1999
Eric Haseltine, the senior vice-president of research and development at Walt Disney Imagineering, demonstrates “Monty,” a computer generated character that moves its lips in sync with dialog entered into a laptop computer. Monty is the brain child of Fluent Speech Technologies in Beaverton, Oregon.
Intel announces that it will stamp unique serial numbers on its processors during manufacturing. According to the company, the ID numbers will help facilitate e-commerce, prevent fraud, and promote digital content protection.
2000
Hacker Kevin Mitnick, age 36, is released from prison eight months early for good behavior under probation restrictions that will prevent him from using computers for three years. In 1995, Mitnick pled guilty to charges of computer and wire fraud amounting to US$290 million. Visit Kevin Mitnick’s official website.
2001
Artisan Entertainment releases the documentary Startup.com, directed by Jehane Noujaim, to US theaters. The film examines the dot-com start-up phenomenon by following govWorks.com’s founders Kaleil Tuzman and Tom Herman through the bursting of the Internet bubble. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: R) Running Time: 1 hr 36 mins
2003
At the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in New York, SuSE announces the release of SuSE Linux Office Desktop, a version of SuSE Linux 8.1 with CodeWeavers’ CrossOver Win32 API, which allows users to run many Windows applications. Price: US$129
Hacker Kevin Mitnick logs onto the Internet for the first time in eight years, following his nearly five year jail sentence and a three year long prohibition against using computers. The first website he visits is that of his girlfriend, Darci Wood. Visit Kevin Mitnick’s official website.
Microsoft acquires PlaceWare, a developer of web conferencing software that was originally a spin-off of Xerox Parc. Microsoft re-branded PlaceWare’s core product and marketed it as Microsoft Office Live Meeting. Visit the application’s official website.
US District Judge J . Frederick Motz issues a preliminary injunction ordering Microsoft to distribute Java from Sun Microsystems with their Windows operating system and to cease distribution of Microsoft’s own Java implementation.
Welsh web designer Simon Vallor, age 22, is sentenced to two years in prison for writing three viruses, one of which (“Gokar”) was among the world’s most prevalent and destructive computer viruses in history. The three virus include “Admirer,” “Gokar,” and “Redesi.” All told, the three viruses infected at least twenty-seven thousand computers in forty-two countries.
2004
The NASA Mars Exploration Rover – A (MER-A) looses contact with mission control due to a malfunction in the probe’s Flash Memory management, which will be repaired from Earth on February 6th. Visit the official Spirit Rover mission website.
The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Proving Ground” first airs. (No. 313) In it, the Xindi test their new, weapon on an asteroid, and Archer discovers an ally. Memory Alpha entry
2005
The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Observer Effect” first airs. (No. 411) In it, a race of non-corporeal aliens infect the crew with a virus in order to observe their reactions. Memory Alpha entry
2009
Apple releases an update of its MacBook, featuring an 13.3″ glossy widescreen LCD, a 2.0GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066MHz Front-Side bus, 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, a nVidia GeForce 9400M graphics card, a 120GB hard drive, and the Mac OS X v10.5.6 operating system. Read the specifications at Apple.
|
|
|
