David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
On September 12, 2007, the music pirate group Rabid Neurosis, or RNS, started unraveling with an FBI raid on 35-year-old Bennie Lydell “Dell” Glover, of Shelby, North Carolina. They weren’t the first MP3 pirate group, but they were one of the most prolific. Nearly two years later, on September 9, 2009, four members were indicted with conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
The Atari 2600 was first released on September 11, 1977, along with nine titles. It wasn’t the first home video game console to connect to a TV and it wasn’t even the first one to use cartridges, but it was the first one to gain widespread success, selling 30 million units over its long lifetime. Let’s take a look at the nine Atari 2600 launch titles.
Tengen was a video game publisher in the 1980s and 1990s. What platform you remember them for probably depends on which part of the world you grew up in. In the United States, we remember Tengen as a Nintendo NES publisher. Europeans may remember them as a Megadrive or Amiga publisher. Thickening the plot, they had a direct connection to another storied video game company. On September 10, 1992, Tengen lost one of its multiple lawsuits with Nintendo. It ended Tengen as an NES publisher, but not from the game industry entirely.
It was 22 years ago this week, on Semptember 8, 2003, that the Recording Industry Association of America started suing individuals for pirating MP3 files. One of the people caught up in a lawsuit was a 12-year-old honors student who lived in public housing.
On September 6, 2001, HP announced its intention to acquire Compaq for $25 billion. It was a stunning end for what still seemed to be one of the rising stars of the PC industry. I also think it proved that bigger isn’t always better. The HP-Compaq merger arguably made sense at the time, but both companies had alternatives that would have suited them better. On May 23, 2012, HP announced the end of the Compaq brand, a stunning end for what had been the largest technology merger in history.
On September 4th, 1998, Google incorporated in California. Even if you are not a fan, and make no mistake, I am not, you have to admit Google left its mark on the Internet. It fundamentally changed the Internet in numerous ways, some of them bad, but some of them very good.
Google’s highly anticipated 2004 IPO valued the company at over $23 billion and it marked the beginning of the recovery from the dotcom bust.
Computer journalism pioneer Wayne Green was born 103 years ago on this day, September 3, 1922. Green founded several different magazines, computer and otherwise, some of which ended up competing with each other.
On Sep 2, 2008, Google launched its first beta version of the Chrome Web browser. For better and for worse, this was transformational both for Google and the web. While this was the browser that finally freed us from the tyranny of Microsoft Internet Explorer, it effectively transferred power from one monopolist to another.
What did the original Amiga design team do after the Amiga went to market and Commodore wasted the opportunity? Jay Miner went back to designing medical devices, but three other members of the team designed the first color handheld game console, which, ironically, became the Atari Lynx. The Lynx reached the market September 1, 1989.
At the end of August 2024, Anandtech shut down rather suddenly and unexpectedly, ending a run that dated back to April 3, 1997. I thought about writing something at the time, but really needed longer to collect my thoughts. Now that a year has passed, I think it’s time.