1790
The very first United States patent is granted to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a process for making potash and pearl ashes for use in in soap and fertilizer. (US No. 1) The patent is granted for a term of fourteen years and signed by President George Washington, who signed the first US patent statute into law on April 10, 1790.
1930
The radio program The Shadow airs for the first time on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Listen to original episodes of The Shadow at the Internet Archive.
1964
The American space probe Ranger 7 transmits the first photo moon’s surface ever taken by a US spacecraft, mapping the surface for a future lunar landing. Ranger 7 carries six slow-scan vidicon TV cameras capable of transmitting high-resolution television pictures of the lunar surface. A total of 4,308 photographs before Ranger 7 crashed in Mare Cognitum (Sea of Clouds).
1971
NASA astronaut Dave Scott becomes the first person to drive a vehicle on the Moon. The battery-powered Lunar Rover (LRV) is first used during the Apollo 15 mission, in the mountainous Hadley-Apennine region. The LRV, built by Boeing, weighs 460lb (209kg) and folds into a space 5ft by 20in (1.5m by 0.5m). Each wheel is independently driven by a 200W electric motor, and the rover has a top speed of about 8mph. It allows the astronauts to travel further from their landing site to sample a wider variety of lunar materials. During the course of the mission, the car travels 17.4 miles (28km) and is used to collect about 168 pounds (76kg) of lunar material to return to Earth.
1976
NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo taken by the Viking 1.
1980
Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 Pocket Computer manufactured by the Sharp Corporation, featuring a twenty-four character display, a QWERTY keyboard, and 1.9kB of programmable memory. Price: US$230
Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 Color Computer, featuring the Motorola 6809E CPU and 4kB RAM. The TRS-80 has the same case, keyboard, and layout as the AgVision/VideoTex terminals, and it also closely resembles its predecessors. Price: US$399
Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 Model III, featuring a Zilog Z80 processor and 4kB RAM. Price: US$699
1994
The Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) announces a new rating system for video games based on violence, sex, and language content.
1996
Activision releases the game compilation Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom for Windows in the US. The compilation includes thirty-three classic Infocom interactive fiction games.
Sega releases the fighting game Virtua Fighter Kids for the Sega Saturn in the US. ESRB: E (Everyone)
Virgin Interactive release the real-time strategy game (RTS) Z for personal computer in the US. The game centers around two armies of robots battling to conquer planets. ESRB: T (Teen)
1997
Namco releases the flight simulator Ace Combat 2 for Playstation 2 in the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
Sega releases the platform game Sonic Jam for the Sega Saturn in the US. ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Version 3.03 of the Netscape Navigator web browser is released. Visit the official Netscape website.
1998
Acclaim releases the Mortal Kombat 4 game for personal computers in the US. ESRB: M (Mature)
Aztech New Media releases the add-on pack StarCraft: Insurrection for the real-time strategy game (RTS) StarCraft for Windows in the US. It includes three new campaigns, approximately thirty missions, and over one hundred new multiplayer maps. ESRB: T (Teen)
Interplay releases the platform game Heart of Darkness for the PlayStation in the US. The game follows Andy, a regular child who hates his teacher, loves his dog, and is afraid of the dark. One day, Andy and his dog, Whiskey, head for the park to watch a solar eclipse. During the eclipse, Whiskey disappears. In a flurry of childhood imagination, Andy heads for his tree house, where he keeps his “inventions”, and jumps inside a spaceship to find his dog. ESRB: E (Everyone)
Microsoft releases the first-person shooter Urban Assault for Windows in the US.
Natsume Co., Ltd releases the fighting game Flying Dragon for the Nintendo 64 in the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
The Stargate SG-1 episode “Thor’s Chariot” first airs. (No. 206) In it, SG-1 return to Cimmeria to help defend the planet when the Goa’uld invade. They contact Thor who shows himself as an Asgard. He is annoyed with SG-1’s interference but comes via ship and eliminates the invasion nevertheless. GateWorld entry
1999
The Brazilian website of the Ministério da Educação is hacked by the hacking group “bl0w team”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
Delphine Software International releases the roleplaying game (RPG) Darkstone for the PlayStation is the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
Infogrames releases the action game Outcast for Windows in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
LEGO Media releases the racing game Lego Racers for Windows in Europe and the US. ESRB: E (Everyone)
NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the lunar surface, bringing an end to its mission to detect frozen water on the Moon.
Nintendo releases the puzzle game The New Tetris for the Nintendo 64. There are several key differences in gameplay from the original Tetris. For instance, the game shows three upcoming pieces and has a “storage area” where a spare piece can be placed for later use. Another feature is that the rotation is much more flexible than in traditional Tetris games, trying several slight nudges, which players have called “wall kicks”, before finding one where the tetromino fits. Some of these compensations move the pieces away from walls even “over” other pieces. ESRB: E (Everyone)
Ubisoft releases the real-time strategy (RTS) game Seven Kingdoms II: The Fryhtan Wars for Windows in the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
2000
Intel releases the 1.13 GHz Pentium III processor, incorporating 44 million transistors in a 0.13-micron process. Code-name: Tualatin
TalonSoft releases the real-time strategy (RTS) game Metal Fatigue for Windows in North America. The storyline takes place in the 23rd century and involves the story of three brothers’ separation into three different “CorpoNations” as they end up waging war on each other using mechs. Players have the option to play as one of the brothers in the single-player campaign mode, controlling tanks and other various units at ground level, in underground tunnels, or on orbiting asteroids. The main units in Metal Fatigue are twenty-story tall “Combots,” which can be configured and customized part-by-part and dominate the game. Different torsos, arms, and legs can be created in the player’s own factory, or salvaged from a wrecked enemy Combot or amputated off of one, providing for thousands of possible combinations. Any part taken from an enemy can also be studied, allowing the player to make copies for mass-production. Though not the first game to feature this “build-your-unit” style gameplay, Metal Fatigue was revolutionary in its design. With three levels of combat, customized units, good graphics and stunning cinematics (for the time), Metal Fatigue pushed the creative envelope. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
The website of Korea Telecom is hacked by “ph33r the b33r”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
2001
Electronic Arts releases the real-time strategy game Majestic for Windows in North America. ESRB: M (Mature)
2003
Felix Baumgartner, age 34, became the first man to glide across the English Channel without an aircraft when he jumps from a plane thirty thousand feet above Dover, England wearing carbon fiber wings attached to his back. He glides twenty-two miles across the Channel in ten minutes at a starting speed of 220 mph and slowing to a speed of 135 mph. Baumgartner finishes his flight with a parachute landing in Cap Blanc-Nez, France.
Hudson Soft releases Bomberman Land 2 for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in Japan.
2004
The Sophos security firm releases a report revealing that seventy percent of virus activity for the first of 2004 has attributed to one eighteen year-old, Sven Jaschan. Jaschan, the confessed author of both the Netsky-P worm, which accounted for nearly half of all virus activity in addition to the Sasser worm. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, tells the press that, “For a single German teenager to have such an impact on computer security is simply staggering.” July 8, 2005, Jaschan will receive a very lenient twenty-one month suspended sentence for releasing the viruses because he was a minor at the time of their release.
2006
The Entertainment Software Association announces that their annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show will be scaling back “into a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities” from the “mega-show” it has been for over a decade. The group cites the rising costs for attending publishers becoming counter-productive as one of the reasons for closing the current show.
2007
A beta version of R+, a commercial version of the R programming language is released.
|
|
|
