1843
The first iron hulled, propeller driven steamship, the SS Great Britain, is launched
1912
A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg explodes over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona causing approximately sixteen thousand pieces of debris to rain down on the town.
1950
NASA attempts the first rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. The rocket is a German V-2 with a 320kg Army-JPL Wac Corporal sounding rocket. Launch is scrubbed first due to the emergency landing of an aircraft in the range. The second attempt is scrubbed when the rocket’s main chamber doesn’t ignite.
1961
Trans World Airlines (TWA) begins regularly showing in-flight movies in the first-class section of its New York-Los Angeles flights. Read more about the history of TWA.
1969
NASA shuttle Apollo 11 enters lunar orbit.
1982
The British government formally announces its intention to privatize British Telecom (BT) with the sale of up fifty-one percent of the company’s shares to private investors.
1985
IBM president of entry systems, William Lowe, announces that the rumors of an upcoming PC II are untrue.
IBM announces that some PC AT computers shipped since the beginning of the year include a faulty Texas Instruments chip, affecting about ten percent of shipments. Circuit boards with the flawed chip will be replaced for free.
Universal Pictures re-releases the science fiction film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote to US theaters. The film was initially released three years earlier, on June 11, 1982. Produced on a budget of US$10.5 million, the film grosses another US$8.8 million within the first three days of its re-release. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 1 hr 57 mins
1988
IBM ships version 4.00 of the PC-DOS operating system featuring a shell menu interface and support for hard disk partitions over 32MB. PC-DOC is one of three major operating systems that dominate the microcomputer market.
Nintendo releases a port of the 1982 arcade classic Donkey Kong Junior for the Famicom Disk System in Japan.
1991
Squaresoft releases the role-playing game Final Fantasy IV in Japan, the first Final Fantasy game for the Super Famicom (released in November as Final Fantasy II in North America).
1996
Enix releases Star Ocean for the Super Famicom in Japan. It is also the first game that was developed by tri-Ace.
Universal Pictures releases the comedic fantasy film The Frighteners, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace-Stone, Jake Busey, and Chi McBride, to 1,669 US theaters. The film follows Frank Bannister, who develops psychic abilities which allow him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts after a car accident that kills his wife. He gives up his job as an architect and put his new abilities to use getting ghosts to haunt houses in the area to drum up work for his ghostbusting business. When he discovers that an entity resembling the Grim Reaper is killing people, though, Bannister rushes to the rescue. Despite numerous attempts by Peter Jackson to achieve a PG-13 rating, the MPAA granted The Frighteners an R-Rating for terror violence. The MPAA was particularly perplexed by the film’s shift in tone from wild comedy to gory thriller. Jackson felt the decision was unfair, as he always intended the film to be a PG-13. Because of the rating, the film lost much of its potential audience. The film will gross US$5,565,495 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 1 hr 50 mins
1997
The first annual JagFest, a convention celebrating the Atari Jaguar, is held in Rosemont, Illinois from nine in the morning to nearly midnight. Attendees play working demonstrations of 4Play’s BattleSphere. At the event, Visual Dimensions 3D announces plans to develop new games for Jaguar and the handheld Atari Lynx. Fard Muhammad debuts an animation to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Atari. About forty people attended the event.
1998
The made-for-television movie Babylon 5: Thirdspace first airs on the Turner Network Television (TNT) cable network, during the run of season 5 of the television series. The movie is, according to author J. Michael Straczynski, inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, most notably, “The Call of Cthulhu.” In the movie, the crew of Babylon 5 discover an enormous Vorlon artifact in hyperspace. When the artifact comes under the scrutiny of a team of xenoarchaeologists, many of the station’s inhabitants begin to experience disturbing dreams and are ultimately compelled by the device to open a gate into third space, where a malicious race awaits them. IMDB listing Running time: 1 hr 34 mins
The television series The Net premieres on the USA Network in the US with the episode “Deleted”. The series, which will run for one season of twenty-two one-hour episodes, is based on the 1995 film The Net, which starred Sandra Bullock. The series retells and expands upon the plot of the film. TV.com summary“>TV.com entry
1999
Iwerks Entertainment and Infogrames jointly announced a long-term agreement “to develop and distribute ride simulation, theme park attractions and Large Format films based on popular Infogrames titles.” The first project will be a 3D simulation film based on Independence War.
Palm Computing introduces the Palm IIIe handheld computer, featuring 2MB RAM, Palm OS 3.1, and a reverse backlit LCD touchscreen. Price is US$229 Weight: 5.8 ounces
Panja introduces Panja 1000 Entertainment Gateway to give consumers random access to Internet audio and video for stereos, televisions, and video recorders through a Panja/Cisco cable modem.
2000
At the Macworld Expo show in New York, Steve Jobs introduces a G4 with dual processors, a miniaturized PowerMac, a new mouse, and a new line of iMacs in new colors, including sage and snow. The company
Apple Computer introduces the Apple Pro Mouse, with no buttons, and an elliptical shape.
Apple Computer introduces a new low-cost iMac computer to be shipped in September, featuring a 350 MHz processor, 64MB RAM, 7.5GB hard drive, CD-ROM drive, and an indigo blue case. This model does not feature FireWire support. Price: US$799
Apple Computer introduces the iMac DV computer, featuring a 400MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 64MB RAM, a FireWire connector, iMovie2 software, AirPort wireless networking support, and either an indigo or ruby colored case. Price: US$999
Apple Computer introduces the iMac DV plus computer featuring a 450MHz PowerPC G3 processor, a FireWire connector, 64MB RAM, 20GB hard drive, DVD-ROM drive, iMovie2 software, AirPort wireless networking support, and either an indigo, ruby, or sage colored case. Price: US$1,299
Apple Computer introduces the iMac DV Special Edition computer, featuring a 500 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, a FireWire connector, 128MB RAM, a 30GB hard drive, the iMovie2 software, AirPort wireless networking support, and either a graphite or snow colored case. Price: US$1,499
Apple Computer introduces the PowerMac G4 Cube, featuring either a 450 MHz or 500 MHz PowerPC G4 processor with Velocity Engine, 64MB RAM, a 20GB hard drive, a DVD drive, two FireWire ports, two USB ports, a 10/100Base-T Ethernet card, and a 56 kbps v.90 modem. The unit is enclosed in an eight inch transparent case designed to eliminate the need for a cooling fan. It takes up about a quarter of the space of most personal computers. The G4 is the first personal computer line to ship with standard dual processors, and is reportedly capable of reaching speeds over three billion calculations per second. Price: US$1,799 or US$2,299 (500MHz)
Apple Computer releases iMovie 2 for the Mac OS 8.6 and Mac OS X.
The Brazilian website of AllVisions Prod. em Video Ltda is hacked by “Over-Kill”. The website is hosted on a server running Windows NT. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Centro de Tecnologia (UNICAMP) is hacked by “Insanity ZC”. The website is hosted on a server running Windows NT. View an archived version of the defaced website.
Sun Microsystems announces that it will be making the source code of StarOffice available for download under both the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) and the Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL) with the intention of building an open source development community centered around the software. The new project is known as OpenOffice.org, and its website will go live on October 13, 2000. Visit the software’s official website.
2001
In Japan, Sony releases the PS2 Hard Disk Drive for the PlayStation 2. Price: US$150 external, US$145 internal
Namco releases the platform game Klonoa: Empire of Dreams for the Game Boy Advance in Japan.
Square releases the roleplaying game (RPG) Final Fantasy X for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. It is the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy video game series. It is also the first Final Fantasy game to use voice acting. The game reportedly cost US$35 million to develop.
A worm dubbed Code Red wreaks havoc among Internet web servers nearly a week after being first observed on July 13th. The worm was named after the popular Cherry flavored Mountain Dew soda flavor. The worm, which spreads via email, is programmed to lie dormant, then attack networks in a collaborative effort.
2002
Capcom releases Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts for the Game Boy Advance in Japan.
Midway Games releases the hack and slash game Gauntlet Dark Legacy for the GameCube in PAL regions.
Nintendo releases Super Mario Sunshine for the GameCube in Japan. It is the first original traditional Mario platform game since Super Mario 64, six years earlier.
The single-player demo of Battlefield 1942 is released.
The Stargate SG-1 episode “Abyss” first airs. In it, O’Neill has been captured by Ba’al, but he is being held in a fortress too well fortified for the SGC to rescue him. However, Jonas believes that Lord Yu might be persuaded to lend assistance. GateWorld entry
Version 3.0 of Debian, a free Linux operating system is released. It includes Linux Kernal 2.4, support for a KDE graphical interface, and support for eleven different processors. Code-name: Woody
2003
Cartoon Network premieres the Teen Titans animated series. The series is loosely based on the DC Comics series of the same name. DC will in turn publish a comic series entitled Teen Titans Go! based on the animated series. The series will run for five seasons for a total of sixty-five episodes. The series revolves around main team members Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven.
The fan film Batman: Dead End, directed by Sandy Collora and starring Clark Bartram, Andrew Koenig, and Kurt Carley, premieres at the San Diego Comic Con. Produced on a budget of US$30,000, the eight minute long film features Batman chasing down the Joker, then being cornered by the popular science fiction creatures from Alien and Predator. Film director and comic book writer Kevin Smith will later call it, “possibly the truest, best Batman movie ever made.” Comic book artist Alex Ross will praise it as, “Batman the way I’ve always wanted to see him.” Visit the filmmaker’s official website. IMDB listing Running time: 8 minutes
2004
Apple Computer announces that the upcoming fourth-generation iPod will be physically thinner than the third-generation iPod but larger than the iPod mini. It will also feature an improved battery life of twelve hours, iPod mini-style Click Wheel controls, and small software updates such as a randomized playback feature (shuffle). The first of the units will be available on the twentieth.
2005
DreamCatcher releases Secret of the Old Clock for the personal computer. It is the twelfth installment of the Nancy Drew game series. The game is based on a mixture of the first four books in the book series and commemorates Nancy Drew’s 75th anniversary.
2006
CinemaNow launches the first “download to burn DVD” service for major theatrical releases. At the time of the launch, 101 titles are available, including: About a Boy, Agent Cody Banks, Backdraft, Barbershop, Cry Freedom, High Plains Drifter, I Spy, In Good Company, and Scent of a Woman. Visit the official CinemaNow website.
Microsoft releases the side-scroller platform game Cloning Clyde for the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade. Price: 800 Microsoft Points ($10 USD)
Variety reports that Warner Bros. has hired Adam Turner to write a screenplay based on DC Comics’ Doom Patrol.
2007
Square Enix releases the space combat simulator Project Sylpheed for the Xbox 360 in Australia. Visit the game’s official website.
2008
The first Apple Store in China opens in Beijing. A second store will open in the Qianmen area during the Olympic Games. Visit the official Apple Store website.
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