Tech Time Warp: Microsoft Issues Alert on Blaster Worm
Fifteen years ago, Microsoft had a big problem on its hands. Machines running Windows 2003/XP/2000/NT were being infected by a nasty worm known as Blaster. On Aug. 11, 2003, Microsoft issued an alert warning of Blaster, which exploited a vulnerability...
Tech Time Warp: Code Red worm puts users on high alert
Following a month of DDoS attacks and security bulletins, computer users were on high alert Aug. 1, 2001, as they waited to see whether the Code Red Worm would reappear to wreak more havoc.
Tech Time Warp: Andy Warhol and the Amiga
The format of the Apple product launch is legendary, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the July 23, 1985, launch of the Commodore Amiga 1000. Held at Lincoln Center, with Commodore employees sporting tuxes and the music of a...
Tech Time Warp: Happy 50th Birthday, Intel!
Your Intel insides are officially middle-aged. On July 18, 1968, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, formerly employees of Fairchild Semiconductor, officially founded microprocessor giant Intel in Santa Clara, California. Differing from other tech fairy tales, Intel didn’t get its start...
Tech Time Warp: Zeus, Ruler of Malware?
Like its Greek god namesake, the Trojan malware Zeus is powerful and virile. Since it first surfaced in July 2007 in an attack on the U.S. Department of Transportation, Zeus, aka Zbot, and its variants have wreaked havoc on the...
Tech Time Warp: A Technological Whirlwind at MIT
July 4, 1956, doesn’t quite rank with July 4, 1776, in terms of independence, but it was a remarkable day in terms of freedom for computer users—freedom from punch cards, dials, and switches, that is. On July 4, 1956, researchers...
Tech Time Warp: A Look Back at Antennagate
In general, Apple products work so well—and the company has such a devoted customer base—that it’s easy to forget that even Apple has had its missteps. It’s been eight years since Antennagate, when the launch of the revolutionary iPhone 4...
Tech Time Warp: DESCHALL Project Cracks 56-Bit Encryption
On June 17, 1997, a group of friends proved that it didn’t take too much effort—or computer power—to bring down 56-bit symmetric encryption, then the U.S. Department of Commerce’s standard for security. Since 1976, the government and financial institutions had...
Tech Time Warp: Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center Connects to NSFNET
If you’re schooled in tech history, you’ve heard of ARPANET, the U.S. Department of Defense precursor to the Internet. But ARPANET wasn’t the only network to pave the way for the Information Superhighway. Also worthy of mention is NSFNET —a project...
Tech Time Warp: Maxis, Creator of SimCity, Goes Public
Once they’ve taken care of their basic needs, your Sims should get busy celebrating June 1. After all, on that date in 1995, software company Maxis—the gaming company founded by Will Wright and Jeff Braun—went public. Wright developed the idea...