The Great Geek Manual

1850
The Harvard Observatory photographs a star for the first time in history. The star is Vega in the constellation Lyra. Visit the official Harvard Observatory website.

1899
The NEC Corporation (the Nippon Electric Company, Limited) is reorganized as a joint-stock company, becoming the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital, which was provided by Western Electric. Visit the official NEC website.

1955
Arco, Idaho becomes the first town in the world to be run entirely on nuclear power during a one hour test performed by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

1970
Ralph Baer demonstrates the television-based video game system he invented to electronics manufacturer Magnavox. Magnavox’s Bill Enders negotiates an exclusive license to manufacture the system and sub-license Sanders Associates’ related patents.

1975
Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 successfully dock, and crew member of the two shuttles shake hands in space, marking the first orbital docking of the spacecraft of two nations. Read NASA’s history of the Apollo-Soyuz project.

1984
Soyuz T-12 carries three cosmonauts to the Salyut 7 space station.

1989
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Shades of Gray” first airs. (No. 222) In it, Riker is struck by the thorn of a vine which carries a lethal virus. In order to save his life, Pulaski stimulates Rikers neurons, triggering a long series of memories of his service aboard the Enterprise. Memory Alpha entry

1992
Walt Disney Pictures releases the science fiction comedy Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, directed by Randal Kleiser and starring Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Keri Russell, John Shea, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Oliveri, to 2,311 US theaters. The film is the sequel to the 1989 blockbuster Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In it, inventor Wayne Szalinski struggles to put his invention, the shrinking ray, to a new use – enlarging objects. After being fired from his job, his two year-old Adam is accidentally exposed to the experimental beam in Wayne’s laboratory. Soon after, Adam begins to grow in spurts, taller and taller, until he towers over building. It will gross US$11,083,318 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDb profile (MPAA Rating: PG) Running Time: 1 hr 29 mins

1995
The Nasdaq Composite index closes above the 1,000 mark for the first time ever.

1998
Two hundred fifty-two websites are hacked by the members of the “txe” hacking group, “toxic, edge & syx”. View an archived version of page left in place of the hacked websites.

2000
The Brazilian website of New Center Informatica S/C Ltda is hacked by “Anti-Zoncked”. The website is hosted on a server running Windows NT. View an archived version of the defaced website.

2002
At the Macworld Expo, Apple Computer introduces a new iMac computer featuring a seventeen-inch flat panel display, a 800MHz PowerPC G4 processor, a 80GB hard drive, 256MB SDRAM, Nvidia GeForce4 MX graphics, a SuperDrive, speakers, 56Kbps modem, and 10/100 Base-T Ethernet. Price: US$1,999

At the Macworld Expo, Apple Computer introduces a 20GB iPod and PC compatible versions of the iPod, which will use MusicMatch rather than iTunes but still require FireWire ports. The company also announces new, reduced prices for its iPods. The price of the 5GB model will be reduced to US$299, the price of the 10GB model will be reduced to US$399, and the price of the 20GB model will be reduced to US$499. The company also announced the the 10GB and 20GB models will now feature touch-sensitive Scroll Wheels rather than the actual moving wheel they previous featured.

Warner Bros. Pictures releases the science fiction comedy Eight Legged Freaks, directed by Ellory Elkayem and starring David Arquette, Kari Wührer, Scarlett Johansson, and Doug E. Doug, to 2,530 US theaters. In it, nuclear waste causes spider to grow a gigantic size, then go on a rampage. Produced on a budget of US$30 million, it will gross US$6,485,458 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDb profileIMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 1 hr 39 mins

2003
LucasArts releases Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for the Xbox in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)

2004
Two days before Apple’s official release, the first photograph of the forthcoming fourth-generation iPod is posted on the Internet. The photo was leaked by Newsweek magazine.

2005
Apple’s iTunes Music Store sells its five hundred millionth song to Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana. The song is “Mississippi Girl” by Faith Hill.

2007
The final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is leaked to the internet as a bittorrent file despite the extraordinary measures taken by the publisher to keep the book secret until its global release. The files, which are initially released through Demonoid, include an individual, hand-photographed shot of each page in the book. The torrent becomes immensely popular, garnering over a thousand seeders and another thousand leechers within minutes of its release.