The document discusses the history and future trends of the internet and their implications for business. It outlines how the internet began as a US defense project called ARPANET and expanded throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the world wide web in 1990 by combining URLs, hyperlinks, HTML, and HTTP. Currently, the internet sees nearly 10 million new web pages daily and technologies like Web 2.0 allow users to both consume and create content. Businesses are embracing these trends through tools like blogs and wikis for internal and external collaboration. The future will see further customization and personalization online as well as new payment systems and uses of technologies like virtual worlds and social networks.