What happened 2008 AD in United States of America

In 2008, Buffett became the richest person in the world, with a total net worth estimated at $62 billion.

Nike sold Bauer Hockey in 2008.

In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind.

In January 2008, Marvel Animation was incorporated to direct Marvel's efforts in animation and home entertainment markets including then animation efforts with Lionsgate and Nickelodeon.

Biden declared his candidacy for president on January 31, 2007, after having discussed running for months prior. Biden made a formal announcement to Tim Russert on Meet the Press, stating he would "be the best Biden I can be." In January 2006, Delaware newspaper columnist Harry F. Themal wrote that Biden "occupies the sensible center of the Democratic Party." Thermal concludes that this is the position Biden desires and that in a campaign "he plans to stress the dangers to the security of the average American, not just from the terrorist threat, but from the lack of health assistance, crime, and energy dependence on unstable parts of the world."

Soon after the election, he was appointed the chairman of president-elect Obama's transition team. During the transition phase of the Obama administration, Biden said he was in daily meetings with Obama and that McCain was still his friend. The U.S. Secret Service codename given to Biden is "Celtic", referencing his Irish roots.

About 10 billion CPUs were manufactured in 2008.

In Lynnwood, Washington, an 18-year-old woman, referred to as "Marie", reported being bound, gagged and raped at knifepoint to police. Following police confrontation about inconsistencies in her story, she said that it might have been a dream and later said that she made the incident up.

Heartland Payment System a major credit card processor was attacked by a group responsible also for breaching TJX data, a data, an attack that also resulted in other credit card data large thefts. These international criminals were located in several countries. And eventually got caught and one of them was convicted Albert Gonzales was sentenced to 20 years after he confessed to the crime. Albert later withdrew his confession, he claimed that he was at secret services insider during the attack. 130M users lost their personal data. More than $100 million was reimbursed to Visa and Mastercard. The company spent around $140 million to deal with the massive Breach. It cost $3.5 million to settle with American Express, with legal fees amounting to at least $26 million. 130 million users lost their data.

In 2008, Google announced its "project 10100" which accepted ideas for how to help the community and then allowed Google users to vote on their favorites.

O'Neal played 33 games for the Miami Heat in the 2007–08 season prior to being traded to the Phoenix Suns. O'Neal started all 33 games and averaged 14.2 points per game. Following the trade to Phoenix, O'Neal averaged 12.9 ppg while starting all 28 games with the Suns.

On January 11, 2008, Bank of America announced that it would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion.

In January 2008, Houston, Texas declared 14 January as "Muhammad Yunus Day".

In January 2008, Bank of America began notifying some customers without payment problems that their interest rates were more than doubled, up to 28%. The bank was criticized for raising rates on customers in good standing, and for declining to explain why it had done so.

By 2008, Jolie was considered the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, earning $15–$20 million per film. While other actresses had been forced to take salary cuts in recent years, Jolie's perceived box office appeal allowed her to command as much as $20 million-plus a percentage.

The Phoenix Suns acquired O'Neal in February 2008 from the league-worst Miami Heat, who had a record at the time of the trade of 9-37, in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

On February 12, 2008, then Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia may target its missiles at Ukraine if its neighbour joins NATO and accepts the deployment of a US missile defence shield.Russia

O'Neal made his Suns debut on February 20, 2008, against his former Lakers team, scoring 15 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in the process. The Lakers won, 130–124. O'Neal was upbeat in a post-game press conference, stating: "I will take the blame for this loss because I wasn't in tune with the guys [...] But give me four or five days to really get in tune and I'll get it."

On February 25, 2008, Visa announced it would go ahead with an IPO of half its shares.

Pelosi was named Permanent Chair of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

The global financial crisis of 2007–08 led to public skepticism about the free market consensus even from some on the economic right. In March 2008, Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, announced the death of the dream of global free-market capitalism.

On March 5, 2008, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates.

On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 8, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

On March 6, 2008, Apple held a press event, announcing the iPhone SDK.

In March 2008, it was reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating Countrywide for possible fraud relating to home loans and mortgages.

In March 2008, a high-quality mode was added, which increased the resolution to 480×360 pixels.

Barbara retired as an Associate Circuit Judge in St. Louis County, Missouri, in March 2008.

March 17, 2008: The Federal Reserve guaranteed Bear Stearns' bad loans to facilitate its acquisition by JPMorgan Chase.

The IPO took place on March 18, 2008. Visa sold 406 million shares at US$44 per share ($2 above the high end of the expected $37–42 pricing range), raising US$17.9 billion in the largest initial public offering in U.S. history.

On March 20, 2008, the IPO underwriters (including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., Bank of America Securities LLC, Citi, HSBC, Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS Investment Bank and Wachovia Securities) exercised their overallotment option, purchasing an additional 40.6 million shares, bringing Visa's total IPO share count to 446.6 million, and bringing the total proceeds to US$19.1 billion.

On March 29, 2008, Johnson appeared to induct his father and grandfather Peter Maivia and Rocky Johnson into the WWE Hall of Fame.

One campaign that Nike began for Earth Day 2008 was a commercial that featured basketball star Steve Nash wearing Nike's Trash Talk Shoe, which had been constructed in February 2008 from pieces of leather and synthetic leather waste from factory floors. The Trash Talk Shoe also featured a sole composed of ground-up rubber from a shoe recycling program. Nike claims this is the first performance basketball shoe that has been created from manufacturing waste, but it only produced 5,000 pairs for sale.

On April 26, 2008, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined the company $280,000 for not alerting customers that the analog televisions it sold would not receive over-the-air stations after the digital transition on June 12, 2009.

In May 2008, a dozen jailed paramilitary leaders were extradited to the United States on drug-related charges.

LaSalle Bank and LaSalle Bank Midwest branches adopted the Bank of America name on May 5, 2008.

Because of the magnitude of the quake, and the media attention on China, foreign nations and organizations immediately responded to the disaster by offering condolences and assistance. On May 14, UNICEF reported that China formally requested the support of the international community to respond to the needs of affected families.

Jolie also voiced the DreamWorks animation Kung Fu Panda (2008), the first work in a major family franchise.

Rescue efforts performed by the Chinese government were praised by western media, especially in comparison with Myanmar's blockage of foreign aid during Cyclone Nargis, as well as China's previous performance during the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. China's openness during the media coverage of the Sichuan earthquake led a professor at Peking University to say, "This is the first time [that] the Chinese media has lived up to international standards". Los Angeles Times praised China's media coverage of the quake as being "democratic".

The Lakers defeated the Spurs in five games, sending themselves to the NBA Finals, against the Boston Celtics. This marked the fifth time in Bryant's career, and the first time without O'Neal, that he made the NBA Finals. The Lakers then lost to the Boston Celtics in six games.

On June 2, 2008, Ford sold its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors for $2.3 billion.

The iTunes Store quickly became the market leader in online music services, with over five billion downloads by June 19, 2008.

However, on June 22, 2008, O'Neal freestyled a diss rap about Bryant in a New York club. While rapping, O'Neal blamed Bryant for his divorce from his wife Shaunie and claims to have received a vasectomy, as part of a rhyme. He also taunted Bryant for not being able to win a championship without him. O'Neal led the audience to mockingly chant several times "Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes."

In 2008, IKEA paired up with the makers of video game The Sims 2 to make a stuff pack called IKEA Home Stuff, featuring many IKEA products. It was released on 24 June 2008 in North America and 26 June 2008 in Europe. It is the second stuff pack with a major brand, the first being The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff.

By 2008, the librarians of Congress had found replacements for all but 300 of the works that were in Jefferson's original collection.

Jolie starred alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the action film Wanted, released in June 2008, which proved an international success, earning $341.4 million worldwide.

Kevin turned down a role in the 2008 film Tropic Thunder because the character is gay, citing his own "insecurities".

On June 26, 2008, Senator Charles Schumer , a member of the Senate Banking Committee, chairman of Congress' Joint Economic Committee and the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, released several letters he had sent to regulators, which warned that, "The possible collapse of big mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc. poses significant financial risks to its borrowers and depositors, and regulators may not be ready to intervene to protect them." Some worried depositors began to withdraw money.

Gates retired from his role as Chief Software Architect on June 27, 2008, a decision announced in June 2006, while retaining other positions related to the company in addition to being an advisor for the company on key projects.

The Fiction Prize (now the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction) started in 2008 to recognize distinguished lifetime achievement in the writing of fiction.

Using privately raised funds, the Library of Congress reconstructed Thomas Jefferson's original library, which was placed on permanent display in the Jefferson building in 2008.

On July 2, 2008, Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama's campaign in Chicago.

On July 7, 2008, IndyMac announced on the company blog that it: Had failed to raise capital since its May 12, 2008 quarterly earnings report; Had been notified by bank and thrift regulators that IndyMac Bank was no longer deemed "well-capitalized". IndyMac: The first visible institution to run into trouble in the United States was the Southern California–based IndyMac, a spin-off of Countrywide Financial. Before its failure, IndyMac Bank was the largest savings and loan association in the Los Angeles market and the seventh largest mortgage originator in the United States.

The iOS App Store was opened on July 10, 2008, with an initial 500 applications available.

On July 11, 2008, citing liquidity concerns, the FDIC put IndyMac Bank into conservatorship.

July 11, 2008: IndyMac failed.

This news did not hinder the acquisition, which was completed in July 2008, giving the bank a substantial market share of the mortgage business, and access to Countrywide's resources for servicing mortgages.

A TiVo service update in July 2008 allowed the system to search and play YouTube videos.

A bridge bank, IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, was established to assume control of IndyMac Bank's assets, its secured liabilities, and its insured deposit accounts. The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) announced plans to open IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB on July 14, 2008.

Following the financial crisis in 2008 and after a series of escalating conflicts in 2007, Eberhard was ousted from the firm. Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008.

On July 20, 2008, Facebook introduced "Facebook Beta", a significant redesign of its user interface on selected networks. The Mini-Feed and Wall were consolidated, profiles were separated into tabbed sections, and an effort was made to create a cleaner look. Facebook began migrating users to the new version in September 2008.

A syndicated version entitled Trivial Pursuit: America Plays aired from 2008 to 2009 and hosted by Christopher Knight.

July 30, 2008: The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 was enacted.

IndyMac Bancorp filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 31, 2008.

In July 2008, Best Buy announced that it would start selling musical instruments and related gear in over 80 of its retail stores, making the company the second-largest musical-instrument distributor in the US.

After a six-year hiatus, in August 2008, Williams announced a new 26-city tour, Weapons of Self-Destruction. The tour started at the end of September 2009 and concluded in New York on December 3, and was the subject of an HBO special on December 8, 2009.

Marie had made her report in August 2008 to Sergeant Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn. Police guidelines advised that rape victims may be uncertain of details or report conflicting information; police should not interrogate victims or use polygraph tests, which do not provide reliable evidence. Investigating Marie's report, police found evidence of an assailant entering via a back porch and abrasions to Marie's vagina and wrist. Marie told two of her foster parents about the incident, but both began to disbelieve her due to her calm and detached demeanor. One parent reported his doubts about Marie's honesty to the police.

In August 2008, Marie told Project Ladder case managers that she had made the report under duress and they made her return to the police station. She wanted to take a polygraph test, but Rittgarn told her that she would be jailed and lose her housing if she failed it. Marie declined. After she was made to tell the other Project Ladder participants about her false report, she considered suicide. Later, Marie received notice of a false reporting charge against her filed by Mason. Such charges are rare unless a named person's reputation was damaged or substantial investigate resources were used. Following the charge, Marie quit her job and was the subject of media reports and an attack website made by a former best friend.

Millard did the second of his two hymn albums because he realized that the church he was attending did not sing hymns, and he wanted his children to have hymns as a part of their lives.

By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles to work extensively with her record label to complete her debut album, The Fame, and to set up her own creative team called the Haus of Gaga, modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory. The Fame was released on August 19, 2008, and reached number one in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and the UK, as well as the top five in Australia and the US.

By September 2008, Paramount added to its domestic film distribution contract 5 additional Marvel movies' foreign distribution.

Best Buy became the first third-party retail seller of Apple's iPhone in September.

September 7, 2008: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the federal government.

Following this report, and Marie's conflicting account of whether she phoned a friend before or after cutting her bindings free, Mason wondered whether Marie was lying. Mason and Rittgarn made Marie repeat her story. Rittgarn told her that he thought she had made the incident up. He asked if the rapist was real and she quietly said "no". Without reading the Miranda warning, they asked her to provide written confirmation that she made a false report. She wrote instead that she had dreamed the incident, now unsure whether the incident was real. After hours of further questioning, Marie eventually agreed to write that she had been lying.

In Arlington County, the Pentagon Memorial was completed and opened to the public on the seventh anniversary of the attacks in 2008. It consists of a landscaped park with 184 benches facing the Pentagon. When the Pentagon was repaired in 2001–2002, a private chapel and indoor memorial were included, located at the spot where Flight 77 crashed into the building.

September 15, 2008: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt after the Federal Reserve declined to guarantee its loans, causing the Dow Jones to drop 504 points, its worst decline in seven years. The same day, Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch.

September 16, 2008: The Federal Reserve took over American International Group. The Reserve Primary Fund "broke the buck" as a result of massive withdrawals from money market accounts.

The Total Annual Revenue of Tesla corporation in 2008 was 15 mil. US$.

September 21, 2008: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley converted themselves from investment banks to bank holding companies to increase their protection by the Federal Reserve.

By 2008, both Nokia and BlackBerry announced touch-based smartphones to rival the iPhone 3G, and Android's focus eventually switched to just touchscreens. The first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, announced on September 23, 2008.

Linux's greatest success in the consumer market is perhaps the mobile device market, with Android being one of the most dominant operating systems on smartphones and very popular on tablets and, more recently, on wearables. Linux gaming is also on the rise with Valve showing its support for Linux and rolling out SteamOS, its own gaming-oriented Linux distribution. Linux distributions have also gained popularity with various local and national governments, such as the federal government of Brazil.

September 26, 2008: Washington Mutual went bankrupt after a bank run.

In October 2008, the media reported that Buffett had agreed to buy General Electric (GE) preferred stock.

In October 2008, Facebook announced that its international headquarters would locate in Dublin, Ireland.

In October 2008, one of Marie's foster parents saw a television report of a 63-year-old woman in Kirkland, Washington who had been raped in exactly the manner that Marie had described. The parent called Kirkland police, who abandoned the lead after calling Lynnwood police at least twice to be told that Marie's account was a lie.

On October 1, 2008, Netflix announced a partnership with Starz to bring 2,500+ new films and shows to "Watch Instantly", under Starz Play.

October 3, 2008: Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

League of Legends was formally announced on October 7, 2008.

After Huffman and Ohanian left Reddit, Erik Martin, who joined the company as a community manager in 2008 and later became general manager in 2011, played a role in Reddit's growth.

Since October 2008, Jolie has co-chaired Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a network of leading U.S. law firms that provide free legal aid to unaccompanied minors in immigration proceedings across the U.S.

On October 21, 2008 his autobiography The Way I Am was published. Detailing his struggles with poverty, drugs, fame, heartbreak, and depression, it includes stories of his rise to fame, commentary about past controversies and original lyric sheets from "Stan" and "The Real Slim Shady".

Reddit becomes open-source.

Jolie next took the lead role in Clint Eastwood's drama Changeling, released on 24 October 2008. Based in part on the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, the film centers on Christine Collins, who is reunited with her kidnapped son in 1928 Los Angeles, only to realize the boy is an imposter. Jolie received nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA Award, and an Academy Award for Best Actress.

In 2008, Kroger began a partnership with Murray's Cheese of New York City.

In November, Marvel Studios signed a lease with Raleigh Studios to host its headquarters and production offices and film the next four movies on the studios' slate, including Iron Man 2 and Thor, at their Manhattan Beach facilities.

On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain. Obama won 52.9% of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7%.

On November 4, 2008, Biden was elected Vice President of the United States as Obama's running mate.

He resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate upon being elected President of the United States.

The 2008 National Arts Medal was awarded to Stan Lee and presented in the East Room ceremony by President Bush in 2008. Lee was honored as one of America's most prolific storytellers "for his pioneering work, recreating the American comic books.

Following the reopening of the National Museum of American History on November 21, 2008, the flag is now on display in a special exhibition, "The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag That Inspired the National Anthem" where it rests at a 10 degree angle in dim light for conservation purposes.

November 25, 2008: The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility was announced.

In 2008, Buffett became the richest person in the world, with a total net worth estimated at $62 billion.

Nike sold Bauer Hockey in 2008.

In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind.

In January 2008, Marvel Animation was incorporated to direct Marvel's efforts in animation and home entertainment markets including then animation efforts with Lionsgate and Nickelodeon.

Biden declared his candidacy for president on January 31, 2007, after having discussed running for months prior. Biden made a formal announcement to Tim Russert on Meet the Press, stating he would "be the best Biden I can be." In January 2006, Delaware newspaper columnist Harry F. Themal wrote that Biden "occupies the sensible center of the Democratic Party." Thermal concludes that this is the position Biden desires and that in a campaign "he plans to stress the dangers to the security of the average American, not just from the terrorist threat, but from the lack of health assistance, crime, and energy dependence on unstable parts of the world."

Soon after the election, he was appointed the chairman of president-elect Obama's transition team. During the transition phase of the Obama administration, Biden said he was in daily meetings with Obama and that McCain was still his friend. The U.S. Secret Service codename given to Biden is "Celtic", referencing his Irish roots.

About 10 billion CPUs were manufactured in 2008.

In Lynnwood, Washington, an 18-year-old woman, referred to as "Marie", reported being bound, gagged and raped at knifepoint to police. Following police confrontation about inconsistencies in her story, she said that it might have been a dream and later said that she made the incident up.

Heartland Payment System a major credit card processor was attacked by a group responsible also for breaching TJX data, a data, an attack that also resulted in other credit card data large thefts. These international criminals were located in several countries. And eventually got caught and one of them was convicted Albert Gonzales was sentenced to 20 years after he confessed to the crime. Albert later withdrew his confession, he claimed that he was at secret services insider during the attack. 130M users lost their personal data. More than $100 million was reimbursed to Visa and Mastercard. The company spent around $140 million to deal with the massive Breach. It cost $3.5 million to settle with American Express, with legal fees amounting to at least $26 million. 130 million users lost their data.

In 2008, Google announced its "project 10100" which accepted ideas for how to help the community and then allowed Google users to vote on their favorites.

O'Neal played 33 games for the Miami Heat in the 2007–08 season prior to being traded to the Phoenix Suns. O'Neal started all 33 games and averaged 14.2 points per game. Following the trade to Phoenix, O'Neal averaged 12.9 ppg while starting all 28 games with the Suns.

On January 11, 2008, Bank of America announced that it would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion.

In January 2008, Houston, Texas declared 14 January as "Muhammad Yunus Day".

In January 2008, Bank of America began notifying some customers without payment problems that their interest rates were more than doubled, up to 28%. The bank was criticized for raising rates on customers in good standing, and for declining to explain why it had done so.

By 2008, Jolie was considered the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, earning $15–$20 million per film. While other actresses had been forced to take salary cuts in recent years, Jolie's perceived box office appeal allowed her to command as much as $20 million-plus a percentage.

The Phoenix Suns acquired O'Neal in February 2008 from the league-worst Miami Heat, who had a record at the time of the trade of 9-37, in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

On February 12, 2008, then Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia may target its missiles at Ukraine if its neighbour joins NATO and accepts the deployment of a US missile defence shield.Russia

O'Neal made his Suns debut on February 20, 2008, against his former Lakers team, scoring 15 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in the process. The Lakers won, 130–124. O'Neal was upbeat in a post-game press conference, stating: "I will take the blame for this loss because I wasn't in tune with the guys [...] But give me four or five days to really get in tune and I'll get it."

On February 25, 2008, Visa announced it would go ahead with an IPO of half its shares.

Pelosi was named Permanent Chair of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

The global financial crisis of 2007–08 led to public skepticism about the free market consensus even from some on the economic right. In March 2008, Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, announced the death of the dream of global free-market capitalism.

On March 5, 2008, Forbes ranked Slim as the world's second-richest person, behind Warren Buffett and ahead of Bill Gates.

On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 8, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

On March 6, 2008, Apple held a press event, announcing the iPhone SDK.

In March 2008, it was reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating Countrywide for possible fraud relating to home loans and mortgages.

In March 2008, a high-quality mode was added, which increased the resolution to 480×360 pixels.

Barbara retired as an Associate Circuit Judge in St. Louis County, Missouri, in March 2008.

March 17, 2008: The Federal Reserve guaranteed Bear Stearns' bad loans to facilitate its acquisition by JPMorgan Chase.

The IPO took place on March 18, 2008. Visa sold 406 million shares at US$44 per share ($2 above the high end of the expected $37–42 pricing range), raising US$17.9 billion in the largest initial public offering in U.S. history.

On March 20, 2008, the IPO underwriters (including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., Bank of America Securities LLC, Citi, HSBC, Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS Investment Bank and Wachovia Securities) exercised their overallotment option, purchasing an additional 40.6 million shares, bringing Visa's total IPO share count to 446.6 million, and bringing the total proceeds to US$19.1 billion.

On March 29, 2008, Johnson appeared to induct his father and grandfather Peter Maivia and Rocky Johnson into the WWE Hall of Fame.

One campaign that Nike began for Earth Day 2008 was a commercial that featured basketball star Steve Nash wearing Nike's Trash Talk Shoe, which had been constructed in February 2008 from pieces of leather and synthetic leather waste from factory floors. The Trash Talk Shoe also featured a sole composed of ground-up rubber from a shoe recycling program. Nike claims this is the first performance basketball shoe that has been created from manufacturing waste, but it only produced 5,000 pairs for sale.

On April 26, 2008, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined the company $280,000 for not alerting customers that the analog televisions it sold would not receive over-the-air stations after the digital transition on June 12, 2009.

In May 2008, a dozen jailed paramilitary leaders were extradited to the United States on drug-related charges.

LaSalle Bank and LaSalle Bank Midwest branches adopted the Bank of America name on May 5, 2008.

Because of the magnitude of the quake, and the media attention on China, foreign nations and organizations immediately responded to the disaster by offering condolences and assistance. On May 14, UNICEF reported that China formally requested the support of the international community to respond to the needs of affected families.

Jolie also voiced the DreamWorks animation Kung Fu Panda (2008), the first work in a major family franchise.

Rescue efforts performed by the Chinese government were praised by western media, especially in comparison with Myanmar's blockage of foreign aid during Cyclone Nargis, as well as China's previous performance during the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. China's openness during the media coverage of the Sichuan earthquake led a professor at Peking University to say, "This is the first time [that] the Chinese media has lived up to international standards". Los Angeles Times praised China's media coverage of the quake as being "democratic".

The Lakers defeated the Spurs in five games, sending themselves to the NBA Finals, against the Boston Celtics. This marked the fifth time in Bryant's career, and the first time without O'Neal, that he made the NBA Finals. The Lakers then lost to the Boston Celtics in six games.

On June 2, 2008, Ford sold its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors for $2.3 billion.

The iTunes Store quickly became the market leader in online music services, with over five billion downloads by June 19, 2008.

However, on June 22, 2008, O'Neal freestyled a diss rap about Bryant in a New York club. While rapping, O'Neal blamed Bryant for his divorce from his wife Shaunie and claims to have received a vasectomy, as part of a rhyme. He also taunted Bryant for not being able to win a championship without him. O'Neal led the audience to mockingly chant several times "Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes."

In 2008, IKEA paired up with the makers of video game The Sims 2 to make a stuff pack called IKEA Home Stuff, featuring many IKEA products. It was released on 24 June 2008 in North America and 26 June 2008 in Europe. It is the second stuff pack with a major brand, the first being The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff.

By 2008, the librarians of Congress had found replacements for all but 300 of the works that were in Jefferson's original collection.

Jolie starred alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the action film Wanted, released in June 2008, which proved an international success, earning $341.4 million worldwide.

Kevin turned down a role in the 2008 film Tropic Thunder because the character is gay, citing his own "insecurities".

On June 26, 2008, Senator Charles Schumer , a member of the Senate Banking Committee, chairman of Congress' Joint Economic Committee and the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, released several letters he had sent to regulators, which warned that, "The possible collapse of big mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc. poses significant financial risks to its borrowers and depositors, and regulators may not be ready to intervene to protect them." Some worried depositors began to withdraw money.

Gates retired from his role as Chief Software Architect on June 27, 2008, a decision announced in June 2006, while retaining other positions related to the company in addition to being an advisor for the company on key projects.

The Fiction Prize (now the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction) started in 2008 to recognize distinguished lifetime achievement in the writing of fiction.

Using privately raised funds, the Library of Congress reconstructed Thomas Jefferson's original library, which was placed on permanent display in the Jefferson building in 2008.

On July 2, 2008, Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama's campaign in Chicago.

On July 7, 2008, IndyMac announced on the company blog that it: Had failed to raise capital since its May 12, 2008 quarterly earnings report; Had been notified by bank and thrift regulators that IndyMac Bank was no longer deemed "well-capitalized". IndyMac: The first visible institution to run into trouble in the United States was the Southern California–based IndyMac, a spin-off of Countrywide Financial. Before its failure, IndyMac Bank was the largest savings and loan association in the Los Angeles market and the seventh largest mortgage originator in the United States.

The iOS App Store was opened on July 10, 2008, with an initial 500 applications available.

On July 11, 2008, citing liquidity concerns, the FDIC put IndyMac Bank into conservatorship.

July 11, 2008: IndyMac failed.

This news did not hinder the acquisition, which was completed in July 2008, giving the bank a substantial market share of the mortgage business, and access to Countrywide's resources for servicing mortgages.

A TiVo service update in July 2008 allowed the system to search and play YouTube videos.

A bridge bank, IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, was established to assume control of IndyMac Bank's assets, its secured liabilities, and its insured deposit accounts. The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) announced plans to open IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB on July 14, 2008.

Following the financial crisis in 2008 and after a series of escalating conflicts in 2007, Eberhard was ousted from the firm. Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008.

On July 20, 2008, Facebook introduced "Facebook Beta", a significant redesign of its user interface on selected networks. The Mini-Feed and Wall were consolidated, profiles were separated into tabbed sections, and an effort was made to create a cleaner look. Facebook began migrating users to the new version in September 2008.

A syndicated version entitled Trivial Pursuit: America Plays aired from 2008 to 2009 and hosted by Christopher Knight.

July 30, 2008: The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 was enacted.