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Each item is one event, written from several sources, with a footnote for every fact.

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Release

Microsoft launches Kinect

Kinect was Microsoft's motion-sensing, controller-free input device for the Xbox 360, released in November 2010. It used cameras and infrared depth sensing for gesture and skeletal tracking, and sold more than 8 million units in its first 60 days.

Acquisition

Apple acquires Siri

In April 2010 Apple bought Siri, a San Jose start-up whose app answered spoken requests on the iPhone; the deal, reported by The New York Times, put voice-driven assistance on the path to becoming a built-in phone feature.

Release

Microsoft unveils Bing

On 28 May 2009 Microsoft unveiled Bing, a search engine it presented as a decision engine that organizes results around tasks such as shopping, travel and health, and the first internet service it gave a Chinese brand. It marked a renewed attempt to challenge Google's search dominance.

Release

Wolfram|Alpha is officially launched

Wolfram|Alpha went live on the evening of 15 May 2009 and was declared officially launched on 18 May 2009, after a weekend of load testing, bug fixes and more than 22,000 pieces of user feedback.

Release

Google launches Voice Search

On 17 November 2008 Google added voice search to its Google Mobile App for iPhone, letting U.S. English users speak a web query instead of typing it.

Benchmark

The Netflix Prize (2006-2009)

An open competition run by Netflix from 2006 to 2009 that offered $1,000,000 to any team able to improve its movie recommendation algorithm by 10%, and released 100 million anonymous ratings for contestants to work with.

Release

Amazon launches Mechanical Turk

Amazon's crowdsourcing marketplace, launched in 2005, lets requesters post small jobs called HITs that workers around the world complete for a fee. ImageNet's builders used it to verify images.

Release

iRobot launches Roomba

In September 2002 iRobot unveiled Roomba, a home robot vacuum that became the company's first mass-market product and, by one account, created the consumer robot vacuum category.

Release

Apple ships the Newton MessagePad

On August 2, 1993, Apple shipped the Newton MessagePad, the first product built on its Newton technology and the company's first handheld computing device. Its troubled launch contributed to John Sculley's replacement as CEO by Michael Spindler.