history

The Channel 9 events area now includes all keynotes from previous Microsoft Professional Developers Conferences or as everyone calls it The PDC! Our archives start with the very first PDC which happened in Seattle in 1991 and go all the way up last fall’s event. We hope you enjoy this look back...

A daily dose of famous people born and special event days

Famous people born on this day: --> 1929, Audrey Hepburn, actress. Events on this day in history: --> 1626, Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons. --> 1715, French manufacturer debuts first folding umbrella -- in Paris, not Cherbourg! --> 1851, First of the...

CAIRO -- Archaeologists unearthed one of the largest statues found to date of a powerful ancient Egyptian pharaoh at his mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor, the country's antiquities authority announced Tuesday. The 13 meter (42 foot) tall statue of Amenhotep III was one of a pair...

Battlefield, scene of the death of King Richard III. Unearthed in a garden in nearby Earl Shilton, it was dated as possibly 15th-century and judged to be of a type made for a person of high rank. It now has pride of place in the courtyard of the prestigious Battlefield Visitors Centre. Not bad...

Barack Obama hunting down, actually finding, and then killing Osama bin Laden spurred more knee-jerk internet reactions of people thinking they'd thought of something original since Balloon Boy was in the air. So, amidst a sea of poorly executed Waldo jokes and some really truly, horrible...

'I need to sleep but Osama had to pick this day to die' A bloke called Sohaib Athar has become a twitter celebrity having unknowingly twittered the raid that looks to have finally taken out Osama bin Laden. Athar, who tweets under the name @ReallyVirtual, was peering out of his window, laptop...

A guide written in 1505 has been found and it contains 'secrets' about females that take political incorrectness to extremes. Perhaps the worst of the advice is that ‘females are failed males’. The book, De Secretis Mulerium (On The Secrets Of Women), also suggests men wanting to check if a...

Long time Niner Link Removed shows us her workspace at Link Removed. Fuse is an interesting area at Microsoft that sits within the Microsoft Research that operates closer to shipping products than looking at the future. Fuse is a few blocks off the main campus and has a rich history, this is the...

Happy Easter Everyone, Jesus is Risen! Link Removed due to 404 Error What's unique about this year's Easter is it falls on the same day April 24 for all Christian Confessions. Easter is the greatest feast day celebrated to observe the...

Call it a record, or just a whole lot better than Windows “rhymes-with missed-ya,” Microsoft says Windows 7 can lay claim to 350 million licenses sold since it launched on October 22, 2009. And that's about all they said, meaning no, we don't have the breakdown in terms of full copies, upgrades...

In the nature of Microsoft product updates, Window 7 is entering its middle years. Generally, Microsoft comes out with a new update to Windows every three years and Windows 7 is currently 18 months into its game. In that time Microsoft has sold 350 licenses to the operating system making it...

Do you like a good UFO detective story? Well, here's one for you. And it's ongoing, so we don't yet know the ending. It involves President John F. Kennedy's interest in UFOs shortly before his death and an allegation that he may have angered officials in his administration when he asked for...

You might say this is one monumental case of mail fraud. Due to a United States Postal Service gaffe, a stamp intended to commemorate New York City's Statue of Liberty features a picture of a Las Vegas replica instead. Though the stamp was supposed to show the real Lady Liberty, the...

Broadcasters and programme makers will have to tread carefully after the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) issued a warning about the way shows were treating the past. 'Many stories are totally made up and are made to strain for an effect of novelty. The producers...

The pushback by Dell follows the path of tarnished history for Windows 7 slates so far. More...

As master magician Harry Houdini's 137th birthday is celebrated with some Link Removed, we take a look back at his most famous tricks, from the Chinese Water Torture Cell to hanging upside down in a straitjacket and breaking free. Milk Can Escape It takes a brave man to be handcuffed...

Link Removed due to 404 Error A pair of pandas that arrived from China a few weeks ago made their first public appearance at a zoo in Tokyo on Friday, providing a little light relief for victims of the tsunami that hit the country in March. About 300 people who were forced from their...

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – Armed with a sleeping bag, whistle, flashlight and journal Joseph McGill is ready to spend another night in a strange place -- a building that once housed slaves. This week, the program officer with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will...