Previous: 1998 / Next: 2000  View all of the years in the New Media Timeline              SERVICES & TECH March 1999 -- The Melissa computer virus spreads via e-mail attachments. "Tim Berners-Lee: From the thousands of interconnected threads of the Internet, he wove the World Wide Web and created a mass medium for the 21st century." Time Magazine, March 29, 1999. The top ten wired cities in the U.S. are: San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Washington, Boston, San Jose, San Diego, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth. (Source: Yahoo! Internet Life) Final Cut Pro, a non-linear editing system is introduced at a NAB meeting during 1999. (Final Cut Pro will later play a role in the development of multimedia production on the Web.)  Craigslist, a centralized network of online communities featuring free classified advertisements and forums sorted by various topics, is incorporated. It was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark.  The U.S. Department of Commerce begins tracking Internet sales. They call e-commerce "a major indicator of the nation's economic health." In 1999 the four leading e-commerce brands are amazon.com, priceline.com, eBay and E-trade. "The Spam That Started It All." Wired, April 13, 1999. June 1, 1999 -- The original version of the Napster file sharing service is released by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. August 1999 -- The blog publishing tool, Blogger, is launched by Pyra Labs. (In 2003 Pyra Labs is purchased by Google.) Sept. 1999 -- Beta testing of the Google search engine is finished. (Source: Google History) "Internet Predecessor Turns 30." CNN, Sept. 1999. "Divide and Conquer?: IPO Deliberations Prolong the Suspense." Presstime, Dec. 1999. "The Digital Century: We remember 100 computing events (crucial, improbable, or downright absurd) that changed our lives, opened our eyes, or made us smile." PC World, Dec. 1999.             THE MEDIA "The Internet audience is not only growing, it is getting decidedly mainstream. Two years ago, when just 23% of Americans were going online, stories about technology were the top news draw. Today, with 41% of adults using the Internet, the weather is the most popular online news attraction." (Source: "The Internet News Audience Goes Ordinary." Pew Research Center, Jan. 1999.) "Prodigy Legacy Lives On." New York Times, Jan. 1999. "After the Hack: Questions Follow the Times Attack." CJR, Jan./Feb. 1999. News Example: April 20, 1999 -- "Columbine School Shooting." (Source: Poynter's Links to the News) May 1999 -- The Online News Association (ONA) is established and launches a website. "Fear.com: Newspapers are on the Web because they have to be, but they're still trying to figure out what to do there." Chip Brown, AJR, June 1999. News Example: July 18, 1999 -- "JFK, Jr. Plane Crash." (Source: Poynter's Links to the News) Oct. 1999 -- Jim Romenesko's popular website, "Mediagossip.com," moves to Poynter Online with the new name "Romenesko's Medianews." (The name is changed to "Romenesko" in 2003.) News Example: Dec. 31, 1999 -- "The Y2K Problem." (Source: Poynter's Links to the News) Awards The 1999 Editor & Publisher EPpy awards (Archived list of winners) (Archived list of finalists) The 1999 NAA Digital Edge Awards (Archived list of winners) 1999 Webby Awards (Archived list of winners) Statistics The number of radio stations that broadcast their signal on the Internet is more than 2,200. This number is up from 56 stations three years ago. (Source: BRS Media) The America Online dial-up service has 20,000,000 subscribers. (Source: AOL) "More than 950 North American daily newspapers have launched online services." "Worldwide, there are more than 2,800 daily, weekly and other newspapers online." (Source: NAA) There are approximately 1,311 television stations with sites on the Internet or dial-up services. (Source: Editor & Publisher) Additional Resources See Also: New Media Bibliography and other Poynter resources about online journalism

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