September 6

Podcast Episode - Day in Technology History

Day in Tech History: September 6th

1985

Franklin Computer introduces the ACE 2000 series, compatible with Apple Computer systems. Price: US$700 - US$1000.

1989

Because of a computer error, instead of receiving traffic violations, about 41,000 people received letters in the mail charging them with crimes such as extortion, murder, and prostitution.

1995

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) unveil the PlayStation game console at Sony Plaza in New York City. The launch is publicized with an enormous demonstration of Ridge Racer on a screen in Times Square.

1996

An anonymous attacker uses a single computer to launch a DoS attack against Panix.com, the world’s third oldest internet service provider (ISP), which is located in New York. The attack consists of thousands of copies of a simple message that computers use to start a two-way dialog. The Panix machines receiving the messages are forced to allocate so much processor capacity to handle the dialogs that they use up their resources and crach.

1997

Version 4.03 of the Netscape Communicator internet suite is released.

2000

DigiScents, Inc., based in Oakland, California, announces its intention to acquire SenseIt, based in Isreal, in a stock-for-stock arrangement. Both firms have developed odor-sensing technologies.

The eDonkey2000 peer-to-peer file sharing application, created by Jed McCaleb, is first released. The eDonkey client supports both the eDonkey2000 network and the Overnet network.

Patrick W. Gregory (”MostHateD”), age 20, pleads guilty to charges related to his role as a founding member of a hacking ring known “GlobalHell” and is sentenced to twenty-six months imprisonment, three years supervised release, and US$154,529.86 in restitution. GlobalHell allegedly caused at least US$1.5 million in damages to various US corporations and government systems. Gregory, a high school dropout who claims to have wanted to start his own computer security business, admits in a plea agreement to stealing telephone conferencing services from AT&T, Latitude Communications, and MCI and to holding conference calls between 1997 and 1999 with other hackers around the country.

RSA Security Inc. releases their RSA algorithm for public-key cryptography into the public domain, a few days before their patent (US No. 4,405,829) is set to expire on September 20. The relaxation of the US government restrictions earlier in the year removed one of the last barriers to the world-wide distribution of cryptographic software systems. US District Judge Jed Rakoff orders San Diego-based MP3.com, Inc. to pay Universal Music Group up to US$250 million in damages for the willful infringement of copyright. MP3.com is a service that permits the public to register their privately owned music, then listen to copies over the Internet at any time without further authentication.

2001

HDNet, a general interest television channel in the United States that broadcasts exclusively in high-definition format, is launched by Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban and Phillip Garvin from studios in Colorado. The channel is available both through cable and satellite television. HDNet will pioneer experimental and innovative coverage of both news and sports programming. In December 2001 and January 2002, the channel will air exclusive HD coverage of the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Microsoft introduces the Pocket PC 2002 at the DEMOmobile Conference in San Diego. The Pocket PC upgrade is aimed at business users, touting improved wireless networking and added support for virtual private networks (VPN) and an updated Windows Media Player for mobile entertainment, allowing users to watch video clips and listen to music stored on the device. Code-name: Merlin

The US Department of Justice announces it will no longer pursue the breakup of Microsoft, or the claim that Microsoft illegally integrated its browser with Windows.

2002

Version 4.2.3 of the PHP programming language is released.

2006

AMD releases 2600 MHz Athlon 64 X2 5200+ processor featuring two 1024KB Level-2 caches.

Apple Inc. releases a new Mac mini. The new models upgrade the processor of the US$599 model to a Core Duo T2300 1.66 GHz and the US$799 model to a Core Duo (T2400) 1.83 GHz. The systems already feature 512 MB DDR2 SDRAM, four USB 2.0 ports, and a FireWire 400 port.

The Gpl-violations.org project prevails in court litigation against D-Link Germany GmbH regarding D-Link’s alleged copyright infringement in the use of parts of the Linux Operating System Kernel. The judgment finally provided a legal precedent proving that the General Public License (GPL) is valid and legally binding, and that it will stand up in German court. Read the judgment as a pdf.

Version 5.5 of the OmniWeb web browser for the Mac OS X. This version includes several major new features, including: the ability to save pages as web archives, FTP folder display, improved ad-blocking, a new customized WebKit core, a “Select Next Link” feature, support for user defined style sheets, updated localizations, universal binary support, and several bug fixes.

Zimmy releases the alpha preview version Swift web browser for Windows under a GNU General Public License. It utilizes Apple’s WebKit, based on the KHTML browser rendering engine.

2007

Gregory Kopiloff was arrested for allegedly using the Lime Wire peer-to-peer file-sharing software to get access to tax returns, credit reports, bank statements and student financial-aid applications housed on hundreds of computers across the United States.

2008

Researchers create a "Photo of the Day" application which instantly turned Facebook users' machines into botnets. They warn that Social networks are ideal for attack platforms. Of course that is the case with any system that allows 3rd parties to write external code.

NBC announces they will be using Flash for airing Monday Night Football games. NBC used the Microsoft version in Silverlight for the Olympics.

2009

Google's entry into the show "Gourmet Chef" - Preeti Mistry - was voted off the show. Preeti was the first to be dismissed for the season.

2011

Carol Bartz finds out in an email that she was fired by Yahoo! Therefore, she sends an email to Yahoo! staff informing them: [1]

To all - I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward. -Carol