1859 – A unique combination of solar events including a magnetic explosion severely affected the young telegraph network in North America and Europe. Wires shorted out, fires started and some machines reportedly worked even when disconnected from batteries.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/23oct_superstorm/
1997 – IBM announced that its RS/6000 SP model parallel supercomputer, was now 58 percent faster than Deep Blue, the computer that beat Kasparov at chess.
2001 – At ECTS in London, Blizzard announced an online RPG version of its popular Warcraft franchise, called “World of Warcraft”.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ects-2001-world-of-warcraft-announced/1100-2810134/
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.