Hello Dialers, it’s already December and 2026 is less than 20 days away. Holiday seasons has been very hectic. I’ve turn backed the Buy 2 Dad Hats for $54.99 (which excludes beanies) promotion. So mix and match your internet history, although it’s still missing quiet a bit.
Sorry for the delay. I’ll be honest, the holidays has been super draining for a first-time e-commerce owner. I’m doing things as they come and it’s a bit more than I can handle. However, I’ve come to realize why it’s been overwhelming and have set a direction! So that’s the good news. Though the downside is I’ll shrink the Dialup Log issues to once a month for the time being.
This week, I’m actually writing almost like a live-session way. Well, I do that mostly every issue, no surprise there. But yes, I’m taking pictures when I need them, and browsing the internet for what I’ve been up to lately.
Photo by Kieran White on Unsplash
It’s the fifth issue of The Dialup Log! And I have no idea what will be in store this issue. I did take pictures of a few new samples like the Winamp hat last issue.
For those who’ve just joined the newsletter, in The Dialup Log I mostly share the behind the desk workings, which are design ideas in the works and research I’ve come a crossed. This week I’ve been going through may be an overwhelm of stuffs. But my head has been thinking much of what to do so it’ll still be decent.
For previous The Dialup Log issues check here.
Michael from The Dialup Internet
Behind the Desk
Winamp Embroidered Hat
Winamp & the Llama whips - The Hat
Feels like Déjà vu doesn’t it? Last issue we talked about Winamp and this issue I’m also talking about Winamp… the physical embroidered hat. So, I decided to list the dark background logo first, since it felt like no one else had this. I got the hat in gray, just to see how it looked and I’m regretting it. Mostly because I don’t have anything that goes well with gray.
The lightning logo came out great, I softened the edges and that looks awesome. The overall size of the embroidery is perfectly compact, but still visible from afar. The only thing I’m having doubts about is the hat it is on. It’s a regular dad hat from YP Classics, which is mostly roomy and I’m personally drawn to the Otto’s soft and slightly textured hats. More business decisions to be made.
It really whips the Llama’s ass Embroidered Denim Hat
Finally, also printed the other Winamp hat, “It really whips the Llama’s ass, with the original Llama. This was my own design, so I guess it never really sparked any nostalgia. Always found it funny. Here’s a link to all the DJ Mike Llama jingles I found: Link.
Not sure if denim was a good choice, but let’s roll with it. Until I figure out how to put all the different hat styles in one product listing, Dialup Internet will mostly have one hat style per design.
Reprinting the Netscape Icon - Teal & Midnight
Before starting the business, I printed one Netscape hat, that was the teal one. Excited about starting I took a few photos and gave it away. I mean, I knew the hat was special with the gradient and correct serif root spacing. I also put a lot of time into it. But never did I expect it to be the number one bestseller, almost exclusively. More then double the second design which is AOL buddies, which I’m counting together: both the dad hat and denim hat.
Something about the browser symbol really stayed with us. I even showed it to my dad who is around his 70s and recognized it immediately. Even on social media, a user remarked that Netscape wasn’t a failed company. (To give context, the copywriting title on the ad was Netscape and other failed internet company merch) And I agree, it wasn’t a failed company in the 90s, it was one of the biggest juggernauts leading the way in internet technology.
T-shirts
Old Prodigy T-shirt
I am trying to find old t-shirt merch from the days, and it’s been proving to be difficult. I did find a cool site for archiving internet history: www.computerhistory.org but even here it is a limited selection. Mostly resorting to finding stuff on Ebay and closely looking at any archived photos and/or magazines.
CompuServe Ad
That’s how I found the CompuServe hat design. It was originally a t-shirt promotion on an ad. I did think about finding the ‘EyeCon’ design t-shirt but the only image I could find was the “Pointer” design. Even with that they were references, and I had to completely create a new illustration on Illustrator. Good thing I was into typography as I recognized most of the font-family for even the distorted letters.
There are some really cool t-shirt designs back then, and I do want to get them out. It’ll be so cool to see these once more out in the wild. Especially for the mozilla ones I’m thinking of sending an e-mail to the original creator to get permission. Yet, recreation of illustrations are not easy they not only take a long time, but finding the correct references for details is like finding a needle in a haystack. Though, once you do it is absolutely satisfying. Just wish that’s the only thing I worry about.
Interesting Magazine Ads
Vast library of archived magazines in the internet archive. You can pretty much feel the shift in magazine ad styles throughout the years. If early 90s were text heavy: focused on sales copywriting; the mid-90s ads shifted to be visually attention grabbing, the copywriting stayed but you see how strategic ads were in getting that punchline land. I mean look at that boldness from Apple: “Get a new Mac for $99.” Though it wasn’t an actual computer hardware it was a software update. Nothing much here, but just looking at magazines to get that feel from then.
Computer! Magazine Ads
Ads from the mid-90s, I think 3 of them are from MacWorld, the upper right one is from Yahoo Internet Life
Until Next Time!
Until next time, then. This issue ended anti-climatically.
If you’ve read up to here, and interested in my decision to do once a month issue. You can read along. If not, this issue has just finished!
Phew, now since the next issue will be next year, I want to say Happy Holidays!! And Happy New Years!!!! Hope everyone has a great 2026 greeting! As always thanks for reading all the way through! If you ever have questions or suggestions or photos of hats or early internet company gear send me an email at
I’m sorry to say that two sentences were written by AI. I’ll do better next time!
And finally, if you would like to support The Dialup Internet, it helps me and this small business immensely if you can write a review, share a photo of the hats, and/or share with people about The Dialup Internet, so that it can keep doing the things it does: finding more archival internet and turn them into archival apparel.