1839
South African Thomas Henderson first measures the distance to a star (Alpha Centauri) other than the Sun.
1941
The CBS television network gives a demonstration of color television.
1958
In his State of the-Union address, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that, “In recognition of the need for single control in some of our most advanced development projects, the Secretary of Defense has already decided to concentrate into one organization all antimissile and satellite technology undertaken within the Department of Defense.” The announcement assigns the National Security Agency (NSA) the responsibility of directing and managing the electronics intelligence activities of the United States military. Visit the official NSA website.
1968
The Surveyor 7 space probe, the last of the American unmanned lunar exploration missions, makes a landing on the Moon, returning pictures.
1969
The supersonic Concorde passenger jetliner embarks on its first test flight from Bristol, England.
1979
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) introduces the IBM 3680 programmable store system.
1980
The Burroughs B6800 mainframe computer is released, replacing the previous B6700 model.
1983
The world’s first video game championship is held January 8 – 9 in Ottumwa, Iowa by Twin Galaxies, an organization founded by Walter Day to record video game world records. The championship is preceded by the world’s first video game themed parade. The parade consists of four horses, several Shriner motorcycles, a “kid wearing a cardboard Pac-Man cutout over his head”, a few flag-bearing contestants in the upcoming game championship, and a torch bearer. The competition will be won by Ben Gold, age 16, who scores 40,001,150 points on Star gate over the course of 35 hours, 50 minutes. Read more at the official Twin Galaxies website.
1986
Atari introduces the Atari 1040ST, which features 512KB or 1MB of Memory. Price: From US$999.95
1989
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Loud as a Whisper” first airs. (No. 205) In it, an ambassador who is deaf but empathic comes aboard to mediate peace talks, but the mission is complicated by an assassination attempt. Memory Alpha entry
1990
The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on a mission to retrieve the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), an unmanned satellite roughly the size of a school bus.
1991
Microsoft releases Microsoft Excel for Windows 3.0.
1992
At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Apple Computer chairman John Sculley coins the term “Personal Digital Assistant” (PDA), referring to the handheld computers that are typically operated with a stylus through a LCD display. Sculley coins the term while announcing that Apple will enter the consumer-electronics market by year’s end.
Nintendo of America lowers the suggested retail price of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) from US$199.95 to US$179.95 and the price of the Game Boy is lowered from US$89.95 to US$79.95.
1996
Apple Computer officially unveils the Newton 2.0 operating system.
Atari releases NBA Jam – Tournament Edition and Zoop for the Atari Jaguar.
1998
The Dimension website is hacked by “The Elite Klan of Dark Afro’s”. Visit an archived version of the deface website.
The Gladsaxe Kommune website is hacked by “Magica de Bin”. Visit an archived version of the deface website.
The T/R Systems website is hacked by “ViRtU3″. Visit an archived version of the deface website.
The Webbnet website is hacked by “Magica de Bin”. Visit an archived version of the deface website.
2001
At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple Computer CEO Steven Jobs unveils the Mac OS X operating system and the Titanium PowerBook G4 notebook, featuring a titanium case, a 15.2 inch, 8MB ATI Rage Mobility 128 graphics processor, a DVD drive, USB ports, FireWire ports, 128 or 256MB RAM, 10 or 20GB hard drive, and 400 or 500MHz G4 processor. Price: US$2599 – US$3,499
At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple Computer launches the iTunes media platform for the Macintosh. Visit the iTunes website.
Shenzhou 2, an unmanned Chinese spacecraft, is launched.
Yahoo! launches the Yahoo! Portal Builder 2.0.
2003
Ubisoft Entertainment releases the tactical shooter The Sum of All Fears for the Gamecube in the US. The game is based on the film of the same name, which is in turn based on the Tom Clancy novel. ESRB: T (Teen)
2004
At the behest of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG), an organization formed in 1993 by the governors of the G-10 central banks, Adobe incorporates code into Photoshop to prevent users from using the software to counterfeit any of several nations’ currency. The code allegedly prevents users from opening overly precise images of these nations’ bank notes, though details of what limitations the code imposes is secret. While Adobe isn’t the first company to incorporate such technologies, an Adobe spokesman claims the company is the largest.
2006
Nintendo releases the music game Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E (Everyone)
The Stargate Atlantis episode “Coup D’etat” first airs. (No. 217) In it, the team reluctantly assist Ladon Radim in overthrowing the Genii leader Cowen.
Take-Two Interactive acquires Irrational Games. Visit the official Take-Two website.
Yahoo! acquires Webjay, a customizable service for listening to music online.
2007
At the Macworld Conference & Expo, Steven Jobs announces Apple TV, a digital media receiver which will begin shipping on March 21 and the iPhone, a cellular phone which will go on sale in June 2007. The announcements receives a great deal of media attention. Visit the official iPhone website.
Version 0.1 of the Correo open source e-mail client is released for the Mac OS X. Visit the application’s official website.
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