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What’s the Internet? (on 1994's Today Show)

kkleiner writes "In a hilarious video segment from January 24th 1994, The Today Show morning anchors Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric stumble over the identity and jargon of the internet technology that has come to define the past decade. Gumbel is unclear how you pronounce "@", Katie Couric suggests "about", and no one wants to say "dot" when they read ".com". Confusion with lingo aside, The Today Show cast has to ask a crew member to clarify how the internet works. Do you write to it like mail? Is it just in Universities? Does it require a phone line? This was less than two decades ago, and it's a wonderful reminder of how unprepared the mainstream media was for the innovation that was about to sweep the globe. As the crew member says of the internet, "it's getting bigger and bigger all the time." What a delightful understatement."

4 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Ahhh the memories... by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 3, Funny

    1994, when you carried around spare bits in a glass jar and calculated bandwidth with a slide rule. I could tell you more, but my Alzheimer's is acting up.

  2. In typical Slashdot form by sunking2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It only took 17 years for slashdot to pick up this story.

  3. Re:Wow they're so clueless by game+kid · · Score: 4, Funny

    But why? It's perfectly acceptable in the blogosphere!

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  4. Re:John Boehner: Solved by RPoet · · Score: 3, Funny

    As an Orange-American, I find that highly offensive.

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