2005 – Yahoo acquires Ludicorp and the popular photo sharing site Flickr. No details were released on this purchase. On Yahoo’s blog they outline that Flickr will continue to run as-is, while Yahoo Photos will incorporate some of the ideals into it’s site. The biggest issue from the deal was that Ludicorp was based in Vancouver, therefore when the data transfered to Yahoo servers the week of June 25th, it became subject to US federal law.

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Other Technology History Facts

• Google Chome adds RSS support
• 3-COM exit strategy of high-end data networking
• Apple 20th Anniversary Macintosh (TAM)

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Other Posts of Interest:

• Day in Tech History December 11 – The Concorde
• DITH Nov 13 – Google buys YouTube

Geekazine will be on the Tech Buzz, a Technology Roundtable with multiple guests talking everything about Tech. I will be on the Friday Free for all, which is an open discussion of many topics. This should be a fun discussion and I will most likely be kept on my toes for the two hours we discuss the news of the week.

You can watch and react below.

Other Posts of Interest:

• March 19: Internet Explorer 8 – Day in Tech History
• Windows Mobile, Buzz Sued, Happy Birthday Photoshop: Episode 26 – 5 Tech Things

2009 – The face of browsers was changing. Mozilla had made a major push for the browser market and Google had entered into the market with the Chrome browser. In the meantime, Microsoft was getting pressure from the European Union for it’s bundling of the browser on the operating system. Still, Internet Explorer continues on and releases IE8

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Other Day in Tech History items:

• IBM PC jr is discontinued
• Apple releases the Mac IIfx
• Palm introduces the M500 and M505 handhelds

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Other Posts of Interest:

• March 17: AOL Finishes Netscape Acquisition – Day in Tech History
• DITH Nov 18 – Calvin and Hobbes is Syndicated

This week on the 5 Tech Things You Should know:

1. Google TV – What we should be looking forward to with Google Android for a Television Set top box
2. Commodore might be coming back with a new system
3. A Sprint / HTC Phone might be coming along with 4G service.
4. The FBI wants to go undercover to some social Networks. A 30 Page DOJ document has been drafted. What does that mean to you
5. A joke at SXSW that Conan has joined Revision 3. Sometimes jokes turn into reality. Should we get on Facebook and petition it?

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2002 – The .aero domain, or domain on aviation, begins registering. The resolution of the .aero domain would happen on Sept 2nd.

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Other Day in Tech History items:

• CRT iMac is removed from Apple Store
• SATAN Security tool released

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This really should come as no surprise: the Guardian reports that FBI agents have been going undercover on Facebook and other social networking sites looking for criminals. And they’ve been finding them.

This doesn’t refer to persons promoting bogus FB apps designed to steal identities.

They are finding criminals who maintain profiles, sometimes public profiles, under their real names with photographs of their real faces:

Law enforcement agencies have long used internet chatrooms to lure child pornography traffickers and suspected sex predators and with a warrant, can seize suspects and defendants’ email records. But Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites provide a wealth of additional information, in photographs, status updates and friend lists. In many cases, the information is publicly accessible.

In a section entitled “utility in criminal cases”, the document says agents can scan suspects’ profiles to establish motives, determine a person’s location, and tap into personal communication, for instance through Facebook status updates.

This really shouldn’t surprise anyone. What’s notable is that the Electronic Freedom Foundation got hold of an internal Department of Justice slideshow (presumably a PowerPoint presentation) dealing with this topic. The excerpts in the news story are fascinating.

The article goes on to point out that social networking sites are often checked as part of employment background checks–again, not news, although not necessarily publicized. I happened to be with a personnel guy when he checked the social networking page (not Facebook) of a job applicant. The picture of the applicant smoking a joint did not further the applicant’s chances for employment (no confidence was violated–I didn’t know who the applicant was or what the applicant looked like).

Mentioned, but not resolved, in the Department of Justice slideshow was the question of whether an agent’s creating a Facebook account under an assumed name violates Facebook’s terms of service. Given that undercover police work has a long history, I suspect this practice would be considered equivalent to working under cover, but I am not a lawyer.

Folks need to remember that the internet is a public place.

1999 – America Online(AOL) completes the acquisition of Netscape Communications Corporation. The acquisition started in Nov. 24, 1998. The acquisition was a $10 million arrangement in stock and cash.

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Other Day in Tech History items:

• Apple files suit to Microsoft and HP
• Office 97 Small Business Edition is released
• Tim Paterson contacts Microsoft on intent to sell MS-DOS

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uStream Producer issues – Won’t talk with Logitech. California trip was a success. Thanks to the HP Road Show Converged Infrastructure crew! The Flight home, however, wasn’t too great. Cool new happening with Ford next week?

Winner of this weeks’ Diskeeper 2010: Offit

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I – S.U.N. (Straight Up News)
JooJoo Refunds?
Facebook QR Codes
Early April Fools, Conan, Revision 3 – Or is it?
Is Alex Worth it?
Broadband Problems in the US
Email and the Fourth Ammendment
Bump to Paypal?
HP Infrastructure Tech Day
Twitter @Anywhere
Mechanical Cell Phone

QOTW – Should Conan Go to Revision 3?
Video – Spending the Night in Denver Airport

II
100 Oldest Domains for 25 Years.
iPod Shuffle: Sweat Out Lawsuit
Too Square for Foursquare
PogoPlug Streaming to XBOX and PS3
MySpace Making New Changes

CES 2010 Video Feed – Geekazine
Check out the other podcast: Day in Tech History

Contacts: Twitter – Plurk – Myspace – Facebook Group – FriendFeed or Digg the Podcast. The Geekazine Podcast is under a Creative Commons no-deriv license

Music for Podcast by the John Masino Band

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1995 – The worlds first Wiki was created as Ward Cunningham invites people to add and edit content. A Wiki is a database that can be a community collaboration. Six years later, Wikipedia is launched.

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Other Historical Events in Technology

• Wireless Telephone is invented
• Sci-Fi announces the name change to SyFy
• Mac OS X Server 1.0

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Seattle from the Plane

So you may have heard the story from my Facebook page. On Friday, March 12, I missed a connection flight and had to stay in the Denver Airport for the night. I made the best of it and created a little video. Although it worked itself out, I still have to wonder if this could have been avoided?

Here is the story:

Flight itinerary was 3:50 PM take off from San Fransisco Airport to Denver. Arrive at 7:15, then board the next flight at 8:17 to Madison. Arrive in Madison, WI at 11:30 P.M.

The first plane was arriving from Reno. The weather in San Fransisco was rain, so there were slight delays – which pushed back the first flight to 4:17. United Airlines didn’t push back the new take off time until 4:15. We finally boarded the plane and took off around 4:40 P.M.

The switch was going to be close, but it was expected a 8:05 landing, which was true. However, we then sat on the Tarmac because United Airlines decided to give our assigned gate to another plane. 15 minutes later, we pulled into gate E35 (If I remember correctly).

Before landing, the flight attendants talked about other flights and their gates. They did not seem to know that I was connecting to the Madison flight and did not have that information. When I talked to the attendant, she was quick and said – well just consult the board.

I deplaned at 8:20. There was nobody at the end directing anyone. I went to a kiosk and found my flight was at 85 – a run to the other side of the terminal. However, the status was “Closed”. I found and asked an attendant what that meant. She looked it up and said “Oh. That flight left already.”

Therefore I proceeded to Customer Service to figure out how I was going to get home. As I got in line I heard over the speaker – “Madison Flight – You have one minute to board or the doors will close”. I was floored at that point, and still way too far away to make a run for it.

The customer service line was way too long. 50 people in front of me that missed a connection? A lot of angry people and a Manager that looked like he was ready to give the same answer – That scripted paragraph that comes from the United Airlines manual. I have to admit: He didn’t sway from that script at all.

Customer Service Line

As we were standing in line, another man apparently swore at a woman. 3 big words came from his mouth. She called a guard over and that is when it got interesting. He basically was belligerent as he talked to the officer. He walked out of the terminal in Handcuffs. So this is a lesson to all: An Airport is kinda like an Embassy building. It’s not really a place to practice freedom of speech. Freedoms are pretty limited; and I completely agree with it – That is why he was hauled away.

I finally got to the front of the line. I was told that the next few flights to Madison were booked and I wouldn’t get out of Denver until Sunday morning. Not liking that answer, we started to look for alternatives. She finally found a flight to Chicago that would leave at 6 AM the next morning, with a connecting flight at 3 PM, although I would be put on the list to get bumped up. There were no other flights out of Denver to the East coast, so I was basically staying at the Airport. Of course, they offered a hotel discount coupon, but otherwise I would have to stay in the Airport Terminal overnight.

At this point it was 9:30 P.M. I was hungry and getting a little frustrated. To top it off, all the establishments were closing or closed. By 10 P.M, all I could do in Terminal B was walk around or sleep.

Luckily, a passing employee suggested I go to Terminal A – for there was a McDonalds that was open until 2 AM. I also found the bar next door to McDonalds was also open, so I was able to get a more substantial meal.

The idea to do the video came shortly after that. I decided that if I was going to be stuck here (in which I also assumed there have been and will be others that had that same issue), I would make the best of it and take video of the experience.

After a couple hours of footage and first round of post-production, I sat in one of the chairs and got a couple hours of sleep. Woke up to get to the 6 AM Chicago flight.

So with all that said and done, here are my issues with this flight:

• Yes, inclement weather pushed our flight back, but that was known before we left San Fransisco. They could have made appropriate plans for connecting flights – especially since most of them were the last flights of the day. Holding a plane for 10 minutes is not the end of the world.
• When we landed, the flight attendants did not direct or ask passengers for help  in letting those who needed to run to a connecting flight get off first. It just became a regular push to get off, which added about 5 minutes to the wait.
• There was nobody at the terminal to give us direction to our flights. If someone would have said “85″ as I got off the plane, I would have been running to the gate without asking someone who really didn’t have the right answer. I might have been home by 11:30 P.M.
• The Customer Service line pretty much said it all. We waited over an hour to talk with someone. If you have 50 people waiting for Customer Service, it’s too long.

I would like to add a couple more for the Airport itself. I don’t have any qualms with the Denver Airport – I really appreciate the place that I could sleep and the wifi connection, but it would have been better if:

• Some of the stores stayed open just a bit longer. It would have really sucked if I would have waited for 10 hours without any food or drink.
• Maybe an after hours vending machine so I could get a soda or candy bar.

Even though United Airlines stuck with the “Inclement weather” excuse, I believe my issues and rebuttle are valid ones. Waiting 15 minutes for a gate and holding the connecting planes 10-15 minutes would have gotten us all home without issue. Not having someone do Quality Control when we walked off the plane is poor organization. Simple changes and there might not have been 50 people standing in a Customer Service line.

By the way – The flight to Chicago – The flight attendants did everything I mentioned above to get those off the plane who had connecting flights leaving shortly. There WAS someone at the door to guide us. I made it to my next plane with 2 minutes to spare.

So with that said, here is the video of my stay. Enjoy!

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1985 – 25 years ago, Symbolics.com became the first domain registered on the World Wide Web.  In fact, if you go to their website, they have a countdown clock to the historic event. The company made Lisp machines (workstations), most notably, the 3600 series. Since then, the site was purchased by XF.com Investments (now, XF.com) – Aron Meystedt. No purchase price was disclosed for the domain.

Note – the first domain ever created was Nordu.net, but was never registered.

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Other Day in Tech History items:

• IBM 1050 Data Communications System
• First Unix manual page for cc
• Cisco acquires Webex for $3.2 Billion

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