Jan-March | April-June | July-Sept | Oct-Dec

April

April 1 – AMD announced a multi-year agreement with Mentor Graphics to embed AMD processors and Systems on a Chip (SoC) for internet appliances.

April 2 – Alex Kibkalo, the Microsoft employee who leaked Windows 8 to a French Blogger plead guilty to theft of trade secrets. He will serve 3 months in jail, then be deported to Russia.

Amazon launched FireTV to compete with set top box market. The $99 box would focus on Amazon Prime but also have multiple apps including Netflix and HuluPlus.

April 4 – Apple acquired Speech recognition firm Novauris for an undisclosed sum

April 7 – Twitter acquired Cover lockscreen app, an alternative to the lockscreen interface Android offers.

Seagate launched the Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD – the fastest 6 TB hard drive available. Price $450

A bug within OpenSSL called the “Heartbleed” has been vulnerable since 2011. A patch was finally launched on this day.

April 8 – NASA astronaut Steven Swanson sent the first Instagram from space – a selfie, overlooking the earth.

Microsoft issues the final patches for Windows XP and Office 2003.

Microsoft also officially ends support for Windows XP.

Netflix announced it would roll out 4K streaming on select content, including their original TV show “House of Cards”

Gogo announced the initiative to increase internet speeds to 70 Mbps. The first flights with the service will be in Japan.

April 9 – Rick Osterloh is named president, COO of Motorola Mobility.

April 10 – France officially bans all work emails after 6 PM. this is an amendment to the 1999 work agreement and 35 hour work week.

April 11 – Twitter rolls out real-time web notifications

Facebook implements some new updates which clean up unsolicited posts in the news feed

April 13 – According to Twopchart, 44 percent of the 947 million accounts have never sent a tweet.

April 14 – Google acquires drone maker Titan Aerospace for an undisclosed sum.

April 16 – Google released an updated camera app for Android 4.4. The app now takes pictures in HDR and a special blur option are added.

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 fingerprint scanner was hacked from SRLabs.

April 17 – Facebook launched “Nearby Friends”

April 18 – LinkedIn hits 300 million members

April 20 – The White House responded to a Change.org, 250,000 signature petition asking to have Justin Bieber deported. The reply: Sorry to disappoint, but we won’t be commenting on this one.

April 22 – Google launched a new version of Hangouts which also takes over the SMS conversations

April 24 – Google, Intel, Apple and other large companies settle an anti-poaching class action suit but did not specify the terms. The suit charged these companies of suppressing pay of certain employees from 2005 to 2009.

Facebook acquired ‘Moves’ – a fitness tracking app for an undisclosed sum

Vic Gundatra announced he will be leaving Google while at Google I/O.

April 25 – Microsoft finalizes the Nokia acquisition

April 26 – after years of speculation, copies of E.T. and other Atari games were dug up in a landfill in New Mexico.

April 29 – Facebook announces they will be building a second data center in Iowa, dubbed “Altoona 2”

AT&T announced it will roll out In-Flight 4G LTE in 2015. This will provide access to passengers during flight.

After Vic Gundotra’s announcement and quick exit to Google, a TechCrunch article surfaced stating 2 sources have confirmed Google+ will be put on the cutting block. The rumor was not true.

April 30 – Video sharing site Qik officially shuts down. Qik was acquired by Skype in 2011 and was shutdown to create Skype Qik – the video messaging service.

---

May

May 1 – gTLD .cruises, .flights, .vacations became available with several others in the coming weeks.

Foursquare announced it would be taking the “Check-in” option to a new app called “Swarm”. Foursquare would start to focus on reviews and recommendations rather than check-ins.

May 2 – Yahoo begins to ignore the “Do Not Track” option in consumer’s web browsers.

May 3 – Apple Acquires LuxVue for an undisclosed sum to improve their Micro-LED display technology

Google Acquires Rangespan for an undisclosed amount for predictive purchasing

May 4 – Symantec senior VP Brian Dye announced to the Wall Street Journal that “Antivirus is Dead”. He went on to say that antivirus software only catches 45% of cyber attacks.

May 5 – Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel announced he would step down after the massive credit card breach during the holidays

AMD announced “Project Skybridge” – and all ARM roadmap for all client, server and embedded processors.

May 6 – Epson launched Moverio BT-200 smart glasses to compete with Google Glass and Oculus Rift. Price: $699.99

May 9 – Foursquare froze all Mayor spots during its upcoming shift to Swarm. The moratorium continued until September 8

URL shortner Bitly was hacked by an unnamed source.

May 10 – Facebook ends Poke and Facebook Camera apps in the app store

May 13 – The EU ruled that Google must remove links to personal information if requested to do so

Pinterest introduced “Promoted Pins”

May 14 – Shutterfly sends out a host of emails congratulating members on their arrival of a new baby. Only problem is most of them were not expecting.

Yahoo acquires Blink, a rival to the popular Snap Chat for an undisclosed sum

Adobe Creative Cloud users experienced a 24 hour outage as Adobe suffered a system failure.

May 16 – Court documents were filed to end all disputed between Apple and Motorola Mobility. This patent fight started in November 2010.

Google hires Ivy Ross to lead the Google X team, which includes Google Glass

May 18 – AT&T acquires DirecTV for $48.5 billion

May 21 – Apple shuts down the pot-dealing game “Weed Farm”

May 22 – California Department of Motor Vehicles approved new rules for self-driving cars. The main rule is the driver must be in the driver’s seat watching the road to take over at a moments notice. The new rules will start on September 16

Google adds voice commands to Chrome browser

May 25 – Apple files for a permanent injunction against Samsung for infringement on their products. Apple had won a $199.6 million decision earlier in the month.

May 28 – Apple acquired Beats Music and Beats Electronics for $3 billion. As part of the deal, Beats co-founders Jimmy Lovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple

---

June

June 4 – Donald Sterling agrees to sell the LA Clippers to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion

AMD released Kaveri APU mobile chips for thin and light laptops.

June 6 – The CIA joined Twitter

June 10 – Google acquires Skybox, a satellite maker for $500 million

June 13 – P.F. Chang’s confirms a data breach of 33 stores

Alex Kibkalo – the ex-Microsoft employee who leaked early copies of Windows 8 to a French Blogger – was given 3 months in prison and $100 fine.

Facebook Messenger adds 15 second videos to the app

June 15 – After a protest via #FreeTheNipple, Facebook changed their stance on breastfeeding photos (First set on December 30, 2008). Facebook allows photos of babies fully engaged in the feeding where the nipple is covered. They still have the right to remove any photo that is questionable or where the photo had ample complaints about it.

June 18 – Apple unveiled new iMac desktops. 1.4GHz Core i5 with 8GB memory and 500 GB hard drive. Price: $1,099

Amazon announced the “Fire Phone”, a smartphone with head tracking technology and 3D effects. Price: $199 with contract

June 20 – Google acquired mDialog for an undisclosed sum. mDialog is a video advertising firm.

Google and Microsoft agree to the kill switch technology – a California bill that was passed earlier in the year

Harley Davidson announced Project LiveWire – their first all-electric motorcycle

June 21 – Nest – an acquired company by Google – acquired Dropcam for $555 million.

June 23 – Google Glass becomes available in the U.K

A massive attack on Sinology network was announced. The hackers took over 500 million Dogecoins, estimated worth of $600,000

June 25 – Barnes and Noble announced its board authorized the spin-off of the Nook into a separate business

Google Glass upgraded to 2 GB of RAM, making the device available to run more robust programs

Google announced “Cardboard” a way to turn your smartphone into a VR headset. You can build your own, or get a pre-made one starting at $21 (with free app download

June 27 – The US government auctioned off 29,656 Bitcoin it seized after the takedown of Silk Road – an online black market. VC Tim Draper wins the auction for an undisclosed sum. The Bitcoin was valued at $19 million.

YouTube adds support for videos at 60 frames per second, also expands their creators studio library with a host of sound effects

June 28 – After a supreme court decision went against them, Over the Internet TV service Aereo shut off their service

---

 

Jan-March | April-June | July-Sept | Oct-Dec