On February 10, 22 years ago, the IBM super computer Deep Blue defeated world champion Garry Kasparov for the first time. Today’s quiz is all about computers.

Start program

1 Watson is a computer system developed by IBM’s DeepQA project and named after IBM’s first CEO, Thomas J Watson. How did it earn a prize of $1 million in 2011?

2 Between 1978 and 2006, which iconic music company has sued Apple Computer at least four times, winning the first judgment and an award of $80,000, but losing the final case in 2006?

3 Which fictional computer created a pan-dimensional hyper-intelligent species which look like white mice in our world, and worked for seven-and-a-half million years to deliver a two-word answer?

4 Who created a computer called Bombe during World War II designed specially to break the Nazi enigma code machine?

5 In computer jargon, who or what is a ‘PLOKTA?’

6 Internet security firms around the world seem to agree that the most common password for the last five years is the numeric ‘123456.’ What is the most common password without a numeric?

7 India’s supercomputer program was started in the mid-1980s, spearheaded by C-DAC, and resulted in the PARAM 8000, which was first installed in Moscow in 1991. The program took off after the US government stopped the sale of which brand of supercomputers to India, alleging that they could also be used for India’s nuclear weapon’s programme?

8 The legendary American television commercial ‘1984’ was first introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer. Its only national airing was during the telecast of Super Bowl XVIII and it was a play on George Orwell’s novel 1984 . Which acclaimed director made the film?

9 In 1980, what was the name, inspired by a war film, given to the group of engineers lead by Bill Sydnes which put together the first prototype of the iconic IBM Personal Computer in record time?

10 This company was initially incorporated as NM Electronics. A friend suggested Moore Noyce Electronics, but the founders thought it sounded too close to ‘more noise.’ What name did they settle on finally, one of the most famous brand names in the world of computers?

Answers

1. It won the long-running American quiz show, Jeopardy, beating former winners Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings

2. Apple Corps, the company owned by the Beatles

3. Deep Thought, the computer in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy asked to come up with the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe and Everything. They then had to design another computer, Earth, to find out the question

4. Alan Turing, it got it’s name from the earlier Polish bomba kryptologiczna designed for the same purpose

5. Pressing a Lot Of Keys To Abort. Something we all do when the computer seems to freeze

6. The word ‘Password.’ Clearly, we are just too clever for our own good

7. The Cray series of supercomputers

8. Ridley Scott, known for films such as Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator

9.The Dirty Dozen

10. Intel, which derives from INTegrated ELectronics

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup; Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj