The Great Geek Manual

1851
A total solar eclipse is first captured on a daguerreotype photograph by Busch and Berkowski, at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg, Prussia. It shows a slight but distinct impression of the corona during the total eclipse. Berkowski, a local daguerrotypist whose first name is never published, observed the eclipse at the Royal Observatory using a small 6cm refracting telescope attached to a 15.8cm Fraunhofer heliometer camera. The daguerreotype uses an 84 second exposure and is taken shortly after the beginning of totality.

1858
Fingerprints are used for the first time as a means of identification.

1896
Using an Edison Vitascope projector, a film is exhibited commercially for the first time anywhere in Canada at the West End Park, in Ottawa.

1930
John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of his large screen television in the UK at the London Coliseum Variety Theatre. The television’s screen displays an image thirty by seventy inches, created by 2,100 lamps which are operated by a mechanical commutator switch. The entire device is built into a small, wheeled trailer that can be moved on and off stage. The exhibition will continue for three weeks.

1962
A bug in the flight software of the Mariner I space probe causes the rocket to divert from its intended path on launch. Mission control is forced to destroy the rocket over the Atlantic Ocean. A later investigation into the accident reveals that a formula written on paper in pencil was improperly transcribed into computer code, causing the computer to miscalculate the rocket’s trajectory.

1981
In a successful attempt to throw the media off of a much bigger project, The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) announces its first desktop computer, the System/23 Datamaster, just one month before the IBM PC. Developed by Bill Sydnes and others who are no longer working on the project in the General Systems Division, it is based on Intel’s 8086 16-bit processor and is dedicated to data processing applications. The system features a 16-bit 8086 processor, a viewing screen, up to 4.4MB of diskette storage, and Business Management Accounting and Word Processing programs. At US$9,830, the Datamaster is IBM’s lowest-priced small business system.

1994
Nintendo releases the single-player platform game Super Metroid for the Super NES in Europe. It is the third installment in the Metroid video game series. Visit an archive of the game’s official website.

1995
Columbia Pictures releases the film The Net, directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam, and Dennis Miller, to 1,906 US theaters. In the film, a reclusive computer analyst Angela Bennett becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to install advanced trojan software in the governments computer systems. When the conspirators discover that she is on to them, they erase all traces of her identity and set an assassin on her trail. In the film, the game Wolfenstein 3D is played/debugged on a Macintosh computer, several of which are used throughout the film. Though the film will go on to be a financial success, it will be lambasted by the internet community for its wildly inaccurate portrayal of computer use. Produced on a budget of US$22 million, the film will gross US$10,037,745 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Length: 1 hr 55 mins

1997
Dell Computer Corp. releases the Dell Workstation 400, entering the the work station market. Dell has previously catered to consumers, however this expansion into the sale of more more powerful computers designed for engineers follows closely on the tail of Dell’s entry into the network server market, reflecting Dells aggressive outlook. Price: US$3,000 to US$8,000.

Electronic Arts (EA) completes its acquisition of game developer Maxis. Maxis is best known for its “Sim” franchises, SimCity and The Sims. www.ea.comVisit the official Electronic Arts website.

National Semiconductor announces that it has reached an agreement under which it will acquire Cyrix for US$550 million in stock.

1998
Bell Atlantic and GTE announce an agreement valued at US$52.88 billion, under which the two companies will exchange stock to become the second largest telephone company in the the US after AT&T. The resulting company, Verizon Communications, will have sixty-three million subscribers and an annual revenue of US53 billion. Visit the official Verizon website.

Electronic Arts acquires ABC Software, Switzerland’s leading game distributor, in a deal that will cost the company about US$16.5 million.

Electronics Boutique begins trading on NASDAQ at an opening price of US$14 a share, raising US$70 million. The company announces plans to use the funds to finance an expansion of the chain.

1999
Apple Computer, Inc. reveals plans to invest US$100 million in a Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. subsidiary. The unit is responsible for supplying Apple with flat-panel screens for their new notebook computers. In exchange for the investment, Apple will receive convertible debt securities in the form of Samsung bonds.

The Brazilian website of Faenquil is hacked by the hacking group “bl0w team”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

The Clinton Administration submits a plan enabling the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to monitor the United State government’s nonmilitary computer networks and select industries. Drafted by the White House’s National Security Council as part of an anti-terrorism package, the plan calls for data to be filtered by the National Infrastructure Protection Center beginning no later than in the year 2003. Civil liberties organizations will immediately oppose the plan.

Compaq Computer Corporation declares a US$184 million loss in its second quarter and announces a restructuring plan that will cut eleven percent of their workforce, or approximately eight thousand employees. The financial loss is equivalent to ten cents per share. Cut backs will include unspecified plant closings.

2000
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals awards Napster, Inc. a last minute stay of a previous judge’s order to close down its online operations by midnight. Napster faces allegations of facilitating wholesale copyright infringement made by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

2001
On Saturday, July 28, and Sunday, July 29, the first East Coast Vintage Computer Festival is held at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel and Trade Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

2003
Wizards of the Coast releases the Eighth Edition core set of Magic: The Gathering. The release coincides with the tenth anniversary of the game’s original release. The set includes three hundred fifty cards, including: 110 common, 110 uncommon, 110 rare, and 20 basic land cards. Visit the set’s official website.

2005
Microsoft reports that it has sold 100,000 copies of Windows XP Starter Edition to date.

2006
George R. R. Martin, author of the seven-book A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, confirms that he has received word from the head of Guardians of Order, the Canadian roleplaying game publisher, that the company is folding and that there will be no further releases for the setting. Visit George R. R. Martin’s official website.

The science fiction television series Night Stalker premieres on the Sci Fi Channel after being canceled by the ABC television network after only ten episodes on November 13, 2005. The series is a remake of the 1974 series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. TV.com entry

2008
At the Mojave Air and Space Port, Virgin Galactic unveils the first stage of its WhiteKnightTwo space launch platform, through which that company hopes to market suborbital trips to the edge of space to tourists at the cost of US$200,000 a seat. The WhiteKnightTwo is a dual-hull quad-engine aircraft and the world’s first full-sized all-composite aircraft. Read more at Wired.com.