1996
Umax Data Systems of Taiwan acquires a license to manufacture Macintoshes from the hardware firm Radius, along with the company’s license to sell Macintosh operating systems. Umax will later set up a US company, Umax Computer, to market a line of Macintosh-compatible computers. Visit the official UMax website.
1999
Intel announces that their new series of Pentium chips will be called Pentium III. The company also announces that a new chip called the Xeon, which will be designed specifically for graphic and engineering applications, will be released at approximately the same time as the Pentium III. Visit Intel’s official website.
2000
Construction of the first segment of the China-US Cable Network, the first undersea fiber optic cable network between the China and the US. The cable will carry data, video, and voice traffic directly between two points in China (Chongming and Shantou) and two points in the US (Bandon, Oregon and San Luis Obispo, California) at 80Gbps.
2001
America Online (AOL) and Time Warner complete their merger to form AOL Time Warner after receiving final approval from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Read more at the FCC website. Visit the official AOL Time Warner website.
2002
The US ISP Association (USISPA) is formed from the Compulink Information eXchange (CIX), the organization which initially converted the Internet into a commercial enterprise. Visit the organization’s official website.
2003
The domain registration for the “shock site” Ogrish.com, which primarily features photos and video of fatal accidents and brutal crimes, is deleted by German registrar Joker.com at the request of a German prosecutor who complained that the website’s content was extremely objectionable, despite the fact that it hasn’t violated any laws in the United States, where the site is actually hosted.
2005
International Business Machines (IBM) announces that it will donate five hundred technology patents to a number of open-source groups.
At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple Computer releases iLife ’05, a suite for creating digital content. Price: US$79
At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple Computer releases the iPod shuffle with either a 512MB or 1GB capacity. It’s the first iPod to use flash memory rather than a hard drive. It is also the first iPod that has neither a screen nor the devices’ signature scroll wheel. Visit the official iPod Shuffle website.
At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple releases the Mac mini, featuring an 1.25GHz or 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 processor, 256MB RAM, a 40GB or 80GB hard drive, the Mac OS X operating system, iLife, and an optional SuperDrive. The Mini is only two inches high and six and a half inches square, making it the smallest desktop tower ever. Price: US$499 and US$599 respectively.
2007
An episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County becomes the first complete television program to ever be legally posted to YouTube.
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