IMPRESSED INTERNET BY NEW IPHONE

Internet, Wall Street unimpressed by new iPhone Underwhelmed. That, in a word, was the response in many quarters to Apple's rollout of two new iPhones on Tuesday. With the iPhone 5S, the industry's leading smartphone got a quicker processor, better camera and new fingerprint security scanner. With the iPhone 5C, it got less expensive and more colorful. And yet, from the Internet to Wall Street, Apple got savaged mercilessly. "Much-hyped iPhone announcements from the tech giant did little to stop (Apple's) year-long descent into stagnation," wrote Marcus Wohlsen in Wired, a CNN.com content partner. "Though the faster, sleeker, more powerful phone is unarguably cool, the steps forward are still incremental. And incremental isn't what the world expects from Apple." Even The Onion, whose spot-on satire can sometimes be a brutal contact sport, mocked Apple CEO Tim Cook's presentation with a story headlined, "Apple Unveils Panicked Man With No Ideas." "The white, ultrathin man, who exhibited such features as artificial excitement, a fully quavering voice, and what appeared to be a near total lack of inspiration, was put on full display for thousands of shareholders, industry insiders, reporters, and fans today in what Apple hopes will be a game-changer for the multinational corporation," read the article. Add to that a chorus of tongue-clucking from an oft-skeptical tech blogosphere, the short-form snark of Twitter, sideswipes from competitors and jitters on Wall Street, and you're a long way away from the fantastical "reality distortion field" that Steve Jobs famously conjured whenever he pitched a new idea or product to an adoring world. But is all this criticism fair? Harder to make a splash To some, Apple is a victim of its own success. After revolutionizing mobile technology with the iPod, iPhone and iPad, unveiling a device that feels more like an upgrade than a game-changer may feel to loyal fans like a breach of trust. "When a company has positioned itself on the foundation of innovation, the idea of not innovating in a new product introduction can be a commercial nightmare," said Ronald Goodstein, an associate professor of marketing at Georgetown University. "Apple has consistently bet the house on innovation, and has a great winning record in the past 15 years. For them to introduce a 'me too' product is against what they stand for ... . "This is not to say that the new phone is not good. Its quality is fine," Goodstein told CNN. "But to develop a new product that is in violation of their stated brand association is inconsistent." Technically, there were smartphones before the iPhone and tablets before the iPad. But by fine-tuning design concepts and making them accessible to the mass market, Apple established itself as a hothouse for cutting-edge consumer technology. But Tuesday's iPhones were the seventh and eighth versions of the aging iconic device. After six years on the market, some say there's simply no way the iPhone can cause a seismic shift in smartphone technology every 12 months. "It's really easy for people to be disappointed and be critical and you're looking at Twitter and all these tech people, they're ripping Apple ... ," tech writer Rocco Pendola, of TheStreet.com, said to CNN's Jake Tapper. "Yes, they are less exciting. Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. We're not in a situation where they roll out the next big thing and surprise us at the end of the presentation. We have to come to grips with that. We have to live with that." Adds CNET's Charles Cooper: "The magic's gone out of the smartphone business, leaving companies and their advocates to argue about slightly faster processors, more megapixels, or slightly improved battery life. That's progress, but it's the equivalent of three yards and a cloud of dust. "Smartphones ... belong a maturing industry, which means that it's going to get harder and harder for any company -- Apple, Samsung, or any other would-be challenger -- to make a splash." Innovation in new forms? In other words, competition changes expectations. During its first few years of existence, the smartphone market was basically the iPhone and a handful of competitors trying desperately to catch up with the iPhone. Now, while it remains the top-selling handset, the iPhone only accounts for about 17% of the world's smartphones. Phones running Google's Android operating system come in an array of sizes and styles and with a plethora of features. "There is always room for 'Wow!' But, the fact is that when someone does wow the market, over time that feature or benefit becomes a 'must have' for the industry," said Georgetown's Goodstein. "It takes very little time until all brands offer that feature or benefit, and it goes from "wow" to being the ante to play in the game." Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst with Gartner Research, says that the true quantum leaps for tech companies probably won't be in smartphones anymore.

IMPRESSED INTERNET BY NEW IPHONE

Internet, Wall Street unimpressed by new iPhone Underwhelmed. That, in a word, was the response in many quarters to Apple's rollout of two new iPhones on Tuesday. With the iPhone 5S, the industry's leading smartphone got a quicker processor, better camera and new fingerprint security scanner. With the iPhone 5C, it got less expensive and more colorful. And yet, from the Internet to Wall Street, Apple got savaged mercilessly. "Much-hyped iPhone announcements from the tech giant did little to stop (Apple's) year-long descent into stagnation," wrote Marcus Wohlsen in Wired, a CNN.com content partner. "Though the faster, sleeker, more powerful phone is unarguably cool, the steps forward are still incremental. And incremental isn't what the world expects from Apple." Even The Onion, whose spot-on satire can sometimes be a brutal contact sport, mocked Apple CEO Tim Cook's presentation with a story headlined, "Apple Unveils Panicked Man With No Ideas." "The white, ultrathin man, who exhibited such features as artificial excitement, a fully quavering voice, and what appeared to be a near total lack of inspiration, was put on full display for thousands of shareholders, industry insiders, reporters, and fans today in what Apple hopes will be a game-changer for the multinational corporation," read the article. Add to that a chorus of tongue-clucking from an oft-skeptical tech blogosphere, the short-form snark of Twitter, sideswipes from competitors and jitters on Wall Street, and you're a long way away from the fantastical "reality distortion field" that Steve Jobs famously conjured whenever he pitched a new idea or product to an adoring world. But is all this criticism fair? Harder to make a splash To some, Apple is a victim of its own success. After revolutionizing mobile technology with the iPod, iPhone and iPad, unveiling a device that feels more like an upgrade than a game-changer may feel to loyal fans like a breach of trust. "When a company has positioned itself on the foundation of innovation, the idea of not innovating in a new product introduction can be a commercial nightmare," said Ronald Goodstein, an associate professor of marketing at Georgetown University. "Apple has consistently bet the house on innovation, and has a great winning record in the past 15 years. For them to introduce a 'me too' product is against what they stand for ... . "This is not to say that the new phone is not good. Its quality is fine," Goodstein told CNN. "But to develop a new product that is in violation of their stated brand association is inconsistent." Technically, there were smartphones before the iPhone and tablets before the iPad. But by fine-tuning design concepts and making them accessible to the mass market, Apple established itself as a hothouse for cutting-edge consumer technology. But Tuesday's iPhones were the seventh and eighth versions of the aging iconic device. After six years on the market, some say there's simply no way the iPhone can cause a seismic shift in smartphone technology every 12 months. "It's really easy for people to be disappointed and be critical and you're looking at Twitter and all these tech people, they're ripping Apple ... ," tech writer Rocco Pendola, of TheStreet.com, said to CNN's Jake Tapper. "Yes, they are less exciting. Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. We're not in a situation where they roll out the next big thing and surprise us at the end of the presentation. We have to come to grips with that. We have to live with that." Adds CNET's Charles Cooper: "The magic's gone out of the smartphone business, leaving companies and their advocates to argue about slightly faster processors, more megapixels, or slightly improved battery life. That's progress, but it's the equivalent of three yards and a cloud of dust. "Smartphones ... belong a maturing industry, which means that it's going to get harder and harder for any company -- Apple, Samsung, or any other would-be challenger -- to make a splash." Innovation in new forms? In other words, competition changes expectations. During its first few years of existence, the smartphone market was basically the iPhone and a handful of competitors trying desperately to catch up with the iPhone. Now, while it remains the top-selling handset, the iPhone only accounts for about 17% of the world's smartphones. Phones running Google's Android operating system come in an array of sizes and styles and with a plethora of features. "There is always room for 'Wow!' But, the fact is that when someone does wow the market, over time that feature or benefit becomes a 'must have' for the industry," said Georgetown's Goodstein. "It takes very little time until all brands offer that feature or benefit, and it goes from "wow" to being the ante to play in the game." Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst with Gartner Research, says that the true quantum leaps for tech companies probably won't be in smartphones anymore.

IMPRESSED INTERNET BY NEW IPHONE

Internet, Wall Street unimpressed by new iPhone Underwhelmed. That, in a word, was the response in many quarters to Apple's rollout of two new iPhones on Tuesday. With the iPhone 5S, the industry's leading smartphone got a quicker processor, better camera and new fingerprint security scanner. With the iPhone 5C, it got less expensive and more colorful. And yet, from the Internet to Wall Street, Apple got savaged mercilessly. "Much-hyped iPhone announcements from the tech giant did little to stop (Apple's) year-long descent into stagnation," wrote Marcus Wohlsen in Wired, a CNN.com content partner. "Though the faster, sleeker, more powerful phone is unarguably cool, the steps forward are still incremental. And incremental isn't what the world expects from Apple." Even The Onion, whose spot-on satire can sometimes be a brutal contact sport, mocked Apple CEO Tim Cook's presentation with a story headlined, "Apple Unveils Panicked Man With No Ideas." "The white, ultrathin man, who exhibited such features as artificial excitement, a fully quavering voice, and what appeared to be a near total lack of inspiration, was put on full display for thousands of shareholders, industry insiders, reporters, and fans today in what Apple hopes will be a game-changer for the multinational corporation," read the article. Add to that a chorus of tongue-clucking from an oft-skeptical tech blogosphere, the short-form snark of Twitter, sideswipes from competitors and jitters on Wall Street, and you're a long way away from the fantastical "reality distortion field" that Steve Jobs famously conjured whenever he pitched a new idea or product to an adoring world. But is all this criticism fair? Harder to make a splash To some, Apple is a victim of its own success. After revolutionizing mobile technology with the iPod, iPhone and iPad, unveiling a device that feels more like an upgrade than a game-changer may feel to loyal fans like a breach of trust. "When a company has positioned itself on the foundation of innovation, the idea of not innovating in a new product introduction can be a commercial nightmare," said Ronald Goodstein, an associate professor of marketing at Georgetown University. "Apple has consistently bet the house on innovation, and has a great winning record in the past 15 years. For them to introduce a 'me too' product is against what they stand for ... . "This is not to say that the new phone is not good. Its quality is fine," Goodstein told CNN. "But to develop a new product that is in violation of their stated brand association is inconsistent." Technically, there were smartphones before the iPhone and tablets before the iPad. But by fine-tuning design concepts and making them accessible to the mass market, Apple established itself as a hothouse for cutting-edge consumer technology. But Tuesday's iPhones were the seventh and eighth versions of the aging iconic device. After six years on the market, some say there's simply no way the iPhone can cause a seismic shift in smartphone technology every 12 months. "It's really easy for people to be disappointed and be critical and you're looking at Twitter and all these tech people, they're ripping Apple ... ," tech writer Rocco Pendola, of TheStreet.com, said to CNN's Jake Tapper. "Yes, they are less exciting. Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. We're not in a situation where they roll out the next big thing and surprise us at the end of the presentation. We have to come to grips with that. We have to live with that." Adds CNET's Charles Cooper: "The magic's gone out of the smartphone business, leaving companies and their advocates to argue about slightly faster processors, more megapixels, or slightly improved battery life. That's progress, but it's the equivalent of three yards and a cloud of dust. "Smartphones ... belong a maturing industry, which means that it's going to get harder and harder for any company -- Apple, Samsung, or any other would-be challenger -- to make a splash." Innovation in new forms? In other words, competition changes expectations. During its first few years of existence, the smartphone market was basically the iPhone and a handful of competitors trying desperately to catch up with the iPhone. Now, while it remains the top-selling handset, the iPhone only accounts for about 17% of the world's smartphones. Phones running Google's Android operating system come in an array of sizes and styles and with a plethora of features. "There is always room for 'Wow!' But, the fact is that when someone does wow the market, over time that feature or benefit becomes a 'must have' for the industry," said Georgetown's Goodstein. "It takes very little time until all brands offer that feature or benefit, and it goes from "wow" to being the ante to play in the game." Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst with Gartner Research, says that the true quantum leaps for tech companies probably won't be in smartphones anymore.

IMPRESSED INTERNET BY NEW IPHONE

Internet, Wall Street unimpressed by new iPhone Underwhelmed. That, in a word, was the response in many quarters to Apple's rollout of two new iPhones on Tuesday. With the iPhone 5S, the industry's leading smartphone got a quicker processor, better camera and new fingerprint security scanner. With the iPhone 5C, it got less expensive and more colorful. And yet, from the Internet to Wall Street, Apple got savaged mercilessly. "Much-hyped iPhone announcements from the tech giant did little to stop (Apple's) year-long descent into stagnation," wrote Marcus Wohlsen in Wired, a CNN.com content partner. "Though the faster, sleeker, more powerful phone is unarguably cool, the steps forward are still incremental. And incremental isn't what the world expects from Apple." Even The Onion, whose spot-on satire can sometimes be a brutal contact sport, mocked Apple CEO Tim Cook's presentation with a story headlined, "Apple Unveils Panicked Man With No Ideas." "The white, ultrathin man, who exhibited such features as artificial excitement, a fully quavering voice, and what appeared to be a near total lack of inspiration, was put on full display for thousands of shareholders, industry insiders, reporters, and fans today in what Apple hopes will be a game-changer for the multinational corporation," read the article. Add to that a chorus of tongue-clucking from an oft-skeptical tech blogosphere, the short-form snark of Twitter, sideswipes from competitors and jitters on Wall Street, and you're a long way away from the fantastical "reality distortion field" that Steve Jobs famously conjured whenever he pitched a new idea or product to an adoring world. But is all this criticism fair? Harder to make a splash To some, Apple is a victim of its own success. After revolutionizing mobile technology with the iPod, iPhone and iPad, unveiling a device that feels more like an upgrade than a game-changer may feel to loyal fans like a breach of trust. "When a company has positioned itself on the foundation of innovation, the idea of not innovating in a new product introduction can be a commercial nightmare," said Ronald Goodstein, an associate professor of marketing at Georgetown University. "Apple has consistently bet the house on innovation, and has a great winning record in the past 15 years. For them to introduce a 'me too' product is against what they stand for ... . "This is not to say that the new phone is not good. Its quality is fine," Goodstein told CNN. "But to develop a new product that is in violation of their stated brand association is inconsistent." Technically, there were smartphones before the iPhone and tablets before the iPad. But by fine-tuning design concepts and making them accessible to the mass market, Apple established itself as a hothouse for cutting-edge consumer technology. But Tuesday's iPhones were the seventh and eighth versions of the aging iconic device. After six years on the market, some say there's simply no way the iPhone can cause a seismic shift in smartphone technology every 12 months. "It's really easy for people to be disappointed and be critical and you're looking at Twitter and all these tech people, they're ripping Apple ... ," tech writer Rocco Pendola, of TheStreet.com, said to CNN's Jake Tapper. "Yes, they are less exciting. Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. We're not in a situation where they roll out the next big thing and surprise us at the end of the presentation. We have to come to grips with that. We have to live with that." Adds CNET's Charles Cooper: "The magic's gone out of the smartphone business, leaving companies and their advocates to argue about slightly faster processors, more megapixels, or slightly improved battery life. That's progress, but it's the equivalent of three yards and a cloud of dust. "Smartphones ... belong a maturing industry, which means that it's going to get harder and harder for any company -- Apple, Samsung, or any other would-be challenger -- to make a splash." Innovation in new forms? In other words, competition changes expectations. During its first few years of existence, the smartphone market was basically the iPhone and a handful of competitors trying desperately to catch up with the iPhone. Now, while it remains the top-selling handset, the iPhone only accounts for about 17% of the world's smartphones. Phones running Google's Android operating system come in an array of sizes and styles and with a plethora of features. "There is always room for 'Wow!' But, the fact is that when someone does wow the market, over time that feature or benefit becomes a 'must have' for the industry," said Georgetown's Goodstein. "It takes very little time until all brands offer that feature or benefit, and it goes from "wow" to being the ante to play in the game." Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst with Gartner Research, says that the true quantum leaps for tech companies probably won't be in smartphones anymore.

IMPRESSED INTERNET BY NEW IPHONE

Internet, Wall Street unimpressed by new iPhone Underwhelmed. That, in a word, was the response in many quarters to Apple's rollout of two new iPhones on Tuesday. With the iPhone 5S, the industry's leading smartphone got a quicker processor, better camera and new fingerprint security scanner. With the iPhone 5C, it got less expensive and more colorful. And yet, from the Internet to Wall Street, Apple got savaged mercilessly. "Much-hyped iPhone announcements from the tech giant did little to stop (Apple's) year-long descent into stagnation," wrote Marcus Wohlsen in Wired, a CNN.com content partner. "Though the faster, sleeker, more powerful phone is unarguably cool, the steps forward are still incremental. And incremental isn't what the world expects from Apple." Even The Onion, whose spot-on satire can sometimes be a brutal contact sport, mocked Apple CEO Tim Cook's presentation with a story headlined, "Apple Unveils Panicked Man With No Ideas." "The white, ultrathin man, who exhibited such features as artificial excitement, a fully quavering voice, and what appeared to be a near total lack of inspiration, was put on full display for thousands of shareholders, industry insiders, reporters, and fans today in what Apple hopes will be a game-changer for the multinational corporation," read the article. Add to that a chorus of tongue-clucking from an oft-skeptical tech blogosphere, the short-form snark of Twitter, sideswipes from competitors and jitters on Wall Street, and you're a long way away from the fantastical "reality distortion field" that Steve Jobs famously conjured whenever he pitched a new idea or product to an adoring world. But is all this criticism fair? Harder to make a splash To some, Apple is a victim of its own success. After revolutionizing mobile technology with the iPod, iPhone and iPad, unveiling a device that feels more like an upgrade than a game-changer may feel to loyal fans like a breach of trust. "When a company has positioned itself on the foundation of innovation, the idea of not innovating in a new product introduction can be a commercial nightmare," said Ronald Goodstein, an associate professor of marketing at Georgetown University. "Apple has consistently bet the house on innovation, and has a great winning record in the past 15 years. For them to introduce a 'me too' product is against what they stand for ... . "This is not to say that the new phone is not good. Its quality is fine," Goodstein told CNN. "But to develop a new product that is in violation of their stated brand association is inconsistent." Technically, there were smartphones before the iPhone and tablets before the iPad. But by fine-tuning design concepts and making them accessible to the mass market, Apple established itself as a hothouse for cutting-edge consumer technology. But Tuesday's iPhones were the seventh and eighth versions of the aging iconic device. After six years on the market, some say there's simply no way the iPhone can cause a seismic shift in smartphone technology every 12 months. "It's really easy for people to be disappointed and be critical and you're looking at Twitter and all these tech people, they're ripping Apple ... ," tech writer Rocco Pendola, of TheStreet.com, said to CNN's Jake Tapper. "Yes, they are less exciting. Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. We're not in a situation where they roll out the next big thing and surprise us at the end of the presentation. We have to come to grips with that. We have to live with that." Adds CNET's Charles Cooper: "The magic's gone out of the smartphone business, leaving companies and their advocates to argue about slightly faster processors, more megapixels, or slightly improved battery life. That's progress, but it's the equivalent of three yards and a cloud of dust. "Smartphones ... belong a maturing industry, which means that it's going to get harder and harder for any company -- Apple, Samsung, or any other would-be challenger -- to make a splash." Innovation in new forms? In other words, competition changes expectations. During its first few years of existence, the smartphone market was basically the iPhone and a handful of competitors trying desperately to catch up with the iPhone. Now, while it remains the top-selling handset, the iPhone only accounts for about 17% of the world's smartphones. Phones running Google's Android operating system come in an array of sizes and styles and with a plethora of features. "There is always room for 'Wow!' But, the fact is that when someone does wow the market, over time that feature or benefit becomes a 'must have' for the industry," said Georgetown's Goodstein. "It takes very little time until all brands offer that feature or benefit, and it goes from "wow" to being the ante to play in the game." Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst with Gartner Research, says that the true quantum leaps for tech companies probably won't be in smartphones anymore.

23 KEYS MOMENT FROM TWITTER HISTORY

A billion messages are sent on Twitter every 2½ days. That's three for every man, woman and child in the United States. Sure, the vast majority of tweets haven't made history. But there have been no shortage of big moments for Twitter since its debut more than seven years ago. That's part of the reason Twitter has become a digital watercooler of sorts for global conversations around live TV events such as elections, the Oscars or the Super Bowl. With news that Twitter has filed to become a publicly traded company, we took a look back at some of the key moments from its brief history. From celebrity-driven milestones to political downfalls to tweets from space, they've been as diverse as the more than 200 million people who now use the site. May we present seven years of famous, and infamous, tweets and Twitterers: March 2006 -- The first-ever tweet was posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey as part of an internal messaging system for Odeo, the podcasting company where Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams worked at the time. It said simply, "just setting up my twttr." July 2006 -- The full version of Twitter was introduced publicly on July 15, although Twitter didn't spin off into its own company until the next year. March 2007 -- Although not yet mainstream, Twitter exploded in popularity among early adopters at the South By Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas. In a clever move, the company placed large screens in conference hallways that displayed live tweets about SXSW events. Buzz quickly grew, and by the end of the week, daily Twitter usage had tripled. April 2008 -- In an early example of the power of Twitter, an American graduate student used the service to alert his friends that he had been arrested at an anti-government protest in Mahalla, Egypt. After mounting pressure, authorities released him from jail the next day. January 2009 -- A US Airways plane with 155 people on board made a miraculous emergency landing on the Hudson River after striking a bird during takeoff. An eyewitness tweeted out a widely shared photo of passengers waiting on the plane's wing to be rescued, cementing Twitter's status as a real-time, news-gathering tool.

23 KEYS MOMENT FROM TWITTER HISTORY

A billion messages are sent on Twitter every 2½ days. That's three for every man, woman and child in the United States. Sure, the vast majority of tweets haven't made history. But there have been no shortage of big moments for Twitter since its debut more than seven years ago. That's part of the reason Twitter has become a digital watercooler of sorts for global conversations around live TV events such as elections, the Oscars or the Super Bowl. With news that Twitter has filed to become a publicly traded company, we took a look back at some of the key moments from its brief history. From celebrity-driven milestones to political downfalls to tweets from space, they've been as diverse as the more than 200 million people who now use the site. May we present seven years of famous, and infamous, tweets and Twitterers: March 2006 -- The first-ever tweet was posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey as part of an internal messaging system for Odeo, the podcasting company where Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams worked at the time. It said simply, "just setting up my twttr." July 2006 -- The full version of Twitter was introduced publicly on July 15, although Twitter didn't spin off into its own company until the next year. March 2007 -- Although not yet mainstream, Twitter exploded in popularity among early adopters at the South By Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas. In a clever move, the company placed large screens in conference hallways that displayed live tweets about SXSW events. Buzz quickly grew, and by the end of the week, daily Twitter usage had tripled. April 2008 -- In an early example of the power of Twitter, an American graduate student used the service to alert his friends that he had been arrested at an anti-government protest in Mahalla, Egypt. After mounting pressure, authorities released him from jail the next day. January 2009 -- A US Airways plane with 155 people on board made a miraculous emergency landing on the Hudson River after striking a bird during takeoff. An eyewitness tweeted out a widely shared photo of passengers waiting on the plane's wing to be rescued, cementing Twitter's status as a real-time, news-gathering tool.

23 KEYS MOMENT FROM TWITTER HISTORY

A billion messages are sent on Twitter every 2½ days. That's three for every man, woman and child in the United States. Sure, the vast majority of tweets haven't made history. But there have been no shortage of big moments for Twitter since its debut more than seven years ago. That's part of the reason Twitter has become a digital watercooler of sorts for global conversations around live TV events such as elections, the Oscars or the Super Bowl. With news that Twitter has filed to become a publicly traded company, we took a look back at some of the key moments from its brief history. From celebrity-driven milestones to political downfalls to tweets from space, they've been as diverse as the more than 200 million people who now use the site. May we present seven years of famous, and infamous, tweets and Twitterers: March 2006 -- The first-ever tweet was posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey as part of an internal messaging system for Odeo, the podcasting company where Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams worked at the time. It said simply, "just setting up my twttr." July 2006 -- The full version of Twitter was introduced publicly on July 15, although Twitter didn't spin off into its own company until the next year. March 2007 -- Although not yet mainstream, Twitter exploded in popularity among early adopters at the South By Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas. In a clever move, the company placed large screens in conference hallways that displayed live tweets about SXSW events. Buzz quickly grew, and by the end of the week, daily Twitter usage had tripled. April 2008 -- In an early example of the power of Twitter, an American graduate student used the service to alert his friends that he had been arrested at an anti-government protest in Mahalla, Egypt. After mounting pressure, authorities released him from jail the next day. January 2009 -- A US Airways plane with 155 people on board made a miraculous emergency landing on the Hudson River after striking a bird during takeoff. An eyewitness tweeted out a widely shared photo of passengers waiting on the plane's wing to be rescued, cementing Twitter's status as a real-time, news-gathering tool.

23 KEYS MOMENT FROM TWITTER HISTORY

A billion messages are sent on Twitter every 2½ days. That's three for every man, woman and child in the United States. Sure, the vast majority of tweets haven't made history. But there have been no shortage of big moments for Twitter since its debut more than seven years ago. That's part of the reason Twitter has become a digital watercooler of sorts for global conversations around live TV events such as elections, the Oscars or the Super Bowl. With news that Twitter has filed to become a publicly traded company, we took a look back at some of the key moments from its brief history. From celebrity-driven milestones to political downfalls to tweets from space, they've been as diverse as the more than 200 million people who now use the site. May we present seven years of famous, and infamous, tweets and Twitterers: March 2006 -- The first-ever tweet was posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey as part of an internal messaging system for Odeo, the podcasting company where Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams worked at the time. It said simply, "just setting up my twttr." July 2006 -- The full version of Twitter was introduced publicly on July 15, although Twitter didn't spin off into its own company until the next year. March 2007 -- Although not yet mainstream, Twitter exploded in popularity among early adopters at the South By Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas. In a clever move, the company placed large screens in conference hallways that displayed live tweets about SXSW events. Buzz quickly grew, and by the end of the week, daily Twitter usage had tripled. April 2008 -- In an early example of the power of Twitter, an American graduate student used the service to alert his friends that he had been arrested at an anti-government protest in Mahalla, Egypt. After mounting pressure, authorities released him from jail the next day. January 2009 -- A US Airways plane with 155 people on board made a miraculous emergency landing on the Hudson River after striking a bird during takeoff. An eyewitness tweeted out a widely shared photo of passengers waiting on the plane's wing to be rescued, cementing Twitter's status as a real-time, news-gathering tool.

GAMERS GEAR UP FOR GRAND THEFT AUTO V

When players get their hands on "Grand Theft Auto V" on Tuesday, the gaming world will get another titillating dose of the sex and violence that has come to define the series in the eyes of millions -- many of whom have never played it. Early reviews of the game confirm a checklist of activities from any good criminal's daily planner: bong hits and lap dances, torture and tasers. They also herald the return of what The New York Times called "the most immersive spectacle in interactive entertainment." And in a world that's learned to take "Call of Duty" and Quentin Tarantino in stride, it's a combination some predict could result in the most lucrative entertainment launch in history. "GTA is easily one of the biggest game releases of the year," said Steve Butts, editor-in-chief of games and entertainment site IGN.com. "The previous game is still one of the biggest entertainment launches of all time, and there's no reason to think GTA V will be any different." Launched in 1997, the "Grand Theft Auto" series is one of the most successful in video-game history, selling more than 125 million units. Along the way, the series has transcended the gaming world to become a cultural phenomenon through its rare mix of popularity and controversy. Samuel L. Jackson, Dennis Hopper, Ricky Gervais, Peter Fonda and Debbie Harry are among the voice actors who have lent their talents to the series. Flipping the script on the typical good-versus-evil story, gamers play "Grand Theft Auto" titles as criminals -- from two-bit hoodlums trying to work their way up the ranks of organized crime to seasoned, rough customers hell-bent on revenge for wrongs done to them by other crooks. Much of the franchise's appeal is its status as an "open world" game. While most video games, even those with story lines attached, keep the player busy on a predetermined course of action, open-world games allow greater freedom to explore. And while games with some open-world elements date back to the video arcades of the '80s, none had ever combined as many as the "Grand Theft" series, creating an immersive experience for players of its 10 titles and numerous expansion packs. Want to work out? Hit a night club? Get a job? Change the radio station on your car stereo? All are possibilities. But there's no denying that, for some players, the ability to do very nefarious things in that open universe has also been a draw.