1993 – After a 10 year run and new focus on Politics – along with a failed promise to catch up to the PC market – John Sculley was removed of his CEO role at Apple by the board of directors. They immediately hire Michael Spindler, who was instrumental in the introduction of the PowerPC. However, he eventually would get ousted and replaced by Gil Amileo, which would get ousted and replaced by Steve Jobs. 2007 – Terry Semel was under pressure by the board because of dissatisfaction of his compensation. Terry was brought in to create a partnership with Hollywood, which really didn’t happen. He handed the reigns over to Jerry Yang, who started promising revitalized talks with Microsoft. ...
1980 – Otherwise known as “The 24th Man” (to join Microsoft, that is), Steve Ballmer came on as Microsoft’s first Business Manager. He made only $50k and stock options. Of course 30 years later, Steve succeeded Bill Gates as CEO of the Redmond based software company. Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 11 Speak and Spell debuts Compaq purchases DEC for $9 million The first cameraphone photo – Philippe Kahn taking a picture of his newborn daughter Apple releases Safari for Windows 1st generation iPhone gets put on the Obsolete list Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
2002- Netflix, the rental movie-by-mail service, initiated their Public offering. They sold 5,500,000 starting at $15 a share. They sold an additional 825,000 the next day. Of course, the Netflix stock has fluctuated over the years, including 2011, when CEO Reed Hastings tried to split their online and DVD rentals, then announced Qwikster – with hopes to sell that side of the company. Of course, he retracted that statement, but not before loosing 2/3 of stock price (was at $291 in 2011, now at $70 / share). Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 29 Vim 4.0 is released believeinkids.com became the 5 millionth domain name IEEE 1394 officially becomes “Firewire” 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
1996 – IBM and Sears and Roebuck lose Prodigy due to takeover. They sell their interests to a group of investors – led by Prodigy Management: founders of Boston Technology and International Wireless. Ed Bennett, CEO of Prodigy takes the lead in this acquisition. Carlos Slim Helu – Owner of Telmex – then provided Internet access for Mexico and Latin America.Ultimately, Prodigy went public in 1999 and stayed that way until bought out by SBC (AT&T). Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 12 MITS receives a retraining order for Microsoft on the 8080 BASIC XBOX360 is unveiled France passes the Three Strikes rule Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
2001 – The reason why I decided to highlight this event is to make you aware that Tablets are not a new thing. Computer companies have been trying to perfect the tablet for many years. in 2001, for example, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates introduces the Tablet PC initiative. Using a Crusoe processor and the XP OS, he shows off a touch screen with Microsoft Notebook handwriting recognition software. This 3 pound revolution weighed only 3 lbs and would cost the average consumer $2,000 – 3,500.Wikazine – Full show notes for March 26 First World Altair Computer Convention is held in New Mexico. Kevin Mitnick pleads guilty Dr. Who comes back out of mothballs. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | ...
1998 – After Steve Jobs takes the role of Acting CEO (After the firing of Gil Amelio) he decides to trim some of the product fat. In result, the Apple Newton – it’s attempt at a PDA – was officially discontinued after 5 years. But not all was lost off this, for the mobile applications got shifted into their other Mac OS technologies. Cyberdog and OpenDOC were two other Apple programs that were discontinued after Jobs took the helm again. Wikazine – Full show notes for February 27 Netscape makes their source Code available Google relaunches Jotspot Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
2008 – Microsoft officially made a move to put a bid in for Yahoo! They announced a plan of $31 a share, which was 62 percent of premium common stock from Yahoo! This was not the first time Microsoft had made a play for the company, but this was the most covered by press. Yahoo! would eventually decline the offer of Microsoft, claiming they undervalued the company. This would bring Carl Ichan to the forefront which would lead to months of speculation and debate. Although Yahoo! did not take the bid, they did end up selling the search assets in 2009 under Carl Bartz CEO reign. Wikazine – Full show notes for February 1 Texas Instruments Patents the integrated circuit Patrick Naughton, Mike ...
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