Inside -2007 -

Inside 2007, the tech world was buzzing. Apple had just unveiled the first iPhone in January — a device that seemed magical but was initially met with skepticism. “No physical keyboard?” critics asked. Meanwhile, Facebook was expanding beyond college campuses, Twitter was spinning out of a podcasting company, and YouTube, bought by Google in late 2006, was still a Wild West of grainy, viral videos. We lived inside a world of wired internet, flip phones, and the last gasps of the CD and DVD. Streaming was a distant dream; you still owned your music and movies.

Musically, 2007 belonged to the rise of digital distribution. Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black dominated the airwaves, while Kanye West’s Graduation and Radiohead’s In Rainbows (released as a “pay-what-you-want” download) signaled a rebellion against the old record label system. On television, the golden age of prestige drama was in full swing: Mad Men premiered, The Sopranos delivered its infamous cut-to-black finale, and Breaking Bad was just months away. inside -2007

To step inside 2007 is to stand at a peculiar hinge in recent history. From today’s vantage point, the year feels both reassuringly familiar and eerily naive. It was a time when social media was still a novelty, the smartphone was about to change everything, and the global economy was unknowingly dancing on the edge of a cliff. Inside 2007, the tech world was buzzing