1949
Electronic Delayed Storage Automatic ComputerThe Electronic Delayed Storage Automatic Computer (EDSAC), the first practical stored-program computer, assembled by Maurice Wilkes at Cambridge University in England, runs its first program and performs its first calculation. EDSAC uses a paper tape I/O, has a high-speed memory (mercury delay lines), three thousand vacuum tubes, and will be the first stored-program computer to operate a regular computing service. For programming the EDSAC, Wilkes established a library of short programs called subroutines stored on punched paper tapes. It performs 714 operations per second.
1955
IBM announces they will be putting a team together to explore a new magnetic disk storage technology. The idea would be to put platters in a series. From this, the RAMAC is born. [1] RAMAC is unveiled on September 4#1956
1962
A Polaris A-2 missile launched from the USS Ethan AllenThe first US nuclear warhead fired from a Polaris submarine is launched. The submerged USS Ethan Allen test-fires a Polaris A-2 missile with a live nuclear warhead across the Pacific Ocean toward Christmas Island, 1,700 miles (2,700 km) away. The test, code-named Frigate Bird, is the only test the US ever conducted with any nuclear ballistic missile from launch through detonation. After a 12.5 minute, 1,200-mile (1,900 km) flight, the warhead exploded in the air between 10,000 and 15,000 feet (3,000 and 4,600 meters) high with a yield of 600 kilotons. Thirty miles from the air burst, at periscope depth, the USS Carbonaro captured the mushroom cloud on film.
1983
Texas Instruments, Inc. (TI) and Control Data Corporation (CDC) reach an agreement permitting TI to secure specified rights to 108 of the 430 PLATO Courseware titles. The agreement includes language to permit CDC to OEM TI’s Peripheral Expansion Box under the name of CDC Education Center.
1991
Sierra On-Line announces The Sierra Network, a dial-up modem-accessed service for playing computer games with others.
1997
Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, reaches a stalemate in the third of six games against IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer.
Veritas acquires Openvision, and NetBackup formally became a Veritas product.
1998
Apple Computer introduces a new line of black PowerBook notebook computers that are designed around Apple’s G3 processor. Suggested retail pricing starts at US$2,299.
Steve Jobs introduces Apple iMac, featuring a 233 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, a 512kB backside cache, 32MB RAM, a 4GB EIDE hard disk, ATI Rage IIc with 2MB SGRAM video, a 15-inch built-in monitor, 66 MHz PCI system bus, 10/100 BaseT Ethernet, an IrDA infrared port, a 33.6 kbps modem, two USB ports, 24X CD-ROM drive, and a Bondi Blue case. The company predicts it will be available in ninety days. Price: US$1299
Ghost 5.0c, a program that can clone a computer, is released.
1999
The Dell Computer Corporation reveals plans to build a manufacturing facility near Nashville, Tennessee. The Round Rock, Texas-based company estimates that the project will create a thousand new jobs in the Nashville area by the year 2000 and upwards of three thousand new jobs within five years.
2002
In San Jose, California, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is held. Steve Jobs unveils the latest Mac OS version, code-named Jaguar, and the iChat software. QuickTime 6 and QuickTime Broadcaster are released to developers.
Intel releases the 2.26, 2.4 and 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 processors, with 533 MHz front-side buses. Price: US$423, US$562, and US$637, respectively.
2003
The Apple EmacApple Computer releases updated eMac computers, featuring 800-1 GHz G4 processors, 40 or 80GB hard drives, and 17-inch monitors.
2004
Paint.NET Version 1.0 is released. Paint.NET is a bitmap graphics editor for Windows, developed on the .NET Framework. Paint.NET originated as a computer science senior design project during spring 2004 at Washington State University (WSU) and was mentored by Microsoft. Paint.NET is written in the C# programming language, with small amounts of the C++ used for installation and shell-integration related functionality. Rick Brewster, one of the main designers, says on his weblog that version 1.0 was written “in 4 months … and was 36,000 lines of code.”
2005
ECMA Eiffel (draft) is released. Eiffel is an Analysis, Design and Programming Language. It is dedicated to the standardization of Information and Communication Technology
2008
Elliot Schrage, who was Vice President of Global Communications and Public affairs, leaves Google, and heads over to Facebook.
HTC launches the Touch Diamond phone
Hyundai Kia announces along with Microsoft that by 2010, cars will contain an “Automative Platform” by Microsoft.
Microsoft resumed the delayed release of the XP and Vista SP1, due to a compatibility problem reported the week before that caused data loss when upgraded.
Sprint, Nextel and Clearwire announce a 14.5 billion dollar deal to spin off WiMAX. The new company would be called “Clearwire”
Qwest ends relations with Sprint and moves over to Verizon. They plan to resell wireless service from Verizon starting in the summer.
2009
Micro Focus acquires Borland Software for $75 million
AMD launches a reorganization strategy to merge the microprocessor and graphics units back together.
AMD also announces that certain chips will not work with Windows 7 XP mode
2013
European researchers announce they have a potential cure for grey hair
The US Senate passes a bill allowing states to tax internet sales
Bill Gates argued that users are getting frustrated with iPad because of the lack of functionality a PC has to offer