Today in Tech History - The LAN

The first Ethernet LAN data packet was transmitted at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center on May 23, 1973. Bob Metcalf and David Boggs were the inventors of the networking technology that would eventually be used on the vast majority of local area networks in the world. For three years they worked to refine and improve their invention. By 1976, their experimental network was connecting 100 devices.

Today in Tech History: Microsoft Windows 3.0

Microsoft Windows 3.0 was released on May 22, 1990. Independent software vendors began developing Windows applications with vigor in response to its increased memory addressing and a more powerful user interface. The powerful new applications helped Microsoft sell more than 10 million copies of Windows, making it the best-selling graphical user interface in the history of computing.

March 6 - Michelangelo Virus Anniversary

The Michelangelo virus was the first computer virus to capture the attention of the mass media. Set to first execute on March 6, 1992 (the birth day of the famous Renaissance artist), the virus was predicted to destroy data on all personal computers on which it resided. The hype lead to many installations of anti-virus software and computer checks. All told, less than 10,000 PCs worldwide were affected as a result of Michelangelo.

The Birth of the BBS or Bulletin Board System

The first computer bulletin board system (BBS) goes live on February 16, 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. During a winter blizzard, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess piece together a computerized answering machine and message center that allows fellow computer hobbyists to send and receive announcements and meeting notes. They call it the Computerized Bulletin Board System.

Forbes Top Ten Richest Americans List

Did you know? Tech executives made up half of the Forbes Top Ten Richest Americans List in 2007, but how did they fare in 2008?

2008	2007
Bill Gates - Microsoft Warren Buffett - Berkshire Hathaway Lawrence Ellison - Oracle Jim Walton - WalMart, Chairman Arvest Bank S Robson Walton - WalMart Alice Walton - WalMart Christy Walton and Family - WalMart Michael Bloomberg - Mayor of New York City Charles Koch - Koch Industries David Koch - Koch Industries	Bill Gates - Microsoft Warren Buffett - Berkshire Hathaway Sheldon Adelson - Las Vegas Sands (former Comdex trade shows) Larry Ellison - Oracle Sergey Brin - Google Larry Page - Google Kirk Kerkorian - Tricinda Corporation Michael Dell - Dell Computer Charles Koch - Koch Industries David Koch - Koch Industries

The Waltons, the original family owners of WalMart, Sam's Club and other business entities seem to have taken over the majority of the Forbes list for 2008. Interesting!

Fireproof Sets Box Office -- and Amazon.com -- Ablaze

Article from ChristiansUnite.com
Samuel Goldwyn Films' FIREPROOF, starring Kirk Cameron, far surpassed industry expectations to place #4 at the box office for the weekend. Produced by Sherwood Pictures in Albany GA, FIREPROOF is the company's third film following FACING THE GIANTS - also released by Goldwyn, which went on to gross more than $10 million.

With an 1,200-person volunteer cast and crew, FIREPROOF opened on 839 screens, grossing $6,804,764. It was the highest opening weekend box office* of the year for films released on 1,000 screens or fewer. In the week before its opening, FIREPROOF pre-sold more than $1 million in tickets - far above the predicted blockbusters.

Directed by Sherwood's Alex Kendrick and co-written with his brother, producer Stephen Kendrick, FIREPROOF stars Cameron and newcomer Erin Bethea in a story about a firefighter who must learn how to rescue his own marriage.

Communities across the U.S. are using the film as a tool to support local firefighters, police, and other first responders' groups with divorce rates up to 90 percent. As first responders and their spouses spend a night at the movies, volunteer babysitting brigades on are the job, freeing up couples to go.

Meyer Gottlieb, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films, said: "Congratulations to Alex and Stephen Kendrick for showing once again that they know how to make a movie both entertaining and substantive. FIREPROOF will make you laugh, cry, and reflect. I'm confident audiences will continue to support it."

"The success of FIREPROOF is an example of the combination of great writing and storytelling, proper setup and marketing execution, all directed at an underserved audience hungry for filmed entertainment that meets their needs in many ways," said Terry A. Hemmings, president & CEO, Provident Music Group.

"Opening weekend turnout is a testament to grassroots marketing," said Provident Executive Vice President Ben Howard. "We spent nine months getting this movie and its message to the right people . . . now it's charging away on its own momentum."

Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church and executive producer, said: "We believe good stories can have a good effect. This film was made by a small army of people who poured into something bigger than themselves - into not just a movie, but a movement to restore and uplift marriages across the country."

Bob Rubin, executive vice president, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which oversees the Affirm Films label, one of the film's acquisition partners, said: "The faith market is a vast and underserved community with a growing appetite for filmed content that is both inspirational and entertaining. We are delighted to be part of the team that brought FIREPROOF to audiences nationwide."

A book entitled The Love Dare was only a plot device in the film until audiences repeatedly requested copies for themselves. The book also debuted in stores this weekend, having pre-sold 600,000 copies. Written by the Kendrick brothers, The Love Dare finished the weekend at #12 on Amazon.com and currently is in its seventh printing.

In coming weeks, Goldwyn plans to expand film's release to more than 1,000 screens.

SHERWOOD PICTURES
This is the third movie by Sherwood Pictures, its second theatrical release. FLYWHEEL, produced in 2004, has sold 200,000 DVDs. FACING THE GIANTS in 2006, earned $10.1 million at the box office and has sold more than 1.6 million DVDs (in 58 countries and 14 languages).

PROVIDENT FILMS
Provident Films is a division of Provident Music Group, designed to produce and distribute faith-based films. Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Provident Music Group is one of the world's leading Christian music companies. Provident Music Group operates under the umbrella for Sony BMG Nashville.

SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS
Samuel Goldwyn Films is a major, independently owned and operated motion-picture company that develops produces and distributes innovative feature films and documentaries. The company is dedicated to working with world renowned and emerging writers and filmmakers and, committed to filmed entertainment that offers original voices in uniquely told stories. This steadfastness is best exemplified by the Oscar-nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, SUPER SIZE ME, AMAZING GRACE and Julie Delpy's hit comedy 2 DAYS IN PARIS. Goldwyn's 2008 slate also includes PRICELESS, a romantic comedy starring Audrey Tautou, Oscar-winner Claude Lelouch's ROMAN DE GARE, FUGITIVE PIECES based on the international bestseller by Anne Michaels, TRUMBO, the acclaimed documentary about Oscar-winner Dalton Trumbo and the critically hailed ELEGY, starring Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz and Oscar winner Ben Kingsley

Facebook Email Spoof Contains Trojan Horse

Websense® Security Labs(TM) ThreatSeeker(TM) Network has discovered a new malicious social-engineering spam campaign masquerading as official emails sent by the popular Web 2.0 social-networking site, Facebook. The email is spoofed to appear from the domain facebookmail.com, an official domain used by Facebook for their outbound emails when notifying their users of an event.

It is common for Facebook to send an email to notify their users when another Facebook user adds them as a friend on the social network. However, the spammers included a zip attachment that purports to contain a picture in order to entice the recipient to double-click on it. The attached file is actually a Trojan horse.

A login page to Facebook is included in the body of the email. We have previously alerted on our discovery via our HoneyJax system about a viral Facebook phishing campaign, and thus would not be surprised if the login page presented was merely a fake front to a phishing site. However, an examination of the HTML form's source code shows that it was indeed passing the user name/password to Facebook itself. This may be to increase the legitimacy of the email to evade reputation-based spam filters.

To view the details of this alert, click here.

The Personal Computer: IBM PC

The IBM PC was released 27 years ago today -- on August 12, 1981. Priced at $1,565, the personal computer had a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor and a 160-KB floppy disk drive. There was an optional CGA color monitor. IBM's Disk Operating System was the OS for the "PC".

The development team at IBM developed and announced the IBM PC in 12 months, at that time, faster than any other hardware product in IBM's history.

UFOs and Aliens are REAL, According to Former NASA Astronaut

Aliens are real and have made contact with us several times according to Dr. Edgar Mitchell as discovered by Nick Margerrison and The Night Before Team. Dr. Mitchell said he was aware of many UFO visits to Earth during his career, but each one was covered up by the government involved. He further stated that certain governments, such as Belgium, have recently acknowledged alien life.

Lest you think Mitchell is some crackpot with an ax to grind, consider this. Edgar Mitchell is a respected scientist, an a former NASA astronaut. Mitchell, is also the 6th man to land on the moon.

He came on air with Nick Margerrison of Kerrang Radio UK and told them that UFOs definitely exist, he has been in on it all, and that they are in contact with our government. Dr. Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated.

The Daily Mail also featured an article regarding the radio interview.

Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down. In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. ... NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. ... Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.'

Big Fish Games - Whale or Minnow?

I'm looking for information and reviews of Big Fish Games. Whether it's your favorite games website or a bane to your existence, I want to know. BFG offers entertainment in three categories: Online game, PC game, Mac game.

Send comments via this blog post. I'll accept ALL comments (that don't use vulgar language or ignorant claims one way or the other). If you've never heard of Big Fish Games, check out the following link to their site -- and Game Club:

Here are a few of the titles they offer:

I look forward to reading your opinions and comments.