10 years without the jack: how the iPhone 7 killed it in 2016
On 7 September 2016, Phil Schiller said 'courage' and the iPhone 7 arrived with no headphone jack. Ten years on, …
Computing History 22 posts
Information security in plain English: scams, hardening and privacy — plus retrogaming, games and geek culture.
Windows 95: 31 years of the OS that launched with the Rolling Stones
On August 24, 1995, Microsoft spent US$200 million to launch Windows 95 with Start Me Up playing in stores. Thirty-one …
Zotob: the worm that took CNN down live 7 days after the patch
On August 16, 2005, CNN's computers started rebooting on their own during live broadcasts — victims of Zotob, a worm …
Netscape IPO — 31 years since the Big Bang of the commercial internet
On August 9, 1995, Netscape went public without ever having turned a profit and closed the day worth $3 billion — the …
The 2600 BBS raided by the FBI: the first hacker raid, 1985
On 12 July 1985, the FBI and Secret Service hit 7 New Jersey addresses at once, seizing BBS sysops' equipment for …
Edward Snowden: the NSA leak that redefined privacy
Thirteen years ago, Edward Snowden exposed the NSA's mass surveillance. Here's what he revealed, the fallout abroad, and …
Morris Worm: the 1988 worm that nearly took down the internet
On 2 November 1988, a worm released by a Cornell student brought down 6,000 computers and almost stopped the entire …
UNIVAC I at 75: the computer that called an election and was silenced
On 14 June 1951, the UNIVAC I was delivered to the US Census Bureau. Seventy-five years on: the story of the first …
The first laser: 66 years of the light that changed the world
On 16 May 1960, Maiman fired the first laser in history. 66 years on, the internet, CDs and LASIK would not exist …
Deep Blue 1997: the day the machine beat the world champion
On 11 May 1997, IBM's Deep Blue beat Kasparov at chess. Twenty-nine years on, what did that match really prove about …