutionised the music industry by enabling widespread sharing of (illegal) MP3s, leading to legal battles and the rise of digital music.
- Adobes free fonts: Adobe released its first set of free fonts for the internet in 1989. The move was instrumental in standardising digital typefaces.
- The first social network: The first social networking site, Six Degrees, launched in 1997. It allowed users to create profiles and list friends, laying the groundwork for future social media platforms.
- Linux's origin: Linux was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 as a hobby. Today, it's one of the most widely used operating systems in servers, supercomputers and mobile devices (via Android).
- The first webcam livestream: The first live webcam was set up in 1993 to monitor a coffee pot at the University of Cambridge, so scientists could avoid walking to an empty pot.
- The first computer programmer: Ada Lovelace, born in 1815, is considered the first computer programmer. She wrote an algorithm for Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.
- Oldest known computer: The oldest known analogue computer is the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek device used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses, dating back to around 100 BC.
- YouTube's original purpose: YouTube was originally conceived as a dating site called "Tune In, Hook Up" before becoming a platform for sharing videos of all kinds.
- Captcha origins: Captcha, the test to tell humans and computers apart, was developed to digitise books. The words you decipher in Captcha were from scanned texts needing human interpretation.
- First emoticon: The first emoticon, ?? and :-(, was proposed by computer scientist Scott Fahlman in 1982 to distinguish jokes from serious comments in online discussions.
- The internet of things (IoT): The first IoT device was a modified Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University in the early 1980s, which allowed programmers to check if a cold drink was available.
- Meme's origin: The term "meme" was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene to
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