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Intel is founded on July 18, 1968 by former Fairchild Semiconductor Company engineers Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore. The name Intel is a shortened version of "Integrated Electronics." The company's first money making product is the 3101 Schottky bipolar 64-bit static random access memory (SRAM) chip.
Intel engineer Federico Faggin leads the design of the first commercial microprocessor in 1970. Working into the early morning, Faggin successfully tests the critical functions of his 4004 chip design. The 4004 chip revolutionizes the integrated circuit by placing all the parts of a computer --the...
Berkeley Systems develops one of the first computer screensaver programs in 1989. The screensaver is designed to prevent image burning on monitors when a computer is left running or unused for long periods. Berkeley's product includes its most famous screen saver - the Flying Toasters - which...
German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried von Leibniz introduces the Step Reckoner in 1671. This mechanical device performs addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as square roots by a series of stepped additions
SETI@home is introduced to the public on June 8, 1998. SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Users participate by downloading and running a free software screen saver program that provides unused CPU cycles from...
The Osborne 1 is released in 1981 and is considered to be the first portable computer. The computer features a 5-inch display, 64K of memory, a modem, and two 5 1/4-inch floppy disk drives. The twenty-four pound machine sells for $1,795 and comes with the CPM operating system, SuperCalc spreadsheet...
The Haloid Company is founded in 1906 to manufacture and sell photographic paper. Haloid acquires Chester Carlson's Xerography license in 1947 and sells the first xerographic copier in 1950. In 1958, the company changes its name to Haloid Xerox, and three years later, to Xerox Corporation.
Gary McKinnon, described as the world's biggest computer hacker, is arrested in June 2005. The unemployed computer engineer is accused of causing $1 billion in damage by breaking into the most secure computers at the Pentagon and NASA. McKinnon allegedly breaks into the networks from his home...
The Z3 computer is presented by German engineer Konrad Zuse in May 1941 to an audience of scientists in Berlin. The Z3 is credited as the world's first electronic programmable calculator and is used by the German aircraft industry to solve complex systems of simultaneous equations. The original Z3...
Apple Computer hires Tony Fadell in early 2001 and assigns him a team of designers, programmers and hardware engineers to develop a new music player called the iPod. Fadell's idea is to take an MP3 player, build a music sale service to complement it, and build a company around it. Apple CEO Steve...
On the morning of May 26, 1992, Adobe Systems cofounder and President Charles Geschke is kidnapped at gunpoint in broad day light from the Adobe parking lot in Mountain View, California. He is held for $650,000 ransom for four days while the FBI searches for him. He is located in Hollister,...
The first Ethernet LAN data packet is transmitted at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center on May 23, 1973. Bob Metcalf and David Boggs are the inventors of the networking technology that will eventually be used on the vast majority of local area networks in the world. For three years they work to...
Microsoft Windows 3.0 is released on May 22, 1990. Independent software vendors begin developing Windows applications with vigor in response to its increased memory addressing and a more powerful user interface. The powerful new applications help Microsoft sell more than 10 million copies of...
The term "worm" is derived from a 1970s science fiction novel by John Brunner entitled "The Shockwave Rider." The book describes programs known as "tapeworms" which spread through a network for the purpose of deleting data. The term is first used in computer science by researchers in the study of...
Swedish company Ericsson initiates the Bluetooth Technology movement in 1994. Bluetooth is a wireless radio standard designed for low power, short-wave device communication. In February 1998, five major companies found the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Today, many devices such as cell...
Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita establish Sony on May 7, 1946. The company begins modestly as a maker of a rice boiler. The Sony name is derived as a mix of the Latin word sonus, the English word "sunny," and from the word "Sonny-boys" which is Japanese slang for "whiz kids."
The "I Love You" computer virus is released in spring of 2000 and affects millions of computers. Users are infected via e-mail, Internet chat systems, and through shared file systems. The virus is a program attached to an e-mail with the subject line, "I LOVE YOU." The destructive virus overwrites...
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is stripped of his duties by the board of directors and resigns from Apple in May 1985. This event climaxes an internal power struggle between Jobs and CEO John Sculley. Ironically, Sculley joined the company in 1983 at Jobs' urging. Sculley remains the CEO until 1993. In...
he mobile phone ring tone "Crazy Frog Axel F" tops Britain's singles music charts in May 2005. Jamster's ring tone song, inspired by the 1980s movie theme from "Beverly Hills Cop," is the first song created specifically for mobile phones to crossover onto the mainstream pop music charts. The ring...
Robert N. Noyce of Intel Corp receives the National Medal of Technology in 1987. He is credited for his semiconductor inventions and for his leadership in the research and development of the microprocessor, which has led to wider use of more powerful computers. These accomplishments are cited as...
