1940
According to entries on page forty-eight of a cash payment ledger, William R. Hewlett is first paid his modest monthly salary of US$54 and David Packard his monthly salary of US$75 at their company, Hewlett-Packard (HP). Read more about the history of Hewlett-Packard.
1949
The half-hour anthology series Fireside Theater premieres on the NBC television network with the episode “Friend of the Family”. The series is the first successful television series to feature film episodes rather than live action, in the tradition of radio.
1954
Jonathan Cape publishes the spy thriller Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming as a hardcover. In it is the second installment in the James Bond series. Visit the official Ian Fleming website.
1982
The New York Times reports on the front page that the version of Microsoft BASIC incorporated into International Business Machines (IBM) personal computers contains a basic mathematical flaw caused by a bug in the floating-point math routine on the BASIC ROM chip. Dividing 0.1 by 10 returns in an incorrect answer.
1983
Honeywell introduces the MicroSystem 6/10 microcomputer, featuring Intel 8086 and LSI 6 processors, 128KB RAM, dual 5.25 inch disk drives, a display, a keyboard, I/O ports, and full compatibility with Honeywell’s DPS 6 line of mainframes. Price: US$4,000 – US$10,000
1988
Intel releases the 80960 microprocessor, also known as the i960. Visit the official i960 website.
1991
NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on a six day mission to deploy the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO). (STS-37)
1993
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Lessons” first airs. (No. 619) In it, Picard becomes romantically involved with a member of the Enterprise’s crew. Memory Alpha entry
1995
The Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks, known by its acronym, SATAN, is released to the Internet. SATAN is a network scanner for investigating the vulnerability of remote systems primarily written in Perl. Designed for use by network administrators, the program will soon become the heart of the controversy over the ethics of freely releasing powerful security tools to the general public. Particularly controversial is the fact that SATAN is the first truly user-friendly network scanner and easily operated by even novices. The tool was developed by Dan Farmer and Wietse Venema. Visit the official SATAN website.
Tradewest releases Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls for the Jaguar in North America.
1996
GT Interactive releases the game compilation William’s Arcade Classics for personal computers and the PlayStation. The compilation includes Bubbles, Defender, Defender II (a.k.a. Stargate), Joust, Robotron, and Sinistar.
Squaresoft releases the roleplaying game (RPG) Treasure of the Rudras for the Super Famicom in Japan.
St. Louis honor student Christopher Schanot, also known by the web handle “N00gz”, is indicted in Philadelphia at age 19 for computer fraud, illegal wiretapping, and unauthorized access to a number of corporate and government systems, including those of BELLCORE, Southwestern Bell, Sprint, and SRI.
1998
One cyclist is killed and another is injured near Marseilles, France when a twenty-seven year old female motorist crashes into them while distracted by the Tamagotchi electronic pet attached to her keychain. The collision creates a sensation in the media.
1999
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the 475MHz K6-2 processor. Visit the official AMD website. Price: US$213 in 1000-unit quantities
America Online (AOL) acquires When.com.
2000
America Online (AOL) releases unveils version 6 of the Netscape Navigator for personal computer. According to Jim Martin, general manager of the Netscape Netcenter, Netscape 6 is built around a base of 5.5 million bytes of code. Visit the official Netscape Navigator website.
FGNOnline publishes the results of a survey conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun news company. The survey focuses on sales trends among PlayStation 2 owner since the system’s release in Japan on March 4th. According to the survey, fifty-three percent of system owners purchased up to five DVDs for their system. Thirty percent of system owners rented up to five DVDs for their system. However, fifty-two percent of system owners reported that they use their new console primarily to play games.
Soda Creative Ltd releases the Soda Constructor physics engine for personal computers. Visit the official Soda Constructor website.
2001
Yahoo! teams up with the Duet music initiative in order to offer an online music subscription service. Visit the official Yahoo! Music website.
2004
The Andromeda episode “Lost in a Space that isn’t There?” first airs. (No. 416) In it, Dylan goes into Beka’s mind to remove the influence of the Abyss that has developed since the Magog attack in an earlier episode.
Microsoft releases the Windows Installer XML toolset (WiX) under a Common Public License. WiX builds Windows Installers from XML documents. Visit the official WiX website.
2005
Eidos Interactive and LucasArts release Lego Star Wars: The Video Game for personal computers, the Game Boy Advance, Playstations 2, and XBox in the US. ESRB: E (Everyone)
2006
Activision releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Quake 4 for the Mac. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
Apple Computer announces the release of Boot Camp, software that allows users to install and dual-boot Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista on Intel-based Macintosh computers. Visit the official Boot Camp website.
McAfee acquires SiteAdvisor, a download security service, for US$70 million. Visit the official SiteAdvisor.
2007
Koei releases Dynasty Warriors DS: Fighter’s Battle for the Nintendo DS in Japan.
Sega releases the pinball game Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball for the Virtual Console in Europe.
Ubisoft releases Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Wii in Australia and Europe. Visit the game’s official website. OFLC: M (Mature)
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