Cybercultural

Richard MacManus

Culture

Cybercultural chronicles internet history and its cultural impact, from the pre-web era to the dot-com boom, Web 2.0, and beyond. Written by pioneering tech blogger Richard MacManus.

https://cybercultural.com/

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• 1995: From Batman Forever’s cinematic design to HTML tables 2026-03-03 08:20am
• 1994: Cool Site of the Day and the rise of curated web design 2026-02-17 06:00am
• 1994: Publishing comes to the Web — and design matters 2026-02-10 08:20am
• 1993: Global Network Navigator and the first web designer 2026-01-28 06:20am
• 1993: Web Browsers Add Multimedia and MTV.com Goes Online 2026-01-21 06:20am
• The History of Web Design, 1993–2012: Season 5 Launch 2026-01-13 06:00am
• After BowieNet, David Bowie Goes Dark and Shuns Social Media 2026-01-08 02:35am
• 2003: MP3 Blogs and Pitchfork Shake Up Music Media 2025-12-29 04:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2003 2025-12-22 04:00pm
• My 2025 Indie Web Report and Thoughts on the Open Web 2025-12-16 04:00pm
• The Blogosphere Blossoms in 2003 As RSS Readers Catch On 2025-12-15 04:00pm
• 2003: BowieNet 3 Launch and the Peak of Flash Web Design 2025-12-08 04:00pm
• 2003: MySpace vs. Friendster in a Battle for Digital Natives 2025-12-03 04:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2002 2025-12-01 04:00pm
• How the Blogosphere Takes Shape in 2002, Along With RSS 2.0 2025-11-24 04:00pm
• 2002: The Second iPod and Steve Jobs on Music Streaming 2025-11-17 04:00pm
• 2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web 2025-11-10 04:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2001 2025-11-04 04:00pm
• Blogging Gets Serious in 2001 With Warblogs and Movable Type 2025-10-28 05:00pm
• 2001: The Internet Gets a Memory With the Wayback Machine 2025-10-20 05:00pm
• 2001: Steve Jobs Launches iTunes and Apple’s Digital Hub 2025-10-13 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2000 2025-10-07 05:00pm
• Replanting Articles: Bring Legacy Posts to Your Website 2025-10-01 05:00pm
• 2000: The Napster Monster and Apple’s Heavenly Jukebox 2025-09-30 05:00pm
• Social Karma in 2000 With Slashdot and BowieNet Version 2.0 2025-09-23 05:00pm
• 2000: Bloggers Make Friends, but RSS Format Wars Kick Off 2025-09-16 05:00pm
• The Dot-Com Crash of 2000 and Marc Andreessen’s Act 2 2025-09-08 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 1999 2025-09-02 05:00pm
• 1999: Blogs Burst Onto the Scene, but RSS Is Slow To Settle 2025-08-28 05:00pm
• The Emergence of Napster and P2P File Sharing in 1999 2025-08-18 05:00pm
• Second Life and the Beginnings of the Metaverse in 1999 2025-08-11 05:00pm
• David Bowie’s 1999 Gaming Adventure and Virtual Album 2025-08-04 05:00pm
• From BowieWorld to Facebook: How Online Identity Evolved 2025-07-29 05:00pm
• Google in 1999: Search Engines Escape the Portal Matrix 2025-07-22 05:00pm
• Seasons: A Fine Way To Structure a Website or Blog in 2025 2025-07-17 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 1998 2025-07-14 05:00pm
• Search Engines in 1998, Before Google Takes the Spotlight 2025-07-07 05:00pm
• 1998: How Amazon Conquered Online CD Retailers Like CDnow 2025-06-30 05:00pm
• Launch of BowieNet and the First Inklings of Social Networks 2025-06-24 05:00pm
• Portals in 1998: The Rise and Fall of Excite and Netcenter 2025-06-17 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 1997 2025-06-10 05:00pm
• Best Experienced With: MTV.com and the 90s Browser War 2025-06-03 05:00pm
• The 3 Gurus of 90s Web Design: Zeldman, Siegel, Nielsen 2025-05-27 05:00pm
• The Age of Buffering: Video Streaming and Webcasts in 1997 2025-05-20 05:00pm
• Duran Duran and the Dawn of Digital Music Sales in 1997 2025-05-13 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 1996 2025-05-08 05:00pm
• Telling Lies: Bowie and Online Music Distribution in 1996 2025-05-06 05:00pm
• State of Online Music in 1996: RealAudio and Rocktroplis 2025-04-08 05:00pm
• David Bowie’s Early Websites, 1995–1997: Outside to Earthling 2025-04-01 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 1995 2025-03-25 05:00pm
• My Web Values: Why I Quit X and Feed the Fediverse Instead 2025-03-19 05:00pm
• Cyberculture 1960s-1990s and the Legacy of Alice Mary Hilton 2025-03-18 05:00pm
• Cyberspace Movies in 1995: Silicon Valley Meets Hollywood 2025-03-11 05:00pm
• GeoCities in 1995: Building a Home Page on the Internet 2025-03-06 04:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 1994 2025-03-04 04:00pm
• Tumblr in 2012 and How the Gifset Redefined Blogging 2025-02-25 04:00pm
• Netscape in 1994: The Rise of the Webuloids 2025-02-18 04:00pm
• Internet Underground Music Archive in 1994 2025-02-11 04:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2012 2025-02-04 04:00pm
• How Lana Del Rey Found Internet Fame on YouTube in 2011 2025-01-29 04:00pm
• CD-ROMS in 1994: Bowie, Prince, Gabriel, and Cybermania '94 2025-01-21 04:00pm
• Multimedia Gulch in 1994: The Age of Interactive CD-ROMs 2025-01-15 04:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2011 2025-01-09 04:00pm
• The End of Web 2.0 — One Bubble Deflates, Another Starts Up 2024-12-23 04:00pm
• 2012: The Transition From ReadWriteWeb to ReadWrite 2024-12-22 04:00pm
• Bubble Blog Now Available as a Book 2024-12-19 04:00pm
• The Deal Is Done: ReadWriteWeb Sells to SAY Media 2024-12-18 04:00pm
• SAY Media Offers To Acquire ReadWriteWeb 2024-12-16 04:00pm
• The Last Web 2.0 Conference and RWW Acquisition Talks 2.0 2024-12-11 04:00pm
• Before My Latest Portland Trip, I Decide To Sell ReadWriteWeb 2024-12-09 04:00pm
• RWW Writer Exodus — the Blog Business Pressures Pile Up 2024-12-04 04:00pm
• The ReadWriteWeb 2WAY Summit NYC, 2011 2024-12-02 04:00pm
• The Enshittocene: How the Internet Got Worse in the 2010s 2024-11-28 04:00pm
• The Great Editorial Pivot of 2011 As RWW Struggles Continue 2024-11-26 04:00pm
• Team RWW Meetings at SXSW 2011 and a Crisis of Confidence 2024-11-19 04:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2010 2024-11-14 04:00pm
• SXSW 2011 and Dealing With RWW Editorial Challenges 2024-11-12 04:00pm
• Swapping Web 2.0 Summit for PARC; and RWW Planning for 2011 2024-11-05 04:00pm
• ReadWriteWeb Growing Pains and Managing Bloggers 2024-10-29 05:00pm
• Serializing a Book Online: Lessons From My Web 2.0 Memoir 2024-10-28 05:00pm
• Social Media in 2010 and the Rise of Social Referrers 2024-10-22 05:00pm
• Foo Camp 2010 and Going Exponential at Singularity University 2024-10-15 05:00pm
• My Trip to Portland, Home to Half of Team ReadWriteWeb 2024-10-07 05:00pm
• Filter Bubbles and the RWW Real-Time Web Summit, June 2010 2024-10-01 05:00pm
• Cybercultural Redesign and Adding WDH Content 2024-09-25 05:00pm
• New York Times HQ Visit and Emergence of Influencer Culture 2024-09-17 05:00pm
• Burbn to Instagram: The ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010 2024-09-10 05:00pm
• ReadWriteWeb Mistaken for Facebook Login — Hilarity Ensues 2024-09-03 05:00pm
• SXSW Music Blues and RWW Community Manager Departs 2024-08-27 05:00pm
• Democracy on the Net: Onstage With Ai Weiwei and @Jack 2024-08-20 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2009 2024-08-15 05:00pm
• SXSW 2010 and RWW Co-Hosts a Party at Austin City Limits 2024-08-14 05:00pm
• Web 2.0 Summit 2009 and ReadWriteWeb Hires New COO 2024-08-06 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2008 2024-08-01 05:00pm
• Team RWW in Silicon Valley and a Tense Meeting With My COO 2024-07-30 05:00pm
• The ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit, October 2009 2024-07-23 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2007 2024-07-18 05:00pm
• Planning the First ReadWriteWeb Unconference 2024-07-16 05:00pm
• Why 2009 Was When Big Tech Began To Control Web 2.0 2024-07-09 05:00pm
• Meeting My Hero, Tim Berners-Lee, at W3C Headquarters 2024-07-02 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2006 2024-06-27 05:00pm
• RWW Makes Twitter Suggested User List and Grows Team 2024-06-25 05:00pm
• My 2009 Googleplex Visit and RWW Launches Channels 2024-06-18 05:00pm
• Web 2.0 Summit 2008 and Tech Media's Pivot to Business News 2024-06-11 05:00pm
• Curious About Early Twitter? 5 Key Facts From 2007 2024-06-06 05:00pm
• Indie Media Business 2.0: RWW Adds Structure and Writers 2024-06-04 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2005 2024-05-31 05:00pm
• Unacquired: ReadWriteWeb Pulls Out of the ZDE Deal 2024-05-28 05:00pm
• Alien in New York: ReadWriteWeb & the American Dream 2024-05-21 05:00pm
• What the Internet Was Like in 2004 2024-05-19 05:00pm
• I’m Waiting for the EBITDA: Visiting the ZDE Office in NYC 2024-05-14 05:00pm
• Due Diligence Begins in NYC and RWW Gets NZ Media Award 2024-05-07 05:00pm
• On Selling Your Website — It's OK to Be a Lifestyle Business 2024-04-30 05:00pm
• A Deal Is Done and I Attend a Trippy Web 2.0 Party at Temple 2024-04-22 05:00pm
• Dinner at TWO, But With Which Acquirer? A Zany Night in SF 2024-04-15 05:00pm
• 2008 Web 2.0 Expo; M&A Talks With ZDE and CMP Continue 2024-04-08 05:00pm
• Acquisition Talks: Two Suitors Emerge for ReadWriteWeb 2024-04-02 05:00pm
• ReadWriteWeb’s Big Redesign & the Inaugural Crunchies 2024-03-25 05:00pm
• Stress 2.0: Type 1 Diabetes Plus Web Server Issues 2024-03-18 05:00pm
• Read/WriteWeb Makes Key Hire and I Meet Hustle Culture 2024-03-11 05:00pm
• Las Vegas and the Microsoft MIX Conference 2007 2024-03-04 04:00pm
• Web 2.0 Expo 2007: Web 2.0 Goes Mainstream 2024-02-26 04:00pm
• Read/WriteWeb Network Launches Amid iPhone Debut 2024-02-19 04:00pm
• Betting on Web 2.0: High Stakes Blogging 2024-02-12 04:00pm
• Lou Reed and the 2006 Web 2.0 Summit 2024-02-05 04:00pm
• The Birth of Cloud Computing and Team Read/WriteWeb 2024-01-29 04:00pm
• Gnomedex 2006 and My Corporate Blogging Adventure 2024-01-22 04:00pm
• The Core Values of Blogging: Attending BloggerCon 2006 2024-01-15 04:00pm
• Digg and the Power Laws of Silicon Valley in 2006 2024-01-08 04:00pm
• Reluctant Salesman: The Sponsor Ads Era of the Blogosphere 2023-12-26 04:00pm
• Visiting the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, January 2006 2023-12-19 04:00pm
• Microsoft Search Champs and the Gift Basket, January 2006 2023-12-12 04:00pm
• The Web 2.0 Illuminati: Are We in Another Internet Bubble? 2023-12-05 04:00pm
• Spicy Noodles: Dave Winer and the Web 2.0 Workgroup 2023-12-03 04:00pm
• Richard Goes to Yahoo! — Talking RSS and Blogging in 2005 2023-11-28 04:00pm
• The Colors of Web 2.0 Party, October 2005 2023-11-26 04:00pm
• Day 2 of the 2005 Web 2.0 Conference; Plus Pre-Web Memories 2023-11-21 04:00pm
• Revving Up at the 2005 Web 2.0 Conference 2023-11-19 04:00pm
• ReadWriteWeb Growth in 2005, Before First US Trip 2023-11-16 04:00pm
• Arriving at the TechCrunch Ranch As Web 2.0 Hype Begins 2023-11-14 04:00pm
• A Call With Tim O’Reilly After the First Web 2.0 Conference 2023-11-11 04:00pm
• Marc Andreessen in 2004: Adapting to a New Web Era 2023-11-09 04:00pm
• The First Web 2.0 Conference in 2004: A New Bubble Begins 2023-11-07 04:00pm
• Blogging in 2003–2004: The Early Years of ReadWriteWeb 2023-11-05 04:00pm
• Introduction to Bubble Blog, a Memoir of Web 2.0 (2004-2011) 2023-11-01 05:00pm
• Bubble Blog, My Web 2.0 Book: Table of Contents 2023-10-31 05:00pm
• Announcing Bubble Blog, My Web 2.0 Memoir 2023-10-29 05:00pm
• Preserving Media: A Visit to the Physical Internet Archive 2023-10-25 05:00pm
• ReadWriteWeb on Wayback Machine vs. Old Screenshots 2023-10-03 05:00pm
• Book Update Plus My Thoughts on ChatGPT and Generative AI 2023-06-22 05:00pm
• Twitter in 2007: The Open Platform That Wasn't 2023-05-24 05:00pm
• ReadWriteWeb Turns 20: Writing to the Web Then and Now 2023-04-19 05:00pm
• The Golden Age of Microblogging, With Soup.io and Tumblr 2023-03-21 05:00pm
• Check-In Culture: Foursquare Raps by the Go-Bang Mayor 2023-02-20 04:00pm
• Flickr Before Smartphones and Instagram 2023-01-25 04:00pm
• BowieNet: The Inside Story of Its Creation 2023-01-09 04:00pm
• 1993: Mosaic Launches and the Web Becomes Open Source 2021-12-07 04:00pm
• 1992: The Web vs Gopher, and the First External Browsers 2021-11-17 04:00pm
• 1991: Tim Berners-Lee Tries to Convert the Hypertext Faithful 2021-11-09 04:00pm
• 1990: Programming the World Wide Web 2021-10-31 05:00pm
• 1999: Netscape’s Fall and the Rise of the Mozilla Browser 2021-10-12 05:00pm
• 1996: Flash and CSS Bring Design to the Web 2021-09-28 05:00pm
• 1995: MySQL Debuts and Web Databases Slowly Emerge 2021-09-14 05:00pm
• 1995: Apache and Microsoft IIS Shake Up Web Server Market 2021-08-30 05:00pm
• 1994: How Perl Became the Foundation of Yahoo 2021-08-09 05:00pm
• The Time I Met Bill English, Co-Creator of the Mouse 2021-07-25 05:00pm
• 1998: The Open Web With Mozilla, W3C’s DOM, and WaSP 2021-06-29 05:00pm
• 1997: The Year of DHTML 2021-06-01 05:00pm
• 1997: JavaScript Grows Up, Developers Push Boundaries 2021-05-03 05:00pm
• 1995: PHP Launches As Server-Side CGI Scripts Toolset 2021-04-12 05:00pm
• 1993: CGI Scripts and Early Server-Side Web Programming 2021-03-23 05:00pm
• 1997: Netscape Crossware vs. the Windows Web 2021-03-08 04:00pm
• 1996: Microsoft Activates the Internet With ActiveX, JScript 2021-02-15 04:00pm
• 1969: Building the oN-Line System 2021-02-01 04:00pm
• 1996: Netscape Lays the Groundwork for Web Applications 2021-01-20 04:00pm
• 1968: The Mother of All Demos 2021-01-12 04:00pm
• 1996: JavaScript Annoyances and Meeting the DOM 2021-01-04 04:00pm
• 1995: The Birth of JavaScript 2020-12-21 04:00pm
• Internet Amnesia: Clive James & His Website 2020-02-25 04:00pm
• The Internet’s Impact on Culture 2020-01-28 04:00pm
• The Decade in Culture Tech: Streaming, Binging, Opining 2019-12-11 04:00pm
• Top 5 Culture-Tech Trends of 2019: Rise of Digital Culture 2019-12-02 04:00pm
• The State of Podcasting: A Golden Age for Online Audio 2019-10-07 05:00pm
• Audiobooks Deep Dive: Latest Statistics and Trends 2019-10-01 05:00pm
• Audio vs. Text: The Rise of Podcasts and Audiobooks 2019-09-25 05:00pm
• Bowie, Houdini & Other Reasons I Love Blogs and Newsletters 2019-09-09 05:00pm
• How Blogs and Newsletters Can Fight Back at Social Media 2019-09-03 05:00pm
• How Interactive Media Fits Into the Cultural Landscape 2019-08-20 05:00pm
• Are We Doing Enough To Archive Digital Culture? 2019-08-13 05:00pm
• AI in the Cultural Industries: Uses and Limitations 2019-06-20 05:00pm
• How Photo Sharing Is Impacting the Cultural Industries 2019-06-16 05:00pm
• The Chernobyl Podcast and the Value of Internet Deep Dives 2019-06-11 05:00pm
• Audiobook Sales Are Surging, While Print and Ebooks Decline 2019-05-30 05:00pm
• Music Distribution in the Streaming and Social Media Era 2019-05-28 05:00pm
• Rise of Podcasting: Spotify and Google Make Moves 2019-05-19 05:00pm
• Paradise Lost: How Moreover Won & Lost the Real-Time Web 2015-03-16 05:00pm
• Best BigCo of 2011: Amazon 2011-12-20 04:00pm
• My Top 10 Web Products of 2011 2011-12-19 04:00pm
• Best LittleCo of 2011: Dropbox 2011-12-18 04:00pm
• Best BigCo of 2010: Facebook 2010-12-21 04:00pm
• Best LittleCo of 2010: Tumblr 2010-12-19 04:00pm
• My Top 10 Web Products of 2010 2010-12-12 04:00pm
• Best LittleCo of 2009 and Most Promising 2009-12-20 04:00pm
• Best BigCo of 2009: Google 2009-12-15 04:00pm
• My Interview With Tim Berners-Lee, June 2009 2009-07-07 05:00pm
• Best LittleCo of 2008 and Most Promising for 2009 2008-12-21 04:00pm
• Top 10 Web Platforms of 2008 2008-12-20 04:00pm
• Best BigCo of 2008: Apple 2008-12-17 04:00pm
• Top 10 Web Tech Stories of 2007 2007-12-30 04:00pm
• Top Web Apps and Websites of 2007 2007-12-25 04:00pm
• Best Web LittleCo of 2007: Twitter 2007-12-12 04:00pm
• Best Web BigCo of 2007: Facebook 2007-12-09 04:00pm
• Best Web LittleCo of 2006: YouTube 2006-12-21 04:00pm
• Best Web BigCo of 2006: Google 2006-12-20 04:00pm
• 2006 Web Technology Trends 2006-12-10 04:00pm
• Best Web Companies and Innovators of 2005 2005-12-21 04:00pm
• Top Ten Web 2.0 Moments of 2005 2005-12-14 04:00pm
• Best Web 2.0 Companies of 2004 2004-12-29 04:00pm
• One Year On: 1-Year Anniversary of ReadWriteWeb 2004-04-21 05:00pm
• The Read/Write Web 2003-04-19 05:00pm