1889
The first coin-operated telephone box is patented by William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut. It is a "postpay" machine. Customers deposit coins after placing the call. The first unit is installed the same year at the Hartford Bank. He'll later sell the device through the Gray Telephone Pay Station Company, which he will found in 1891. The device isn't the first pay telephone. As early as 1880, Bell operated a series of telephone pay stations in various districts of New York City at which customers could use these phones after paying a phone attendant. A little more than sixty years later,
payphones will become the cornerstone of Phreaking and its underlying culture, which will be the forerunner of hacking.
1973
The Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) is founded to regulate the professional standards of the computer industry and to establish a certification program under which engineers can earn Certified Computing Professional or Associate Computing Professional designations.
1986
The International Fidonet Association (IFNA), a pioneering force for the establishment and popularization of Usenet, files Articles of Association in the state of Missouri, declaring itself as a non-profit organization. For nearly a decade, the IFNA will be behind everything the public thinks of concerning the internet.
1991
Steve Ahola, Regional Coordinator for FidoNet EchoMail Region 16, commits suicide over financial hardships which would have necessitated the loss of the phone line which connected him to the internet, and the prospect of loosing his BBS, "IBM Tech Fido," and his position in the network with it. The incident is one of the earliest internet-related suicides. It not only rocks the Fidonet community, where Ahola had many friends and colleagues, but the world as well, as news of the suicide is hyped by the media. FidoNet is a computer network connecting bulletin board systems (BBS) around the globe, both socially and technologically.
1997
Version 1.1 alpha 0 of the Ruby programming language is released. Ruby is a high-level object-oriented language combining syntax similar to both Perl and Smalltalk and automatic memory management.
2000
The website of Bankers Systems, Inc. becomes the victim of "hacktavism" when it is hacked by a group of Pakistani hackers calling themselves “Gforce Pakistan” in protest of human rights violations against Muslims in Kashmir. The group, which formed in February 2000, are best known for defacing Israeli, Indian, and United States government websites.
2002
Apple Computer releases the 1GHz Power Mac computer bundled with its new operating system, Mac OS 10.2 or “Jaguar.”
2003
Google releases version 2.0 of Google Search Toolbar, which includes several new features, including AutoFill, BlogThis, which makes posting links to Blogger.com weblogs quick and easy, and Pop-up Blocker.
2005
The International Computer Games Association's thirteenth annual World Computer Chess Championship (WCC) for computer chess engines opens at Reykjavik University, Iceland. On August 21, the Zappa chess engine, programmed by graduate student Anthony Cozzie of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be declared the winner with a score of 10.5 out of 11. The victory of the first-time entrant is especially impressive in the face of world-renowned competition from Deep Junior and Shredder, each of which have won the competition multiple times in the past. Zappa's development will be discontinued in March 2008.