The Great Geek Manual

1875
Thomas A. Edison is issued a patent on a “Telegraph Apparatus” (No. 158,787).

1903
The first trans-atlantic radio message is sent from President Roosevelt to King Edward VII by way of the stations at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Poldhu, England. It is not generally known whether the message was relayed by ships on the Atlantic or whether it was received directly from Cape Cod in its complete form. A station even larger than the one at Poldhu was begun in 1905, at Clifden, Ireland, and in 1907 this plant and a twin station at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, were opened for limited commercial trans-Atlantic radio service.

1904
Thomas A. Edison is issued a patent for an “Electrical Automobile” (No. 750,102) designed with a driving motor that may be conveniently and effectively utilized for the purpose of charging the batteries. Thus a small steam engine, preferable of the turbine type, was connected to the armature of an electric motor. By reversing the rotation of the motor-armature, the electric motor converts to a generator for charging the batteries. A clutch then is used to disconnect the motor from the driving wheels during charging (or, the wheels could be jacked up during the charging operation). In usual operation, the motor ran from storage batteries to power the carriage.

1953
Sixty-eight percent of all United States television sets are tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.

1955
The first presidential news conference is filmed for TV by Eisenhower’s administration.

1983
Apple Computer officially unveils the Lisa computer, the first personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI). It features a 5 MHz 68000 microprocessor, 1 MB RAM, 2 MB ROM, 12-inch B/W monitor, 720×364 graphics, dual 5.25-inch 860 kB floppy drives, 5 MB Profile hard drive, and six integrated programs. It is slow, but innovative. Its initial price is US$9995. The Lisa computer cost Apple Computer US$50 million to develop. The software for it cost Apple Computer US$100 million to develop. “Lisa” is an acronym for Local Integrated Software Architecture.

Apple Computer introduces the Apple IIe. It features 64 kB RAM, Applesoft BASIC, upper/lower case keyboard, seven expansion slots, 40×24 and 80×24 text, 1 MHz 6502 processor, up to 560×192 graphics, 140 kB 5.25-inch floppy drive, Apple DOS 3.3, for US$1395.

1986
The first virus program for the IBM PC appears, called the Brain. It infects the boot sector of 360 kB floppy disks.

1993
IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992, the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history.

1994
Shipments of Windows to date surpasses forty million.

1995
Apple Computer announces it has shipped the millionth Power Macintosh computer or upgrade to date.

2000
Transmeta Corporation concludes four and a half years of secret research by announcing a new processor family, code-named Crusoe. Crusoe is marketed as the world’s first family of “smart” microprocessors. Designed to create a new category of mobile Internet-enabled computers, the chips are designed for a performance comparable to the mid-range Pentium II chips, while consuming only a fraction of the power. The first processor is the 700 MHz TM3120.

2001
In Bulgaria, hackers hit the presidential website. The hacker responsible deleted all official information and left a message signed with “Kabaka”.