Computer history - 2013
Major computer events in 2013
Yahoo! announced it would purchase Tumblr for $1.1 billion on May 20, 2013.
Edward Snowden began to leak classified NSA (National Security Agency) information in June 2013.
2013 computer and technology top terms
The following are some top computer and technology-related terms in alphabetical order that were introduced or popularized during 2013.
New computer products and services introduced in 2013
With consent from the Chinese government, Canonical Incorporated invented Ubuntu Kylin.
Ubuntu Touch was released on January 2, 2013.
AMD released the Athlon II X2 280 on January 28, 2013. It had two cores and runs at 3.6 GHz.
Microsoft released the Surface Pro on February 9, 2013.
Google Keep was released on March 20, 2013.
Steam Early Access was introduced on March 20, 2013.
Google Maps Engine Lite was released for Android devices in March 2013.
The first gaming tablet was released by Razer, named the Razer Edge Pro, on March 1, 2013. It was a tablet computer designed for playing PC games, with the power and performance to do so. It featured an Intel Core i7 processor, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M 2 GB video card, and a 10.1-inch display.
The CMS (content management system) Ghost was founded in April 2013.
Opera Next was announced on May 27, 2013, the browser would later be renamed to Opera beta.
The YouTube live streaming service became available to some users in May 2013.
Waze was purchased by Google in June 2013.
Intel officially announced CPUs based on Haswell architecture on June 4, 2013.
Primecoin, a cryptocurrency, was launched on July 7, 2013.
Apple introduced macOS X 10.9, code-named Mavericks, at the WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) on June 10, 2013. The operating system would be made available to everyone on October 22, 2013.
Android version 4.3 was released on July 24, 2013.
The USB (universal serial bus) 3.1 standard was released on July 31, 2013.
Apple introduced the iPhone 5c and 5s with Touch ID and Secure Enclave on September 10, 2013.
Grand Theft Auto V was released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on September 17, 2013, by Rockstar North.
Apple introduced iOS7 on September 18, 2013. With this update, Apple introduced Apple FaceTime Audio.
Google released Google Shopping Express on September 25, 2013.
Gridcoin, a cryptocurrency, was launched in October 2013.
The online video-sharing platform Rumble was launched in October 2013.
The Ghost blogging platform was released on October 14, 2013.
Microsoft released Windows 8.1 on October 17, 2013.
Internet Explorer 11 was released on October 17, 2013.
Microsoft released the Surface Pro 2 on October 22, 2013.
CompTIA introduced the Cloud+ certification in October 2013.
Android version 4.4 (KitKat) was released on October 31, 2013.
Apple released the iPad Air on November 1, 2013.
Sony released the PS4 on November 15, 2013.
Microsoft released 3D Builder on November 15, 2013.
NXT, a cryptocurrency, was released on November 24, 2013.
Google introduced Google Helpouts in November 2013.
Microsoft released the Xbox One on November 22, 2013.
Apple introduced the Control Center feature in 2013.
Microsoft released Excel 2013 in 2013.
Microsoft released Word 2013 in 2013.
Intel introduced the second generation of the Xeon Phi processors in 2013.
Solomon Hykes released Docker as open-source in 2013.
Mozilla introduced the Firefox OS (operating system) in 2013.
Isis Mobile Wallet (later renamed Softcard) was launched in 2013 as a joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
Giphy was introduced in 2013.
The online video editing tool Clipchamp was introduced in 2013.
Google Glass was introduced in 2013.
Pushbullet was released in 2013 by Andre von Houck, Chris Hesse, and Ryan Oldenburg.
Slack was introduced in 2013.
Swype, an on-screen keyboard application for iOS and Android smartphones was released in 2013.
Syncthing was introduced in 2013.
The Ripple cryptocurrency launched in 2013.
Rust game was introduced.
Samsung released the Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, and Note 3 Neo in 2013.
Samsung introduced the Samsung Knox in 2013.
Talk.to was introduced in 2013.
The term unicorn company was coined in 2013 by Aileen Lee.
Vue was released in 2013 by former Google employee Evan You.
Dell released the XPS 8700, XPS 18, XPS 13, XPS 12, and XPS 11 in 2013.
Computer and technology-related events in 2013
Facebook introduced Graph Search in January 2013 and offered some users early beta access to the service. Graph Search was later released to everyone and allows people to use natural language in the Facebook search.
The popularity of drones grew rapidly, beginning in 2013.
In May 2013, Facebook released the first version of the React JavaScript library and React Native framework, giving developers new options when developing web applications.
At 23:30:26 UTC on January 25, 2013, the largest known prime number containing 17,425,170 digits was discovered by GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search).
Microsoft announced in February that it would be moving away from the Hotmail brand and began moving over 300 million users to the new Outlook.com e-mail service.
Sony officially announced the PlayStation 4, a replacement for the PS3 gaming console, on February 20, 2013.
One of the biggest cyberattacks in Internet history happened on March 29, 2013, as a massive DDoS attack targets The Spamhaus Project.
The Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding formally introduced HEVC (high efficiency video coding) on April 13, 2013.
SingleStore launched its first database product, named MemSQL, in April 2013.
Adobe announced it would no longer release new versions of its popular Creative Suite bundles on May 6, 2013. In the future, all Adobe software would only be accessible via a Creative Cloud subscription.
Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One on May 21, 2013, a new gaming console to replace the Xbox 360.
The FBI shut down the Silk Road on June 23, 2013.
On June 24, 2013, Apple announced it did not intend to continue developing Safari for the PC (personal computer) or Microsoft Windows.
Google announced it would purchase Waze, a popular mobile social map application, for $1.1 billion on June 11, 2013.
Google introduced the Chromecast on July 24, 2013.
IDG announced on July 10, 2013, that the August edition of PC World magazine would be the magazine's last print edition.
The Furusawa group at the University of Tokyo demonstrated complete quantum teleportation of photonic quantum bits on September 11, 2013. This achievement helped bring the quantum computer even closer to reality.
In 2013, Acer, ASUS, and others announced they had no intentions of making any new versions of netbooks, officially killing the netbook computer.
The Silk Road 2.0 came online on November 6, 2013, after the FBI shut down the original site.
On November 7, 2013, over 150 million records appeared online from Adobe hack.
In 2013, Fiverr began allowing users to set prices and charge more than $5.
OnePlus was founded in 2013.
OpenZFS was released in 2013.
Google began development on Project Ara in 2013.
The Smarty Ring was a smart ring proposed in 2013 to control and get alerts from your phone.
Google smart glasses, Google Glass Enterprise Edition, were developed by Google in 2013, which, after development, were canceled.
Yik Yak was launched in 2013.
Computer company events in 2013
The Mega cloud storage and backup service was started by Kim Dotcom on January 19, 2013.
The US division of Atari filed for bankruptcy on January 21, 2013.
In January 2013, Pervasive Software was acquired by Actian.
In February 2013, Hewlett-Packard announced it would no longer offer VoodooPC products and closed the website.
GameSpy announced it would no longer be updating its site on February 21, 2013.
Sony discontinued the production of new MiniDisc players in March 2013.
Belkin purchased the Linksys brand of networking equipment from Cisco on March 15, 2013.
Apple began allowing any valid e-mail address to be used as an Apple ID beginning in March 2013.
I.R.I.S. became part of the Canon company in June 2013.
ALEXOS acquired ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) in July 2013.
Google acquired the engineering and robotics company Boston Dynamics on December 13, 2013.
On December 2, 2013, Toshiba announced that it had purchased nearly all OCZ's assets for $35 million.
The Artec Electronics Co. website went offline in 2013.
RIM (Research In Motion) changed its name to BlackBerry Limited.
In 2013, Chaintech changed its name to Chaintech Technology Corporation.
DoorDash, an on-demand service for universal food delivery, was created in 2013.
Doorbot was founded in 2013 by Jamie Siminoff. The company would later become Ring.
Enterasys was acquired by Extreme Networks in 2013.
In 2013, Linspire ceased operation.
In April 2013, Disney shut down LucasArts.
Open Whisper Systems was founded in 2013 by Moxie Marlinspike.
The website Patreon was founded in 2013.
Suntekgroup went out of business in 2013.
As of 2013, Targa no longer manufactures computers, laptops, or computer accessories.
Security breaches and leaks in 2013
The trojan virus Cryptolocker was discovered in September 2013. The spread of Cryptolocker was stopped in May 2014, and it was estimated over $27 million was paid by victims as ransom, the largest ransomware total to date.
Bit9 had its digital code-signing certificates stolen in 2013, allowing hackers to target some Bit9 customers.
Computer-related TV shows and movies released in 2013
Computer Chess was released on July 17, 2013.
DEFCON: The Documentary premiered on August 1, 2013, the first day of DEF CON 21.
The documentary Web was released on November 16, 2013. The documentary follows Peruvian families introduced to the Internet for the first time through the One Laptop per Child program.
Discontinued products and services in 2013
BlackBerry discontinued BlackBerry OS and released its BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system in January 2013.
On March 15, 2013, Microsoft discontinued Messenger in favor of Skype.
Fuduntu was discontinued in April 2013.
Adobe announced the discontinuation of Adobe Fireworks on May 6, 2013.
The Nextel iDEN network was officially shut down on June 30, 2013.
The RSS/Atom reader Google Reader was discontinued on July 1, 2013.
On July 6, 2013, Microsoft announced that they were shutting down MSN TV and would officially close the service on September 30, 2013.
Google Latitude was discontinued on August 9, 2013.
On August 19, 2013, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Tags would be discontinued on August 19, 2015.
Google discontinued its Google Checkout on November 20, 2013, and replaced it with Google Wallet.
The MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) EverQuest game was officially shut down in November 2013.
The chat service Meebo was shut down in 2013 after merging with Google+.
Canonical, the creator of Ubuntu, stopped supporting Wubi in 2013.
Development of Crunchbang Linux ceased in 2013, and many of its contributors moved their efforts to a new project, BunsenLabs Linux.
SGI announced that support for IRIX ended in December 2013.
All Things Digital was discontinued on December 31, 2013.
In 2013, Acer, ASUS, and others announced they had no intentions of making any new versions of netbooks, officially killing the netbook computer.
Yahoo! Kids and other Yahoo! projects were shut down in 2013.
Computer pioneer deaths in 2013
Aaron Swartz passed away on January 11, 2013 (Age: 26).
Andreas Raab passed away on January 14, 2013 (Age: 45).
Petro Vlahos passed away on February 10, 2013 (Age: 96).
Erik Cassel passed away on February 11, 2013 (Age: 46).
Mike Culbert passed away on April 19, 2013 (Age: 47).
James Martin passed away on June 24, 2013 (Age: 79).
Douglas Engelbart passed away on July 2, 2013 (Age: 88).
Wayne Green passed away on September 13, 2013 (Age: 91).
William Lowe passed away on October 19, 2013 (Age: 72).