On December 6, IBM announced a new $100 million exploratory research initiative to build a supercomputer 500 times more powerful than the world’s fastest computers. The new computer — nicknamed “Blue Gene” by IBM researchers — was capable of more than one quadrillion operations per second (one petaflop). This level…
In 1999, Shawn Fanning created a peer to peer file sharing program called Napster that let people share files by sharing and swapping files from a centralized server using the client software. It became the hottest P2P network on the planet, especially for music, and took the internet world by…
Excerpt from Time Magazines’ “The History and the Hype” Two digits. That’s all. Just two lousy digits. 1957, they should have written, not 57. 1970 rather than 70. Most important, 01-01-2000 would have been infinitely preferable to 01-01-00. Though most of the dire predictions connected with that date–the Year 2000…
Released in June, 1998 by Microsoft Corp., Windows 98 arrived after Windows 95. Code named Memphis, it was a hybrid 16 bit/32 bit operating system like it’s predecessor. It included support for emerging DVD and USB technology, AGP, and offered easier search capabilities. It also included Internet Explorer 4.0. (which…
In the early days of the internet, websites were becoming increasingly more interactive with visitors, allowing users to download games, join discussion groups, exchange email and more. In the course of these developments, websites began collecting information about these users either through voluntary means such as filling out a form…
Short for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management and root server system management functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract. ICANN was created by the late Jon Postel in…
From Googles’ “What’s a Google?” Googol is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. It’s a very large number. Google is a company with a very large number of users, and a laser-like focus on finding the right answer for each and every one of them more…
In a landmark decision issued on June 26,1997, the Supreme Court held that the Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. The Court’s opinion, written by Justice John Paul Stevens, resoundingly rejects censorship of the on-line medium and establishes the fundamental principles that will guide…
Deep Blue is at heart a massively parallel, RS/6000 SP-based computer system that was designed to play chess at the grandmaster level. In May 1997, the IBM supercomputer played a fascinating match with the reigning World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov. From IBMs “Deep Blue”: In 1985, a Carnegie Mellon doctoral…
From Lycos’ Company Overview Terra Lycos is one of the leading Internet companies in the world, with a significant global presence and a clear focus on profitability and growth. The company’s main goal is profitable growth, which it aims to achieve by efficiently managing resources and by obtaining recurrent revenue…