-
Telex messaging network comes on line
Telex uses teleprinters, but instead of using telegraph lines, the telex system connects teleprinters to each other over voice telephone lines, routed by modified telephone switches. Wireless versions of Telex soon connect remote regions of the developing world. -
Cybernetics
Norbert Wiener publishes the book Cybernetics, which has a major influence on research into artificial intelligence and control systems. -
Alexander Douglas writes OXO for EDSAC
Alexander Douglas designed one of the earliest computer games, a version of Tic-Tac-Toe on Cambridge's EDSAC computer -
2001: Space Odyssey is released
2001: A Space Odyssey tells the story of the HAL 9000 computer as it malfunctions during the Discovery One spaceship's trip to Jupiter to investigate a mysterious signal. The HAL 9000 computer which controlled all aspects of ship operations, killed the crew and was finally shut-down by the only surviving crew member. The presentation of HAL demonstrated advanced technologies including speech synthesis, voice and visual recognition, human-computer interaction, and even computer chess. -
Birth of Modern Mobile Networks
In 1973, ARPA funds the packet radio research van at SRI to develop standards for a Packet Radio Network (PRNET). It is pioneering wireless, packet-switched digital networks, including the kind your mobile phone uses today. A related set of experiments test out Voice Over IP (like the later Skype). -
Apple launches the Macintosh
Apple introduces the Macintosh. The Macintosh was the first successful mouse-driven computer with a graphical user interface and was based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor. -
The Matrix is released
Telling the story of Neo, a programmer who becomes a cyberspace messiah, The Matrix combines a cyberpunk setting, dystopian philosophy, and hyper-fast cinematic action. The Matrix also featured cutting edge computer-generated visual effects, and popularized 'bullet-time' - a multi-camera technique where the camera appears to move at normal speed while the action filmed appears slowed. -
The Dot Com Boom and Bust
As users went to the Web, the opportunities seem boundless. Almost everything you could do with previous networks is ported to the Web, and every business sector, community, religion, and subculture has a place online. Nobody wants to be left behind, fueling a frenzy of business ventures. In one year, technology stocks lose about 60% of their value. -
Edward Snowden
Former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden copied hundreds of thousands of documents from his workplace covering dozens of confidential US national security programs. One of the programs he exposed was PRISM, where the NSA collected data with the assistance of companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google.