Continuing my history of blogging and RSS series, I look at 2001: the year of warblogs, Movable Type and Blogdex. I see '01 as a transition year for blogging, in which it shifts from personal journaling to a more journalistic approach (although many personal bloggers resented the influx of warbloggers). There are lots of great 2001 screenshots in this post, so I hope you enjoy it.
Cybercultural
Blogging Gets Serious in 2001 With Warblogs and Movable Type
After September 11, 2001, an influx of warblogs shakes up the blogosphere. It's part of a year-long transition in which blogging shifts from person...
 #InternetHistory #Blogging
I know people will be piling on about Grokipedia, but hilariously its definition of Web 2.0 seems to be much better than Wikipedia's. On Grokipedia's page, there's a great description of misinformation on platforms like X and Facebook. Wikipedia does not mention any of that. Refs: 1.
Grokipedia
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 denotes the second generation of the World Wide Web, characterized by dynamic websites that emphasize user-generated content, interactivity...
 2.
Web 2.0 - Wikipedia
 (p.s. Grokipedia cites my internet history website Cybercultural.com twice, whereas Wikipedia ignores it! C'mon Wikipedia, get with it.) image
A new project out of MIT is building open, decentralized infrastructure for AI agents as an alternative to proprietary platforms. As I note in the post, shades of the fediverse here! https://thenewstack.io/how-mits-project-nanda-aims-to-decentralize-ai-agents/
Today, October 21, 2025, there isย a rallyย in San Francisco in support of @npub1umd6...wfr7. Tomorrow, the Internet Archive isย having a partyย to celebrate 1 trillion webpages archived. To show my appreciation for their most famous creation, the Wayback Machine, this week's Cybercultural post takes you back 24 years to its launch. Thank-you @npub1ftlr...3e6s and long live the Internet Archive!
Cybercultural
2001: The Internet Gets a Memory With the Wayback Machine
In October 2001, Brewster Kahle demonstrates a new time machine from the Internet Archive called the Wayback Machine. It will become a vital link b...
 #InternetHistory
This week on Cybercultural, I look back on Steve Jobs' January 2001 keynote at Macworld SF, when he announced iTunes and Apple's new "digital hub" concept. This was pre-iPod and of course pre-iPhone. The new strategy set the company up for a renaissance in the 21st century, when *everything* became digital.
Cybercultural
2001: Steve Jobs Launches iTunes and Appleโ€™s Digital Hub
With the announcement of iTunes in January 2001, Apple CEO Steve Jobs ushers in the legal digital music era. It also marks the beginning of Apple's...
 #InternetHistory #ClassicApple
Let's take a trip back to the year 2000, 25 long internet years ago. A year in which Flash websites proliferate, blogging expands, social news sites like Slashdot gain influence โ€” all of this while the dot-com bubble slowly deflates and Napster dominates headlines.
Cybercultural
What the Internet Was Like in 2000
In 2000, Flash websites proliferate, blogging expands, social news sites like Slashdot gain influence โ€” all of this while the dot-com bubble slow...
 #InternetHistory (special thanks to @npub1uaxy...25kn & @npub18dr9...hhph for suggesting Homestar Runner, the perfect Flash website suggestion for that year!)
Starter packs coming to Mastodon ๐Ÿ‘€
Mastodon Blog
Our ideas about Packs
Sharing our thoughts and plans behind sharing collections of accounts in the Fediverse.
This week on Cybercultural, let's re-live the Year of Napster: Shawn Fanning wearing a Metallica shirt to the 2000 MTV Awards, Lars Ulrich testifying to Senate and whining to the media (but in retrospect, was he right after all?!), Judge Patel calling Napster a monster, the media dreaming of a "heavenly jukebox", and โ€” amid it all โ€” a new legal alternative quietly emerges: SoundJam (soon to be known as iTunes).
Cybercultural
2000: The Napster Monster and Appleโ€™s Heavenly Jukebox
Napster's legal woes intensify in 2000, even as creator Shawn Fanning is celebrated on MTV and on magazine covers. Meanwhile, Apple acquires a star...
 #InternetHistory #Napster #iTunes
In this week's Web Technology News, I discuss my interview with Evan You โ€” the creator of Vite and (I'm suggesting) one of the new rock stars of web development.
Web Technology News
WTN #8: The New Rock Stars of Web Development
I got to talk to one of the rock stars of frontend development this week. No, not DHH! I mean a young man named Evan You, whose Vite build tool is ...
 As usual, you'll also find other news in these 3 categories: Web Platform, Open Social Web, Web + AI. Fedi folk featured in this week's newsletter: @npub15z3w...0xrp, @npub1ufhq...mjqv, [@_elena](
Mastodon
Elena Rossini โ‚ (@_elena@mastodon.social)
681 Posts, 449 Following, 10.4K Followers ยท Italian filmmaker, photographer and writer based in Paris, France who โค๏ธ #FOSS ๐ŸŽฌ Director of...
 ), @npub1dgjj...m5xf, @npub1j2m3...ngt0, @npub1trrk...wc45 You can sign up to WTN via email and/or follow [@feed](
Web Technology News
Web Technology News
Insights on the Webโ€™s future โ€” infrastructure, open networks, and AI. By Richard MacManus, pioneering tech blogger and founder of ReadWriteWeb.
 ) here on Mastodon.
For my 'one more thing' on WTN this week ( [@feed](
Web Technology News
Web Technology News
Insights on the Webโ€™s future โ€” infrastructure, open networks, and AI. By Richard MacManus, pioneering tech blogger and founder of ReadWriteWeb.
 ) ) I highlighted some lovely web community action from 2000. The image attached is from Anita Rowland's weblog that year, describing a meetup with fellow Seattle bloggers (2 legendary bloggers, @npub1prsj...eh8y and @npub19re3...ftse, were among them). It's a reminder that the web is all about human connection โ€” and we should never forget that.
Web Technology News
WTN #7: Chrome Becomes an AI Browser, With Agents To Come
This week, we may have witnessed the beginning of the end for the traditional web browser. On Thursday, Google announced a raft of new AI features ...
 image