Tech Time Warp: The 2005 Academy Awards phone hack
When Hollywood’s elite stroll the red carpet at the 92nd Academy Awards on February 9, they’ll need to watch out for flashing cameras, Ryan Seacrest, and… hackers? It’s happened before.
Tech Time Warp: Remembering the commercials of the “Dot-Com” Bowl
As we await the premiere of Facebook’s first Super Bowl commercial — a 60-second feel-good spot featuring Chris Rock and promoting the benefits of Groups — it’s easy to get nostalgic about a time 20 years ago when the internet...
Tech Time Warp: Bagle worm spreads through its simplicity
On Jan. 18, 2004, computer users were served a “bagle” that would ruin anyone’s appetite. Also known as the “Beagle” worm, Bagle does not refer to the popular breakfast food that it shares a pronunciation with, despite their different spellings....
Tech Time Warp: Yahoo! domain name registered
Like many tech companies that made it big, Yahoo! has a rather inauspicious origin story. Initially, Yahoo! was the pet project of Jerry Yang and David Filo, graduate students in electrical engineering at Stanford University. “Jerry’s Guide to the World...
Tech Time Warp: Party On, Windows 7
Support for the beloved Windows 7 operating system ends Jan. 14, 2020. Microsoft is reminding users they will no longer receive security support and thus be more vulnerable to cyberattacks. The 10-year-old technology still has legions of devotees — Netmarketshare...
Tech Time Warp: The lesson to learn from Y2K, 20 years later
It’s cool 20 years later to snicker about the non-event Y2K turned out to be. However, the programmers who spent long hours ensuring it was a non-event get a bit defensive about that — and rightfully so. After all, their...
Tech Time Warp: Father Christmas worm visits NASA
Even hackers get into the holiday spirit. The Santy worm brought unwelcome gifts in December 2004, and the CHRISTMA EXEC brought a charming ASCII tree to screens in 1987. On December 22, 1988, the Father Christmas worm traveled to NASA...
Tech Time Warp: Why Perl — the “duct tape of the internet” — was such a gem
The programming language Perl ended up becoming the backbone of Yahoo and a million other websites, but when Larry Wall released Perl 1.0 for machines running the UNIX operating system December 18, 1987, he was simply sharing his personal code...
Tech Time Warp: The high and lows of the AltaVista search engine
Since “google” is now legitimately considered a verb (per Merriam-Webster), it’s hard to remember a world in which another search engine was considered innovative. However, there was life before Google — and it was called AltaVista.
Tech Time Warp: Teens left their fingerprints on the Goner worm
Much like the “Wet Bandits” left their signature (running water in a stopped-up sink) on home burglaries in the holiday classic Home Alone, the Israeli teenagers arrested in December 2001 for spreading the Goner worm signed their work — and...