Media History Project
mediahst@umn.edu

1990-1999 C.E.

  • 1990: Many telephone, broadcasting monopolies move to competition, privatization..
  • 1990: With Iron John, writer Robert Bly starts a back-to-masculinity movement.
  • 1990: Michael Crichton’s blockbuster novel, Jurassic Park.
  • 1990: Entertainment Weekly magazine.
  • 1990: The second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, book form or CD-ROM..
  • 1990: Flyaway SNG aids foreign reportage.
  • 1990: Kodak introduces the Photo CD player.
  • 1990: On TV: Seinfeld, Northern Exposure, Twin Peaks, Law & Order, Beverly Hills 90210.
  • 1990: On cable: CNBC..
  • 1990: IBM sells its Selectric division, a sign of the typewriter’s passing..
  • 1990: The Video Toaster, a low cost video effects tool.
  • 1990: Video games go non-linear with Super Mario Bros. 3.
  • 1990: Another rating category is added for movies: NC-17.
  • 1990: By now, most 2-inch videotape machines are gone.
  • 1990: Oscars: Dances With Wolves, Jeremy Irons, Kathy Bates.
  • 1990: Also at the movies: Pretty Woman, GoodFellas, Total Recall, Ghost
  • 1990: Foreign language film Oscar: Journey of Hope, Switzerland.
  • 1990: Dick Tracy is first 35 mm feature film with a digital soundtrack.
  • 1990: Videodisk returns in a new laser form.
  • 1990: Average U.S. home has five radio sets.
  • 1990: From IBM, a line of workstations using RISC chips.
  • 1990: World Wide Web originates at CERN in Europe. Tim Berners-Lee writes program.
  • 1990: Norman Mailer, Harlot’s Ghost, looks at two generations in the C.I.A.
  • 1990: Adobe Photoshop 1.0 for the Macintosh, an image manipulation program.
  • 1990: 85% of American adults have completed high school.
  • 1990: 2000: Average American cable customer has a choice of 33 channels.
  • 1990: Nobel Prize in Literature: poet, essayist Octavio Paz, Mexico.
  • 1990: Television Marti joins Radio Marti to send U.S. propaganda to Cuba.
  • 1990: Hollywood replaces X rating with NC-17.
  • 1990: Congress passes Children’s Television Act.
  • 1990: Seinfeld starts television run.
  • 1991: Sony’s PlayStation game console.
  • 1991: TV tabloid talk shows: Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, Maury Povich.
  • 1991: Also on TV: Home Improvement, Rugrats, Silk Stalkings.
  • 1991: Internet made available for commercial use.
  • 1991: Douglas Coupland writes novel about Generation X.
  • 1991: Recordable compact disk drivers, CD-Rs, reach the market.
  • 1991: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) written; helps create the World Wide Web.
  • 1991: Motion Picture Assoc. says only 16% of American movies fit for kids under 13.
  • 1991: Nobel Prize in Literature: South African novelist Nadine Gordimer.
  • 1991: FCC widens AM frequency band.
  • 1991: Sega’s arcade game Time Traveler comes close to true holograms.
  • 1991: In Europe, Internet sites more than triple in one year, pass 100,000.
  • 1991: CNN dominates news coverage worldwide during Gulf War.
  • 1991: The Web gets “servers..
  • 1991: On Cable: Comedy Central, Court TV, Encore.
  • 1991: Live TV news switching between world capitals during Gulf War looks simple.
  • 1991: Denver viewers can order movies at home from list of more than 1,000 titles.
  • 1991: Moviegoers astonished by computer morphing in Terminator 2.
  • 1991: User-friendly Gopher offers point-and-click navigation of Internet files.
  • 1991: Baby Bells get government permission to offer information services.
  • 1991: Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Systems (MMDS) get more spectrum space.
  • 1991: Collapse of Soviet anti-Gorbachev plot aided by the Internet.
  • 1991: The start of grunge music.
  • 1991: V.P. Dan Quayle outraged by fictional Murphy Brown out-of-wedlock baby.
  • 1991: English scientists build optical amplifiers into fiber cable network.
  • 1991: More than 4 billion cassette tape rentals in U.S. alone.
  • 1991: Oscars: The Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster.
  • 1991: For the first time, a cartoon, Beauty and the Beast, is up for best picture Oscar.
  • 1991: Also at the movies: Thelma & Louise, Bugsy, City Slickers.
  • 1991: Foreign language film Oscar: Mediterraneo, Italy.
  • 1991: Civilization, a turn-based, strategy-driven video game.
  • 1991: Motorola works on a communication system to reach every point on the globe.
  • 1991: Data is transmitted through optical fiber at 32 billion bits per second.
  • 1991: 3 out of 4 U.S. homes own VCRs; fastest selling domestic appliance in history.
  • 1991: Tom Clancy, The Sum of All Fears, shows chilling foresight of Mideast terrorism.
  • 1991: Howard Stern fined $705,000 for on-air indecency.
  • 1991: An x-ray photograph is taken of the brain recalling a word.
  • 1991: Condoms advertised on U.S. television screens.
  • 1991: Philips introduces the Compact Disk Interactive (CD-I) player for music, video.
  • 1992: The Sony Mini-Disc, a recordable magneto-optical disc.
  • 1992: Dateline NBC and World News Now join U.S. TV news program lineup.
  • 1992: 65 million personal computers have been sold.
  • 1992: Rodney King beating videotape shot by amateur adds “visualanties” to lexicon.
  • 1992: Compact disk music sales pass cassette tapes.
  • 1992: On cable: Sci-Fi Channel, Cartoon Network.
  • 1992: Broadcast station ownership rules eased still more.
  • 1992: The Michelangelo virus, originating in Europe, disables computers worldwide.
  • 1992: The Internet Society is formed to coordinate Internet activities.
  • 1992: U.S. cable mogul John Malone predicts 500-channel future.
  • 1992: Cable TV revenues reach $22 billion.
  • 1992: Sega’s Mortal Kombat video game is offered in two versions, one bloody.
  • 1992: Michelangelo is first virus to reach national attention.
  • 1992: Daniel Boorstin’s The Creators, a history of what and how people created.
  • 1992: Text-based browser opens World Wide Web for general usage.
  • 1992: British end Oracle teletext and videotex service.
  • 1992: At least 50 U.S. cities have competing cable services.
  • 1992: Maus comics about the Holocaust wins Pulitzer Prize.
  • 1992: Oscars: Unforgiven, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson.
  • 1992: Also at the movies: Chaplin, The Player, The Crying Game.
  • 1992: Foreign language film Oscar: Indochine, France.
  • 1992: Two more from James Michener, Mexico and The World Is My Home.
  • 1992: Alors! Disneyland comes to Paris.
  • 1992: Ten million cell phone customers in U.S., a tenfold jump in 5 years.
  • 1992: New Web terms: HTTP and URL.
  • 1992: AOL reports it has 200,000 subscribers.
  • 1992: Number of newspapers offering online news rises to 150.
  • 1992: At Bell Labs, an English-Spanish translator recognizes 450 spoken words.
  • 1992: After first President Bush speaks, 25 million viewers try to phone in opinions.
  • 1992: Nobel Prize in Literature: West Indian poet, playwright Derek Walcott.
  • 1992: Toni Morrison’s novel, Jazz.
  • 1992: Stamps sold by automatic machines.
  • 1992: Delphi offers dial-up service to the Internet.
  • 1992: Digital AM radio broadcasting is tested.
  • 1993: “Spiders” search the Internet looking for key words.
  • 1993: Nobel Prize in Literature: African-American novelist Toni Morrison.
  • 1993: Compaq brings out Concerto, a pen-based notebook PC.
  • 1993: Rumors fly that cell phones cause brain cancer; sales continue to soar.
  • 1993: World conference adopts MPEG-2 standard for digital television pictures.
  • 1993: IMAX 3D digital sound system goes into a New York theater.
  • 1993: Nokia sends text messages between mobile phones.
  • 1993: Computer-generated (CGI) dinosaurs roam the earth in Jurassic Park.
  • 1993: Oscars: Schindler’s List, Tom Hanks, Holly Hunter.
  • 1993: Also at the movies: The Fugitive, The Piano, Sleepless in Seattle.
  • 1993: Foreign language film Oscar: Belle Époque, Spain.
  • 1993: Senate committee hearings on video game violence.
  • 1993: Foreign box office movie revenue pulls ahead of domestic revenue.
  • 1993: NBC News causes ethical blast by staging a GM truck explosion.
  • 1993: Hollywood film edited on non-linear editing computer system.
  • 1993: David Letterman and Conan O’Brien start late night TV shows.
  • 1993: Also on TV: X-Files, Dr. Quinn, Power Rangers, Frasier, NYPD Blue.
  • 1993: Demand for “V-chip” to block out violent and sexual television programs.
  • 1993: From Intel, the Pentium chip.
  • 1993: Food Network.
  • 1993: Apple Newton, a PDA, recognizes handwriting on its screen.
  • 1993: Picturephone updated to put faces on computer screen for transmission.
  • 1993: Graphical user interface, Mosaic, is developed for the World Wide Web.
  • 1993: 1 in 3 Americans do some work at home instead of driving to job.
  • 1993: Photojournalists, studio photographers switch to specialized digital cameras.
  • 1993: Nokia sends text messages between mobile phones.
  • 1993: The first versions of the video games Doom and Myst.
  • 1994: Warcraft introduces real-time strategy into a narrative video game.
  • 1994: M.I.T. student charged with wire fraud for file swapping system.
  • 1994: S.A.T. takers permitted to use calculators for the math exam.
  • 1994: Hewlett Packard combines printer, fax, and copier in one machine.
  • 1994: After 25 years, U.S. government privatizes Internet management.
  • 1994: Two million computers connected to the Internet.
  • 1994: Sega’s Daytona USA complex video arcade game can have 8 players.
  • 1994: Radio stations open World Wide Web locations.
  • 1994: Digital satellite TV service, DirecTV, offered in the U.S.
  • 1994: FCC approves Advanced TV standards, including HDTV and SDTV.
  • 1994: WWW growth mushrooms. Pizza Hut starts taking orders on the Web.
  • 1994: 200 workstations worldwide get Rolling Stones concert on Internet “MBone..
  • 1994: The Netscape Navigator replaces Mosaic as a World Wide Web browser.
  • 1994: The Zip drive, with removable storage of up to 100 MB.
  • 1994: Radio HK, a 24-hour Internet-only radio station.
  • 1994: Superbowl telecast pulls in nearly 135 million viewers.
  • 1994: The most popular radio format in the U.S. is country music.
  • 1994: On TV: Friends, ER, Chicago Hope. Touched by an Angel.
  • 1994: Sensible World of Soccer advances play, views of sports video games.
  • 1994: Yahoo search engine is started by two Stanford graduate engineering students.
  • 1994: Chain bookstores outsell independents in the U.S. for the first time.
  • 1994: Internet mass marketing brings “spamming” into the lexicon.
  • 1994: Real Audio allows online audio listening in near real time.
  • 1994: To reduce Western influence, a dozen nations ban or restrict satellite dishes.
  • 1994: FCC raises one-company ownership to 20 AM, 20 FM radio stations.
  • 1994: Oscars: Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks, Jessica Lange.
  • 1994: DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) signals to 18-inch home dishes.
  • 1994: Also at the movies: Pulp Fiction, Nell, The Client, Speed, The Lion King.
  • 1994: Foreign language film Oscar: Burnt by the Sun, Russia.
  • 1994: Forrest Gump uses digital photo tricks to insert person into historical footage.
  • 1994: On cable: FX, IFC, TCM, Home & Garden, Starz!, Game Show Network.
  • 1994: Prodigy bulletin board fields 12,000 messages after L.A. quake.
  • 1994: Magazines known as “‘e-zines” are published on CD-ROM disks.
  • 1994: Competitors agree on a standard for high definition TV.
  • 1994: Almost 1/3 of all American homes have a computer.
  • 1994: Nobel Prize in Literature: Japanese novelist, essayist Kenzaburo Oe.
  • 1994: Banner ads appear on Internet websites.
  • 1994: Time Warner creates WB television network.
  • 1994: Video game industry forms Interactive Digital Software Association.
  • 1994: Internet use rises sharply as major online providers open portals to public.
  • 1995: Total sales of video games: $3 billion.
  • 1995: Phone calls over the Internet: VoIP.
  • 1995: Amazon.com starts selling books online, will become Web’s hottest retailer.
  • 1995: Videotape project lets prisoners read books to their children.
  • 1995: Personal Communication Service (PCS) digital wireless phones.
  • 1995: UPN television network created by Paramount and Universal studios.
  • 1995: Direct Broadcast Satellites (DBS) beam digital programs to home dishes.
  • 1995: Tokyo Wars advances arcade video games with two 32-bit microprocessors.
  • 1995: U.S. population continues to increase, but newspaper readership declines.
  • 1995: On TV: JAG, Drew Carey Show, Jeff Foxworthy Show, MADtv, Xena the Warrior Princess.
  • 1995: Nobel Prize in Literature: Irish poet Seamus Heaney.
  • 1995: Toy Story is the first totally digital feature-length film.
  • 1995: Experimental CD-ROM disk can carry a full-length feature film.
  • 1995: Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn use 32-bit systems for home video games.
  • 1995: “Internet addiction” is identified.
  • 1995: Oklahoma City bombing sends many to the Internet for details.
  • 1995: Sony demonstrates a flat TV set.
  • 1995: WebTV formed to combine television and the Internet.
  • 1995: The Java programming language for websites.
  • 1995: DBS feeds are offered nationwide in U.S.
  • 1995: ABC, CBS sold. New networks: WB and UPN.
  • 1995: Howard Stern, Infinity Broadcasting pay added indecency fine of $1.7 million.
  • 1995: The FCC allows radio stations to operate with no one there.
  • 1995: Want a .com? It will now cost $50 a year. .edu and .gov still free.
  • 1995: 62% of U.S. homes have cable TV.
  • 1995: Denmark announces plan to put much of the nation online within 5 years.
  • 1995: Major U.S. dailies create national online newspaper network.
  • 1995: Oscars: Braveheart, Nicolas Cage, Susan Sarandon.
  • 1995: Also at the movies: The Bridges of Madison County, Leaving Las Vegas, Babe.
  • 1995: Foreign language film Oscar: Antonia’s Line, The Netherlands.
  • 1995: Lamar Alexander chooses the Internet to announce presidential candidacy.
  • 1995: In Cleveland, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opens.
  • 1995: The average U.S. home has nearly six radios.
  • 1995: Caller ID now nationwide in U.S.
  • 1995: 30 million Internet users worldwide.
  • 1995: Audio of live events can be heard on the Internet.
  • 1995: Worlds Chat, a 3-D online chatroom introduces communication avatars.
  • 1995: TV images of black/white reactions to O.J. Simpson verdict polarize U.S.
  • 1995: Mortal Kombat becomes a movie.
  • 1995: Disney swallows ABC; Westinghouse swallows CBS.
  • 1996: Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, the video game.
  • 1996: From Microsoft: Hotmail.com, a Web-based email site.
  • 1996: The shooter game Quake allows users to create their own levels.
  • 1996: U.S. has 40 million cell phone subscribers, up from 1 million in 9 years.
  • 1996: AT&T splits off Lucent Technologies and NCR.
  • 1996: World Exposition is a world’s fair held on the Internet.
  • 1996: The stripped-down Net computer arrives.
  • 1996: Opinions on TV from The Daily Show, The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity & Colmes.
  • 1996: Larry Page, Sergey Brin create Backrun, predecessor to Google.
  • 1996: In Athens, archæologists uncover the ruins of Aristotle’s Lyceum.
  • 1996: Digital Associated Press cameras send Super Bowl pix to newspapers in minutes.
  • 1996: More than 100,000 World Wide Web sites, and growing fast.
  • 1996: 45 million Internet users, including 30 million in U.S.
  • 1996: On cable: MSNBC, Animal Planet, Fox News Channel, Sundance.
  • 1996: Optical fiber cable line stretches across the Pacific.
  • 1996: Web-TV tunes television sets to the Internet via the TV-set-top box.
  • 1996: Yahoo goes public. In three years its market value will be $70 billion.
  • 1996: Advanced Photo System provides drop-in film loading, choice of print formats.
  • 1996: Computer makers sell flat-panel displays.
  • 1996: South African factory makes Bayliss radio receivers operated by windup spring.
  • 1996: Telecommunication Reform Act: phone, cable, broadcast companies compete.
  • 1996: Telecom Act also removes caps on radio station ownership; expansions follow.
  • 1996: Oscars: The English Patient, Geoffrey Rush, Frances McDormand.
  • 1996: Also at the movies: Evita, Shine, Fargo, Jerry McGuire.
  • 1996: Foreign language film Oscar: Kolya, Czech Republic.
  • 1996: Advantix film for still cameras combines analog and digital technology.
  • 1996: Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shinbum delivers its editions online.
  • 1996: Typical modem is 14.4K bits/sec., but new sales are for 28.8K.
  • 1996: Michael Crichton’s blockbuster about aircraft construction, Airframe.
  • 1996: American Psychological Assoc. correlates TV violence, aggressive behavior.
  • 1996: U.S. Postal Service handles nearly 600 million pieces of mail daily.
  • 1996: A pocket telephone/computer comes on the market.
  • 1996: Sesame Street gets a Russian version.
  • 1996: 28% of U.S. public libraries offer Internet access.
  • 1996: TV host Oprah Winfrey boosts book sales with monthly book club.
  • 1996: Several large newspapers offers Web access to their archives.
  • 1996: The FCC approves a digital HDTV standard.
  • 1996: Microsoft releases Explorer 3.0 Web browser.
  • 1996: Nobel Prize in Literature: poet Wislawa Szymborska, Poland.
  • 1996: DVDs are introduced.
  • 1996: Nintendo produces 64-bit Super Mario 64 home video game.
  • 1996: America Online has 5,000,000 subscribers.
  • 1996: Dell’s “e-tailing” sells assemble-to-order computers on the Internet.
  • 1996: From Netscape: the cookie.
  • 1996: Loosening of rules allows multiple station ownership of radio, TV in same city.
  • 1997: Film Titanic uses computer images to show people falling off sinking ship.
  • 1997: DVD players and DVD movies are on the fast track to success.
  • 1997: The Supreme Court finds the Communication Decency Act unconstitutional.
  • 1997: Exploding growth: more than 4,000 ISPs in the U.S. and Canada alone.
  • 1997: “Spam” means more than canned meat.
  • 1997: The View brings a panel of women to discuss current issues.
  • 1997: Internet, DVD movies, video games bite deeper into TV audience.
  • 1997: Streaming audio and video are available on the Web.
  • 1997: ARIN, the American Registry for Internet Numbers.
  • 1997: Raunchy cartoons for adults on TV: South Park, King of the Hill.
  • 1997: Also on TV: Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Oz.
  • 1997: “Heaven’s Gate” cult sets up website before committing mass suicide.
  • 1997: More than 50 million Americans, Canadians use the Internet.
  • 1997: Palm produces the first handheld device with the Palm OS.
  • 1997: Nearly 8 of 10 U.S. public schools have Internet access.
  • 1997: Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind” sells 32 million copies in 37 days.
  • 1997: IBM computer defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
  • 1997: Email spreads hoax of Kurt Vonnegut “sunscreen” commencement speech.
  • 1997: From Kodak, the first point-and-shoot digital camera.
  • 1997: Optical fiber cable lines now stretch around the world.
  • 1997: Pathfinder’s Mars pictures released; NASA website gets 46 million hits.
  • 1997: U.S. television adopts age-based ratings; news, sports excluded.
  • 1997: Nobel Prize in Literature: playwright Dario Fo, Italy.
  • 1997: AOL boasts 10 million subscribers.
  • 1997: On cable: WE.
  • 1997: PAX-TV makes it seven TV broadcast networks.
  • 1997: 2,600 U.S. newspapers have Internet sites or dial-up connections.
  • 1997: Oscars: Titanic, Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt.
  • 1997: Also at the movies: As Good As It Gets, Wag the Dog, The Full Monty.
  • 1997: Foreign language film Oscar: Character, The Netherlands.
  • 1997: Novelist Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain.
  • 1997: 43% of U.S. homes have computers.
  • 1997: FCC hands out huge amount of spectrum for digital television promise.
  • 1997: Film Titanic costs $300 million to make, market; will earn more than twice that.
  • 1997: Ultima Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).
  • 1998: Sony’s Everquest multiplayer online game attracts thousands worldwide.
  • 1998: HP introduces the Jornada PDA (personal digital assistant).
  • 1998: Boorstin’s history, The Seekers, examines man’s quest for understanding.
  • 1998: Multi-billion-dollar mergers involve broadcasting, cable, publishing.
  • 1998: About 800 drive-in theaters still remain open in the United States.
  • 1998: Music industry up in arms as fans download MP3 sound files for free.
  • 1997: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first of the J.K. Rowling series.
  • 1998: Oscars: Shakespeare in Love, Roberto Begnini, Gwyneth Paltrow.
  • 1998: Also at the movies: Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show, Pleasantville.
  • 1998: Foreign language film Oscar: Life Is Beautiful, Italy.
  • 1998: Megapixel cameras available at consumer level.
  • 1998: On TV: Sex and the City, Will & Grace, Dawson’s Creek, Becker.
  • 1998: “Sonny Bono Act” extends copyright to lifetime plus 70 years.
  • 1998: SPJ awards given for public service to online journalism.
  • 1998: Drudge Report, an online website, breaks news of Clinton-Lewinsky affair.
  • 1998: The Last Broadcast is the first feature film made with desktop editing.
  • 1998: Associated Press sells online archive service to newspapers.
  • 1998: Google emerges from Backrub.
  • 1998: 3,250 newspapers, 1,280 TV stations now have online websites.
  • 1998: Justice Department sues Microsoft for monopolistic practices.
  • 1998: Estimated number of World Wide Web pages: 300 million.
  • 1998: Estimated number of Web pages added each day: 1.5 million.
  • 1998: Plans laid by universities, industry, government for Internet2.
  • 1998: 150 million Internet users estimated at year’s end, half in the U.S.
  • 1998: The Pentium II processor incorporates 7.5 million transistors.
  • 1998: Apple unveils the colorful iMac computer.
  • 1998: Net users are judges of a TV sports event: world champion ice skating.
  • 1998: Traffic on the Internet, network of networks, is doubling every 100 days.
  • 1998: AOL reports it has 14 million subscribers.
  • 1998: Postage stamps downloaded from the Web, then printed, go on sale in the U.S.
  • 1998: First digital TV programs are broadcast in the U.S.
  • 1998: 1 of 3 Americans now use the Internet.
  • 1998: On cable: Cinemax, Biography, BBC America.
  • 1998: Britain abandons telegrams in favor of email.
  • 1998: Associated Press once had 1,500 telegraph operators, now has four.
  • 1998: Nobel Prize in Literature: José Saramago, Portugal.
  • 1998: Tom Clancy: Rainbow Six; good guys use latest military gadgets to foil terrorists.
  • 1998: V-chips go into television sets.
  • 1998: Survey: average American with a computer uses it more than 5 hours weekly.
  • 1998: Americans average 2,300 phone calls a year.
  • 1998: HDTV broadcasts begin in the United States.
  • 1998: Cable channels start using digital compression technology.
  • 1998: Internet economy gets its own weekly magazine, The Industry Standard.
  • 1998: In U.S. alone, 70,000 book titles this year, 50.000 publishers.
  • 1998: Some cable systems upgraded to permit hundreds of channels.
  • 1998: FCC’s E-Rate program makes Internet access cheap for libraries, schools.
  • 1998: Iridium worldwide satellite cell phone service born, but will soon die.
  • 1998: An HDTV station goes on the air in the United States.
  • 1998: Netscape makes public its code for Mozilla, an open-source browser.
  • 1998: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
  • 1998: Video game Metal Gear Solid offers mixed message about smoking.
  • 1998: The Legend of Zelda earns more in six weeks than any movie.
  • 1999: Video games bring in more money than movies do.
  • 1999: Columbine High School killings focus spotlight on video games.
  • 1999: Music industry releases record 38,900 titles this year.
  • 1999: Jon Johansen, 15, of Norway manages to break movie DVD copy protection.
  • 1999: Number of U.S. daily newspapers drops to 1,483; total 56 million circulation.
  • 1999: Baby Bells offer long distance phone service.
  • 1999: Free downloading of music via the Internet increases sharply. Millions do it.
  • 1999: Americans are buying average of 8 books a year, 3 times pre-WWII.
  • 1999: Nielsen, Arbitron start World Wide Web rating service.
  • 1999: $35,000 Blair Witch Project shows potential of low cost video production.
  • 1999: Virus after virus attack computers. “Melissa” is the worst yet.
  • 1999: FCC allows one company to own 2 TV, 6 radio stations in same big city.
  • 1999: 150 million Internet users can access more than 800 million web pages.
  • 1999: Home video games expand with Sega Dreamcast 128-bit operating system.
  • 1999: World worries about Y2K bug; great sums spent to solve the problem.
  • 1999: Michael Crichton visits medieval France for sci-fi novel, Timeline.
  • 1999: Mule train still delivers mail down the south face of the Grand Canyon.
  • 1999: On TV: The Sopranos, West Wing, SpongeBob SquarePants.
  • 1999: Downloading of music, video grows on Internet.
  • 1999: Ten million Web servers throughout the world.
  • 1999: Nobel Prize in Literature: German novelist Günter Grass.
  • 1999: Oscars: American Beauty, Kevin Spacey, Hilary Swank.
  • 1999: Also at the movies: Matrix, The Insider, The Hurricane, The Sixth Sense.
  • 1999: Non-English language film Oscar: All About My Mother, Spain.
  • 1999: The Ikonos satellite can detect an object on Earth as small as a card table.
  • 1999: On television: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

  • 1999: TiVo offers personal television control.