Day in Tech History

iphone

1997 – Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Unwired Planet create a partnership to start and build on the Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP) as a non-profit organization. The industry group was formed to keep wireless devices on track, bring Internet connected devices to all who need it, create a wireless protocol that works on all network technologies, make scalable applications and content, and work with existing standards to expand as wireless needs grow.

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• Microsoft retires support for MS-DOS
• The First Barcode was scanned
• IBM Blue Gene/P
• Apple Mac G4 Computers were released

Symbian

2008 – Nokia announced they have purchased Symbian outright. They originally owned 46% of the company, and bought out the remaining 54% for $410 million. But then the company turned around and created the Symbian Foundation – a group that would house and give away the software code.

The group and software would remain functioning until 2010. Symbian Foundation then closed, citing that it would change to a legal entity, responsible for licencing software and intellectual property. The transition completed in 2011.

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• Symantec acquires Ghost software
• Florida Judge grants Apple permission to continue lawsuit against Psystar
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit releases

Aereo

2014 – Trying to be the first provider of over-the-air channels, Aereo was told to shut down completely after a supreme court decision went against the company.

The idea was simple – take the over-the-air network channels and offer them on the Internet. Based in New York, the company opened services in 24 different cities. You could only watch the programming of your area on your PC, Mac or Linux. There were around 28 channels you could choose from and pricing was simply $1 a day.

Aereo was faced with many legal issues, including the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition act. The rebroadcast through the service undermined cable re-transmission fees.

It was also a wake-up call as after the fact, many cable providers started offering live streaming options.

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• 1999 – HydraBBS software was released
• Williamette – a.k.a. Pentium 4 – is announced
• AMD files antitrust suit against Intel
• Motorola introduces the 16 MHz 68020 processor

Dr. Alan Chow

2000 – Dr. Alan chow and brother Vincent announced they successfully placed a silicon microchip beneath human retinas. The chip is smaller than the head on a pin and only microns thin. These chips also contain solar cells to help power the chip.

In what is called “Optobionics”, the ASR chip is inserted behind the retina in the “subretinal space”. This is a 2 hour procedure and the chip can last up to 8 years after (depending on care).

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 30

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• IBM unbundles software from Hardware
• President Bill Clinton e-signs the first bill into law
• Global Gaming Factory X announces they will be buying the Pirate Bay

2008 -Sarah Palin succumbed to a hacker in a different way – through her Yahoo! email. The infiltrator gained access by using common information to reset the password. David Kernell then posted her email and new password on 4chan.org under the alias “Rubico”. It showed that by using common information to set up an account, it could also turn into a “back door” for someone who would know that information.

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• Yahoo purchases Zimbra
• Motorola enters into Mac Clone market
• AT&T phones shut down NYC