May 18: Shrek is Released

May 17, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Geek

Shrek

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

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May 17: HTML, HTTP Set Up on NeXTcube

May 16, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Internet

Sir Tim Berners-Lee

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

Intel Pentium III at 550 MHz

• Ars Technica sold
• Lawrence Welk passes away (1992)

Related articles

• Tim Berners-Lee: Protect the Open Web! #WWW2012 (advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org)
• February 26: Introduction of first Broswer – WorldWideWeb (dayintechhistory.com)
• April 30: World Wide Web Goes to Public Domain (dayintechhistory.com)

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May 16: Phantom Console Called Pump and Dump Scheme

May 15, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Gaming

Phantom Console

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.

Related articles

• Best LED Machine LED Signage App for iPad [Video] (geekazine.com)
• May 15: Last Lisa Mac XL Produced (dayintechhistory.com)
• May 13: Turbo C is Released (dayintechhistory.com)

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May 15: Last Lisa Mac XL Produced

May 14, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Apple, Day in Tech History

Local Integrated Software Architecture (LISA)

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

Related articles

• MLB at Bat App for iPad [Video] (geekazine.com)
• May 12: Prodigy Takeover from IBM (dayintechhistory.com)

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May 14: Happy Birthday George Lucas

May 13, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Geek

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. Star Wars 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

Related articles

• George Lucas is Straight Gangster (thesuperficial.com)
• May 12: Prodigy Takeover from IBM (dayintechhistory.com)
• May 11: VisiCalc Demonstrated (dayintechhistory.com)

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May 13: Turbo C is Released

May 12, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Geek

Turbo C

1987 – Version 1.0 of the Turbo C programming language is released. It offers the first integrated edit-compile-run development environment for the C programming language for IBM-compatible personal computers. Turbo C was developed by Bob Jervis as “Wizard C”. It runs on just 384KB of memory and is capable of inline assembly with full access to C symbolic names and structures.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 11

• Digital Equipment, Intel, and Xerox jointly announce the Ethernet network specification.
• HP Acquires EDS
• Iranian police close down more than four hundred Internet Cafes

Related articles

• Social Media and Addiction (madisonsmc.org)
• May 11: VisiCalc Demonstrated (dayintechhistory.com)
• May 10: TAT-14, Transatlantic cable begins service (dayintechhistory.com)

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May 12: Prodigy Takeover from IBM

May 11, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Geek

Prodigy

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

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May 11: VisiCalc Demonstrated

May 10, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Software

Visicalc

1979 – Daniel Bricklin and Robert Frankston demonstrate the spreadsheet program “Visicalc”. Of course, it will become the “killer app” for PC’s. 100 cells could be calculated in 20 seconds. By the first year, sales will hit on hundred thousand and seven hundred thousand in six years. VisiCalc will fall to clones and ultimately to products like Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 11

Other Events in the Day in Technology History

• Sega begins shipping the Saturn system
• AOL launches free webmail
• Verizon sells part of Alltel to AT&T

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May 10: TAT-14, Transatlantic cable begins service

May 9, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Internet

TAT14

2001 – TAT-14, the Transatlantic cable begins commercial service. A dual, bi-directional ring configuration using Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplex (DWDM) – Sixteen wavelengths of STM-64 per fiber pair. It carried 640 Gbps, and connectedGermany, the UK, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands with the US.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 10

• BFS preview is released
• Atari and MCA sign a joint venture

Related articles

• May 8: Kaypro II Introduced (dayintechhistory.com)
• February 9: Atari – My First Computer Keyboard (dayintechhistory.com)

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May 9: Linux Adopts Tux the Penguin

May 8, 2012 by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine    No Comments    Posted under: Day in Tech History, Linux

Tux the Penguin

1996 - Linus Torvelds adopts Tux the Penguin as the official mascot of Linux. Tux was first suggested by Alan Cox, then officially created by Larry Ewing. After a little refinement, Tux came to represent not only Linux, but also Open Source. James Hughes named the penguin TUX – for Torveld’s UniX. The image of Tux was submitted in previous Linux Logo contests, but never won. They then adopted Tux as the mascot, where he is loved by all who live and work in this space.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 9

• uMax SuperMac
• Facebook lifts the 5000 friend mark

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