1996
Konami releases the Justifier light gun as a new licensed peripheral for the PlayStation video game console. The device is similar in shape to the Colt Python. Its realistic shape and the realistic violence of the games for which it can be used will cause controversy in the U.S. media and government.
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) notes an all time U.S. industry high average of six-to-one software to hardware sales ratio in its PlayStation sales. Over two hundred PlayStation titles are currently available.
1998
Cisco Systems Inc. announces an agreement to acquire PipeLinks Inc. for around US$126 million in stock.
The website of the Corvette Club of Delaware Valley is hacked by “CHC”. Visit an archived version of the defaced website.
The Rio portable player is released to stores by Diamond Multimedia in the midst of industry-wide concerns that MPEG Layer 3 compression technology that allows CD quality music to be sent over the Internet may lead to music piracy. The company unveiled the player to the market on September 15, 1998, but the Rio is the second MP3 player on the market, following the Saehan/Eiger Labs F10/F20. The device runs on a single AA battery and features 32MB of storage, enough for about a half an hour of music encoded in the MP3 compression format. Visit the official Original Rio PMP300 product page. Price: Just under US$200
1999
NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the atmosphere of Mars. The loss of communication will later be attributed to a computer bug.
Pradip K. Fatehpuria, an ex-Atari programmer, leaves his position at VM Labs, Inc. to join Microsoft’s Web TV project.
2000
Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour attach the world’s largest, most powerful set of solar panels to the International Space Station.
2001
Nintendo releases the fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube in the U.S. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
2002
In the U.S., President George W. Bush signs a piece of legislation called “The Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002″ (H.R. 3833) into law (public law 107-317) to create a kid-safe “dot-kids” domain (kids.us), which would be implemented in 2003.
2003
Microsoft Game Studios releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Halo: Combat Evolved for the Mac OS X in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
2004
After a brief demonstration phase in November, the English beta version of Wikinews is launched. Wikinews is meant to be a free news source that allows anyone to report news stories. Visit the official Wikinews website.
The British Office of Fair Trading refers Apple’s iTunes Music Store to the European Commission for allegedly violating European Union free-trade legislation with the practice of allowing EU consumers to purchase music only from the service set up for their nation. Apple Computer will protest that it’s restricted by the legal limitations of the rights granted to them by each music label and publisher. In later commentary, a journalist at PC World would speculate that “the Commission’s main target is not Apple but the music companies and music rights agencies, which work on a national basis and give Apple very little choice but to offer national stores”.
Sony Pictures Classics releases wuxia action film House of Flying Daggers, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi, and Andy Lau, to 15 U.S. theaters in a limited screening. In it, a romantic warrior breaks a beautiful member of a rebel army out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem. Produced on a budget of US$12 million, it will gross US$397,472 domestically in its opening weekend. Visit the film’s official website. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 1 hr 59 mins
The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Kir’Shara” first airs. (No. 409) In it, Archer and T’Pol try to recover an artifact as Enterprise gets involved with a standoff between the Vulcan and Andorian fleets. Memory Alpha entry
2005
Adobe Systems, a developer of graphics software such as Photoshop, acquires Macromedia, a developer of graphic and web design software, for about US$3.4 billion in stock. Under the terms of the deal, Macromedia shareholders will receive 0.69 shares of Adobe, worth $41.86 for each Macromedia share, a twenty-five percent premium on the $33.45 value of Macromedia’s stock.
In Mojave, California, XCOR Aerospace makes the first manned rocket aircraft delivery of U.S. Mail. XCOR Aerospace is a private rocket engine and spaceflight development company based out of the Mojave Spaceport. It was formed by former members of the Rotary Rocket rocket engine development team in September, 1999. Rocket mail has been attempted by various organizations in many different countries, with varying levels of success. It has never been seen as being a viable option for delivering mail, due to the cost of the schemes and numerous failures. During this inaugural flight, the company sets a point-to-point distance record for a ground-launched, rocket-powered aircraft, flying 16km
2007
AT&T announces that it plans to exit the rapidly shrinking pay-phone business.
2008
Researchers at the University of Geneva announce the successful creation of the first superconducting field-effect transistor (FET). The FET is the result of growing a single crystal that contains two different metal oxides, strontium titanate and lanthanum aluminate. The hope is that such a component might lead to the creation of faster, more efficient microchips.
Version 3.0 of the Python programming language is released. Version 3.0 represents a major, backwards-incompatible break from previous versions of the language. Visit the official Python website.
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