May 22

This list was created with hours upon hours of research and dedication. Thank you.

1973
At Xerox PARC, Robert Metcalfe writes a thirteen page memo describing a method of transmitting data from the early generation of personal computers to a new device, the laser printer, as part of his Harvard PhD thesis. He calls his multipoint data communications system “Ethernet.” The name “Ethernet” refers to medium-independent transmission of data packets, and is based on a discredited physical theory of an “ether” in space which allows transmission of light rays between the Sun and the Earth. Metcalfe and David Boggs will later create the first Ethernet network (running at 2.944 Mbps) between two computers named Michelson and Morley, after the 19th century scientists who proved that ether didn’t exist. A US patent for “a Multipoint data communication system with collision detection” will be issued to Metcalfe on December 13, 1977, and Ethernet will eventually become the world’s dominate computer network standard. (US No. 4,063,220)

1977
Pertec purchases Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) and the Altair line for US$6 million in stock.

1979
The discovery of a Clovis type projectile point found in association with Mastodon remains provides the first solid evidence of the coexistence of humans and the American mastodon in Eastern North America. Paleontologist Russell W. Graham of the Illinois State Museum made the discovery during a state sponsored excavation in the Kimmswick Bone Bed, near Imperial, Missouri.

1980
Namco installed the first Pac-Man machine in a movie theater in the Shibuya section of Tokyo.

1982
Eric Glick, age 18, scores 1,311,290 points on Tempest by Atari Inc. after playing the game for one hour and thirty minutes at a 7-11 convenience store in Houston, Texas.

1984
Hewlett-Packard shows the LaserJet laser printer. It is based on the Canon 300 dpi LBP-CX laser printer. Price: US$3500

Lotus Development introduces the Framework application for the IBM PC.

1989
Compaq Computer introduces the Compaq Deskpro 386/33 computer, models 84, 320, and 650, featuring a 33 MHz 80386DX processor, 64KB 33 MHz cache, and 2MB RAM. Price: US$10499 to US$17999

The first successful transfer of cells containing foreign genes into a human being is performed at the National Institutes of Health. The cells are altered cancer-fighting cells placed in the blood of a cancer-patient.

1990
Microsoft’s Windows 3.0 operating system is formally announced by Bill Gates at the City Center Theater in New York City. Microsoft spends US$3 million on opening-day marketing, as part of a US$10 million promotional campaign. The new version of Microsoft’s operating system boasts new features such as a streamlined user interface graphics and improved protected mode capabilities for the Intel 386 processor. This version also allows addressing memory above 640kB. It will sell over one hundred thousand copies in two weeks.

1992
California Superior Court confirms the arbitror’s ruling in the arbitration between Intel and AMD.

1995
Astronomers Amanda S. Bosh and Andrew S. Rivkin found two new moons of Saturn in photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

1997
Adobe Systems ships the Illustrator 7.0, a vector-based drawing program for Windows and Macintosh, in Canada and the US. Price: US$595, upgrade US$99

Apple Computer announces that it will make its Newton Systems Group a subsidiary company.

Gateway 2000, Inc. shifts its stock trading from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol of GTW.

1998
Connecticut-based, PanAmSat Corporation announces that they have rerouted the majority of pager signal traffic to the Galaxy 3R satellite after the Galaxy 4 satellite dropped from full operation Tuesday, May 19 and left millions of pager customers without service.

DisneyQuest opens at Downtown Disney West Side at the Walt Disney World Resort in Walt Disney World. It provides five stories of high-tech attractions, mainly consisting of advanced video games and simulators.

Microsoft submits a request to United States District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to consider granting Microsoft until late December to respond to substantial antitrust lawsuits recently brought against them. The lawsuits stem from alleged business practices implemented by Microsoft including the integration of Internet Explorer into their popular applications.

Red Hat Linux 5.1 (Manhattan) is released.

2000
Intel introduces two new Xeon computer chips targeting the network server market. The new chips run at 700 Megahertz (MHz), are manufactured using 0.18 micron technology, and feature and integrated cache. The one megabyte cache version will sell for US$1,177 and the two megabyte cache version will sell for US$1,980.

PHP 4.0 is released. This version adds more advanced two-stage parse/execute tag-parsing system called the Zend engine.

Toysmart.com, a company majority-owned by Walt Disney, announces that they have stopped operations over the past weekend.

2001
America Online, Inc. AOL announces plans to raise its monthly fee for unlimited Internet access from US$21.95 to US$23.90. The new fee will take affect in their July billing cycle.

Microsoft announces that shipments of handheld computers based on Microsoft’s Pocket PC operating system (os) have exceeded 1.25 million units.

Microsoft releases Windows Media Player 7.1 for the Pocket PC.

2004
Wordpress version 1.2 Mingus was released; this added the support of plugins to the CMS.

2006
GNU Go 3.7.10 is released. GNU Go is a free software program by the Free Software Foundation that plays Go. Its source code is quite portable, and can be easily compiled for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, as well as for other platforms. The program plays Go against the user, with between 8 to 12 kyu strength. Multiple board sizes are supported, ranging from 5×5 to 19×19. Visit the official GNU Go website or download GNU Go for Windows.

In the UK, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) satellite service starts to install subscriber set-top boxes for reception of high definition channels.

Wired Magazine released the text of AT&T documents, currently under court seal in the EFF case, that allegedly describe National Security Agency (NSA) wiretap arrangements. On the same day, Newsweek runs a cover story on the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy along with several stories summarizing what is known about the topic and speculations on the situation.

2009
Sir Paul McCartney asks Google to remove his house from Street View. It was featured with a 360-degree view

2012
SpaceX launched. The rocket successfully joined up with the International Space Station