On JanÂuÂary 27, 1994, the Today Show ran a hilarÂiÂous segÂment tryÂing to unravÂel this crazy new thing called “The InterÂnet.” A year latÂer, howÂevÂer, it looks like the media had it all figÂured out. Check out this 1995 MTV trend piece by Kurt Loder: We got a kick out of the clunkiess of the old new media (ComÂpuserve! Dial-up! Netscape!), but Loder also touchÂes on hackÂing, interÂnet pornogÂraÂphy, priÂvaÂcy, and freeÂdom of speech issues that still haven’t been resolved. The biggest shockÂer of the clip is not how much things have changed but how much they haven’t.
Oh, and also, Moby had hair?
via The Awl
SheerÂly Avni is a San FranÂcisÂco-based arts and culÂture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA WeekÂly, MothÂer Jones, and many othÂer pubÂliÂcaÂtions. You can folÂlow her on twitÂter at @sheerly.
One of the interÂestÂing things about this news clip that may go unnoÂticed is the sigÂnifÂiÂcance of Kurt Loder doing the piece. Kurt was also an InterÂnet pioÂneer. He inventÂed and coined the term “PodÂcast”, and he was the origÂiÂnal ownÂer of MTV.com. He regÂisÂtered MTV.com after askÂing the manÂageÂment if he could do it. They said “go ahead, we don’t care about that InterÂnet thing”. Kurt did it and ran MTV.com for himÂself. Then MTV and their lawyers woke up one day and realÂized their sigÂnifÂiÂcant error.
@Eric I think that it was Adam CurÂry who claimed mtv.com en inventÂed the term PodÂcast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curry