Tech Time Warp is a weekly feature that looks back at interesting moments and milestones in tech history.
Tag: Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: The slow rise of video phones
Tech Time Warp: The slow rise of video phones
Chances are you’ve used Zoom, Skype, or FaceTime in the past week. Video-conferencing is so entrenched in modern life, it’s hard to understand why a May 30, 1996, announcement by AT&T and Intel about their new PC-based videophone left some...
Tech Time Warp: Prince Philip’s inbox gets hacked
Tech Time Warp: Prince Philip’s inbox gets hacked
Harry and Meghan might grab headlines for their privacy settlements and use of social media, but the younger royals are hardly breaking new ground. You might say they’re just following in the family’s footsteps. In 1985, two hackers were arrested...
Tech Time Warp: Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day!
Tech Time Warp: Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day!
This week, Microsoft announced Project ION, its decentralized identification (DID) verification system built on top of the bitcoin blockchain. ION (Identity Overlay Network) is the first such project by a major tech company and could revolutionize the way users log...
Tech Time Warp: Flame, the virus with a massive controlled burn
Tech Time Warp: Flame, the virus with a massive controlled burn
The Flame virus first achieved infamy in May 2012, shortly after the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union asked a security company to look in to the hacking of Iranian computers. Although not widespread — only a few hundred computers are...
Tech Time Warp: Microsoft introduces the “green-eyed” mouse
Tech Time Warp: Microsoft introduces the “green-eyed” mouse
Here’s a bit of trivia for your next cocktail party: The instruction manual for the first Microsoft Mouse (introduced May 2, 1983, as Microsoft’s first foray into peripherals) was a hefty 120-plus pages long. Yes, more than 120 pages. That...
Tech Time Warp: Chernobyl virus turns twenty
Tech Time Warp: Chernobyl virus turns twenty
Twenty years ago, after dealing with the aftermath of the Melissa virus — launched on March 26 — network administrators weren’t prepared for what happened next. A month later, on April 26, a particularly nasty version of the CIH virus known as...
Tech Time Warp: The hidden surprises of technology Easter eggs
Tech Time Warp: The hidden surprises of technology Easter eggs
Have you ever typed “answer to life, the universe, and everything” into Google? In a nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Google returns “42” as a calculator result. Or perhaps you’ve noticed a white X in front of...
Tech Time Warp: Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne says goodbye after only 12 days
Tech Time Warp: Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne says goodbye after only 12 days
They say hindsight is 20/20, or — in the case of Apple’s lesser-known third co-founder Ronald Wayne — billions of dollars. On April 1, 1976, Wayne drew up a contract with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to found Apple Computer...
Tech Time Warp: Appreciate Windows 3.1 for all of its 16-bit glory
Tech Time Warp: Appreciate Windows 3.1 for all of its 16-bit glory
If you’re in search of some nostalgia on April 6, head over to the Internet Archive to celebrate the 27th anniversary of Microsoft’s release of Windows 3.1. Thanks to the hard work of dedicated developers, you can once again play...
Tech Time Warp: A Cold War-era April Fools’ joke
Tech Time Warp: A Cold War-era April Fools’ joke
Google’s April Fools’ Day hoaxes have become an annual tradition, but long before Larry and Sergey met at Stanford, another Internet pioneer was having some fun online. On April 1, 1984, a message appeared on Usenet, an early online network...
