Sun

1995- Sun releases the Java Programming language. James Gosling at Sun Microsystems originally developed the language as a core component to Sun’s Java platform. It uses C and C++ syntax. It used the theory of “Write Once, Run Anywhere” (WORA). By doing this, a programmer didn’t need to recompile a program to run it or test for bugs. Most of Java Programming Language is under a GNU General Public License

On the same day, MySQL releases their SQL database program for web pages. This is known as a  Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). MySQL uses C and C++, the SQL parser used yacc and a hybrid of lexer called “sql_lex.cc”. Many different websites to this day use versions of MySQL, including us at Geekazine and the Day in Tech History.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 23

• Windows Vista Beta 2 is released
• Kevin Mitnick is arrested
• NEC gets into the home video game market
• Twitter purchased Tweetdeck

May 22, 1980: Pac Man was installed in a movie theater in Tokyo.

1980 - The first Pac-Man machine was installed. Namco installed the first Pac-Man machine in a movie theater in Tokyo. Created by Toru Iwatani, the game has been one of the most popular in Arcades around the world.  Of course, Pac-Man was one of the most popular games in history and created many spin-offs including Ms. Pac-Man. Pac-Man was released in North America October of that year.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 22

• Robert Metcalfe describes a new device called the Laser Printer
• Adobe ships Illustrator 7.0
• Apple splits Newton into it’s own division
• SpaceX Launched and docks with Space Station

May 21, 2003: Caldera International becomes the SCO Group

2003- Caldera International finished the acquisition of the Server Software and Services divisions of Santa Cruz Operation. They turned around and officially renamed to the SCO group. The focus was more to the UNIX platform. The SCO group was in a major lawsuit with Novell until Masrch 2010 when the courts ruled that Novell had the proper rights to the SCO properties in the Linux OS.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 21

• The IBM 701 is announced
• Atari stock splits 2-for-1
• Apple releases Mac OS X Server

Craigslist

2009 - Craigslist was under fire for their erotic services. Reports of prostitution and other illegal activities were being conducted in the category. Craigslist revamped their site to remove the erotic services and add an “Adult” section – with more moderation. However, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster was given an injunction for threatening executives of Craigslist with criminal prosecution for aiding prostitution in the state.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 20

• AppleLink is created
• Microsoft and Intuit discontinue their merger due to Antitrust issues
• Intel makes the Pentium processor available

May 19, 1980: Apple “Failure” III was released

1980 – The machine was code named “Sara”. It was the Apple III and was planned to be the successor to the Apple II. However, the machine had enough failures that Apple had to re-launch this computer in August. Therefore, it was refered to as “Apple Failure III”. Then IBM came out with the PC and Apple switched gears with their Macintosh line. Apple III saw modest numbers before it was retired on April 24th, 1984.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 19

• Star Wars Episode I
• Apple opens the first Apple Stores
• Intel debuts the pineview Atom chip

May 18, 2001: Shrek is released

2012 – After much speculation, Facebook shares go public under “FB”. The stock started at $38 a share but instantly dropped. Stock dropped to $26 / share by years end. It currently hovers around that price.

2001 - The computer animated movie “Shrek” hits theaters. The 90 minute movie was produced on a $60 million budget and although it’s first weekend only saw $42 million , the overall theatrical run brought in $487 million. Shrek was the first computer animated film to win an Academy Award (Best Animated Feature).

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 18

• Sony establishes: Sony Computer Entertainment of America
• Dell add AMD processors
• Facebook adds OpenID

May 17, 1991: Tim Berners-Lee sets up HTML

1991- Tim Berners-Lee sets up HyperText Markup language (HTML) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) at CERN. He put the protocol on a NeXTStep machine. The server was then launched onto the word wide web, effectively making this the first day you could get a website that could support more than text.

That is when CERN and Berners-Lee release the World Wide Web standard. However, there was a long way to go. It wasn’t until August 6th, that Berners-Lee put up the first webpage.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 17

• Ars Technica sold to Conde Nast
• Lawrence Welk passes away
• Intel Introduced the Pentium III 55o

May 16, 2006: Phantom Console called a “Pump and dump” scheme

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.

May 15, 1985: The Last Apple Lisa is completed

1985 - The last Lisa Mac XL computer rolls off the assembly line. It was first introduced on Jan 19th, 1983 for $9,995. Sun remarketing purchased about 5,000 Macintosh XLs and upgraded them. Some leftover Lisa computers and spare parts are still available today.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 15

• The First McDonalds
• The Love Bug strikes
• Carl Icahn officially launches a Proxy fight against Yahoo
• CBS Acquired CNet

George Lucas

George Lucas was born on May 14th, 1944. Of course, George went on to create one of the biggest franchises in geek history. Lots of geek news this last year as George Lucas sold Lucasfilm and Star Wars to Disney.  Happy birthday to George.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 14

• Texas Instruments starts to compete with IBM
• ZDTV (TechTV, G4) Channel begins operation
• Google suffers a 1 hour outtage
• Sony Playstation relaunched after being offline for weeks