Video Toaster

videotoaster4kCreated by NewTek, the Video Toaster was a software and hardware based tool used for video editing and debuted on the Commodore Amiga 2000 PC in 1990 as an add-on card. It’s ability to work with standard definition video made it a revolutionary hit in television and film production, earning a Technical Achievement Emmy in 1993.

The component utilized an expansion slot on the Amiga, providing BNC connectors for input and output, and was also notable for including the editing software LightWave 3D, which became so popular it was spun off as a separate product.

The Toaster would eventually be marketed as a complete editing system, including the Amiga PC, the add on card, and peripheral hardware. The substantial difference in cost set it apart from competing products, and it became widely used within the industry by the mid 1990s.

In 1993, NewTek delved into high performance with the Video Toaster Screamer, an extension by Deskstation Technology featuring four motherboards. Intended to increase the rendering speed of LightWave animation, it was by all accounts forty times faster than the Amiga 4000. Only a handful of test units were built before NewTek shifted back to the Flyer design and Deskstation built a smaller model called the Raptor.

Later incarnations would bring the Toaster Flyer, a new breed that brought more advanced features and hard drive storage. NewTek then spun off another product from the technology called TriCaster. In 2004, the original Amiga Toaster source code was made public as development continued on the Windows platform. NewTek announced Video Toaster’s discontinuation in 2010, and the last version of TriCaster released in 2012 signaled the end of it’s source code.

id Software

Idlogoid Software was formed by John Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack, and is now considered the most influential of the many game development companies in the Dallas area, known as the Dallas Gaming Mafia. Their first succesful game was Commander Keen but they landed squarely on the gaming map in 1992 with Wolfenstein 3D, a first person shooter with unheard of 3D graphics and violence. Perhaps what id is best known for however is the legendary Doom, which set the standard for most first person shooter games to come and put id Software into the pages of computing history by inventing an entire genre. It was followed up by several sequels, then the just as popular Quake series of games. Each version has progressively set the bar and influenced millions of developers. Today id is still blowing away gamers with Doom 3 and Quake 4.

Java

java-logoJava began life at Sun Microsystems in late 1990. It is an object oriented language developed by James Gosling and colleagues. It was originally called “Oak” after the tree outside of Gosling’s window and is often confused with Javascript, which is bears no similarity to it except in syntax and name. Originally the team consisted of Gosling, Patrick Naughton, and Mike Sheridan.

They at first considered using C++, but each found the language problematic for many of their goals. After initially attempting to modify and extend C++, Gosling finally decided to create a new language entirely. Portions of the new code would be demonstrated in the summer of 1992. Later in 1994 the team was reunited to apply the technology to the internet, writing one of the first Java web browsers and it was around this time it was actually named “Java”.

In the summer of the same year, the browser and platform was shown to executives and the first public release was on May 23rd, 1995. At the same time, Netscape announced it would include Java support in it’s browser. Sun currently maintains the Java code and updates it regularly.

Symantec

symantecFrom Symantec’s “Corporate Information”

Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, and remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec’s Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 38 countries.

Cray Y-MP2E

ympIn 1988, Cray Research introduced the Cray Y-MPĀ®, the world’s first supercomputer to sustain over 1 gigaflop on many applications. Multiple 333 MFLOPS processors powered the system to a record sustained speed of 2.3 gigaflops.

Supercomputers are the fastest type of computer. Supercomputers are very expensive and are employed for specialized applications that require immense amounts of mathematical calculations. For example, weather forecasting requires a supercomputer. Other uses of supercomputers include animated graphics, fluid dynamic calculations, nuclear energy research, and petroleum exploration.