6 America in the 21st Century panicked how could they make money producing and selling new music if people could so easily get it for free They took companies like Napster to court where judges made decisions about how intellectual property like music could and could not be shared over the Internet The courts eventually shut Napster down These court decisions became even more important when Apple Inc first released its iPod device in October 2001 The iPod was a big hit It made MP3 music files like those on Napster easy to carry around and more popular than ever New Internet services sold MP3s to play on devices like the iPod and people became used to buying music files rather than downloading them for free By September 2007 Apple sold more than 150 million iPods making it the best selling digital audio player in history Approximately 26 percent of the American population used the Internet to gain information in 2000 The United States entered the twenty first century by setting a record for the longest period of economic growth ever In February 2000 the U S economy had been growing for over 106 months Growth was starting to slow a little bit but most experts did not see economic problems ahead The country once built on manufacturing now lived in a new economy built on technology The Internet produced many new companies and forever changed the way people bought and sold goods and services Some of these companies invented new ways for people to spend their leisure time In 1999 a company called Napster let people share music electronically for free over the Internet with files called MP3s Music companies and musicians
America in the 21st Century 7 Manufacturers continue to develop and refine hybrid vehicles that are friendlier to the environment and have better gas mileage than traditional models While the new century brought lots of exciting technologies it also brought new worries People began to worry that human use of fossil fuels in cars and industry was changing the Earth’s climate Scientists warned that burning fossil fuels for so many years caused gases like carbon dioxide to gather in the atmosphere and produce global warming People started to wonder whether a very hot summer a warm winter melting icebergs or even tornadoes and hurricanes might be signs of Earth’s temperatures rising permanently Governments around the world argued about who should cut back on burning coal and gas and by how much Ordinary people started to think about how to live in more environmentally-friendly or green ways by recycling using fewer chemicals and burning less fuel Everyone hoped new technologies would come to the rescue with new ways of powering cars and factories When the year 2000 arrived the future was here While it did not look like the science fiction books and movies had predicted the prelude to the twenty-first century did bring exciting new technologies that forever changed modern ways of living Many hoped it would also produce still more technologies to solve new and difficult problems Words to Know fossil fuels FOSS-uhl FYOO-uhls Energy sources such as coal oil and natural gas that develop from the decay of living things in the earth over time global warming GLOHB-uhl WORM-ing The scientific theory that the Earth’s temperature is slowly rising because gases like carbon dioxide gather in the atmosphere and prevent heat from escaping intellectual property in-tuh-LEK-choo-uhl PROP ur-tee Creations such as music art writing and even ideas that creators can sell or prevent other people from using without their permission Internet in-TUR-net A large system of connected computers that allows information to flow quickly around the world and between people and businesses
George W Bush George W Bush George W Bush Born Imagine you have traveled back in time to 1956 You're standing outside Sam Houston Elementary School in dusty Midland Texas It must still be pretty early in the morning since you don't see any kids yet Wait here comes someone You see a smallish boy about nine or ten years old ambling across the schoolyard swinging a baseball bat as he walks He has a friendly face When he gets closer to you he stops and looks Hi says the boy are you new You nod your head not knowing how else to answer that question He looks you right in the eye and says My name's George Do you want to play some ball July 6 1946 New Haven Connecticut Connecticut New Haven Term January 20 2001 January 20 2009 Party Republican First Lady Laura Lane Welch Bush Vice President Richard B Cheney Vice President Richard B Cheney
