August 27, 2008– AMC asked for the takedown of some Fans of the TV Show “Mad Men” who decided to create Twitter profiles of the fictional characters. Don Draper, Peggy Olson, Pete Campbell and others were restored to their original stature. Of course, you realize you are only getting Twitters from a fictional character, but what the hey! It’s a great show.
August 25, 1991 – Linus Torvalds mentions in a message on comp.os.minix with the simple question:
What would you like to see most in Minix
This is the official announcement of the Linux project. Of course Ari Lemmke named it Linux after a while, in which would be adopted as the official name. Linus first wanted to name it “Freix”, which meant Freek Unix.
August 24, 2011 – Steve Jobs, unable to continue due to failing health, officially puts his resignation in to Apple. He asks for his successor to be Tim Cook, then COO of Apple. The Board of Directors agree and announce the changing of CEO. The official resignation letter read:
To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. The official resignation letter read:
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
1995 – Microsoft releases Windows 95. It was a stellar event with it’s newest operating system. The first MS OS in 32 bit mode, it also debut TCP/IP, dial up networking and Long Filename support. The event brought along many different celebrations, including places like New York, which lit up the Empire State Building with the Windows colors.
IBM wasn’t sure if they were getting Windows 95 until 15 minutes before release. Companies like HP and Compaq (at that time they were separate) were able to let consumers know that they will get upgrades, but IBM could not make that promise.
August 23, 1999: Pyra Labs launched a program called “Blogspot” in 1999 that would let people run their own blogs. The program was bought by Google in 2003, and changed to Blogger in 2006.What is most interesting about this tidbit will be that I don’t mention it in the Podcast. It was brought to my attention after the weekend recordings were made. Nonetheless, it is what brought us to a Social Network world of today and needed to be talked about.
August 22, 565:OK, not really Tech, but kinda geeky:565 – St. Columba saves someone who was being attacked by a monster in Loch Ness. That will later become record as the first time Nesse was spotted. You can read about it in the book Life of St. Columba by Adamnan.
From Adamnan’s Book:
(He) raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, “Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.” Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast.”
August 21, 2001 – using a 45 MBs line, Brazil became part of the Internet2, an internet connected to multiple academics. The connection went from Rio de Janerio to Miami Fl. Internet2 member rolls included over 200 higher education institutions, 40 members from industry, 30 research and education network and connector organizations and over 50 affiliate members.
August 19, 2003: The Sobig.F virus was first discovered on this day. 24 hours later, it took down many a network by sending out emails with subjects like – “Re: Approved,” “Re: Details,” “Re: Re: My details,” “Re: Thank you!,” “Re: That movie,” “Re: Wicked screensaver,” “Re: Your application,” “Thank you!,” or “Your details.”The first version was found in January of 2003. The Sobig.F was the most destructive.
August 18, 1992: Wang Computers had been growing, but their financial outlook didn’t seem good. In 1992, they filed for Bankruptcy protection. They eventually got out of bankruptcy, but not before they changed the scope of the business. They changed to Wang Global, then in 1999 were bought out by “Gentronics”
2011 – CEO Leo Apatheker made an announcement HP will be focusing on Enterprise, and putting the PC division on sale. This sale did not include the WebOS software. He instantly discontinued the HP TouchPad tablet and Pre series of smart phone. By the evening, most stores would discount the TouchPad to $99. This brought a lot of controversy, as some people would go to buy a TouchPad at Best Buy and they were denied as HP told them to ship the units back. BTW – HP was incorporated back in 1947 on this day.