Birthday
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At 25, Internet Explorer's legacy has never been more relevant
Internet Explorer is 25, and the antitrust woes Microsoft experienced in the late '90s foreshadow what's happening now.
Woz is hosting a livestream charity fundraiser for his 70th birthday
While Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak hasn’t worked for the company in an official capacity for more than 30 years, “Woz” is still beloved by many in the tech community. As such, it’s no surprise that when he celebrates his 70th birthday tomorrow, the internet is invited to celebrate along with him. Woz’s wife Janet has set up a virtual 70th birthday party to benefit the musician Jewel’s Inspiring Children Foundation. As most everything is in the era of COVID-19, the party will take place via a livestream on Twitch, Twitter and Woz’s b-day website.
The $35 Raspberry Pi 4 now comes with double the RAM
Raspberry Pi is celebrating its eighth birthday, and it's come a long way in those eight years. Since launching its very first computer back in 2012, the company has sold more than 30 million units. Every year since has brought a newer version with higher specs and better processing power, with the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B arriving in 2019 with 40 times more speed than the humble original. Now, thanks to falling RAM prices, Raspberry Pi enthusiasts can get their hands on the 2GB device for $35 (around £35, depending on where you buy it) -- which is the same price as the very first version from eight years ago.
'Angry Birds' turns 10 years old today
If you're already struggling with the idea of entering a whole new decade in a couple weeks' time, here's something that's going to make you feel even older: Angry Birds is 10 years old today. In kid terms, it's on the cusp of middle school and it's probably started answering back.
Google celebrates 21st birthday with 21 percent discounts in Europe
If you're in Europe and are looking at getting a Pixel phone, Google Home speaker, Chromecast or other "Made by Google" products, today might be a good day. The company is celebrating the 21st anniversary of its founding by offering 21 percent discounts across its hardware product line. That means, for instance, that a Pixel 3 would cost you £584 instead of £739, for a savings of £155.
Facebook birthday fundraisers earned over $300 million for charity
A year ago, Facebook launched its birthday fundraiser feature through which users can celebrate their big day by raising money for a good cause. And it appears to be a pretty popular tool. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post yesterday that so far, Facebook users have raised over $300 million for over 750,000 nonprofits -- which include food banks, animal shelters and Alzheimer's research -- with the birthday fundraiser feature. "Thanks to everyone who has dedicated their birthday and to everyone who donated," Zuckerberg said.
Pokémon Go celebrates first birthday with events across the globe
Still playing Pokémon Go? Might as well have fun on its first anniversary. Now that we're only a few days away from the Pokémon Go Fest taking place in Chicago, Niantic has revealed more details about its game's first birthday celebration. Apparently, you can participate in the event no matter where you are in the world by working with the participants at Grant Park during three Challenge Windows that will take place throughout the day.
iPod marks its 15th birthday in a changed world
If you're a gadget fan of a certain age (cough), you're about to feel ancient: Apple's iPod just turned 15 years old. Steve Jobs unveiled the first version of the media player at an event on Apple's campus on October 23rd, 2001. To say that it had a wild ride after that would be an understatement. Many credit the iPod as the device that took Apple from niche PC maker to one of the largest companies on the planet, only to fade away as smartphones took over. But how did it get to where it is now? And is there any room left for the iPod 15 years later? Let's take a quick look back at how the iPod has evolved through the years.
Facebook collects your best birthday wishes in new recap videos
Facebook is already the hub for online birthday wishes from people you haven't seen in person since the late 90s, but the site isn't done celebrating your special day once the clock strikes midnight. Facebook has rolled out Birthday Recap Videos, a 45-second collection of the top wall posts you received on your birthday, including photos and text comments, that appears in your News Feed the following day.
ICYMI: Rock-like smartphone, stomach tap and more
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The FDA has just approved a device for obese people that is first surgically inserted into the stomach, then used like a tap after meals to drain up to a third of the food inside. The Runcible 'anti-smartphone' is going up for sale for $300, designed to not make a single noise except to notify you of incoming calls. It includes a camera, bluetooth and touchscreen, but still clearly resembles a rock on the back. And finally, It is this show's first birthday, so we are touching on a few of our favorite stories from the last year. If you'd like to check out a brief clip of the pigeon video out of New York, that's here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Snapchat lenses help you celebrate your birthday (or a pal's)
Social networks have made it way easier to remember friends' birthdays, and now they're trying to help us create less boring greetings. Facebook, for instance, just launched 15-second birthday videos, and now Snapchat has introduced a pair of "birthday party" lenses in its latest update. The first one works on your own special day, and let's you post confetti-laced greetings to friends or your own timeline (above). The other one works on a pal's birthday, and lets you double-tap to add a cake emoji to any greeting you send their way. The update should arrive today, but if you still find those too impersonal, you could always splurge on another new Snapchat feature: Custom geofilters.
Facebook hopes you'll send birthday wishes in 15-second videos
To put it mildly, many "happy birthday" wishes on Facebook are... impersonal. Even if you know someone well, you can't help but look like you're brushing them off with text and the odd photo. Facebook just gave you the chance of offering something more meaningful, however. It's trotting out a birthday video cam that lets you quickly record a 15-second clip to celebrate a friend's yearly spin around the Sun. The feature is only available on iOS for now, but it could still go a long way toward cheering someone up on their big day.
Happy Birthday! The NES is 30 years old today
Well, on its American birth certificate at least. Yep, to the groans of middle-aged gamers everywhere, it's been three decades since Nintendo's home console first landed: 18th October 1985. Arguably the advent of console gaming, the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived with 17 games, including Mario Bros., and other not-so-much memorable titles like Hogan's Alley (not the wrestler) and Stack Up -- all in often ridiculous box art we've already covered in detail. It had a rich life and to celebrate we've embedded a video that includes every NES title screen. You've got three hours and a box of Kleenex, right? And if you're still nostalgic, there's always that aluminum model.
Facebook reduces birthday wishes to a heartless one-digit text
Want to show that the art of sincere, thoughtful communication is dead? You only have to take advantage of a little-known (but recently discovered) Facebook feature. The social network has been quietly rolling out SMS birthday notifications that let you wish a generic "Happy Birthday!" simply by replying "1." Yes, you too can reduce an important milestone in someone's life to a single-digit text reply that takes less effort than it does to unlock your phone. It's true that this could come in handy for the birthdays of Facebook friends you barely know, but we'd say that taking the few seconds extra to write posts on their timelines would be infinitely more considerate -- you're never in that much of a hurry. [Image credit: Shutterstock / Ruth Black]
Prepare to be inundated with Happy Birthday tweets
Do you enjoy getting a truckload of birthday wishes on Facebook each year? Well, prepare for the same thing to happen via Twitter. The 140-character social network now allows you to add your birthday to your profile, letting the masses know the proper 24-hour period to ping you with a celebratory GIF. Adding that bit of info is optional, of course, and you'll be able to configure the settings so that it only appears for the folks who you really want to be informed. And yes, you can leave out the year so the internet won't know exactly how old you are. The new addition is said to be available "starting today," so if you're not seeing it now, you should be shortly. [Image credit: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images]
Yahoo! Turns! 20!
You now have permission to feel ancient: Yahoo, one of the web's first big service providers, has turned 20 years old. The company has seen a lot in the past couple of decades, to put it mildly. It rose to fame as a web directory in the 1990s, and quickly became the web portal of choice for legions of early users. However, it suffered under both the dot-com bubble collapse and the pressure from an upstart, search-focused rival called Google -- it spent much of the early 21st century scrambling to keep up, including an eventual deal to use Microsoft's Bing search in place of its own tech. The firm's revolving door approach to CEOs didn't help, either. Yahoo is doing much better now that current CEO (and ex-Googler) Marissa Mayer has addressed some of the company's mistakes, but it's safe to say that this web pioneer doesn't look much like it did back in the heady days of Windows 95 and dial-up modems. [Image credit: David Paul Morris/Getty Images]
Happy birthday to us! Ten years of TUAW
On this date in 2004, a new website devoted to Apple officially went live. The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) - at that time a property of Weblogs, Inc. - had two bloggers at that point, Laurie Duncan and Barb Dybwad. The co-founders of Weblogs, Inc. were Brian Alvey and Jason Calacanis, both of whom have gone on to bigger and better things. Ever heard of a guy named Mark Cuban? He invested in Weblogs, Inc. (Above: The first TUAW logo) TUAW was one of a handful of "unofficial" sites designed to bring news about hot tech companies to the public. Would you believe that there were once TUGW and TUMW sites that discussed Google and Microsoft? Our highly successful sister site Engadget was also part of the world of Weblogs, Inc., in addition to Joystiq, Autoblog and a number of other websites. What were some of the posts that first day? A quick journey on the Wayback Machine shows that Adam Curry (ex-MTV VJ and credited as inventor of podcasting) was one of the top topics, John Gruber at Daring Fireball was speculating that Apple wouldn't come out with a flash-based iPod, a tome on Mac OS X Backups by Joe Kissell was out from Take Control Books, and Wall Street analysts were beginning to think that Apple might have a chance to grow... (Note that many of these posts were written before the site went live so that content was available the first day). The site really took off in 2005 and has been going strong ever since. Weblogs, Inc. was purchased by AOL, bringing with it changes and a new reporting structure. A redesign brought a new, flashier logo and new writers like Scott McNulty and Dave Caolo. Dave? He's now managing editor for TUAW. About that time a guy by the name of Victor Agreda, Jr. was an incredibly busy commenter -- he eventually got hired on and is, of course, now our editor-in-chief. (TUAW Logo circa 2005) You may remember other TUAW bloggers and editors from the next few years - David Chartier, C.K. Sample III, Mike Schramm, Erica Sadun, Mike Rose, Lisa Hoover, Nik Fletcher, Robert Palmer, Mat Lu, Cory Bohon, Christina Warren, Brett Terpstra and Chris Ullrich among many others. Many of these fine folks have moved on to new careers, are writing for other sites, or have otherwise found their fame and fortune having learned and honed their craft at TUAW. Yours truly didn't show up until the Spring of 2008, not long before a redesign of the site brought it to something resembling the current TUAW. (Today's TUAW logo) Other bloggers who joined us, a few of whom are still with the team, included Chris Rawson, Kelly Hodgkins, TJ Luoma, Mel Martin, Aron Trimble, Michael Grothaus, Megan Lavey-Heaton, Matt Tinsley, Josh Carr, and Ken "Mac OS Ken" Ray. Over the years we had a number of podcasts that came and went, including the Sunday night TUAW Talkcast, the Wednesday afternoon TUAW TV Live, and our daily newscast, the TUAW Daily Update. Fast-forward to today... there's a core of the old school bloggers here at TUAW, and new blood that is keeping things lively. We owe much of the writing these days to Yoni Heisler, Mike Wehner, and John-Michael Bond, plus a large group of writers who are part of Aol's contributor network. I may have missed some of the many writers who have contributed to the heart and soul of TUAW over the past ten years; for that, I apologize. But the most important people for TUAW have been the readers, without whom the site would have no reason to exist. There have been many changes at TUAW over the years; some good, some questionable. We've seen Apple grow from a newly-revived tech company pushing something new called the iPod to an absolute powerhouse of a company with a market capitalization that has reached $700 billion. We saw the death of one of the founders of company and unquestionably its soul, Steve Jobs. Apple's now selling more Macs than ever before, the iPhone and iPad are technological wonders, and the company is thriving. We certainly don't know what the future has in store for TUAW or any of the humans who are the lifeblood of this website. Perhaps by some miracle, we'll be celebrating the 20th birthday of TUAW in another ten years. Whatever happens, we want to offer everyone who has ever been involved with the site and all of our readers over the years a heartfelt "Thank You!" for these ten years of existence.
Dark Age of Camelot grants accounts free playtime for its birthday
Like its sibling Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot is currently welcoming old players back with free account time just in time for its October anniversary. Unlike UO, though, DAOC's Come Back to Camelot promotion extends to the most ancient of accounts and runs for two weeks only: All accounts that were inactive on or before September 24th, 2014 are eligible for 13 free days! Simply login to the account center, re-subscribe, and the 13 free days will be applied to your account automatically! This campaign will run until October 31st. Broadsword Online also touted a hot fix that permits a dozen previously unrollable race/class pairings. If you've ever wanted a Troll Warlock or Sylvan Champion, now is the time.
Richard Garriott becomes Lord British again for Ultima Online's 17th anniversary
On September 24th, 1997, Ultima Online opened its doors, forever changing the MMORPG landscape. That was 17 years ago today, and that means it's time for cake and ice cream! Just make sure to check that cake for deadly poison. Poisoning cake and giving it to unsuspecting passers-by is actually a thing you can do in this crazy sandbox. Wanna celebrate? UO Stratics reports that the Broadsword team is hosting an in-game party tomorrow evening with some notables from UO's history in attendance. Join me for a live, in-game event on TC1 September 25th 2014 at 7pm ET! Meet Richard "Lord British" Garriot and Starr "King Blackthorn" Long at Castle Blackthorn to celebrate Ultima Online's 17th Anniversary! The anniversary parties are always a blast (Thanks to the Dark Lady). This year will be very special as both Lord British and King Blackthorn will join us. If you can't attend, it will be shown on youtube . It will also be streamed live on http://www.twitch.tv/stratics. A post on the official site also welcomes the new patch we covered last week and a new player Advisor program similar to the old Counselor program made famous in the game's early days.
Perfect World International boasts 2M active accounts, gives gift pack for anniversary
Perfect World International turns six years old this month, and even if you haven't given it a second thought, apparently the fantasy MMO is quite popular worldwide. PWE released an infographic that stated, among other tidbits, that the game currently enjoys over two million active accounts. Other interesting statistics from the infographic include a population of 51% female players and 39,787 in-game marriages performed. We've got the infographic for you after the break with a code that's good for a Jade Gift Pack in-game. [Source: Perfect World press release]
