1994 – It was a 6 year office romance that ended in marriage. Best part – where we hear marriages dissolve, this one has continued on for over 20 years. So we wish Bill and Melinda (French) Gates a happy and joyous wedding anniversary.
Since then the couple has been active in world poverty and education of children with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
On this day, we basically crunch numbers. This is where you will see companies let you know how much of their products are out there. How many copies of Windows have been sold, how many PC‘s were bought – how much shareware has been downloaded. These stats will drive how the next year is to be written. Then, they blank the numbers and start the crazy cycle all over again.The majority of the podcast will go over these statistics. But don’t worry – there is still a lot of other history to go through. But it’s still cool to know that in 1981, 250 million floppy disk drives were shipped to date…
2008 – Facebook made an initiative to remove any picture showing breastfeeding. In return, 11,000 women posted pictures in protest.
On June 15, 2014, after the #FreeTheNipple campaign brought success, Facebook officially changed their stance on the subject. According to their “Does Facebook Allow Breastfeeding” FAQ page:
Yes. We agree that breastfeeding is natural and beautiful and we’re glad to know that it’s important for mothers to share their experiences with others on Facebook. The vast majority of these photos are compliant with our policies.
Facebook’s policy also states if people complain or its too questionable, they have the right to remove the photos. Basically, the baby must be fully engaged in the feeding so the nipple is covered.
There is still a lot of controversy surrounding this issue.
2004 – Once Commodore dropped from the market in the 80’s, it pretty much started bouncing around the world from company to company. Ultimately it landed in the lap of KMOS – a Deleware company. However, on this day, Dutch Manufacturer Tulip sells the company to Yeahronimo Media Ventures for about US$32.7 million.
1995 – Compuserve blocks access to over 200 sites that have explicit content. They do it to avoid issue with the German Government. The sites would be blocked until Feb 13, 1996 when all but 5 sites were restored.
2007 – With iTunes just signing a deal with FOX and their content for iTunes, stocks pushed upward to $200 a share. It was the first time Apple hit that barrier, and promptly dropped after. The company has been up and down, and in mid-2008 were at only $90 a share. However, after March 6th, 2008, the stock started to rise to the $400 / Share mark. Since then Apple climbed up to $700/share and then on June 9th, 2014 the stock was split 7-to-1. Currently, the stock is at $111 (technically $777 for those who purchased before the split).
1998 – during the last couple years of the 20th century, the race was on to fix an oversight in multiple computer systems. The problem was dubbed “Y2K” or the Millennium bug. Bottom line was that all computers worked on a 2 digit year system instead of 4. Because of this, once the clock rolled, computers would think it’s 1900 instead of 2000 and bigger issues would happen.For instance, if you were born in 1968, then you would be -68 years old in a computer calculating your birth date. If you had a bill due of $1,000 since 1998, then you might find yourself with a reverse interest, in turn causing financial institutions to go into turmoil.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton made a statement that the Social Security payment system was officially Y2K compliant.
By the way: Most people resolved the problem by not programming in a 4 digit year, but by shifting the thinking of the 2 digit year. Therefore, in 2012 (which some shifted to), they will have these issues all over again.