the development of the of IBM’s first time-sharing microcomputer industry as the system, TSS/360 [Aug 16]. March 28th microprocessor itself.” The Intel 1702 [June 15] was the company’s first EPROM chip, Bibi-Binary Dov Frohman and EPROMs remained Intel’s most profitable product well March 28, 1968 (Frohman- into the 1980's. The popular 1960’s French Bentchkowsky) After joining Intel in 1969, singer Boby Lapointe introduced Frohman was studying faulty his Bibi-binary system (in Born: March 28, integrated circuits when he French, système Bibi-binaire) – 1939; Amsterdam, the noticed that the charge stored hexadecimals but with new Netherlands (although he was on the broken gates had symbols combining four raised in Israel) changed. This was the first step consonants (HBKD) and four in his development of EPROM. vowels (OAEI). The result: In 1970 Frohman developed EPROM, the first non-volatile HO, HA, HE, HI, BO, BA, BE, BI, semiconductor memory that KO, KA, KE, KI, DO, DA, DE, DI. was both erasable and easily CUC Founded For example, 2021 in reprogrammable. Previously, March 28, 1955 hexadecimal is 07E5, which ROM chips were programmed by becomes the word “HOBIDEBA” having the data 'burnt' into Computer Usage Co. (CUC) was in Bibi-binary. them, a one-time only process. the first business to sell software The system’s name comes from Frohman added a little quartz to other businesses. Until then Lapointe's observation that 16 is window on top of the chip, so software had typically been that ultraviolet (UV) light could included with the hardware sold so he could say “bi-binary” be used to erase the chip’s by vendors, such as IBM, or was for base four, and thus “bibi- memory. developed in-house. CUC was set binary” for base 16. Its name up by two former IBM salesmen, may also be a pun as the word Elmer C. Kubie and John W. bibi in French is slang for “me” Sheldon, who realized that or “myself”. companies needed help writing Lapointe rose to fame when he their own code. appeared in the 1960 movie CUC’s first product simulated “Tirez sur le Pianiste” (“Shoot the radial flow of fluids in an oil the Piano Player”) directed by well, which was written for the François Truffaut. He sang the California Research Corporation bawdy song "Framboise" about on an IBM 701 [April 7]. his wife's breast enlargements, However, CUC didn't have its with sing-along lyrics, such as own computer; instead it sent its "Her measurements were programmers to work on the meager, no wonder she was customer's machine, or bought eager", displayed at the bottom computer time from a service of the screen. He was bureau. accompanied by Charles Aznavour on piano. By the end of the 1950's, Kubie Dov Frohman (2008). Photo by estimated that “about 50-60 Itzik Canetti. CC BY-SA 3.0. percent of our development work is in the business Computer In later life, Frohman would tell application area, 20-30 percent the story of how he almost never in [systems] software, and the Underground developed his idea. Fortunately, remainder in scientific he ran into Bob Noyce [Dec 12] applications.” Digest Begins one day at Intel, who asked him, “Dov, you look preoccupied this CUC's major competitors were March 28, 1990 morning, what’s the problem?” Computer Sciences Corporation The "Computer Underground Frohman told him about using (CSC) [April 16] and SDC [Oct Digest" was a weekly online UV to erase memory. Noyce 00], an off-shoot of RAND [Oct newsletter concerned with looked at him and said, “Why 1]. Internet-related cultural, social, not?” He said it so loud that In 1964, CUC wrote the software and legal issues. It was edited by almost the whole building heard used by CBS TV to track election Gordon Meyer and Jim Thomas it. results. Another important who were both criminal justice Gordon Moore [Jan 3] later contract was to implement part professors. called EPROM “as important in 1 The newsletter came to having to ship thousands of prominence when it started unsold units back to Japan. publishing legal commentary on When Steve Jobs returned as hacker crackdowns CEO [Sept 16] in 1997, one of his (e.g. Operation Sundevil [May first orders was to end the clone 7]) and the indictment of Craig initiative. Neidorf [July 23], one of PHRACK’s editors [Nov 17]. Oculus Rift Pippin Released March 28, 1995 March 28, 2016 Apple and Bandai released the The Oculus Rift is a virtual ill-fated Pippin, a console reality (VR) headset, initially capable of playing CD-based funded through a Kickstarter games and other multimedia. It [April 28] campaign organized featured a PowerPC 603e by Palmer Luckey in April 2012. processor [Oct 2], 128K of RAM, It raised $2.5 million, ten times and ran a simplified version of the original goal. Mac System 7 [May 13]. Luckey had previously built a collection of over fifty head- mounted displays, beginning with the PR1, which he constructed in his parents’ garage when he was only 17 (in 2009) . Interest in the Rift took off after John Carmack [Aug 20] showcased a prototype The Apple Pippin and a wireless running a version of Doom 3 Applejack controller. Photo by [Dec 10] at the Electronic Evan-Amos. Entertainment Expo in June 2012. In March 2014, Facebook acquired the Oculus company for $2.3 billion. Players had the pick of exciting- sounding games including The 2019 "Oculus Rift S" has a “Mr. Potato Head Saves Veggie single LCD displays offering Valley” and “Gus Goes to the 1080×1440 resolution per eye, Kooky Carnival”. and a 115° field of view. It has integrated rotational and The system floundered before positional tracking, and utilizes the combined might of the Sony "Oculus Touch" motion tracking PlayStation [Dec 3] and Sega controllers. Saturn [Nov 22], which offered a wider (and better) range of The device's main competitors games, and were much less as of 2021 are the "HTC Vive expensive. In retrospect, the flop Cosmos" [April 5], and the aging, wasn't that surprising – Bandai but still playable, "PlayStation was a massively successful VR" [Oct 13]. Oculus also sells a Japanese toymaker, but had standalone VR headset, the limited console experience, "Oculus Quest 2", which has which was also true of Apple. many fans. The Pippin was part of Apple The very first VR devices were CEO’s Michael Spindler’s ‘Clone probably Morton Heilig’s [Dec Initiative’ [Dec 16] which 22] Telesphere mask (1958) and licensed out Apple’s software to Sensorama (1961). third-party devices. Spindler was replaced the next year (1996) by Gil Amelio [Feb 2] and production of the console stopped, and Bandai ended up 2 .