The Great Geek Manual

1995
Apple Computer, IBM, and Motorola release the specifications for the PowerPC Platform, called the Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP). It encompasses support for AIX, Macintosh System 7, NetWare, OS/2, Solaris, and Windows NT.

1996
General Motors releases its first electric automobile, the EV1, in Lansing, Michigan. The vehicle’s range is approximately 70 – 90 miles between recharges. 1,117 units will be produced.

1997
The Applied Materials Company, the leading worldwide supplier of semiconductor wafer processing systems and services, celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with a private party at the San Jose Arena with entertainment provided by Bob Dylan and his son Jacob Dylan’s band, the Wallflowers. A second event is held at the University of Texas featuring performances by Margaret Cho and Stevie Wonder.

Intel releases a software work-around for operating systems to avoid hanging when encountering the “F0″ bug. The bug affects Pentium processors with and without MMX.

The official website of the Spice Girls is hacked by the hacking group “CodeZero”, “so1o,” and “BoMbJAcK & NightRage”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

Version 4.04 of the Netscape Communicator Internet suite is released. Visit the application’s official website.

1998
The website of Warner’s Cartoon Network is hacked by “VHG”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

2000
In the case of UMG v. MP3.com, MP3.com agrees to pay US$53.4 million in damages to Universal Music Group in exchange for a license to use the company’s entire music collection. The settlement comes after Judge Jed S. Rakoff rule in favor of the plaintiff but before damages were awarded.

Ira Velinsky, age 46, passes away from a heart attack on a plane returning from the COMDEX trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Velinsky, an industrial design engineer, worked at Commodore, where he designed the Commodore 64 home computer. During his time at Atari, he served as director of industrial design.

Quepasa, a web community that has pioneered the Spanish language Internet, lays off thirty-eight people or about two-thirds of its work force. Visit the official Quepasa website.

Version 6.0 of the Netscape Navigator Internet communications suite is released after two years of open source development. The suite includes Net2Phone, Netscape Composer, Netscape IM, Netscape Mail, Netscape Navigator, and RealPlayer 8. The suite is based on pre-released Mozilla code, and the software’s Mozilla core is unstable as a result. Though it will be widely criticized for being slow, ungainly, and unstable, that doesn’t come as a surprise thanks to forewarning from the programming community. Visit the software’s official website.

2002
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the Athlon XP 2800+ processor, featuring a 333MHz front-side bus. Price: US$397 in 1,000-unit quantities

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the Athlon XP 2700+ processor, with 333MHz front-side bus. Price: US$349 in 1,000-unit quantities

Intel releases the 3.06GHz Pentium 4 processor, featuring a 133MHz system bus and hyper-threading technology. The processor is manufactured in a 0.13-micron process. Price: US$637 in 1,000-unit quantities

Microsoft officially launches the Xbox Live online gaming service in the U.S. and releases the Xbox Live Starter Kit, which includes a one-year subscription to Xbox Live, in the U.S. The service requires a broadband Internet connection. Price: US$49.99

2003
The asteroid 90377 Sedna is discovered by Michael Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz. It’s the most distant observed natural body in the solar system. Visit the body’s official website.

2005
McDonald’s and Nintendo launch a free Wi-Fi service for Nintendo DS users in thousands of McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. The service is provided by Wayport, and paid for by Nintendo.

Version 9.4.3 of the Icon programming language is released. Visit the language’s official website.

2006
Intel launches its first computer chips featuring four processing cores, the Xeon 5300, for desktop, servers, and workstations. The chip’s design is essentially ties two dual-core chips together, but it allows Intel to reach market with a quad-core processor before its chief competitor, AMD. The launch comes as a much-needed victory after nearly three years of repeatedly being beaten to market by AMD’s 64-bit processor technologies. Code-name: Clovertown Price: US$455 – US$1,172 in 1,000-units quantities

Lite-On IT releases the world’s first DVD writers capable of burning discs at 20x speed, the LH-20A1P and the LH-20A1H, just three months after Sony began shipping the first 18x DVD burner,

Microsoft releases its portable Zune media player, featuring a 30GB hard drive. The Zune is available in a variety of colors, including black, brown, and pearl white. US$249.99

2007
In New York City, Con Edison, one of the largest energy companies in the United States, shuts down the last direct-current electrical distribution system.

A team of scientists from Oregon announce the successful creation of the world’s first cloned embryo from a monkey.

2008
India’s Chandrayaan-1 unmanned lunar probe successfully lands its Moon Impact Probe on the south pole of the Moon.

In Cornwall, England, Amy Taylor, age 28, files papers to initiate the first divorce ever to be directly attributed to infidelity inside an MMORPG. Taylor, known as “Laura Skye” in Second Life, decided to divorce her husband, David Pollard, age 40, on the grounds of “unreasonable behavior” after she discovered that his Second Life avatar carrying on a relationship with another user’s avatar. “It may have started online, but it existed entirely in the real world and it hurts just as much,” she told Time magazine in an interview. “His was the ultimate betrayal. He had been lying to me.” Pollard denies engaging in cybersex. He claims that he was only spent time with the other avatar in-game as friends after his wife switched from playing Second Life to playing World of Warcraft, to the detriment of their relationship. However, by the time of the filing, Pollard and the woman playing the avatar with whom he was accused of cheating had already announced their engagement, while Taylor reports being in a relationship with another World of Warcraft player. Read the entire story at Time magazine.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer releases the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, directed by Marc Forster and starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, to 3,451 U.S. theaters. Produced on a budget of US$200 million, it will gross US$67,528,882 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 1 hr 46 mins

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