1846
R.E. House of New York City“>New York City is granted a patent for the first telegraph ticker capable of printing messages as letters, rather than Morse code, at the rate of approximately fifty words per minute. (US No. 4,464)
1925
The first commercial transcontinental radio transmission of a radio facsimile in the United States is sent from San Francisco, California to New York City“>New York City. The facsimile is a photograph of Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures giving actress Marion Davies a make-up box.
1950
An Avro Canada jetliner becomes the first international jet passenger flight to arrive in the United States, traveling from Malton Airport in Toronto, Canada to the International Airport in New York City. The flight caries three crew members, three passengers, and fifteen thousand airmail letters. The flight lasts one hour and travels a distance of 359 miles.
1955
Albert Einstein dies of heart disease while asleep in a Princeton, New Jersey hospital bed, at 1:15am, just a month after his 76th birthday. Princeton’s newspaper, The Daily Princetonian breaks the news, publishing a special edition just hours after his death. Read an archived version of the headline obituary at The Daily Princetonian archives.
1983
Osborne Computer introduces The Osborne Executive portable computer, featuring a 4MHz Z80A, 128KB RAM, a 7-inch amber monitor, a detachable keyboard, two 204KB 5.25-inch disk drives, two serial ports, and one parallel port. The system comes bundled with a range of software, including: CBASIC, CP/M Plus, MBASIC, Personal Pearl, Supercalc, UCSD p-System, and Wordstar. Read more at the Computer Museum. Price: US$2,495 Weight: 28 pounds
Osborne Computer introduces The Osborne Executive II portable computer. The system is nearly identical to the original Osborne Executive, with the addition a co-processor board with a 4MHz Intel 8088 processor running either the CP/M-86 or MS-DOS operating system. Price: US$3,195
1986
International Business Machines (IBM) becomes the first computer manufacturer to use a processor capable of storing a million bits of information. The chip is first released with the IBM 3090. The achievement is heralded as a victory for American computer makers, whose work has been perceived as having fallen behind that of the Japan’s electronics industry. Visit the official IBM website.
Universal Studios releases the fantasy film Legend , directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, and Billy Barty, to 1,187 US theaters. Produced on a budget of US$30 million, it will gross US$4,261,154 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 1 hr 54 mins
1988
Dell announces its first personal computer (PC) using IBM’s Micro Channel 32-bit data bus.
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Symbiosis” first airs. (No. 122) In it, the Enterprise mediates talks between two civilizations occupying neighboring planets. One is plagued by a hereditary condition, while the other manufactures its “cure”. Memory Alpha entry
1989
Quarterdeck Office Systems is granted a US patent for “An Improved Display System and Memory Architecture and Method for Displaying Images in Windows on a Video Display”. The technology allows multiple MS-DOS programs to run simultaneously in separate windows.
1991
The WordPerfect Corporation releases what will be the final version of WordPerfect for the Atari ST home computer.
1994
Nintendo releases the platform game Super Metroid for the Super NES in North America. It is the third game in the Metroid series. ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults)
2000
The Japanese Trade Ministry announces that simplified international exportation policies for the Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) PlayStation 2 video game system. Upon closer review, the ministry found that the game console is a general-purpose consumer product that doesn’t pose a significant risk of military use. Visit the official website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Toshiba publicly announces plans to build a new computer chip manufacturing facility in Oita, Japan at a cost of one hundred billion yen (US$955 million). The monthly capacity of the Large-Scale Integration (LSI) plant will be thirty-five thousand sheets of silicon wafer measuring eight-inches in diameter. Visit the official Toshiba website.
2002
Microsoft announces a reduction in the price of the Xbox video game system in the United Kingdom from £299 to £199.99, beginning April 26. Visit the official Xbox website.
Working Designs releases the tactical roleplaying game Arc the Lad for the PlayStation in the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
2003
The Cosmi Corporation releases the racing game Kar Racing for Windows. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E (Everyone)
Intel halts the release of the new 800MT/s Front Side Bus variants of the 2.4 to 3.0GHz Pentium 4 processors due to an anomaly.
2005
Adobe Systems announces an agreement to acquire its principal rival Macromedia in a stock swap worth approximately US$3.4 billion. Visit the official Adobe website.
A group of fans of the Mad Max films are arrested along US Interstate 35 in Central Texas for threatening a tanker truck from their vehicles with fake machine guns. At the time, the fans are traveling in a convoy on the way to a Mad Max film festival in San Antonio, Texas. Read more at RedOrbit News.
Midway Games releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict for the XBox. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
Physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory announce the creation a newly discovered state of matter has resulted from smashing atoms in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The new state behaves like a hot, dense liquid composed of basic atomic particles such as quarks and gluons, rather than like a gas, as expected. Researchers theorize that all of the matter in the universe was held in this liquid state for a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. Read more at the official Brookhaven National Lab website.
Version 2.1.0 of the R programming language is released. Visit the official R Project website.
2006
Aspyr Media releases Dreamfall: The Longest Journey for the Xbox in the US. It is the sequel to the 2000 game The Longest Journey. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
Microsoft announces that by the end of 2006, it plans to be producing and shipping one million units of the Xbox 360 video game systems per month. Visit the official Xbox 360 website.
The Phantom of the Opera becomes the first film released on HD DVD with a TrueHD soundtrack. Dolby’s TrueHD is a lossless multi-channel audio codec for high-definition home-entertainment equipment. Visit the official TrueHD website.
SNK Playmore releases the versus fighting game The King of Fighters Neowave for the Xbox in the US. It is the eleventh game in The King of Fighters series. ESRB: T (Teen)
Square Enix releases Final Fantasy XI for the Xbox 360 in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
Summitsoft Entertainment releases the flight simulator Blades of Thunder 2 for the Nintendo DS in North America. ESRB: E10+ (Everyone)
Toshiba launches the HD DVD high definition video disc format in the United States with the release of the first HD DVD players, the Toshiba HD-A1 and Toshiba HD-XA1. Both players will be sold out within days of their release. The HD-A1 will later be rebranded by RCA and sold as the HDV-5000. Only six HD DVD film titles are available for the launch. Visit the official website of the HD-A1 and the HD-XA1.
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