CNET at 25

From Amazon to Zuckerberg: 25 years of technology

On CNET's 25th anniversary, take a look back at the last quarter century of the technology industry and remember who and what defined it.

By Kent German

The smart home wouldn't exist without this '90s invention

Commentary: Wi-Fi was the missing piece that made the smart home whole.

By Megan Wollerton

This tech let us dream big. Then it flopped spectacularly

From teleportation devices to hoverboards, here are some inventions that never made it past sci-fi novels and films.

By Abrar Al-Heeti

25 technologies that have changed the world

For better or worse, these techs and gadgets changed our lives in the past quarter century.

By Steven Musil

TVs over the years have grown cheaper, smarter and much bigger

As flat-screen technology killed CRT and rear projection, a lot more people could afford a huge TV.

By David Katzmaier

Today's smartphone almost didn't happen

Even into the first decade of the 2000s, it was a device many thought we didn't need.

By Brian Cooley

Everything about how we access and listen to music has changed in the past 25 years

The music industry has been rocked by technology since CNET's start in 1995 and so has how we discover, create, collect and listen to it.

By Joshua Goldman

When Hollywood finally noticed the web: What it got right and oh so wrong

The Net. Hackers. Johnny Mnemonic. Twenty-five years ago, cinema met cyberspace in a riot of funky fashion, cool music and surveillance paranoia.

By Richard Trenholm

The Latest

Before The Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic and Hackers led the internet movies of the '90s

Angelina Jolie in Hackers, Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic: The fashion might look funny now, but a crop of web-themed movies weren't off base.

By Richard Trenholm

The smart home wouldn't exist without this '90s invention

Commentary: Wi-Fi was the missing piece that made the smart home whole.

By Megan Wollerton

Honda Accord and CR-V: What's really changed after 25 years?

Did Honda's golden age ever really end?

By Kyle Hyatt

Remember when we wore cell phones on belts? This Motorola phone started the trend

Compared with other cellphones of its day, the first famous flip phone was an amazingly sleek, cutting-edge device.

By Jessica Dolcourt

Remember when TVs weighed 200 pounds? A look back at TV trends over the years

As flat-screen technology killed CRT and rear projection, TVs grew lighter yet bigger, as well as more affordable than ever before.

By David Katzmaier

Samsung's mistake -- and CNET's reaction -- inspired me to work here

When CNET called out Samsung for its sexist, tone-deaf Galaxy S4 press conference, I knew I wanted to be more than just a fan.

By Mike Sorrentino

Why 2020 is a rare window in time that's hard to see beyond

Commentary: Never mind seeing beyond the fabled singularity of 2045. It's really hard to predict where we're going from the here and now.

By Eric Mack

Pager, Discman and Game Boy: This is the tech we used in 1995

We didn't just carry different gadgets 25 years ago, we carried a lot more of them.

By Kent German

Building CNET one person at a time

Founder Halsey Minor recalls how, in the uncharted days before the first dot-com boom, he built the content and recruited the team that became CNET.

By Halsey Minor

10 best-selling cars, trucks and SUVs of 1995

From Ford to Honda to Toyota, let's dive into history and see what Americans were buying 25 years ago, back when CNET first started.

By Emme Hall

See how popular vehicles like the Camry, Wrangler and F-150 have changed over the last 25 years

Today's Honda Civic is about the same size as an Accord from 1995, though it's more powerful. Here's how other popular nameplates have changed since then.

By Craig Cole

Before the cats came: The web of 1995 leaves me nostalgic for simpler times

The web was cluttered and ugly in its early days, but it was also free of popups and full of innocent charm.

By Lori Grunin

From Microsoft to the iPhone, getting technology right for 25 years

Former ZDNet and CNET editor Dan Farber recalls how the two sites started as fierce rivals, but ultimately came together to pioneer the golden age of tech journalism.

By Dan Farber

CNET at 25

The year 1995 could really be counted as Year Zero of the digital world we live in today. Netscape had an IPO, Amazon and eBay launched, Microsoft released Internet Explorer, and CNET was born.

When CNET first went online at the end of June, the original dot-com boom was just gathering steam. That first boom went bust just five years later, but the tech industry, while certainly not unscathed, adapted and charged ahead. More of the planet's population went online, small startups like Facebook and Google went on to become industry giants, and gadgets such as phones and laptops got cheaper, smaller, faster and ubiquitous.

Through it all, CNET was there to tell the stories behind this remarkable industry. Join us as we relive some of the biggest technology stories, products, companies and people of the last quarter century.