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2013 (FB Graph Search and more)
In January, Facebook added Graph Search, meaning everyone could search stuff on their native language. In February, Microsoft began moving over 300 million users from the Hotmail brand to the new Outlook.com e-mail service. In May, Facebook also released the first version of React JavaScript library and React Native framework, giving developers new options when developing web applications. On May 20 Yahoo announced that it would purchase Tumblr for $1.1 Billion. -
2014 (Apple Pay)
The Apple Pay mobile payment system is introduced into Apple’s product ecosystem. Initially only available for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, iWatch, iPad Air 2, and iPad Mini 3, many major banks and credit card companies participated in the Apple Pay system. The device’s near field communications (NFC) interface, Passbook app, and Apple’s Touch ID system worked in tandem with point-of-sale systems in retail outlets to complete transactions. Apple Pay could also be used for online purchases. -
2014 (The Heartbleed BUG)
The Heartbleed bug is uncovered as a dangerous security flaw in the code base of the OpenSSL cryptographic software library. Nearly 20% of OPenSSL users were vulnerable to attack from this bug, which allowed hackers to earsdrop on the communications of unsuspecting victims and steal sensitive information such as user names and passwords, emails, instant messages, and even confidential files and documents. Installation of the “Fixed OpenSSL” library greatly reduced its effectiveness. -
2015 (The Apple Watch)
Building a computer into the watch form factor has been attempted many times but the release of the Apple Watch leads to a new level of excitement. Incorporating a version of Apple's iOS operating system, as well as sensors for environmental and health monitoring, the Apple Watch was designed to be incorporated into the Apple environment with compatibility with iPhones and Mac Books. Almost a million units were ordered on the day of release. -
2015 (The AI debate)
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates joins a number of prominent tech gurus and scientists in revealing his thoughts on the potentially dangerous effects and unintended consequences of artificial intelligence on human civilization. Previously, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others had expressed similar sentiments. Those on the other side of the debate felt artificial intelligence would usher in an era of unprecedented human achievement, aided by the “minds” of humanity’s artificial brethren. -
2016 (Samsung problems)
On October 11, 2016, Samsung announced it was permanently discontinuing the production of the Galaxy Note 7 after several of the early and recalled versions were catching on fire. The company says the decision could cost as much as $3 billion -
2016 (AplhaGo)
On March 12, 2016, AlphaGo, a DeepMind AI (artificial intelligence) from Google beats Go champion Lee Se-dol for the third time in playing the ancient Chinese board game of Go. Although AlphaGo won the championship, Lee did win the fourth game. -
2017 (The WannaCry worm)
On May 12, 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attack began to attack computers running Microsoft Windows. The worm infected over 230,000 computers in over 150 countries demanding $300 - $1,200 in bitcoin to unlock the computers' encrypted data. -
2018 (Attacks)
On January 3, 2018, information about the Meltdown and Spectre attacks was publicly released. The security flaws affect nearly all the world's computers and smartphones and could allow someone to get the contents of memory, including sensitive information such as passwords. -
2018 (Facebook elects the US President)
On March 17, 2018, The New York Times and the Guardian revealed that the firm Cambridge Analytica harvested 50 million Facebook profiles and used that data to help Donald Trump's election team. -
2019 (The end ofGoogle+, the start of iPadOS)
Google shut down its Google+ service on April 2, 2019. Apple announced iPadOS for its iPads in June 2019. -
2020 (AMD)
AMD announced it would buy Xilinx for $35 billion on October 27, 2020. -
2020 (COVID-19)
In early February 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in China caused significant disruption to the worldwide technology industry. Google announced the temporary closure of all offices in mainland China, and all Apple stores in China were closed indefinitely. Companies including Qualcomm, Nintendo, and Facebook Oculus announced major losses in production from its factories located in China. -
2021 (Apache log4j vulnerability)
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, security vulnerabilities in computer history was announced on December 9, when notes on an Apache log4j vulnerability were released. The vulnerability could give an attacker full access to a server with minimal effort. -
2022 (FTX bankruptcy & the crypto winter)
On November 6, 2022, over $150 billion was lost in three days as the crypto exchange platform FTX announced it couldn't pay customers and declared bankruptcy on November 11, 2022. In addition to the failure of FTX, 2022 saw other crypto market failures and significant losses that contributed to more than $2 trillion in losses, according to CNBC. The founder of FTX was later arrested on December 2022 by the SEC. Many call 2022 the "crypto winter". -
2022 (Russia VS Ukraine)
On February 25, 2022, the Anonymous group declared cyberwar on Russia after it invaded Ukraine. Russia later declared Meta guilty of "extremist" activity and banned Facebook and Instagram. -
2023 (AI)
OpenAI released GPT-4 on March 15, 2023. On May 30, 2023, CAIS (Center for AI Safety) released a statement from OpenAI and DeepMind, Turing Award winners, and other AI (artificial intelligence) researchers warning that their life's work on AI could potentially extinguish humanity.