the news
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January 23, 1998: Netscape Announces Mozilla Open Source Project
The Source Code Is Set Free On January 23, 1998, Netscape Communications made a radical announcement that would reshape the internet forever. The company would release the source code of its Netscape Communicator browser as open source. The project would be called Mozilla—a name derived from “Mosaic killer” (Netscape’s original codename) and Godzilla. It was…
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January 22, 1970: The Boeing 747 Enters Commercial Service
The Queen Takes Flight On January 22, 1970, aviation history was made at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Pan American World Airways Flight 2, a Boeing 747-121 named “Clipper Victor,” pushed back from the gate and took off for London Heathrow. Onboard were 324 passengers and 18 crew members. The world’s first “jumbo…
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January 21, 1968: The Thule Nuclear Accident
A Broken Arrow in the Arctic On January 21, 1968, a United States Air Force B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed onto the sea ice near Thule Air Base in northwest Greenland. The aircraft had been flying a “Chrome Dome” mission—a Cold War routine where nuclear-armed bombers remained airborne 24/7, ready to strike the…
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January 20, 1986: Martin Luther King Jr. Day Becomes a Federal Holiday
A Long Overdue Recognition On January 20, 1986, the United States observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday for the first time. Fifteen years after his assassination, nearly two decades after his “I Have a Dream” speech, and following one of the most persistent campaigns in American legislative history, the nation officially…
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January 19, 2012: The FBI Shuts Down Megaupload
The Raid Heard ‘Round the Internet On January 19, 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped a digital bombshell. In a coordinated international operation, the FBI shut down Megaupload—one of the world’s largest file-sharing websites—and arrested its flamboyant founder, Kim Dotcom, at his mansion in New Zealand. The indictment called it “among the largest criminal…
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January 18, 2005: The Airbus A380 Is Unveiled
The Giant Takes Shape On January 18, 2005, in a massive hangar at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, the covers came off the largest passenger aircraft ever built. The Airbus A380—nicknamed the “Superjumbo”—stretched 73 meters from nose to tail, stood eight stories tall, and could carry up to 853 passengers in a single-class configuration. The…
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January 17, 1998: The Drudge Report Breaks the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal
The Scoop That Changed Everything On January 17, 1998, Matt Drudge published a 720-word article on his website, The Drudge Report. It was a Saturday evening, and most of Washington was preparing for the weekend. By Sunday morning, the world had changed. Drudge reported that Newsweek magazine was sitting on a story about President Bill…
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January 16, 1991: The Gulf War Begins
Operation Desert Storm On January 16, 1991, the United States and a coalition of 35 nations launched Operation Desert Storm, beginning the Gulf War. The attack commenced at 2:10 AM local time with a massive aerial bombardment of Iraq. Stealth fighters, cruise missiles, and waves of conventional aircraft struck targets across the country. The war…
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January 15, 2001: Wikipedia is Launched
The Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit On January 15, 2001, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched a website that would fundamentally change how humans access knowledge. Wikipedia began as a companion project to Nupedia, a traditional peer-reviewed encyclopedia. But while Nupedia struggled to publish articles, Wikipedia exploded with content. The idea was radical: let anyone write…
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January 14, 1973: Elvis Presley’s ‘Aloha from Hawaii’
The King Goes Global On January 14, 1973, Elvis Presley stepped onto a stage at the Honolulu International Center and made television history. “Aloha from Hawaii,” the first live concert broadcast worldwide via satellite, would reach approximately 1.5 billion viewers across 40 countries. At the time, it became the most-watched broadcast by an individual entertainer…