history

I remember the first time I ever heard the term gigabyte. Actually, I didn't hear it, I worked it out myself. It was the early '90s, and my friend Paul had just ordered a new hard drive for his 486. I remember how excited he was to get a 100MB drive, which was easily twice as big as the one he had at the time. I was astounded and said, "How big do they go now?"

"Next year, they'll hit 1,000 megabytes," Paul said.

I was even more awe struck. I said, "… Read more

As Facebook hits its fifth birthday on Wednesday, it's nearly impossible to find a recent news story that doesn't refer to its growth with terms like "lightning-fast," "exponential," "skyrocketing," or some other expression that would be quite at home in a space-age comic book from the 1950s.

That might be true now. And with an executive lineup sourced from Bay Area elite (including a handful of former Google leaders), high-profile conferences and parties, not to mention developer "hackathons" all over the world, it has all the makings of a landmark … Read more

Clean Space launches a clean, user-friendly interface with tabbed navigation that categorizes its scanning areas by Windows, Browsers, Media, Internet files, and Miscellaneous. Users won't be distracted by needless graphics and jarring colors; instead, this tool clearly lists the items it will delete in detailed fashion.

This utility performed very well in our tests. We liked how clearly it presented its info, and how easily we could disable proposed deletions. Whitelisting individual cookies and Registry items was very simple to accomplish. And we very much liked how Clean Space divided file types into categories, such as listing separate entries … Read more

If you're under 40, you might think TVs always had remotes. The early ones were called "clickers," "channel changers," or "selectors."

Sure, there were TV remotes as early as 1956, notably the Zenith Space Command, but remote-controlled TVs didn't really enter the mainstream until the 1970s.

It's true that there weren't many channels from which to choose at that time, but changing channels or volume without a remote was a matter of getting up from the sofa, walking over to the set, and turning big, clunky knobs on the TV.… Read more

Three easily selected tabs, and a small number of functions make this one of the easiest-to-use Internet history removal tools we've tested. AntlerTek Internet History Eraser's dialog-size interface doesn't need the well-written Help file to master it. Even a novice user will immediately see how to operate this app.

The program's top tab contains the most robust function: an easily set schedule to erase the local Internet cache. Click the item and enter simple time information and let the program thoroughly erase cache information immediately or as often as you'd like.

Users with the need … Read more

Firefox and Internet Explorer extension Click&Clean is aimed at those who prefer the history-sweeping CCleaner to Firefox's built-in browsing tracks sterilizer. Click&Clean takes the same number of mouse clicks or keyboard strokes to activate as the native cleaner, opening a CCleaner window preconfigured for cleaning Firefox. Obviously, you must download CCleaner for Click&Clean to work.

Click&Clean adds only a single button to your Firefox toolbar, so it won't clutter your browser window. Clicking it opened the CCleaner interface immediately, and from there you can have it wipe your tracks with … Read more

After nearly a year and a half at Yahoo's helm, Chief Executive Jerry Yang will step down once the company finds a replacement. Monday's announcement starts closing a chapter in the Internet pioneer's history that began in June 2007 when Yang replaced Terry Semel as CEO.

It's been a rough time. Yahoo's stock has dropped from $28.12 when Yang took over as CEO to Monday's close at $10.63.

But though Yang didn't build Yahoo into a Google-slayer, he hasn't been idle, either. The company looks very different from when he … Read more

It's been way too long since we've had Caroline McCarthy on the show! She makes a very attractive Jeff Bakalar replacement, and it's a trade that we'll take any day of the week. On today's show, we solve the mystery of the Natural History Museum whale, touch on virtual iBoobs, join the British Secret Service, and Wilson reads a very heinous headline about (what else?) butts. We also treat ourselves to a very steamy call from the public, over and over and over again...

I must admit that in Jeff's absence, Wilson and I are super stoked to welcome CNET News reporter Caroline McCarthy to the show today. Caroline is an expert in social media and even started her own Internet meme: the tale of the Twittering Natural History whale. For those of you who aren't familiar, the Natural History Museum in New York is home to a gigantic, life-size blue whale. The museum completed the construction of the whale in 1938, and the big boy somehow managed to sign up for a Twitter account. Check out his page and follow his tweets, the tongue-in-cheek humor is on par with DeadBigFoot. While you're at it, follow The404 and Caroline McCarthy as well!

I've just watched the History Channel documentary "102 Minutes That Changed America." It's a powerful piece of work.

(Update: I see the History Channel will be airing this documentary again on Sunday, 9/14, at 8pm. If you haven't seen it, you should. If you have kids that weren't old enough to follow the TV coverage in 2001 but are old enough now, watch it with them. This show consists solely of video and sounds from the morning of the attacks, with no new narration, a technique that is very effective at re-creating what … Read more