1611
Narratio de maculis in sole observatis et apparente earum cum sole conversione (Narration on Spots Observed on the Sun and their Apparent Rotation with the Sun), a publication concerning the newly discovered phenomenon of sunspots is dedicated. This first publication on such observations, is the work of Johannes Fabricius, a Dutch astronomer who was perhaps the first ever to observe sunspots. On March 9, 1611, at dawn, Johannes had used his telescope to view the rising sun and had seen several dark spots on it. He called his father to investigate this new phenomenon with him. The brightness of the Sun’s center was very painful, and the two quickly switched to a projection method of observation, by means of a camera obscura.
1925
Charles Francis Jenkins gives the first public demonstration of the first mechanical television system that transmits “readily recognizable moving objects” from the Naval radio station NOF at Anacostia to his laboratory, both in Washington D.C. He calls his system “visions by radio.” It transmits images at a resolution of forty-eight scanning lines to depict a model of a Dutch windmill with turning blades.
1944
Marvin Camras is granted several patents for the wire recorder, an early precursor of the later magnetic tape recorder. (US No. 2,351,004; -11)
1983
The NASA space probe Pioneer 10 crosses the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-made object to leave the Solar System. It was launched on March 2, 1972 in a straight line away from the Sun at a constant velocity of about 12 km/sec toward the red star Aldebaran, which forms the eye of the constellation Taurus (The Bull).
1986
Activision finalizes the acquisition of Infocom.
Twentieth Century Fox releases the film The Manhattan Project, directed by Marshall Brickman and starring John Lithgow, Christopher Collet, and Cynthia Nixon, to 827 US theaters. The title is an allusion to the World War II era US nuclear program. In the film, a teenager constructs an atomic bomb out of plutonium stolen from a scientist dating his mother. He and his girlfriend then enter the bomb in a science fair in an attempt to make a political statement about nuclear proliferation, but when he is pursued by military agents he flees and activates the bomb. Produced on a budget of US$500,000, the film will gross US$1,503,545 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 1 hr 57 mins
1993
Microsoft, Tele-Communications Inc., and Time Warner Inc. announce a joint venture to develop interactive television software, which may one day allow consumers to bank, shop, and access the internet via televisions on a system designed to “combine the worlds of computing and television and perhaps shape how much of popular culture is delivered.”
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Duet” first airs. (No. 119) In it, Kira suspects that a Cardassian visit the station may be a notorious war criminal. Memory Alpha Entry
Version 2.3 of the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) cryptography application is released.
2000
The Brazilian website of Allsports.br is hacked by “ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Di Santoro Marketing e Propaganda Ltda is hacked by “ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Directum Org. de Cobrancas Com is hacked by “ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento do Coop is hacked by “ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Igreja Presbiteriana de Vila Maria is hacked by “ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of V&F Comercial Ltda is hacked by “ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of WebAtiva Brazil is hacked by “ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Yes Paper Papelaria e Servicos Ltda is hacked by “ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Japanese video game producer SNK withdraws from the American market.
2003
Linus Torvalds announces the release of version 2.4.21 of the Linux kernel. New features include support for the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Opteron processor. Visit the official Linux kernel website..
Microsoft announces that it is ceasing all further development of Internet Explorer for Mac. Read more at MacWorld.
2005
Astronomers announce the discovery of the smallest exoplanet, yet, with about 7.5 times Earth’s mass. It orbits the star Gliese 876, fifteen light-years outside our solar system in the direction of the constellation Aquarius where two Jupiter-like planets were previously detected. All of the one hundred fifty other exoplanets found orbiting normal stars were larger than Uranus, which has about fifteen times Earth’s mass. This new planet is thought to be the first rocky world found around a star similar to the Sun. The planet was discovered using the “wobble technique.” The planet’s gravitational tug on its parent star produces changes in the star’s velocity which can be detected in the light spectrum emitted by the star.
The Fedora Project releases the operating system (os) Fedora Core 4. According to the software’s release notes, the OS is based on version 2.6.11 of the Linux kernel and is optimized for Pentium 4 processors, but it will run on a machine with processors as slow as a 400MHz Pentium II or, if a user is willing to work with a text-only interface, a Pentium I. A minimum of 256MB of memory is recommended for the 32-bit x86 version or 512MB for the 64-bit x86 version. In this version, Red Hat introduces Clearlooks as the default theme. Xen, a high performance and secure open source virtualization framework, is also introduced. Code-named Stentz Visit the official Fedora Project website. Visit the official Xen website.
2006
A man named Vincent Ferrari documents his attempt to cancel an AOL account in his blog, http://insignificantthoughts.com. He recorded the phone conversation in which an AOL representative refused to cancel the account unless Ferrari, age 30, explained why his AOL hours were still active. Ferrari insists that there is no AOL software still installed on the computer. The AOL representative then asks to speak with Ferrari’s father, who had originally set up the account. The conversation will later be aired on CNBC. When CNBC reporters later try to have a different account canceled, they will be hung up on immediately. Still later, AOL will eventually fire the representative to whom Ferrari had spoke.
In an article in USA Today, Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), is quoted as saying that music piracy has been “contained.” “The problem has not been eliminated,” says Bainwol. “But we believe digital downloads have emerged into a growing, thriving business, and file-trading is flat.” According to the same article, roughly 10 million people were online sharing files at any given time in May, up from the 8.7 million people engaging in filesharing in May 2005, according to Internet measurement firm BigChampagne. The announcement will largely be met with ridicule by the internet community.
Nintendo announces that it has sold 136,500 DS Lite units in the two days since its release in North America and that the system seems to be on schedule to match the 500,000 sold by the original Nintendo DS in its first ten days. Visit the official Nintedo DS website.
The US Supreme Court rules in the case of House v. Bell that forensic DNA evidence may be used in the course of post-conviction appeals of the death sentence.
2007
Jeffrey Brett Goodin, age 45, of Azusa, California, who became the first person to be convicted by a jury under the CAN-SPAM Act in January is sentenced to seventy month of jail. Goodin was found guilty of posing as a representative of AOL’s Billing Department as part of a phishing scheme.
2008
20th Century Fox releases the science fiction film The Happening, directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, and John Leguizamo, to 2,986 US theaters. In the B-movie, which its director openly compares to such genre classics as the The Birds and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, people in New York City inexplicably begin committing mass suicide, and the effect is spreading. A high school science teach and his estranged wife race to out run the ever-spread effect, even as they begin to suspect that there may no longer be anywhere safe. Produced on a budget of US$48 million, it will gross US$30,517,109 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: R) Running Time: 1 hr 31 mins
Marvel Studios releases the sci-fi action film The Incredible Hulk, directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, and William Hurt, to 3,505 US theaters. The film is a reboot of the Hulk franchise, produced in an attempt to correct the failure of the 2003 box office dud, Hulk. Produced on a budget of US$150 million, it will gross US$55,414,050 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 1 hr 54 mins
2009
At 12:01am, Facebook launches its Facebook Usernames program, through which users can choose URLS for their user pages that incorporate a username of their choice, rather than just a serial id number.
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