Funny Stuff Katie Couric: "Allison, can you explain what 'Internet' is?" [Archive]

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jAZ

01-29-2011, 11:12 AM

Bowser

01-29-2011, 11:16 AM

GUMBLEGUMBLEGUMBLE

Reaper16

01-29-2011, 01:10 PM

White people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X.

Fairplay

01-29-2011, 01:12 PM

That was back in the stone age.

mnchiefsguy

01-29-2011, 01:26 PM

Even in 1994, there is no real excuse to not know what the internet is. Funny!

Rausch

01-29-2011, 01:29 PM

http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/file.php?2,file=17719,filename=whut.jpeg

BigMeatballDave

01-29-2011, 01:33 PM

Even in 1994, there is no real excuse to not know what the internet is. Funny!In her profession, I agree. However, most people werent aware of it. I didnt experience it until '97.

Fairplay

01-29-2011, 01:35 PM

Fun Fact #361

Al Gore invented the internet.

Rausch

01-29-2011, 01:35 PM

In her profession, I agree. However, most people werent aware of it. I didnt experience it until '97.

There's a female orgasm joke in here if you try hard enough...

BigMeatballDave

01-29-2011, 01:46 PM

There's a female orgasm joke in here if you try hard enough...:LOL:

007

01-29-2011, 01:57 PM

How in the hell can anyone in the media in 1994 NOT know what the internet was.

KChiefs1

01-29-2011, 02:09 PM

Bryant looks kinda orange.

Rausch

01-29-2011, 02:10 PM

Bryant looks kinda orange.

Katie looks kinda New Wave 80's...

Ok, yeah, I'd still hit it...

Lonewolf Ed

01-29-2011, 02:13 PM

Fun Fact #361

Al Gore invented the internet.

Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Eli Whitney, George Washington Carver, Henry Ford... all of them put together can't hold a candle to Al Gore.

Rausch

01-29-2011, 02:14 PM

How in the hell can anyone in the media in 1994 NOT know what the internet was.

Cocaine was still very popular...

Mr. Laz

01-29-2011, 02:30 PM

How many people on this BBS can explain what the internet is right now?

Sure people know that get on their computer and 'visit a website' ... but do they really know what the internet is?

cdcox

01-29-2011, 02:42 PM

How in the hell can anyone in the media in 1994 NOT know what the internet was.

Netscape, the first browser that brought the www to the masses, didn't come out until November of that year. The Northbride earthquake was in January. Yahoo didn't exist. Email wasn't in common usage as you can see by the discussion of the @ in the video.

If you were an early adapter of email, or were using IRC, usenet, ftp, or telnet you were familiar with the internet in January 1994. Otherwise, probably not.

Thig Lyfe

01-29-2011, 03:13 PM

lol n00bs

Blindside58

01-29-2011, 03:27 PM

Netscape, the first browser that brought the www to the masses, didn't come out until November of that year. The Northbride earthquake was in January. Yahoo didn't exist. Email wasn't in common usage as you can see by the discussion of the @ in the video.

If you were an early adapter of email, or were using IRC, usenet, ftp, or telnet you were familiar with the internet in January 1994. Otherwise, probably not.

I remember seeing "Prodigy" yellow boxes on store shelves wondering what the heck it was. I believe that was before the "AOL" domination.

kysirsoze

01-29-2011, 03:31 PM

In her profession, I agree. However, most people werent aware of it. I didnt experience it until '97.

I can't watch the video cause I'm at work, but it seems likely she was asking for the benefit of those at home. That's usually the job of an interviewer.

Thig Lyfe

01-29-2011, 03:35 PM

I can't watch the video cause I'm at work, but it seems likely she was asking for the benefit of those at home. That's usually the job of an interviewer.

Nope. She wasn't interviewing shit. They were all genuinely dumbfounded by the concept of the Internet.

01-29-2011, 03:37 PM

I can't watch the video cause I'm at work, but it seems likely she was asking for the benefit of those at home. That's usually the job of an interviewer.

Make no mistake....they had no clue. They were arguing how to pronounce and what was the @ sign. Funny stuff there.

pr_capone

01-29-2011, 03:38 PM

How in the hell can anyone in the media in 1994 NOT know what the internet was.

Because it was in it's infancy still? In 1994, the internet was still the domain of the 1337... now we have a bunch of fuckwits trolling all over the thing. Other than email, people in the media probably didn't have much contact things like the net.

kysirsoze

01-29-2011, 03:38 PM

Nope. She wasn't interviewing shit. They were all genuinely dumbfounded by the concept of the Internet.

oic

WHAT A DUMBASSS

01-29-2011, 03:59 PM

How many people on this BBS can explain what the internet is right now?

Sure people know that get on their computer and 'visit a website' ... but do they really know what the internet is?

Hell I'm impressed some of these people on here can use a fork.

Bearcat

01-29-2011, 04:08 PM

... but do they really know what the internet is?

Tubes.

Phobia

01-29-2011, 04:17 PM

Hell I'm impressed some of these people on here can use a fork.

Which is why I mostly just use a spoon.

01-29-2011, 04:19 PM

Which is why I mostly just use a spoon.

:)

wazu

01-29-2011, 04:48 PM

I really don't find this all that surprising. Most people didn't have e-mail addresses in 1994, or any kind of internet access.

KcMizzou

01-29-2011, 04:55 PM

Tubes.It's not a truck.

blaise

01-29-2011, 05:03 PM

Do you like websites?

Talisman

01-29-2011, 05:16 PM

Gumble didn't seem that impressed by it. Someone should have told him how easy it was going to be to access porn.

BigMeatballDave

01-29-2011, 05:33 PM

I really don't find this all that surprising. Most people didn't have e-mail addresses in 1994, or any kind of internet access.I'd say the amount of people who had internet in their homes in 94 was probably less than 5%.

cdcox

01-29-2011, 05:58 PM

In the late 1970's I used one of these (it is a modem) at work to access credit reports. I doubt those were delivered over the internet.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R0vjRVb7WM4/SmSL6Fs6XdI/AAAAAAAAAjg/kjffzIA7Jao/s320/AJ_311_Acoustic_modem.jpg

In 1991 I had this at work:

http://towercomputing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/hayes.jpg

pr_capone

01-29-2011, 06:02 PM

I'd say the amount of people who had internet in their homes in 94 was probably less than 5%.

exactly.

It wasn't until around 96 or 97 when AOL hit big with those trial disks/diskettes.

http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4bfaad2a7f8b9aab028b0100/aol-disk.jpg

I remember being a kid and couldn't afford "real" internet access so I instead made due with the local BBS system. I had an email address from TWSU that wasn't exactly instant. IIRC, they had intervals where their BBS software would automatically connect via Telnet to a network and send & receive emails.

Whenever I could convince the parents to give up their CC and I promised to not go over the allotted time it was heaven. 14 years old and access to the world. And porn.

*edit

I remember using a program called ProComm Plus\ for my BBS'ing needs. I have fond memories of trying to dial in my modem to allow for the best connection by editing my modem's init strings.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3229/3108747090_3660a9b790_z.jpg

pr_capone

01-29-2011, 06:08 PM

$modeminit="&f&c1&d2"

Al Bundy

01-29-2011, 06:09 PM

cdcox

01-29-2011, 06:12 PM

I had my 1st email address in 1994. I don't really remember what it was but I remember the 1st message board I signed up for was an MTV board of some sort and the 1st sports one was a Tampa Bay Bucs one, SPIT.

I think I had mine in '91 but didn't use it much. Then all of the sudden, you used it every day. I don't remember when that transition occurred, but it was almost overnight.

MITCH

01-29-2011, 06:14 PM

CDCOX.. I would say Mosaic was first browser to bring WWW to masses. Then you had gopher before IRC,Ftp,telnet They were all getting used in mid 1990's.

cdcox

01-29-2011, 06:19 PM

CDCOX.. I would say Mosaic was first browser to bring WWW to masses. Then you had gopher before IRC,Ftp,telnet They were all getting used in mid 1990's.

Probably true about Mosaic. Depends how you define masses.

Telnet predated gopher by 20 years.

Deberg_1990

01-29-2011, 06:32 PM

I think I first got on the interwebs around Nov of 1994. I used Mosaic and every website was completely text. But the media had been talking about the WWW and internet for at least 2 years before that.
Posted via Mobile Device

BigMeatballDave

01-29-2011, 06:32 PM

I honestly did not know a single person with internet access until my sis and her husband got it in 97. A Mac with a 14.4 baud modem. Wicked fast! :)

2 yrs later I had RoadRunner. I think back then it only had a bandwidth of 300-500kbps.

Frazod

01-29-2011, 06:44 PM

The first time I used the internet was from my old office, and I didn't start working there until '96. They had two internet capable computers, tucked behind the reception desk. They had AOL dial-up, and it was painfully fucking slow. I would get on at lunch sometimes to read Chiefs articles on the Star site - that how I discovered the old BB.

I don't remember how long it took until they hooked up all the desktops to it. Come to think of it, I don't remember when I first got it at home, either, but I assume it was around 1998. That was a long time ago.

Deberg_1990

01-29-2011, 07:03 PM

Id guess the internet truly exploded with the mainstream around 95 and 96. After win95 came out. But on those old 14.4 and 28.8 dial connections it was often very tedious.....
Posted via Mobile Device

VAChief

01-29-2011, 07:09 PM

I'd say the amount of people who had internet in their homes in 94 was probably less than 5%.

I think it was around 2%. There were only about 24% of homes with a home computer in 1994.

SLAG

01-29-2011, 07:20 PM

I was using a epson 286 with a Monochrome screen and a 2400bps modem...

I would dial into aol using 1.0 - but that got expensive

I did the bbs thing with procomm .. and other comm programs...

then i got a local dial up isp and then i would download stuff.. I would telnet in to their server and use lynx to download files to my area of server space then xfer it from their server to my home pc in only one hop .... there full getting a full speed ( i think i upgraded to 14.4 at that time)

I remember begging for a better modem for my birthday ( i eventually moved up to a 486sx packard bell - then eventually put a pentium overdrive in it. and 8MB RAM (big baller shot caller) )

I was so excited when i got my 33.6 modem that could be freely upgraded to the v.90 standard when It was ready... USRobotics FTW

/stroll down geek memory lane

listopencil

01-29-2011, 07:33 PM

I had e-mail at work in '95, maybe '94.

MITCH

01-29-2011, 08:19 PM

I was using a epson 286 with a Monochrome screen and a 2400bps mode

I remember begging for a better modem for my birthday ( i eventually moved up to a 486sx packard bell - then eventually put a pentium overdrive in it. and 8MB RAM (big baller shot caller) )
/stroll down geek memory lane

I remember first Packard Bell 486 sx which I paid on credit card for some $2000.00 Thing worked great with Window 3.11 but took me years to pay that thing off being right out of college. That was a boatload of money back in the day.

alnorth

01-29-2011, 10:13 PM

Watched the video, and that was just adorable.

I was in high school back then, and my family was a very early adopter, about 1994 or so I think. I can just still vaguely remember as a kid when we first got online and I began to realize what this "internet" was. It was so exciting, and I was lucky in that my whole family really got into it hard-core, my mom was interested, dad was fascinated, for a couple years or so it was just this wonderous discovery.

Now we're all cynical pros who take it for granted and we'd feel like our right arm was cut off if we lost access for a week or so, but I'd love to just go back in time for a few days and feel that sense of wonder again.

googlegoogle

01-30-2011, 05:27 AM

BigMeatballDave

01-30-2011, 08:51 AM

In the late 1970's I used one of these (it is a modem) at work to access credit reports. I doubt those were delivered over the internet.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R0vjRVb7WM4/SmSL6Fs6XdI/AAAAAAAAAjg/kjffzIA7Jao/s320/AJ_311_Acoustic_modem.jpg
I remember Matthew Broderick using one of these in Wargames.

Baby Lee

01-30-2011, 11:13 AM

I vividly recall, spring of 1994, had to go to the Student Union to Telnet chat with people on a text only terminal. Fall of 1994, searching Westlaw in a browser from my desktop. By the fall of 1996, our new law school had ethernet connections at every desk for laptops.

chiefzilla1501

01-30-2011, 11:20 AM

Frazod

01-30-2011, 12:14 PM

I remember Matthew Broderick using one of these in Wargames.

Wyatt had one in Weird Science, too.

cdcox

01-30-2011, 12:18 PM

I had a couple more sea-chnage technology moments. In early 1980 I was using 80-column IBM card to run my Fortran programs. You had to type the cards on the key-punch (no typos allowed!), read your deck through the card reader, and then wait for 10 minutes to half an hour for the tech to put the greenbar print out for you to pick up. Then you could see your errors, debug, retype the offending cards, rinse and repeat. By 1981 we got to go into this nice room, with CMS terminals. The were similar to early PCs, except you were interacting with the mainframe. Very nice in comparison.

About the same time Dad brought home one of the very early IBM PCs (he worked for IBM). Little did we know that the little devil sitting on the desk would effectively end his career at IBM a few years later (he sold mainframes and took early retirement). Any way the funny thing was that he showed me this program called Visicalc that he thought was the greatest thing, because it could sum down columns and across columns. And you could do other math in the cells. Little did I know I was looking at the first spreadsheet program that I would use on an everyday basis. I told him "This is no big deal. I can do all of that in Fortran already."

KChiefs1

02-04-2011, 06:17 PM

NBC supposedly fired the person who leaked this video.

acesn8s

02-04-2011, 06:23 PM

NBC supposedly fired the person who leaked this video.What assholes

Tribal Warfare

02-04-2011, 06:31 PM

NBC supposedly fired the person who leaked this video.

leaked? The footage was shown to the public 16 years ago. This could lead to a major law suit IMO.

KChiefs1

02-04-2011, 07:09 PM

leaked? The footage was shown to the public 16 years ago. This could lead to a major law suit IMO.

Had to make sure so I looked it up....

http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/02/04/nbc-ruins-the-fun-fires-employee-over-whats-the-internet-video/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%7C199306

By now you’ve probably seen the Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel pondering the wonders of the Internet (http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/01/29/explaining-the-internet-in-1994/). It’s a bit hokey and of course shows the NBC hosts talking nonsense about something outside of their expertise. Well, NBC clearly didn’t find it as cute as everyone else and reportedly fired the employee (http://twitter.com/#!/robpegoraro/status/32954056494292992) that uploaded it. Best Buy almost did that (http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/01/best-buy-iphone-4-evo-4g/) once. Remember how that turned out? (http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/06/best-buy-htc-iphone-videos/)

NBC went and pulled most of the videos from the Internet. The video we embedded is dead (http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/01/29/explaining-the-internet-in-1994/). But of course they couldn’t get them all. Simply searching Google for Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel pulls dozens of copies. Nothing ever goes away online. NBC should know this by now. It’s called the Internet.

Seriously, NBC. No one was laughing at your then-star hosts. We were all laughing with them. It’s not like they were asking questions about the Internet now. This was 1994. No one outside of universities and X-Files watchers had any clue about the Internet. The video simply served as a nice reminder that the Internet grew in importance so rapidly that even some of the world’s most versed newscasters were simply clueless in the early days.

So in case you missed it the first time around, I embedded two different versions of the video below. You know, just in case NBC’s still on a witch hunt and pulls one of them. I reached out to NBC but have yet to hear anything.

That darn @ symbol is so tricky sometimes.