Tech Time Warp: Steve Jobs’ NeXT Move
If someone tells you the NeXT computer was “Steve Jobs’ biggest failure,” consider that person uninformed (or a purveyor of clickbait). After all, if you’re reading this blog post on an Apple device, you’re benefiting from Jobs’ NeXT-level thinking. Like...
Tech Time Warp: Ghostball virus haunts PC users
In October 1989, some PC users received a nasty visitor in the form of the Ghostball virus, malware with double the tricks and none of the treats. Discovered by Icelandic virus expert Fridrik Skulason, Ghostball was one of the first...
Tech Time Warp: Happy Birthday to Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is so synonymous with office life it’s hard to consider it groundbreaking. But next time you’re plodding through TPS reports, think back to October 1983, when word processing wasn’t quite so easy. A lucky few had access to...
Tech Time Warp: Copyright protection for computer code
Sept. 22, 1986, marked a milestone in a protracted legal battle between Intel and NEC Corp. over copyright protection of computer code. As they fought for control of the microprocessor market, the two semiconductor companies—Intel American, and NEC Corp. Japanese—found...
Tech Time Warp: CryptoLocker takes ransomware mainstream
These days, every MSP is well aware of the risks of ransomware (and hopefully using cloud backup to protect against it). But back in September 2013, the concept of malware that encrypted your files and demanded payment within a 72-hour...
Tech Time Warp: Grace Hopper’s Computer Bug
“It must have a bug” is the easy way to explain away technology troubles, but few of us have pondered why we say that. Turns out computer pioneer Grace Hopper plays a role in the etymology (not entomology) of the...
Tech Time Warp: W3 Catalog Makes the Internet Searchable
“Let me Google that for you.” A few of us still remember life before Google. Turns out that even before there was an Excite or a Lycos, there was a W3 Catalog. Making its debut on Sept. 2, 1993, the...
Tech Time Warp: Linus Torvalds Introduces Linux
They say hindsight is 20/20, which is why Linus Torvalds’ Aug. 25, 1991, message to a MINIX newsgroup is so humorous now: “I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) … it...
Tech Time Warp: When Internet Explorer Was Cool
Let’s time-travel back to August 1995, when Bill Gates and his company introduced the world to Internet Explorer 1.0. Making its debut on August 16, 1995, this wasn’t the IE you later spurned for Chrome and Firefox. No, this was...
Tech Time Warp: The story behind five everyday tech terms
Given technology’s fast pace, it’s easy to forget someone in 1995 would look at you like you were from Mars if you mentioned your Bluetooth. Turns out the stories behind commonly used tech terms are fairly fascinating. For instance, thank...