1988
One of the world’s largest scientific instruments, the 300 foot Green Bank radio telescope dish in West Virginia collapses under its own weight following twenty-six years of heavy use.
The Soviet Union launches its first space shuttle, Buran (”Snowstorm”), without a crew, on what will be its first and only orbital flight, at 3:00 UTC. The craft’s flight is unmanned due to the fact that the life support system hasn’t been completed and the instrument panels’ software has not yet been installed, and the mission’s flight is limited to two orbits because of the shuttle’s limited computer memory. Upon its return to Baikonur Cosmodrome, the shuttle performs an automated landing, and, despite a lateral wind speed of 17 meters per second, it makes a successful landing just 3 meters laterally and 10 meters longitudinally from its intended target.
1994
Hayes Microcomputer, a major US manufacturer of modems, files for Chapter 11 protection. The company will emerge from Bankruptcy in April of 1996, after resisting acquisition attempts by both Diamond Multimedia and US Robotics.
1995
Christopher Pile, known by the web handle “Black Baron,” becomes the first person to be jailed for writing and distributing a computer virus when he is sentenced to an eighteen months in prison.
1996
At the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington, over five days, three thousand participants rate fifty-seven video games. Their top pick is Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64.
1997
The website of China’s Agricultural University is hacked and deface with a message condemning China’s recent nuclear tests.
1999
At the Fall COMDEX trade show, Corel releases version 1.0 of the Corel Linux operating system. Price: Free (website download), US$59.95 (standard edition), US$89.95 (deluxe edition)
Everex announces it has abandoned plans for the Freestyle 540 handheld computer and is discontinuing its monochrome palm-size computer.
The Marshall Islands issues a postage stamp depicting personal computers as part of a series on commemorating events of the twentieth century.
Nobuyuki Idei, president and co-chief executive of Sony Corporation, gives the keynote address at the COMDEX trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Other speakers at the event include George Lucas who discusses new digital camera technologies and Phil Harrison of Sony Computer Entertainment America who discusses the PlayStation 2. In his presentation, Harrison promises that 250 PlayStation 2 titles will be available when the system is launched.
The virtual pets website Neopets is founded by Adam Powell and Donna Williams. On June 20, 2005, Viacom will buy Neopets, Inc. for US$160 million. Visit the website.
The website of the Cartoon Network cable channel is cracked by the Varna Hacking Group.
2000
The Southern Cross Cable goes into operation, connecting Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand, and the west coast of the US, a distance of 30,500km. It carries 120 Gbps to Australia and 160 Gbps from Hawaii to California. The last cable segment from Hawaii to California won’t be launched until February 28, 2001. Visit the connection’s official website.
2001
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) introduces the 1.2 MHz Duron processor, featuring a 192KB on-chip cache and a 200MHz front-side bus. Price: US$103 in 1,000-unit quantities
Dutch SURFnet and the Internet2 Abilene Network connect via gigabit ethernet.
Microsoft releases the Xbox video game console featuring a 733MHz Intel processor, an 8GB hard drive, 250MHz NVidia XGP graphics processor, 64MB RAM, four controller ports, one controller, 3D audio support, and an Ethernet port. Games for the system come on dual-layer DVD-ROM discs that can store 9GB of data. The system can play DVD movies, but requires an optional remote control device to do so. To kick off the release, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates signs the first Xbox to be sold at 12:01am in New York’s Time Square, to Edward Glucksman. The system will be launched in Japan on February 22, 2000 and in Europe on March 14, 2002. Price: US$299
Microsoft Game Studios releases the first-person shooter Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox in North America. The game will prove to be the Xbox gaming console’s killer application. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
2003
Google begins to introduce semantic elements into its search engine results. The changes mark a significant improvement in search relevancy.
2004
The European Space Agency (ESA) ion propulsion spacecraft SMART-1 enters into a lunar orbit, fourteen months after its launch.
A server at the University of Georgia is hacked, exposing thirty-two thousand students’ credit card numbers.
2005
Google announces the launch of Google Base, an online database service that allows users to upload information describing online or offline content, products, or services. Visit the official Google Base website.
Sony BMG issues a recall of all unsold compact discs equipped with its controversial copyright protection software, Extended Copy Protection (XCP). The software has been widely criticized in the media for its use of a rootkit to incorporate itself into computer system in such a way as to make it undetectable and extremely difficult to uninstall. In addition, the company announces that anyone who purchased one of the CDs can exchange it. The recall comes on the same day that independent security researcher Dan Kaminsky announces that Sony’s rootkit may already have infected as many as half a million computers around the globe.
2006
Scientists publish the results from the first successful partial reconstruction of nuclear DNA from a Neanderthal fossil bone in the journals Nature and Science. The fossil is estimated to be about 38,000 years old.
2007
Netscape Communications releases the Netscape Messenger 9.0a1 standalone e-mail and news client. Visit the application’s official website.
2008
The first divorce in history to be directly attributed to in-game infidelity with an avatar makes national headlines. Amy Taylor and Dave Pollard divorced after Taylor discovered that Pollard was engaging in virtual sexual activity with his Second Life avatar.
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