WEBVTT - A Decade In Review (But Only 2009 to 2013) 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:14.200 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:19.160 and Happy New Year. I'm your host, executive producer Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.560 and I am in I Heart Radio Land, where I'm 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:27.400 coming to you from twenty to talk about the past. 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.480 You see, I recently did a pair of episodes about 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:35.600 the big tech news stories of twenty nineteen. But now 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.080 we're in and I thought it might be fun to 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.720 look back at, you know, the big stuff that happened 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:45.440 over the previous decade. And I guess we're gonna see 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.080 how many episodes this takes up. Spoiler alert, it'll take 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.000 up to I wrote these notes before I got the 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.640 end of the second episode. I really just planned to 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.080 give high level details on most of these stories. I'm 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.200 not going into deep detail. Obviously. I spent two full 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.960 episodes just talking about two thousand nineteen, so I clearly 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.240 can't do the same for every single year. It would 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.960 go through half of So we're just gonna take sort 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.880 of a high level look at the big stories of 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:14.960 those years. And also, spoiler alert, we're not going to 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:18.399 cover twenty nineteen because I just did that. You'll hear 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:20.759 me say that a couple of times during these episodes. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.280 I really want to nail that home, all right, So 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.480 let's begin with two thousand nine. Now, for those of 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.959 you who are curious, I had been with my previous employer, 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:35.199 how Stuffworks dot Com for two years at that point. 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:37.600 I had been hired in two thousand seven. I had 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:41.280 actually been podcasting since June of two thousand eight, so 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.200 two thousand nine would actually be my first full calendar 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:48.880 year of being a podcast host. But this pair of episodes, 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.400 these aren't really about me. I just thought it'd be 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:54.360 fun to start off with that. Much more important than 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:56.960 my career was the fact that the world was in 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:02.240 a global recession, largely on about by some frankly dumb 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.880 decisions made back in two thousand seven or so revolving 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:10.120 around subprime mortgages. But that is beyond the scope of 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:15.120 tech stuff. The effects went well beyond the real estate industry, however, 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:19.240 and many industries were hit hard by this recession. Tech 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.880 in particular was really struggling with this, and while there 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.920 were signs of recovery on the horizon, it was still 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.840 a pretty hefty recession covering the world for most of 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:33.600 two thousand nine. Now, the effect that was felt in 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:38.080 the tech world was felt by both established companies and 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.920 emerging ones. Several startups fizzled out for lack of funding. 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.120 Because investors were starting to hold onto their money more tightly, 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.919 they were less likely to invest because they were worried 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:53.360 about the outcomes. Advertising also took a huge hit in 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:57.280 two thousand nine, and since many web related businesses depend 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:02.000 largely or sometimes entirely, upon a tizing dollars, they really 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.880 felt that squeeze. Some companies were forced to layoff employees 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.000 and cost cutting measures, tightening up their belts to get 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:13.720 through the recession. Now, it wasn't all doom and gloom. 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.560 Two thousand nine was the year that Microsoft launched Windows seven. 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:20.600 That's hard for me to believe, but yeah, Windows seven 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.160 came out in two thousand nine. That version was meant 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:27.360 to be more streamlined and faster than the preceding version. 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:31.079 The one that came before that one was Windows Vista. Now, 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:35.800 in general, Vista had received some pretty mixed reviews, which 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.400 is being kind at of the reviews were pretty negative, 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:43.120 and the corporate world at large had stayed away from 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:47.040 adopting Windows Vista, largely due to those criticisms. So, in 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:51.000 other words, the big big customers, you know, big corporate 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:55.800 customers that would be using Microsoft, uh, you know, operating 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.040 systems on their their computers for all their employees, they 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.120 weren't signing on two Windows Vista, and so the company 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.360 had to do something about it. Many people saw Windows 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:09.080 seven as sort of a course correction from Microsoft, and 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:11.560 you would think that that would mean that Microsoft would 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.120 learn valuable lessons in this process and that it would 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:17.560 be able to take advantage of that experience when they 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:21.560 were ready to launch the next operating system version. But 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.119 as we will eventually see, that's not exactly how things 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:29.880 would shake out. Microsoft also struck a deal with Yahoo 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.760 in two thousand nine that would see Microsoft's search technology 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.920 bing power Yahoo searches and return Yahoo would sell ad 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.880 services for Microsoft. Now, this arose after Microsoft had led 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:48.760 a failed attempt and un welcome unsolicited attempt to acquire 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.359 Yahoo outright that fell through, so instead the two struck 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.719 this partnership. Meanwhile, over at Google, Google would release the 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.880 Chrome operating system in two thousand nine, which meant Google 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.240 was essentially acknowledging that it was going to go toe 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:09.479 to toe with companies like Microsoft. Now, unlike bigger, bulk 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:13.599 here operating systems like Mac OS or Windows, the Chrome 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.279 version of an operating system is much more lean and streamlined. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.080 It moves most of the computational processes to the cloud 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.360 rather than on the device that the OS is installed upon, 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.839 so it's really only useful if you have a persistent 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:31.800 Internet connection. Google was responding to a trend that was 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.560 still in the process of emerging back in two thousand nine, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.320 and that trend was that users were starting to rely 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:42.040 more on connected services and less on native programs running 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.400 on their own hardware. So, in other words, instead of 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:49.920 having a word processing program on your machine, you would 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.479 log into a web service where you would use a 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:56.479 web based word processing program. Now that being said, if 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.640 you look at the market share for operating systems on 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.360 dusk top and laptop computers and compare them against each other, 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.680 you will see that today Windows is still the overall 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:11.920 king by a landslide. Then in second place distant second 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:16.239 place is Apple's operating system, and then Chrome barely even 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.320 registers on the charts. So while Google did recognize a 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:24.400 growing trend in the way we access services that more 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.240 and more people are using mobile devices, for example, that 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.880 has not actually translated over that much into the laptop 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:35.080 and desktop world. People seem to still want to have 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:40.359 a more beefy device for those particular form factors. In 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:44.400 two thousand nine, some leaks revealed that Google was preparing 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.599 its own branded phone. Android phones were already on the 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.280 market in two thousand nine, and the iPhone had really 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.000 kicked off the smartphone era back in two thousand seven, 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.880 but Google was content at first just to create the 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.840 operating system and some apps and then would allow other 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.640 manufacturers to put that operating system on their phones. But 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:07.000 in two thousand nine, the company started handing out Nexus 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:11.400 one branded smartphones to Google employees, and it would take 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.240 a little while longer before these would become available for 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.240 the general public to purchase, but it did show that 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:20.200 Google was actually interested in getting into the hardware game 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:24.320 as well. Also in two thousand nine, Eric Schmidt, who 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.120 was Google's CEO at that time, resigned from the board 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:31.440 of directors over at Apple, and this was over concerned 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.280 that there might be a conflict of interest issue that 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.560 was growing there because now Google was getting into the 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:42.000 smartphone business, so he stepped down. Another Apple related event, 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.200 that happened in two thousand nine centered on the health 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.760 of co founder Steve Jobs. Now, Jobs had been in 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.440 treatment for pancreatic cancer in the past, and then he 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.000 took a medical leave of absence from Apple in January 0:07:56.080 --> 0:08:00.160 two thou nine. The stated reason was that Jobs was 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:04.240 dealing with quote unquote a hormonal imbalance, but it later 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.800 came to light in June of two thousand nine that 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:11.000 he had actually received a liver transplant. The belated revelation 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.360 did not please investors, who felt that they were owed 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:19.240 more transparency regarding Jobs as health since his iconic leadership 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:23.960 was so intrinsically linked to Apple's performance. The incident also 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.800 prompted people to wonder what Apple would be like without 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:30.040 Jobs as CEO, and it would become a question that 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.000 we'd sadly get answers to only a couple of years later. 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.040 Now it's easy to forget that. Back into thousand nine, 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.719 the only cell phone carrier in the United States that 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.840 could hold the iPhone, the only one that supported the 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.520 iPhone was a T and T. Apple had signed an 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.600 exclusivity agreement with a T and T that lasted a 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.839 couple of years. That exclusivity would be used against both 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.280 Apple and A T and T as people reported dissatisfaction 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.000 with A T and T S three G coverage, and 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.840 competing cell phone carriers would claim that their own networks 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.680 were far more robust and reliable for fast connections, though 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.319 you would obviously have to use a different phone from 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.760 the iPhone because they couldn't support it. They couldn't carry 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:18.160 the iPhone at that point. Intel lost some fights in 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.160 court rooms around the world in two thousand nine, as 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.440 various agencies charged that the company was engaging in anti 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.320 competitive practices and using its dominant position in the market 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:32.360 as a way to squash competition. The EU Commission find 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.199 Intel more than a billion that's billion with a b 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:42.240 euro truly princely some Intel also settled an antitrust lawsuit 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.200 brought against it by a m D for another one 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:50.600 point to five billion dollars. And here's some other things 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.320 that happened in two thousand nine. Bitcoin launched in early 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:59.000 two thousand nine, and the digital cryptocurrency would introduce concepts 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.120 like blockchain to the tech world at large as a result, 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:06.000 and then over the years we would see the value 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:10.400 of a bitcoin go all over the place, going into 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.320 the stratosphere and diving deep and then going back up 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.560 again in a very crazy way. And to this day, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.320 I think it remains more of a commodity than a currency. 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:23.319 It's still hard for me to imagine spending Bitcoin like 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:27.080 a like a regular currency. In two thousand nine, eBay 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.560 would sell off most of its steak in Skype did 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.840 so at a substantial loss. A couple of years after that, 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.120 Microsoft would acquire Skype for an astronomical eight point five 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:42.200 billion dollars. Also in two thousand nine, Palm, You guys 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.240 remember Palm. That's the company that dominated in the personal 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.160 digital assistant or a p d A industry for a 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.520 really long time. Well, in two thousand nine, it launched 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.960 the Palm pre. It was meant to be the smartphone 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.319 that would return Palm to prominence after it started to 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.480 lag behind competitors like Apple and Google. Although many tech 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.920 reviewers gave the pretty pretty positive reviews, they kind of 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:11.439 liked it, sales just didn't follow. They were just lackluster, 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:15.880 and the following year, HP would purchase Palm. In a 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.640 year after that, HP announced it was discontinuing production of 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:23.360 Palm devices. I could save that for the following years 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:24.920 I could have, you know, said all right, well, now 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.000 we're in two thousand etcetera, etcetera, But I figured it 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.200 made more sense to just kind of wrap it all 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.880 up in this one little spot. Oh and uh. Two 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.720 thousand nine was also the founding year for Maker Bought, 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.240 the three D printer company that brought additive manufacturing to 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.959 the hobbyists and consumer market. And also a little company 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:47.160 called Uber launched in two thousand nine. More on that 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:51.640 little company later, particularly in the next episode. All right, 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:57.120 so let's move on to that year. Microsoft introduced the 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.520 Connect peripheral for the Xbox three six cons Soul and 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:03.760 for those of you who don't know, the Connect has cameras, 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:07.280 including an infrared camera that can detect user movements and 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:10.600 gestures as inputs for games and other applications. It can 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.760 also use image recognition software so that it can authorize 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:18.600 a profile on a specific console, so that if you 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.120 stand in front of the Connect, it knows that you're 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.599 the one playing it, whereas if your roommate stands in 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.040 front of Connect, it goes to your roommates profile on 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.240 that same machine, et cetera. You can also pick up 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.800 voice commands through a microphone and to the hacker community, 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.839 the connect represented an interesting opportunity to leverage some cool 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:41.000 technology for us is far beyond a video game peripheral, 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:45.640 such as in robotic vision or three D scanning. Microsoft 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:50.360 would flip flop between being supportive towards these endeavors and 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.920 then locking down the connect to try and prevent unauthorized use, 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:56.960 and going back and forth between those two. While the 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.440 changing stance would irritate the hacking community, it didn't stop 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:04.480 people from finding new ways to take advantage of the technology. However, 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.839 as far as what the connect was actually intended to do, 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.640 it was largely a failure. Gamers cited a lack of 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.520 good games with compelling implementations of connect controls as a 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.680 reason for the peripheral's ultimate failure in the gaming space. 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:23.479 Oh and Sony would also debut its own motion control system, 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:29.000 the move now over. In Iran, computer scientists discovered a 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:33.199 type of malicious code called stucks net that had been 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:37.960 causing equipment failures in nuclear processing plants. The code would 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:43.160 ultimately cause centrifuges to operate at the wrong speed, damaging 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.920 the centrifuges to the point that they would no longer operate. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.480 The implication is that the malware came from a state 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:54.120 sponsored source as a means of cyber warfare, It was 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:59.600 targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure specifically. While no official acknowledgement has 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.680 ever urged as to which country or countries were behind 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:06.800 the development of Stuck's net, speculation generally points to Israel 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:10.960 and the United States as having developed it together. One 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:16.200 big consumer product that launched in was the iPad, which 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.480 I infamously predicted would be a failure. Before the iPad, 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.680 tablet computers had seen limited success, most of which was 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.720 limited to niche markets like the medical industry. No one 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:33.200 had made a tablet computer that succeeded in the general 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.720 consumer market. But Apple had already started to rack up 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:40.240 a history of creating markets where previously there were none, 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:45.080 And in January Steve Jobs announced the iPad, and at 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.720 the time we all snickered at the name, and then 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.720 the company was set on a path to yet another 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:56.000 home run success. Not only did the iPad selve very well, 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.920 it also inspired numerous other companies to produce their own 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.080 tablet computers, and it would take a couple of years 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.440 before anyone made a tablet that could really go toe 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.320 to toe with Apple's design in the market, but it 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:11.680 would eventually happen. Apple's iPhone four was in the spotlight 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.880 in Actually, it was in the spotlight a little earlier 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:20.280 than the company had anticipated, because an Apple employee accidentally 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:25.120 left behind a prototype iPhone four in a bar in California. 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.480 Someone swooped it up and quickly realized that despite the 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.800 fact that it was disguised as an iPhone three g S, 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:36.240 it was in fact an iPhone four Gizmoto then coughed 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:39.080 up several thousand dollars to get hold of the thing. 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:43.360 The whole affair was a pretty nasty mess, complete with 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:47.520 police actions and threatened lawsuits. When the iPhone four did 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:52.200 come out, it got some pretty harsh reviews. Consumer reports 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:55.120 stated that the antenna in the iPhone four was a 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.520 bit wonky and that the phone's reception wasn't always so 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:02.760 hot as a result. Apple disputed this review, then said, 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:05.200 you know what, maybe the problem is that you're just 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.200 holding it wrong. Yeah, this was the old holding it 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.160 wrong argument, saying people should just not hold the lower 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.160 left corner of the phone when they're making calls, because 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.520 that seemed to be what was blocking all the signals. 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.520 There are also reports that said that people inside Apple 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.200 had been warning that the placement of the antenna was 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:26.000 going to cause problems, but that Steve Jobs ultimately overruled 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.320 them because that design is what allowed the phone to 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.240 look the way it did. Now. Facebook would become the 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:38.400 world's most visited site in twenty ten, surpassing Google for 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.920 the first time in its history. At that point, Facebook 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:46.080 boasted almost half a billion users, which by today's standards, 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.640 almost seems quaint. The company also became the focus of 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.080 an Aron Sorkin film titled The Social Network And I 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.160 can't believe that movie came out all the way back 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.960 in in my head that movie is like three year 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.920 is old, but no, it came out. Oh and has 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:08.360 also when Magic Leap, the augmented reality headset company, came 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.520 into being, the company wouldn't have a commercial headset available 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.520 until two thousand nineteen with the Magic Leap one, which 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:20.600 retails for about The company was promising big, big things 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:25.240 and all the the demos and the the vision videos 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:29.119 that you saw were amazing, And um, I hear that 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:33.520 the response is a little more lackluster to the actual product, 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:35.679 But I haven't had my hands on it, nor have 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.960 I had it on my head, so I can't speak 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.000 from experience. All right, We've got more to talk about, 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.960 starting with in just a second, but first let's take 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:54.199 a quick break. We're picking up with two thousand eleven, 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.520 and I think one of the biggest stories that year 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.239 was the death of Apple co founder Steve Jobs. Now. 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.400 Jobs was a true icon in technology. He was known 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:07.639 to be demanding, sometimes to excess. He had high expectations, 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.080 and it was said little patients for those who failed 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:15.040 to meet those high expectations. He had been ousted from 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:17.879 his own company in the eighties, returned to take the 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.679 company back in the late nineties, and oversaw its meteoric 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.919 rise in consumer electronics with the release of products like 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.679 the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. He had stepped 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:32.399 down as CEO earlier in two thousand eleven, passing away 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:36.040 in October of that year. Many people in technology expressed 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.720 their thoughts and feelings and reaction to Jobs as passing, 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:42.840 including his Apple co founder Steve Wozniak, the then head 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:47.399 of Pixar, John Lassender, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, and even 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.800 US President Barack Obama. The tech world at large wondered 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.520 what would happen to Apple without jobs at the helm, 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.080 he was so tightly associated with the company that many 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.680 weren't sure if it would survive without him, and there 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:03.000 are still people to this day who wonder how different 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:06.200 the company would be if jobs had not passed away. 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:08.800 While jobs is passing was a dark moment in tech 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.959 for many. One bright spot in technology in eleven was 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:15.560 how it played an important role as people in the 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.920 Middle East use tech to help organize protests and revolutions 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:24.199 against oppressive governments. This was a time called the Arab Spring. 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.960 Technically it started right at the tail end of but 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:34.520 many of the major events would follow in countries like Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:39.520 and Bahrain. Al saw enormous organizational efforts among the population 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.600 in a move to force massive political and social change, 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.880 and tools like social media platforms played an important part 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:50.240 in those efforts. Over at Sony, the company found its 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:53.440 PlayStation network service hacked by someone or a group of 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.919 someone's who left a file titled anonymous on their servers. 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.480 That file contained the message we our legion in it. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:05.159 The hackers were able to access email addresses and user 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:10.320 birth dates, and potentially other information, including credit card information. 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:14.359 In two thousand and eleven, Google shut down one social 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:19.520 media platform and launched another. The shuttered platform was Google Buzz, 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:22.199 which was a failed experiment that had launched in but 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:25.960 didn't get much traction. The new social media platform was 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:30.359 Google Plus, which initially got a lot of buzz itself 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.800 during its invitation only beta. Many folks in the tech space, 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:39.159 including tech journalists like yours, truly got early access, but 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.080 Google Plus wasn't really compelling enough to pull people over 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:47.679 off of Facebook, and Facebook had such momentum that it 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.400 wasn't going to give up the title for super heavyweight 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:52.560 champ of the world as far as social media goes. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.160 Google would make some pretty radical decisions with Google Plus 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:58.960 down the road, such as requiring YouTube accounts to be 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.320 linked to a Google Plus account, and moreover, requiring YouTube 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:04.399 users to use their real names as opposed to a 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:07.280 screen name, which was a decision the company would walk 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:11.200 back on later. The platform stuck around longer than Google 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.440 Buzz did, but in April two thou nineteen, Google chose 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.919 to shut it down as well. Also in two thousand eleven, 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.199 Google made a bid to acquire Motorola for twelve and 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:25.520 a half billion dollars. It appeared as though Google was 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.480 intent on making its own hardware in addition to supplying 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:32.639 software to other original equipment manufacturers. Google would hold on 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.359 to the company for only a few years before selling 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.000 it in two thousand fourteen to Lenovo for two point 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:41.080 nine one billion. Google held onto some of the R 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:45.000 and D departments from Motorola and also held on to 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:48.200 a couple of thousand patents, but otherwise parted with its 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:52.880 prize possession. In September two thousand eleven, Amazon announced the 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:56.159 launch of the Kindle Fire, a low cost tablet with 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:58.919 a simple interface meant to take aim at a market 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:03.960 that couldn't afford Apple's pricier iPad. Android tablets were plentiful 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.320 in two thousand and eleven, but for the most part, 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:09.200 they weren't really making much headway. Amazon was able to 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:12.480 launch a tablet tied into its other services and make 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:15.920 it work, posing the first real competitor to the iPad 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.679 at that point. Going back to Apple for a second. 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:22.359 Two thousand eleven was when the world was introduced to 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:27.480 a new digital entity. SIRIE. The Virtual Personal Assistant, was 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.240 one of the first killer implementations. Many of the features 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.800 could be found in other services, but none had encapsulated 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:37.360 them the way Apple did, and Sirie was a big 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:39.919 hit as people immediately tried to find different ways of 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:45.320 making her or him say weird stuff. Adobe discontinued support 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:48.560 for the development of the Flash plug in for mobile 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:51.600 browsers that year as well. Flash was meant to help 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:55.760 web developers create dynamic web page elements and players, but 0:22:55.840 --> 0:23:00.240 the creation of HTML five had largely superseded flashes useful us, 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:04.680 plus the plug in created potential security vulnerabilities. A year earlier, 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:08.600 Steve Jobs had pretty much slammed Flash, stating that no 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:11.040 Apple device would ever support it, So it didn't come 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.040 as a big surprise that Adobe decided to say farewell 0:23:14.119 --> 0:23:17.120 to it. A. T and T had made a bid 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:20.320 to acquire Tea Mobile in two thousand eleven, but gave 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:23.840 up on that plan later in the year, and Snapchat 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:26.879 also became a thing in two thousand eleven. Oh and 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:30.440 Leo Apothica resigned from Hewitt Packard, being replaced by Meg 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:34.840 Whitman in eleven. Now let's move on to two thousand twelve. 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:37.720 You know, the year when the world ended because the 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:41.320 mayan calendar thing well. Early in two thousand twelve, the 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:44.919 tech community in the United States largely united in opposition 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:48.920 to two pieces of proposed legislation that we're going through 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:52.840 the various houses of government in the US. One was 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:57.119 the Stop Online Piracy Act otherwise known as SOAPA, and 0:23:57.160 --> 0:23:59.840 the other was the Protect I p Act or PIPPA. 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:04.560 Both pieces of legislation sought to combat intellectual property theft 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:08.240 by limiting access to sites that were accused of housing 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:12.959 stolen material, and the proposals went even further than that. 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:16.920 They actually placed potential restrictions and finds on any companies 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.560 that would advertise on such sites or search engines that 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:25.240 would list such sites in their search results. So even 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:28.280 referring to or supporting the sites in any way, even 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:31.480 if if it was inadvertently, could get you fined. And 0:24:31.640 --> 0:24:34.040 the way web advertising works is you might not know 0:24:34.440 --> 0:24:37.200 where your ads are showing up. You might be working 0:24:37.240 --> 0:24:41.560