2000 – Apple concluded their iMac trade dress infringement against Daewoo and eMachines. The two companies made machines too similar to the iconic iMac look – the eMachines eOne computer and the Daewoo E-Power. Apple was granted an injunction for the two machines. Daewoo didn’t even get their unibody computer form out to the public. eMachines took out all color, making it a single grey computer, which allowed them to continue with sales. Apple changed the look of the iMac with the introduction of a flat panel in the iMac G4, ultimately discontinuing the G3 CRT computer in March of 2003. Wikazine...

1998 – After Steve Jobs takes the role of Acting CEO (After the firing of Gil Amelio) he decides to trim some of the product fat. In result, the Apple Newton – it’s attempt at a PDA – was officially discontinued after 5 years.  But not all was lost off this, for the mobile applications got shifted into their other Mac OS technologies. Cyberdog and OpenDOC were two other Apple programs that were discontinued after Jobs took the helm again. Wikazine – Full show notes for February 27 Netscape makes their source Code available Google relaunches Jotspot

2001 – At Macworld Expo in Tokyo, Japan, Apple Computer introduced the iMac Special Edition. It would be available in Flower Power, Dalmatian Blue, or Graphite designs. This special edition would only be available for 1 year as chip technology was climbing fast. “iMac has evolved into an entertainment center, where you can create desktop movies, manage your digital music library and burn custom music CDs,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iMovie and iTunes are so easy to learn and use, even your parents can use them without getting confused.” The iMac Special Edition featured a 500 or 600 MHz PowerPC G3...

2012 – Apple began the lawsuits in the US of Samsung made Galaxy Nexus citing patent violations back in April 15, 2011. This would span across the Nexus S, Epic 4G, Galaxy S 4G and Galaxy Tab. A lawsuit that has gone back and forth between the two companies. The patents in question were for data tapping, a Siri search method, a slide-to-unlock patent and a word completion patent. On this day, Apple officially asks for a preliminary injunction for Samsung sales in the US . 1966 – The Johnniac Open Shop System (JOSS) was taken down by the RAND Corporation. JOSS...

1971 – Moving to the Space side of Geek, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard hits the first golf ball on the Moon. He used a six-iron attached to a sample collection tool. He hit 2 balls, in which the second would have made Happy Gillmore look bad. Of course, the moon has 1/6 the gravity as the Earth does. Alan B. Shepard Jr. was also the second person to travel in space and the fifth person to walk on the moon. His Apollo 14 piloting of the lander was deemed the most accurate. Shepard died in 1998. Wikazine – Full...

1997 – Apple Computer makes the acquisition of NeXT for $427 million. The OpenStep OS will be the base of Mac OS X. Steve Wozniak returns to Apple as an executive committee member. Gil Amelio – with Steve Jobs as his advisor – makes plans to restructure Apple. Finally, Bill Gates publicly states that he is very interested in continuing to work with Apple. Wikazine – Full show notes for February 4 Sega releases the last game for the Master System – Bomber Raid The 1GHz CMOS is demonstrated for the first time EarthLink merges with MindSpring

1984 – Apple announced they would split up the Cupertino based company into three divisions – Apple II (handling all Apple III computers as well), the Apple 32 division (Lisa, and new Macintosh line of computers) and Accessory Products (Printers, keyboards, etc). Delbert Yocam led the Apple II group which Steve Jobs would take care of Apple 32. Michael Muller would lead the accessories. Apple did a lot of reorganizing, including Michael Spindler to VP of the European group and William Campbell to VP of sales in the US. Wikazine – Full show notes for January 31 Related articles Mistrial in WordPerfect...

1998 – Microsoft reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice regarding Internet Explorer on Windows 95. In the agreement, computer manufacturers could have the IE link removed. This was a small step in the antitrust suit against Microsoft and using bundled software and drive out competition. The Microsoft antitrust trial would begin on May 18, 1998 and go until November 5, 1999. Wikazine – Full show notes for January 22 The Famous Apple Macintosh Superbowl commercial Microsoft releases IE for Mac AOL sues Microsoft on behalf of Netscape for IE Cell Phone Tax rejected

1885 – Sounding like anything but a roller coaster, the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway was the first American designed amusement coaster designed by LaMarcus Adna Thompson. Only 5 cents to ride, the Switchback was a simple coaster that took you about 600 feet to the next tower at six miles per hour. It had a height of 50 feet and a drop of 43 feet. It opened on June 16, 1884 and eventually was replaced. But on this day, the roller coaster saw one of its first patents from this ride. Learn more about Patents: Ingenious Inventions, How they work and How they...

Happy Birthday to me. 1983 – at an introductory price of $9995, Apple introduces the Lisa computer – the first computer with a GUI (Graphical User Interface). The computer featured a 5 MHz 68000 microprocessor, 1 MB RAM, 12″ monochrome monitor, dual 5.25″ 860 KB floppy drives, a 5 MB hard drive and more. Lisa cost Apple Computer US$50 million to develop. The software for it cost Apple Computer US$100 million to develop.“Lisa” is an acronym for Local Integrated Software Architecture. Wikazine – Full show notes for January 19 I Love Lucy gave birth on TV First IBM PC virus was “the...