In April of 2000, the world’s first virtual newsreader, Ananova, began broadcasting on the Web.
According to her creators, green-haired Ananova was 28 years old, single, and delivered news in a “pleasant, quietly intelligent manner.” (I’ve seen old clips, though, and her voice was not actually very pleasant-sounding.)
On November 6, 2000, Dutch couple Nicolette Behrendt and Marcel van Kanten welcomed a baby girl. They named their daughter Annanova. (They doubled the n to make the name easier to pronounce in Dutch.)
Their name choice had more to do with coincidence than with commemoration. Nicolette and Marcel found out they were expecting right around the time Ananova was launched online.
Sadly, the virtual newscaster was pulled offline sometime in 2004. The associated news site Ananova.com was likewise discontinued in 2009.
Sources:
- “Ananova makes her debut.” BBC News 19 Apr. 2000.
- “Cyberbabe to read the news.” BBC News 17 Jan. 2000.