Reuters news service reports that a British military communication satellite has fallen under the control of hackers who have issued terms for its release back to the British government. The newspaper quotes unnamed security sources which claim that the satellite was seized nearly two weeks prior.
Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) hosts a conference for software and peripherals developers January 28 – 29 at Fort Mason in San Francisco, California.
2000
The Quintus Corporation acquires Mustang Software, developers of the popular Wildcat! BBS and other communications software, in a deal valued at approximately US$290 million.
Sega Enterprises, Ltd. publicly announces that lower-than-expected sales of the Dreamcast video game system have lead to deep financial losses. Sega requests assistance from its largest shareholder, the CSK Corporation.
Version 0.9.5 of OpenSSL, an open source implementation of the SSL and TLS protocols. Visit the official OpenSSL website.
2001
Intel unveils seven new optical-networking chips. The chips allow an optical signals to travel up to four hundred percent farther than before with speeds up to ten gigabits per second.
The last cable segment of the Southern Cross Cable between Hawaii to California goes into operation. The fibre optic segment operates at 160Gbps.
Microsoft releases BackOffice Server 2000, which includes Exchange Server 2000, ISA Server 2000, Host Integration Server 2000, SMS 2.0, SQL Server 2000, and Windows 2000 Server.
2002
Disney CEO Michael Eisner testifies at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on the protection of digital content from piracy. Eisner lobbies for sterner enforcement of copyright laws, claiming that Apple Computer advertisements for the iPod encourage copyright violations. “Rip. Mix. Burn. …they can create a theft if they buy this computer.”
2005
The Illinois legislature introduces a bill to ban the sale of violent or sexually explicit games to anyone under the age of eighteen. Governor Rod Blagojevich will sign the “Safe Game Illinois Act” into law on July 2, but on the same day that the act is signed into law, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the largest video game industry trade group in the US, will announce that it is filing suit to overturn the law. On December 2, an Illinois District Court issues a permanent injunction against the act, ruling that the two criminal laws it created, the Violent Video Games Law and the Sexually Explicit Video Games Law, both violate the First Amendment. On November 28, 2006, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will uphold the lower court’s ruling.
2006
Acclaim Games is established as the successor to legendary game developer Acclaim Entertainment. Former Activision executive Howard Marks purchased the name “Acclaim” for US$100,000 after the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on September 1, 2004. Visit the official Acclaim Games website.
Apple Computer discontinues the Mac mini. At its introduction at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2005, Steve Jobs described it as the “most affordable Mac ever.” www.apple.com/macmini/“>Visit the official Mac mini website.
Scientists at the Hubble space telescope publishes the largest and most detailed image yet produced by the telescope. It is a sixteen thousand by twelve thousand pixel photo of the the Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101) composed of fifty-one individual exposures. View the image.
2007
The New Horizons space probe uses the planet Jupiter as a gravitational slingshot to changes its trajectory to place it on a path towards Pluto. Visit the official New Horizons mission website.
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