Fact or Fiction: The Internet

Image: iStockphoto/SweetyM

About This Quiz

It's hard to believe that only about 20 years ago, the Internet was a strange, new world. And now it's difficult to imagine life without it. But how much do you really know about the Internet?

Al Gore invented the Internet.

fact

fiction

almost fiction: It was actually Tipper. Shhhh, don't tell.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

Yes, we're already opening up that can of worms. But no, it's not true -- nor is it true that Gore ever made the claim.

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About a quarter of the world's population uses the Internet.

fact

fiction

almost fiction: About a quarter of the people on Earth use computers, but they don't all have Internet access.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

According to Advanced Micro Devices, 1.5 billion people -- or about a quarter of the world -- have Internet access.

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As of June 2009, there were about 18 million domain names in existence.

fact

fiction

almost fiction: There are 180 million domain names out there.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

At the end of the first quarter of 2009, there were 180 million domain names. Quick -- how many can you name?

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One of the most important predecessors of the Internet was a network called NETLINX. It started in 1979 with a connection between Harvard and MIT.

fact

fiction

almost fiction: The schools were Yale and Princeton.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

All false, actually. The network was ARPANET, it was 1969, and the schools were Stanford and UCLA.

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The Samsung i5000, which came out in 1996, was the first cell phone with Internet access.

fact

fiction

almost fiction: Right year, but it was the Nokia 9000 Communicator.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

It was the Nokia, but it didn't really catch on because of its price and the fact that networks weren't quite developed enough yet.

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The first widely used Web browser was called Mosaic, which was introduced in 1993.

fact

fiction

almost fiction: Mosaic rolled out in 1989.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

True -- but it was only about a year before Netscape Navigator came along and took over.

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March 10, 2000, is the date of the infamous dot-com "bubble burst."

fact

fiction

almost fiction: It was May 10, 2000.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

Yep. March 10 was the day the NASDAQ reached its peak, and it was a long slide downhill after that.

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After July 1, 2009, all computers sold in China will come with software that won't allow users to type sexual keywords.

fact

fiction

almost fiction: True, but it also blocks other stuff, like anti-government sites and anything related to the Tiananmen Square protests.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

Yep, it's called "Green Dam" software, and it blocks pornography and any sites that are critical of the Chinese government. All Chinese PCs sold after July 1, 2009, will have it.

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By some estimates, "cyberslacking" costs companies around the world $1 billion a year.

fact

fiction

almost fiction: It's more like $10 billion a year -- yikes.

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

True. Don't ask us how they figured it out -- or how much time we've spent cyberslacking.

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If you forward this quiz to 10 of your friends in the next 10 minutes, Bill Gates will give you a free trip for two to Disney World!

fact

fiction

almost fiction: You'll actually get a $25 gift certificate to the Gap!

Correct Answer

Wrong Answer

Yeah, that was lame. But admit it -- it worked back when you first got on the Internet back in 1996!

FINISH QUIZ

You Got:

/10

iStockphoto/SweetyM