Jeffrey Powers @geekazine

About Jeffrey Powers @geekazine

http://www.geekazine.com

I love tech history. I enjoy how we evolved from computers that fill a room to computers we wear on our bodies. I have put a full archive of tech history together at Wikazine. You can also talk history at Google +. I am also a podcaster and V-caster at Geekazine and a Podcast Coach at How to Record Podcasts. You can also sign up for a Helpout

Posts by Jeffrey Powers:

pentium-pro[1]

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November 1, 1995: Intel Pentium Pro Announced

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Intel Pentium Pro

Intel announced in 1995 the next generation processor – the Pentium Pro. Unlike the Pentium, the Pentium Pro was a chip designed for 32-bit architecture, so Windows 95 and Windows NT could run true.  The processor ran between 150-200 MHz, with a bus speed of 60 MHz (for 150 or 180 MHz processor) or 66MHz (for 166 or 200 MHz processor). The processor used a .35 micron process and prices started at $974 to $1989.

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  • 2008 – Novell Open SUSE Community elected board
  • 1996 – DEC sues AltaVista
  • IBM PCjr Released
  • 1983 – The IBM PCjr is released
bitcoin

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October 31st, 2008: Bitcoin Paper Authored

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The paper was called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” by Satoshi Nakamoto. It was posted to a cryptography mailing list. This was a roadmap to the creation of the crypto-currency, which officially launched on January 3, 2009.

The Abstract:

  • A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending. We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work. The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of CPU power. As long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they’ll generate the longest chain and outpace attackers. The network itself requires minimal structure. Messages are broadcast on a best effort basis, and nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will, accepting the longest proof-of-work chain as proof of what happened while they were gone.

The domain name “Bitcoin.org” was registered on August 18th. Since then, this premiere currency has seen some volitile transactions, jumping up to as high as $15,000.

Currently, Bitcoin is at around $8,000 USD.

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  • IBM OS/2 1.1 released
  • First public version of Sketch
  • Google privatizes Jotspot
War of the Worlds

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October 30, 1938: War of the Worlds – the Fake One

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War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds

1938 – Orson Welles shocks the nation with radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” by H. G. Wells. A large number of listeners who tune into the program ten minutes late (because the singer on the Edgar Bergan show was not that great). Because of this, they didn’t know this was a fictional story and start to panic. The story was brought through a series of “Newscasts” that Welles portrayed the reporter on the street and how these giant machines landed and began to attack the population.This event would launch Orson Welles career. Of course, he would go on to create Citizen Kane, Othello, Don Quixote and other classic cinema pieces.

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  • 1986 – First Fibre-optic cable
  • 1995 – Oracle announces Websystem
  • 2007 – Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor says “Take my music”
IBM RAMAC

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October 29, 2013: William Lowe Passes

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William C. Lowe
William C. Lowe

2013: If you grew up in the 80’s, you knew what an IBM PC was. Even in the 90’s and 00’s, the PC was what you had in the corner of the house to do homework on, surf the internet, work out expenses and more.

William C. Lowe was the man that brought that all together. He joined IBM in 1962 and left in 1991. It was in 1981 that the IBM PC debuted.

Did you know IBM was late in the PC game? In order for them to beef up a PC division, they almost bought Atari.

Instead, they decided to go with an open architecture with the PC. It took one year to develop and in the end the IBM PC could be purchased for $1,565.

We remember William C. Lowe with admiration.

1955 – Reynold Johnson brought a new idea to life. Using magnetic cylinder memory, His team put 50 platters – 24 inch disks – into a series. The end result – the first hard drive was born. The device was then produced as the IBM 350 (debuted September 4th, 1956), which was put into the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control), which was debuted in September 13th, 1956 – with the IBM 355 (hard drive) and IBM 650 (RAMAC) on September 14th. It ran at 1,200 rpm and held 5 MB of data.Reynold Johnson’s prototype weighed one ton. The 350 cost $10,000 / MB.

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Bill Gates

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October 28, 1955: Happy Birthday Bill Gates

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Bill Gates
Bill Gates

1955 – William Gates Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates has a son. William Gates III was born in Seattle, WA. Bill Gates, of course, went on to start Microsoft. Bill was CEO of Microsoft until he retired in 2008. In 2000, he started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Interestingly enough, 30 years later in 1985, Bill Gates put Microsoft up for IPO. That’s a birthday present…

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  • Apple unveils MessagePad2000
  • Digital Millennium Copyright Act goes into Law
  • Palm merges Handspring – forms PalmOne
Dell

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October 27, 1999: Dell PC Sales Hit #1

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Dell
Dell

1999 – Dataquest, a company that monitors PC sales, has shown a trend that Dell had maintained a 5% lead over Apple for 2 consecutive quarters. Therefore, Dell had become #1 in computer sales for 1999. Of course, a recent report mentioned that Apple could now buy Dell if it so inclined.

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  • Windows Azure launches
  • Internet Explorer 4.0 releases
  • The ARPANET stops functioning
Subliminal-Brain

October 26, 1998: First Computer by Thought

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Subliminal-Brain
Subliminal-Brain

1998 – A Georgia man became the first person that ran a computer controlled by thought. The subject (known as J.R.) was paralyzed due to stroke. Dr Roy Bakay and Dr. Phillip Kennedy implanted a glass cone into J.R’s brain, which would allow him to mentally control the PC.

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  • Sig Hartmann resigns from Commodore
  • Sony introduced the PS2 in the United States
  • Facebook releases Scribe
  • JVC announced U-format video recorders
Osbourne Vixen Computer

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October 25, 1984: Osbourne Vixen, Encore Computers

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Osbourne Vixen Computer
Osbourne Vixen Computer

1984– The Osbourne Vixen debuted. Inside was a ZILOG Z80a processor, with 64k RAM and the CP/M OS. Other programs included Wordstar, Supercalc and M-Basic. All this for $1,498.The Encore was also introduced. It was developed by Vadem Inc for $2,195. The computer was an MS-DOS computer with modem and four icon keys. phone, clock, disk and calculator.

2001 – Microsoft released Windows XP Home, Pro for retail. XP used the NT Kernel and merged the consumer desktop OS with the business desktop OS. XP was code-named “Whistler”.

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  • ICANN elects its first Board of directors
  • The first electronic wristwatch
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