The Great Geek Manual

1346
A cannon is first used during a battle in France, using a round ball carved from rock. Edward III of England reportedly uses twenty-two cannons during to defeat of Philip VI of France at Crécy. These cannons, with no more power than a trebuchet, were incapable of bring down the walls by themselves. Their primary purpose is psychological. The flash and noise of them make it impossible for the French to forget that their lives are in danger. Their effect will be recorded in a well known manuscript, Froissart’s Chroniques of the battle of Crécy. “The English fired of some cannons which they had brought to the battle to frighten the Genoese.” However, despite the extensive use of cannons, the battle’s victory will be attributed to the longbowmen.

1843
The first US typewriter design is patented by Charles Thurber of Norwich, Connecticut. (US No. 3,228) The patent is described as a “machine for printing by hand by pressing upon keys which contain the type, called ‘Thurber’s Patent Printer.’” Thurber is the first to design a mechanism which places the paper on a roller and move it longitudinally with accurate letter and word spacing.

1858
News is dispatched via telegraph for the first time in history. The news is a story concerning China’s agreement to the peace demands of Europe, and it is sent to The New York Sun, which will print the story the next day.

1884
The first US patent for the Linotype typesetting machine is issued to Ottmar Mergenthaler of Baltimore, Maryland. (US No. 304,272) The patent is for a “matrix making machine.” It will first be used commercially on July 3, 1886.

1902
Conrad Hubert receives a patent for the first flashlight with an on/off switch in a cylindrical case. (US No. 737,107)

1909
An nearly perfectly preserved Cro-Magnon skeleton is discovered by Swiss paleontologist Otto Hauser. Estimated to be thirty-four thousand years old, the remains provide an excellent example of man’s development.

1913
Eugene Augustin Lauste gives a public demonstration of his Photocinematophone sound-on-film system in London, England.

1926
Warner Bros. premieres Don Juan, directed by Alan Crosland and starring John Barrymore. It uses the Vitaphone sound system for synchronous music and sound effects. The film’s music track, made by British-born George Groves with the 107-member New York Philharmonic Orchestra at the Manhattan Opera House in New York, pioneered a six-microphone technique which represents a significant improvement in the film’s sound balance.

1930
Philo Farnsworth is finally granted a patent for his electronic television system, which he applied for in 1927 after being repeatedly delayed by RCA legal action.

1936
John Logie Baird’s 240-line mechanical and EMI’s 405-line electronic systems are used on alternate days for two one-hour periods to transmit experimental high definition television transmissions for the Radiolympia Exhibition in London through September 5th.

1938
A tape recorder is used to broadcast a radio program for the first time in the United States. The recorder is a sapphire stylus engraved Millertape, invented by James Arthur Miller of the Miller Broadcasting Company. A one thousand foot section of the device’s tape carries a fifteen minute program, which can be edited only by physically cutting the tape. This first program using this sound tape is transmitted by WQXR, the Interstate Broadcasting Company, in New York City from 6:30pm to 7pm.

1978
Dr. Sigmund Jähn becomes the first German cosmonaut when the Soyuz 31 spacecraft is launched on a mission to the Salyut 6 space station.

1984
Judith Martin, who writes a syndicated column about personal etiquette under the pen name Miss Manners responds to a question concerning the use of a computer for the first time. In the column, a reader writes in to ask whether its appropriate to use a word processor to type out personal correspondence. Miss Manners replies that it’s inappropriate, that envelops addressed using dot-matrix printers may be mistaken for sweepstakes entries, and that, if friends find out that portions of personal correspondence have been copied-and-pasted, it would cause further difficulties.

1991
The original “pilot episode” of the long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who, “An Unearthly Child,” is aired for the first time on the BBC. Though the series first premiered on November 23, 1963, the pilot was so riddled with small technical issues, it had to be entirely re-shot. As the series grew in popularity, its “unaired pilot” became the stuff of legends, the holy grail for hardcore fans, though, because it wasn’t British practice to shoot pilots the term is incorrect.

1997
The Crystal Space framework is first publicly released. It is a framework for developing 3D applications written in C++ by Jorrit Tyberghein as free software, licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License. It is popularly used as a game engine, but is general enough to be used for other applications. Visit the software’s official website.

1998
Be Inc. releases Release 3.2 of the BeOS operating system for Intel-compatible processor-based personal computers. Updated features include more support for Pentium and PowerPC processors, improved DOS and Window file format support, faster animation, and an improved Web browser. Visit Be’s official website.

Gateway introduces the Gateway Destination computer, featuring a 333MHz Celeron processor, a twenty-seven inch television monitor, a DVD drive, and a 2GB hard drive. Price: US$1,999

Gateway introduces the Gateway Destination computer, featuring a 450MHz Pentium II processor, a thirty-six inch television monitor, surround sound speakers, and a 2GB hard drive. Price: US$4,999

The Win95.CIH virus strikes hundreds of computers, as many as five hundred in one company alone. The bug, programmed to attack on the twenty-sixth of every month, exploits a vulnerability of Windows 95 and Windows 98 and often deletes files which cause systems to crash.

1999
Version 1.4.1 of the NetBSD operating system is released.

Version 2.2.12 of the Linux operating system is released.

2002
The Caldera International software company announces that it is changing its name to The SCO Group to reflect it’s change in focus from the development of server software to UNIX.

Intel releases the 2.5GHz and 2.6GHz Pentium 4 processor, with 400 MHz front-side bus. Price is US$243 / US$401 in quantities of 1000

Intel releases the 2.66GHz and 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor, with 533MHz front-side bus. Price is US$401 / US$508 in quantities of 1000

TeamSpeak Systems first releases TeamSpeak, a proprietary voice over IP (VOIP) application that allows users to speak with other users through a chat channel, much like a telephone conference call. The application targets gamers, who can use the software to communicate with their teammates in multiplayer games, especially in MMORPG games. Communicating with Team Speak gives teams a competitive advantage by allowing players to keep their hands on the mouse and keyboards while playing. Visit the game’s official website.

In the US, Microsoft begins offering a full-cost US$30 rebate on a DVD playback kit when purchased with a new Xbox. The offer ends November 2.

2003
Buena Vista Interactive releases the first person shooter TRON 2.0 for Windows in the US. The game is a sequel to the 1982 film Tron. The game is set “inside” a computer in the same sense as the original movie. It makes somewhat dubious use of computing conventions. For instance, at one point, players battle viruses while fleeing a format, and at another point, they wield a sniper rifle known as the LOL. Bruce Boxleitner reprises his role from the original movie as Alan Bradley. Cindy Morgan, who also starred in the original movie, voices the new character, Ma3a. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos provides the voice of Mercury. ESRB: T (Teen)

The California Supreme Court rules that prohibiting the dissemination of DVD descrambling code (DeCSS) online via an injunction does not infringe on the First Amendment right to free speech. The Electronic Frontier Foundation claims that DeCSS is not a trade secret, as claimed by the lawsuit, because it is already available to the public on thousands of neckties, t-shirts, and websites. Read the ruling online.

Version 2 (v1.4.2_01) of the Java programming language is released by Sun Microsystems. Visit the official Java website.

2004
A portion of Half-Life 2 is released for pre-load through the Steam content delivery system. It allows customers to download the encrypted game files to their computer before the game is officially released. When the game is released, customers will be able to pay for the game through Steam, unlock the files on their hard drives and play the game immediately without having to wait for the entire game to download. The pre-load will be available for several weeks and several subsequent portions of the game being will be made available, to ensure that all customers have a chance to download the content before the game is released.

2005
Farid Essebar, age 18, of Morocco is arrested by local authorities at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegedly creating and releasing the Zotob Worm on commission for Atilla Ekici of Turkey, who is also arrested. On September 16, 2006, Essabar and his friend Achraf Bahloul will be sentenced in Morocco to two years in prison on charges of charges of conspiracy, theft, using forged credit cards, and illegal access to computers. On December 15, 2006 their sentences will be reduced to one year. The worm effected systems running Windows 2000, including those of ABC News, Boeing, Caterpillar, CNN, the New York Times, and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Because Zotob struck so many large media outlets, it received a disproportionately amount of news coverage, and Microsoft subsequently offered a quarter of a million dollar reward for the capture of the hackers responsible. The arrests of Essebar and Ekici comes just two weeks after the announcement of the reward.

US Scientists publish new data in the journal Science that supports the theory that the Earth’s core is spinning at a different speed than the outer crust. The data comes from a comparison of seismic waves produced by pairs of earthquakes occurring at the same location on the planet at different times. The results show that the inner core is rotating faster than the rest of the planet by about 0.009 seconds per year. Visit the journal’s official website.

2008
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announces in his Twitter feed that Facebook has achieved 100 million active users. Visit the official Facebook website.