It's a sad day for the technology world begins a piece from N-Gadget as Microsoft co-founder Paul

Allen has died due to complications from non-Hodchkin's lymphoma.

To sum up Allen's life would be difficult. His name may not be as big as jobs or

Wozniac or Gates or even Balmer. Though his influence is massive,

starting with co-founding Microsoft with Gates in 1975.

But that was really just the beginning.

Quoting Engaggett, he was an inventor with 43 U.S. patents under his name and was one of the technology world's most prominent investors.

He single-handedly backed Spaceship 1, founded the Space Transport Company Strato Launch Systems and started Vulcan Aerospace

to make space travel more accessible. He has acquired controlling stakes in Cable Giant Charter

and Ticketmaster, and his Vulcan capital team has invested in numerous startups.

He has also had an effect well beyond the usual technology sphere.

He founded Allen Institutes for

Artificial Intelligence, Brain Science, and Cell Science to advance

computing and medicine, and the Paul G. Allen Frontiers group has backed cutting-edge bioscience concepts.

Exploration has been a major focus, including the funding of CEDI's alien telescope array and Multiple Shipwreck Recovery Missions.

He has backed environmental and anti-Ebola initiatives,

and of course, Allen's cultural footprint looms large.

He owned the Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle Seahawks, partly owned the Seattle Sounders, and established the Museum of Pop Culture, among other feats.

Now I never met Paul Allen, but in a way we have Allen to thank for this show. He bought ZD TV in late 1999. When he did, ZDTV Radio expanded its programming,

which meant they needed another guy,

which meant I got to work for ZD TV Radio.

Well, I had written, Tech News, I never presented it on air. It was that

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