January - Motorola introduces the first flip phone for commercial use. Cost? $1000!

February 10 - IBM computer Deep Blue beats chess master Garry Kasparov for the first time.

March 25 - Twister becomes the first Hollywood feature film to be released on DVD.

July 5 - Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal to be successfully cloned.

July 23 - The first public HDTV broadcast in the United States occurs in Raleigh, North Carolina.

July 27 - A bomb explodes in Centennial Olympic Park during the Atlanta Olympic Games.

August 29 - Tiger Woods makes his professional PGA Tour debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open.

September 26 - Nintendo releases the Nintendo 64 in North America.

Cellular Phone in 1996:

Mobile phones were not yet commonplace, and featured monochrome displays and antennas. Text message were just becoming a thing.

Cellular Phone in 2021:

Mobile phones become portable computers and an essential part of our everyday lives.

Desktop Computer in 1996:

A Top-of-the-line Dell computer with a 66MHz processor, eight megabytes of RAM and a 320-megabyte hard drive cost over $4000.

Desktop Computer in 2021:

An all-in-one desktop with touchscreen, 4.1GHz processor, 8 GB of RAM and a 1 terabyte hard drive can be found for $600.

Average New Car Price in 1996:

$16,300

Average New Car Price in 2021:

$40, 850

Television in 1996:

A 27” CRT is considered standard! Flat panels are a year away from really hitting the market, and cable TV rules!

Television in 2021:

High Definition and 4K flat screens rule, and the average size screen jumps to 50”! Streaming services and “smart tvs” have become standard.

Cost Of a Gallon Of Gas in 1996:

$1.22

Cost Of a Gallon Of Gas in 2021:

$2.51

Dow Jones Industrial Average on 1/1/1996

5,115.70

Dow Jones Industrial Average on 1/1/2021

30,417.64

% of U.S. Households with Internet Access in 1996

Less than 17%

% of American Households with Internet Access in 2021

Over 85%