January 9

1901
Called “Mechanics Made Easy”, the first application for patent to Meccano was submitted. The end result was the successful Erector set.

1979
The IBM Data Processing Division (DPD) introduces the IBM 3680 programmable store system.

1980
The Burroughs B6800 mainframe computer is released, replacing the previous B6700 model.

1986
Atari introduces the Atari 1040ST, which features 512KB or 1MB of Memory. Price: From US$999.95

1991
Microsoft releases Microsoft Excel for Windows 3.0.

1992
At CES, Apple Computer chairman John Sculley coins the term “Personal Digital Assistant” (PDA), referring to the handheld computers that are typically operated with a stylus through a LCD display. Sculley coins the term while announcing that Apple will enter the consumer-electronics market by year’s end.

1996
Apple Computer officially unveils the Newton 2.0 operating system.

2001
At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple Computer CEO Steven Jobs unveils the Mac OS X operating system and the Titanium PowerBook G4 notebook, featuring a titanium case, a 15.2 inch, 8MB ATI Rage Mobility 128 graphics processor, a DVD drive, USB ports, FireWire ports, 128 or 256MB RAM, 10 or 20GB hard drive, and 400 or 500MHz G4 processor. Price: US$2599 – US$3,499

Apple Computer launches the iTunes media platform for the Macintosh. Visit the iTunes website.

Yahoo! launches the Yahoo! Portal Builder 2.0.

2004
At the behest of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG), an organization formed in 1993 by the governors of the G-10 central banks, Adobe incorporates code into Photoshop to prevent users from using the software to counterfeit any of several nations’ currency. The code allegedly prevents users from opening overly precise images of these nations’ bank notes, though details of what limitations the code imposes is secret. While Adobe isn’t the first company to incorporate such technologies, an Adobe spokesman claims the company is the largest.

2006
Yahoo! acquires Webjay, a customizable service for listening to music online.

2007
At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Steven Jobs announces Apple TV, a digital media receiver which will begin shipping on March 21.

Steve Jobs also announced the 1st generation iPhone, Apple’s first smartphone running on the Edge wireless network through AT&T. iPhone would go on sale in June 2007.

Version 0.1 of the Correo open source e-mail client is released for the Mac OS X.

2008
Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone steps down after Ask.com reorganization

2009
Dell acquires 2 of Allin’s Microsoft IT consulting firms in a $12 Million stock deal

Dell also releases the Adamo and Mini 10

One of the hackers in the TJMax Credit card theft – Maksym Yastremski – was sentanced to 30 years in a Turkish prison.

Verizon finishes the acquisition of Alltel – a $27.5 Billion

2012
Apple is sued for sellling copy-protected books from 9 Chinese authors, who are part of the China Written Works Copyright Society. 37 books are in the lawsuit.

2014
IBM invested $1 billion for Watson and the Watson Developers Cloud project. This will be offered in new enterprise apps to businesses and consumers.

Overstock.com becomes the first major online retailer to accept Bitcoin.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Stanford University created the world’s fastest organic transistor. Previous versions were tested, but this organic transistor can run 5x faster and is the size of a stamp.