1892
Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
1898
The United States Patent Office issues a patent for the diesel internal combustion engine to inventor was Rudolf Diesel. (US No. 608,845)
1945
The US bomber Bock’s Car drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, destroying a third of the city and killing 40,000 people, according to US estimates. Japan’s government surrenders five days later.
1973
The USSR launches the Mars 7 space probe on a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster rocket. The Mars 7 spacecraft consists of a flyby bus and a descent module intended separate to study the atmosphere and the Martian surface. It will reach Mars on March 9, 1974. However, an equipment malfunction most likely caused by a faulty computer chip will result in the premature separation of the lander. Released four hours too early, the lander will miss the planet by 1,300km.
1982
Release 22 of Infocom‘s interactive fiction game Deadline becomes available for personal computers. Written by Marc Blank, it was one of the first murder mystery interactive fiction games.
1985
Touchstone Pictures releases the sci-fi comedy film My Science Project, directed by Jonathan R. Betuel and starring John Stockwell, Danielle von Zerneck, Dennis Hopper, Richard Masur, and Barry Corbin, to 1,003 US theaters. In the film, Michael and Ellie break into a military junkyard to find a science project for Michael’s class, and discover a strange glowing orb which absorbs electricity. When the orb begins to blend past, present, and future, its up to Michael and Ellie to stop the orb and save mankind. The film will gross US$1,504,118 domestically in it opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
1990
The Gen Con Game Fair is held August 9 – 12 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center & Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1991
IGS releases the platform game Armadillo for the Famicom in Japan.
Mustang Software’s Co-Founder and President, Jim Harrer posts an angry response denying a Usenet rumor that Wildcat! BBS Software contains a backdoor that allows remote sysop privileges.
1992
Midway Amusement Games releases Version 1.0 of Mortal Kombat to arcades in the US.
1995
Coconuts Japan releases the sports game Space Squash for the Nintendo Virtual Boy.
Netscape Communications Corp. goes public after generating revenues of US$16.6 million of the course of the past year. Five million shares are offered: 4,250,000 of the shares are offered within North America on the NASDAQ and 750,000 shares are offered internationally. Before trading, shares are priced at US$28. The stock opens at US$71, reaching a high of US$74.75 before closing at US$58 at the end of the day. The company’s value becomes US$2.2 million. This is the best opening day for a stock in Wall Street history for an issue of its size. Netscape becomes 3rd largest NASDAQ IPO offering ever. Netscape was co-founded by Marc Andreessen the developer of the MOSAIC web browser while a student at the University of Illinois.
1997
Virgin Interactive releases the hybrid horror puzzle game The 11th Hour for the Mac. It is the sequel to the 1992 horror puzzle game The 7th Guest. BBFC: 18 ESRB: M (Mature)
1999
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) introduces the Athlon processor, formerly code-named K7. The processor features Enhanced 3DNow! technology. Price: US$849 (650MHz), US$615 (600MHz), US$449 (550MHz), US$249 (500MHz)
Sega of America announces the beginning a US$100 million marketing campaign to promote the Dreamcast video game system, which will feature an extensive television advertising campaign.
Yahoo launches Yahoo! Greetings.
2000
Version 2.62.1 of the RemoteAccess bulletin board system is released.
2001
The Iomega Corporation announces job cuts and a plan to restructure amidst declining interest in its Jaz and Zip product lines while CDRW technology saturates the market with lower cost models.
The National Science Foundation announces its intentions to invest US$53 million to construct the Distributed Terascale Facility, the most powerful super computer ever developed. It will be used by four research centers based in the United States on projects including molecular modeling, disease detection, drug development, and climate simulations. It is expected to be capable of making 13.6 trillion calculations per second and will have 600 terabytes of data storage when it is completed in 2002.
Sega releases the action game Alien Front Online for the Sega Dreamcast. ESRB: T (Teen)
United States President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.
2002
Capcom releases the platform game Disney’s Magical Quest for the Game Boy Advance in Japan.
The Stargate SG-1 episode “Allegiance” first airs. (No. 609) In it, the Jaffa rebellion, the Tok’ra, and SGC are temporarily forced to share Earth’s Alpha Site when the Tok’ra are attacked. Suspicion between the Tok’ra and the Jaffa turns to hostility when a series of murders occur. GateWorld entry
Ubisoft Entertainment releases The Sum of All Fears for the personal computer in Europe. The game is based on the film of the same title. ESRB: E (Everyone)
2005
At 12:12UTC, the Space Shuttle Discovery lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California. (STS-114)
EA Sports releases Madden NFL 06 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox and in the US. ESRB: E (Everyone)
The popular Harry Potter fansite MuggleNet launches its own podcast, “MuggleCast,” along with its own line of clothing, memorabilia, and toys. Visit the official MuggleCast website.
Majesco releases the third-person action game Advent Rising for Windows. The game’s overall story was created by Donald and Geremy Mustard. The dialogue and screenplay, however, was written by Orson Scott Card and Cameron Dayton. Card’s influences are noticeable in the terminology which has been carried over from Ender’s Game. The terms “vids,” “Buggers,” and “ansible” are all references from his critically acclaimed novels (though the term ansible was coined by Ursula K. Le Guin, and was not actually added to the script by Card himself, but by Donald Mustard. ESRB: T (Teen) PEGI: 12+
2006
Microsoft releases the first limited demo of Flight Simulator X to the public, putting it up for download on the game’s official website. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E (Everyone)
To commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Marvel releases the first issue of a new comic series, Spider-Man Family: Amazing Friends, based on the television series. While the comic’s storyline isn’t in continuity with the cartoon, it is filled with various in-jokes to aspects of the show, such as Firestar believing Wolverine to be Australian, a reference to an erroneous voice characterization for Wolverine in the episode “A Firestar Is Born” and the fact that the actor who played Wolverine in the X-Men movie, Hugh Jackman, is Australian. This comic marks the first appearance of the show’s most frequently recurring villain, Videoman, in the Marvel Comics continuity.
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