1829
William Austin Burt, a surveyor from Mount Vernon, Michigan, receives a patent for his typographer, the earliest forerunner of the typewriter. (US No. 5581X) Burt’s typographer is a heavy, box-shaped contraption, crafted nearly entirely of wood. The typographer has type mounted on a metal wheel, with a rotating, semicircular frame. By turning a crank, a user is able to move the wheel until it comes to the chosen letter. Then the user pulls a lever, pressing the type against the paper to leave an impression. The device predates the later qwerty keyboard by almost thirty years.
1877
The first telephone and telegraph line in Hawaii is completed.
1886
Gottlieb Daimler invents the car. The four wheel vehicle, fashioned from a four seat, horse-drawn carriage, features a steering column and large engine mounted below the back seat. The one-cylinder, 1.1hp engine has a four speed gearbox that turns the back wheels by means of a belt-driven mechanism capable of a maximum speed of 16 km/h.
1903
Ford Motor Company sells its first car, a Model A, to Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago in Detroit. The Model A features a dual-cylinder internal combustion engine designed and constructed by Henry Ford.
1904
According to some sources, the first ice cream cones are sold at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri by Charles E. Menches.
1926
Fox Film buys the patents on the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.
1927
Lord Irwin sends the first wireless telegram from India to King George V in London.
1956
The Bell X-2 rocket plane sets the world aircraft speed record at 3,050 kph.
1962
The first live trans-Atlantic television broadcast is hosted by Walter Cronkite and made via AT&T’s Telstar 1 satellite, which was launched only thirteen prior on July 10. The transmission links London and Paris to the US via satellite for the first time. The link is established at 10:58 BST. Listen to the full broadcast at the NPR website.
1972
The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.
1982
Actor Vic Morrow and two child actors are killed on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie when a helicopter spins out of control.
1985
At the Vivian Beaumont Theater in the Lincoln Center in New York City, Commodore International unveils the new Commodore Amiga, later re-branded as the Amiga 1000, featuring a multitasking, windowing operating system, color graphics with a 4096-color palette and TV output, stereo sound, a 7MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 256kB RAM, and a 880kB 3.5-inch disk drive. It was designed by Jay Miner, who also created the Atari 800. In a 1994 profile, Byte Magazine will later call the Amiga 1000 “the first multimedia computer.” Price: US$1,295
Cathy Morris begins her trial in Santa Clara Court for allegedly stealing US$15,970 from her former boss. Anton “Tony” Bruehl claims that Morris forged checks during a time she worked for him and he was president of Atari Corp.’s international division. Morris claims that the charges came about when Bruehl’s wife uncovered an affair between them. By the following Monday, Judge R. Donald Chapman dismissed the charges due to “insufficiency of evidence” as argued by the Deputy District Attorney.
1986
Merck & Co. begins manufacturing the first FDA licensed, genetically altered vaccine ever used in the United States. The Hepatitis B vaccine represents a significant improvement over past methods of producing vaccines from blood taken from chronic hepatitis B virus carriers.
1990
The trial of Craig Neidorf, also known by the handle “Knight Lightning,” begins in Chicago’s District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Neidorf is charged with the theft of a “computerized text file” also known as a “E911 Document.” However, the trial will quickly fall apart for the prosecution when it is proven that the documents Knight Lightning allegedly stole are not worth the amount of money quoted in the indictment and that his actions do not technically fit any of the charges brought against him. According to the indictment, the documentmentation was worth US$79,449, and a BellSouth security official will later testify at trial that it was worth US$24,639. However, the government will drop all charges after four days of testimony when it is discovered that the public could call a toll-free number and purchase the same E911 document for less than US$20. The trial will leave Neidorf with US$100,000 in legal bills.
1995
Inventure Place, home of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, opens to the public in Akron, Ohio. Visit the Inventor’s Hall of Fame website.
1996
WRAL, a Raleigh, North Carolina television station transmits the first high-definition television (HDTV) broadcast under the first experimental HDTV license, which was issued in June. The event marks a significant advance in broadcast technology, however, few consumers take notice as HD capable television sets are still extremely rare.
1997
Digital Equipment Company (DEC) files antitrust charges against processor manufacturer Intel.
Microsoft announces that the next Windows operating system, code-named Memphis, will be named Windows 98.
1998
In an issue of the science journal, Nature, an international team of scientists led by Ryuzo Yanagimachi of the University of Hawaii, announces they have accomplished the first reproducible cloning of a mammal from adult cells to produce three generations of cloned mice, more than fifty identical sisters in all. The cloning technique is said to be more reliable than the one used to create Dolly the sheep. Their so-called “Honolulu technique” affords the researchers a greater ability to manipulate the adult donor nucleus. This will have application industry-wide ramification in the study of the role genes play in aging and the disease processes.
1999
An All Nippon Airways Jumbo Jet carrying 503 passengers and 14 crew members is hijacked by a computer game fanatic who stabs the pilot to death and takes over the plane before being overpowered by the co-pilot and crew. The hijacker, a twenty-eight year old Tokyo resident and flight simulator fan named Yuji Nishizawa, allegedly wanted to try his hand at the real thing. The pilot was pronounced dead by a doctor who was a passenger on board the plane just shortly after the plane landed.
Robot Wars ’99 is canceled. The few who registered for the event have their fees refunded with a letter informing them of the cancellation. The event’s website is no longer updated and several of its subsections are removed. The Robot Wars Forum is closed to new posts.
The Stargate SG-1 episode, “Learning Curve” is first airs. In it, SG-1 visits a planet where knowledge is harvested through its children. O’Neill and Carter have a profound effect on them, and many begin to “learn the old way.” GateWorld entry
Version 1.00 of XenoTerra BBS for Windows is released.
Version 1.150 of the NetRexx programming language is released.
2000
The Brazilian website of Condominio Centro Empresarial de Sao Paulo is hacked by “101″. The website is hosted on a server running Windows NT. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Omint Assistencial Servicos De Saude is hacked by “101″. The website is hosted on a server running Windows NT. View an archived version of the defaced website.
Reuters news service reports that John Young, a New York architect, has posted secret CIA documents on his website dedicated to fight government secrecy. The documents reveal a 1998 briefing for visiting Japanese security officials regarding the structure of United States (US) intelligence. The report was unclear as to how Young originally obtained the documents. Young denies an FBI request to have them removed from his site.
2001
Atari releases the real-time tactics game Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive for Windows in the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
Dmitry Sklyarov, a PhD student researching cryptanalysis and an employee of the Russian software company ElcomSoft, is arrested by the FBI at the DEF CON convention in Las Vegas for creating “The Advanced eBook Processor” (AEBR) program to copy Adobe electronic books. Sklyarov was arrested after giving a presentation called “eBook’s Security — Theory and Practice” and charged with distributing a product designed to circumvent copyright protection measures, under the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. On the 24th, websites and mailing lists will be organized to protest his arrest, using the slogan “Free Dmitry” or “Free Sklyarov.” These campaigns will argue that no DMCA violations were committed at DEF CON, and that the DMCA does not apply in Russia, so Sklyarov was being arrested for something that was perfectly legal in his jurisdiction. A campaign to boycott Adobe products was also organized.
Sony Computer Entertainment releases the survival horror Extermination for the PlayStation 2 in the US. ESRB: M (Mature)
2002
Sega releases the racing game Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller for the Microsoft Xbox and Windows.
2003
The Adventure Company releases the British first-person horror game Dark Fall for Windows worldwide.
Palm launches the Tungsten T2, featuring a Texas Instruments OMAP 1510 processor, 32MB RAM, a Secure Digital / MMC slot, an audio/video player, version 5.2.1 of the Palm OS, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Price: US$399 Weigh: 5.6 ounces
2005
Data Design Interactive releases Ninjabread Man for the personal computer in Europe.
Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS handheld game system in China.
Nintendo releases the puzzle game Polarium for the Nintendo DS in China.
Nintendo releases WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! for the Game Boy Advance in China.
2006
Intel releases the 2800MHz Pentium D 915 processor, featuring two 2,048KB level-2 caches and a 800MHz Front-Side Bus. Price: US$133
Intel releases the 3400MHz Pentium D 945 processor, featuring two 2,048KB level-2 caches and a 800MHz Front-Side Bus. Price: US$163
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