Netflix

The internet got faster. Red DVD envelopes weren’t the only choice anymore. In 2007, Netflix made a bold decision: movies would stream directly to your home. The Internet Got Faster Remember that beeping sound? In the 1990s, if you wanted to connect to the internet, your computer would make a weird beeping, hissing noise. That was dial-up internet. It was painfully slow. So slow that downloading one movie could take a whole week. ...

“There’s got to be a better way.” — Reed Hastings, after receiving a forty-dollar late fee on a DVD rental In 1997, How Did You Watch a Movie? Picture yourself in 1997. You really want to watch a movie. What do you do? You have to get a ride to a video rental store called Blockbuster. It’s a big building stuffed with thousands of VHS tapes and DVDs. You search the shelves and finally find the movie you want. ...