The growth of the Internet in the last decade is so staggering it's hard to believe. Recently USA Today put together a top 25 list of things that changed the Internet and from that, rather than give you the names of creators and companies involved (for the most part) I've compiled my own top 10 list of facts containing figures in raw numbers and/or percentages. We'll take a look at that in a moment but first some recent developments. Word out today is that we've got a new leading Internet service provider. AT&T (12.9 million customers) has passed AOL (12 million) after more than a decade. AOL slips to third. Comcast is second with 12.1 million. With an average price of about $19 a month, AOL remains highly profitable but they've lost 1.18 million subscribers in the U.S. Now to my top 10 Internet facts:
- 747 million adults all over the world logged on to the Internet this past January...
- Nearly 97 billion e-mails are sent every day...
- Junk e-mail now accounts for more than 9 of every 10 messages sent...
- About 78% of home Internet users in the U.S. have broadband, up from less than 1% in 1998...
- Google had nearly 500 million visitors in December, 2006. Google is so popular it's become a verb...
- eBay has 230 million customers worldwide with 100 million auctions going on at any given time...
- Adobe's Flash player is on 98% of all computers. If you've seen a video on YouTube (which sold to Google for $1.65 billion) or MySpace (sold to News Corp for $580 million), then you've probably used it...
- Napster which paved the way for Apple's iTunes let more than 26 million people download music for free until it was shut down...
- The Drudge Report claims to have about 500 million visitors a month. The MPR claims slightly less...
- Online gambling, illegal in the U.S. topped $12 billion last year and online porn was $2.84 billion but heed this warning please: block it if you have kids...
One footnote to add, in a legal response to Viacom Inc.'s copyright infringement lawsuit over Google's YouTube (Viacom claimed that the site's activities are illegal), YouTube says it cooperates with holders of copyrights and immediately complies with requests to have unauthorized material removed from the site. The courts have not issued a ruling yet...
Did someone say YouTube? We direct you to the aforementioned site in our "Debuted on this date" and "Happy Birthday...happy birthday" timelines...
Timeline Memories...
Run for the roses: There were 3 Kentucky Derbies of note run on this very May 3rd date, starting with 1952] Eddie Arcaro became the 1st jockey to win the race 5 times when he took Hill Gail to the finish line first in the 77th running of the KD...1980] Jacinto Vasquez (Ha-sinto Vas-kez, try it at home) won the race with Genuine Risk, the first filly to win the Derby since Regret in 1915...1986] At the age of 54, Bill Shoemaker would become the oldest jockey to win the big race aboard Ferdinand. The trainer of the horse, Charlie Whittingham was 73 (not a record)...
DC only: 1802] Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city although D.C. remains a district. It is not a city...
Get those Barry Manilow records out: 1888] Thomas Edison organizes the Edison Phonograph Works...
O sol(o) mio: 1920] Harry Frazee (that wacky guy who traded Babe Ruth) becomes the sole owner of the Red Sox...1979] Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's 1st female prime minister...
Debuted on this date: 1936] Future Baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio makes his MLB debut with 3 hits...1964] Gerry & the Pacemakers make their U.S. TV debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show" singing "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" . This clip is from another TV show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAV3XG673Rk ..1966] The game 'Twister' is featured on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" and sales go through the roof...1971] National Public Radio or NPR debuts...1986] "Dollywood", Dolly Parton's theme park, opens in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Dolly also owns a radio station there (WDLY) that I used to call on when I was in syndicated radio. DP is quite the active owner as the PD would tell me. For those who never heard one of the biggest pop hits of all-time, written by Dolly, you're in for a treat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Gx0sqx8AM ...1999] Hasbro releases the 1st collection of 'Star Wars' toys following the success of "Episode I: The Phantom Menace"...
"Happy Trails": 2000] Cardinal John O'Connor, the archbishop of New York, dies from a brain tumor at 80...2006] Earl Woods, father of Tiger, dies from prostate cancer at 74...
Prize winner: 1937] Margaret Mitchell wins a Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With The Wind"...
Try to remember the kind of September: 1960] The musical "The Fantastics" opens off-Broadway beginning a run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 performances. I guarantee you it's still playing somewhere...
The new King of the skyscrapers: 1973] The Sears Tower in Chicago is completed...
Beneficial performance: 1977] Paul Simon and Phoebe Snow perform a benefit concert at the New York Public Library where the librarian continually "shushes" them...
Celtic Pride: 1981] The Celtics beat the 76ers to win the NBA Eastern Conference title behind Larry Bird's bank shot after trailing the series 3 games to one. They will win their 14th NBA title when they beat Houston in 6 games...
The curtain comes down: 1991] "Dallas" airs its last episode. The show debuted in April, 1978 and broke ratings records in 1980 when 8.6 million viewers watched the "Who Shot J.R." episode...2004] Seven officers are reprimanded in the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison, two of them are relieved of duties...2006] Al-Quaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is given a life sentence for his role in the terrorist attack on 911...
This I swear: 2005] The first democratically elected government in the history of Iraq is sworn in...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in each timeline]...
Commentary...
From your e-mails...Peter Mollica sent the schedule for the special "Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built" for New York's channel 13: tonight in the wee hours of 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. but the special will also air this Sunday at 1 p.m. This schedule is for New York only. Paul Power tells me that it aired last night in Boston...And this e-mail from Harvey Mednick remembering Tom Poston: "I too am saddened by the passing of Tom Poston for a very personal reason. My first "showbiz" job at 19 was as an ABC page and I worked the "Entertainment Show", a live 2-hour daily afternoon TV show from the Little Theater off Times Square hosted by Tom and featuring the Ray McKinley Band, Gene Weed and Bob Carroll. Tom was terrific and very kind to the kid from the Bronx who ran him down to the stage on the elevator and kicked drunks out of the balcony after the show. Irony was, years later, in the late 80's, he (Tom) was seated at the next table at a funky little Mexican restaurant in Santa Monica and I (re)introduced myself. He was so gracious and really interested in how my career had blossomed over time -- a good guy who will be missed"...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Christopher Cross (56), Mary Hopkin (57), Greg Gumbel (61), Frankie Valli (73). After "The Jersey Boys" debuted, Frankie and Bob Gaudio were interviewed on K-EARTH by Gary Bryan - here's 3:54 of that interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq7TI9SNICk and Happy Birthday to Pete Seeger, 88 years young today...
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