Fascinating Facts about the Internet Today

Estimated number of Internet users, worldwide, at the end of 1998: 147,800,000 Estimated percentage living in the U.S.: 52

Number of U.S. households joining the Internet, per hour: 760

Percent increase in the number of registered domains from 1997 to 1999: 118 Percentage of total domains registered in .com, in 1998: 84

Number of venture capital deals for Internet-related companies, in the first quarter of 1999: 208 Average financing in those deals, in millions of dollars: 10 Average financing for Internet venture deals in 1998, in millions of dollars: 7.9

Amount spent on advertising on the Internet in 1998, in billions of dollars: 1.9 Estimated amount spent on outdoor advertising in 1998, in billions of dollars: 1.6

Through mid-April, amount of money raised by Bill Bradley's campaign web site, in dollars: 30,000 Amount spent by Dan Quayle's campaign to start a web site, in dollars: 26,000

Number of dogs I know with a URL on her name tag: 1

Number of languages for the Vatican Website: 6

Estimated number of users who downloaded the Starr Report from CNN Interactive in the first two days it was available: 1,700,000

Estimated percentage of retail stock trades now taking place on the Internet: 25

Estimated US consumer spending on online retail purchases during 1998 holiday season, in billions of dollars: 8.2

Fee to be charged by Delta Airlines for tickets not purchased on the Internet, in dollars: 2 Percentage of Delta Airlines tickets sold via the Internet in 1998: less than 3

Estimated number of Internet users in China: 1,750,000

Bank's cost to process an in-person transaction, in dollars: 1.07 Bank's cost to process an Internet transaction, in dollars: 0.01

Number of live Internet chats with Koko the gorilla: 1

Expected year that the U.S. Census Bureau will use the Internet for the census: 2010

Estimated number of web users in the U.S.: 57,037,000

Percentage of U.S. public schools connected to the Internet, in 1994: 35 Percentage of U.S. public schools connected to the Internet, in 1996: 65

Estimated number of e-mail messages that will be sent in the year 1997, in trillions: 2.7 Estimated number of e-mail messages that will be sent in the year 2000, in trillions: 6.9

Next Chapter 3- 
Connecting to the Internet and How it Works 

Glossary of Terms