Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 2006 – Phantom Entertainment former CEO Timothy Roberts was accused of running a Pump and dump scheme on the Phantom console – a Game system that never came to market. In 2004, he hired a promoter to send faxes stating the Phantom system would ship January 2005. Of course that drove up stock prices in which investors could profit on, including Roberts and the promoter (who got 4 million shares of restricted stock) Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 15 Spaghetti-O’s are introduced Sugar Labs extends Sugar OS to EeePC OS X Tiger vs. Tiger Direct ruling.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 1980 – Activision was technically founded in 1979, but it wasn’t until April 25 that the “Fantastic Four” joined up as the first third-party software company for video games. David Crane and Alan Miller left Atari August 1979 to start programming under the Activision name. Larry Kaplan and Bob Whitehead stayed behind until April 25th when Activision came out. Richard Muchmore was the venture capitalist and Jim Levy rounded the group as Activision’s CEO. Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for April 25 Sun Microsystems announces project JXTA XP x64 OS Yahoo begins the national TV ad campaign
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 1982 – a popular game for the Odyssey2 system was called K.C. Munchkin. However, this game looked a little too much like Pac-Man. A Federal court in Chicago, IL. agreed. They ordered Philips Consumer Electronics to take the game off store shelves. A sequal was released called Crazy Chase, which was a game that mocked the legal battle of the Pac-Mac – K.C. Munchkin. Of course that game was very close to Centipede, which could have caused a new legal issue altogether. Wikazine – Full show notes for March 3 Unix Timestamp hits 9 decimal places Rodney King beating caught on tape Gibson vs. Guitar Hero case thrown out
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 1988 – Spectrum Holobyte releases the puzzle game Tetris for the Commodore 64 and IBM PC. This was the first game imported from the Soviet Union. The game was written by Alexi Paszitnov and Vagim Gerasimov at the Computer Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow. The Commodore 64 version would cost you $24.95, and the IBM version cost $34.95. Wikazine – Full show notes for January 29 Microsoft releases Word 3.0 for Mac Best Buy announces they will stop selling Macintosh AOL compensates subscribers for their “unlimited internet” issues Related articles January 7: Commodore 64 Introduced (dayintechhistory.com) January 21: Kevin Mitnick Uses the Internet (dayintechhistory.com) Starcraft 2, Meet Tetris, ...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed 1972 – Magnavox begins the production of the Odyssey Video game system. The final release date was not until May. It was a very primitive system with no processors and the cartridges are jumpered configurations. The system will be on the market for a year before being discontinued. Wikazine – Full show notes for January 27 MIT vs. David LaMaccia Kevin Mitnik cracks the WELL White House e-mail outtage
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed The sale of Video Games began to really heat up in 2005 as Illinois Governer Rod Blagojevich signs a bill into law restricting the sale of violent video games to minors. You could be fined up to $1,000 for selling games with adult ratings. Immediately, video game groups sued, claiming the law is a restriction on free speech. The law would be deemed unconstitutional and repealed by US District Judge Matthew Kennelly. Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 25 Ericsson purchases Nortel‘s CDMA and LTE assets Sinclair Radionics is founded Duck Dodgers and the 24 1/2 Century is first aired
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