763 BC
Assyrians record a solar eclipse that will be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
1667
The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys, the personal physician to King Louis XIV. The patient is a fifteen year old boy, bled too many times to count by other doctors in attempts to treat a fever, who is given nine ounces of lamb’s blood. The boy will recover from the fever, but other attempts at transfusion will fail and the practice will soon be outlawed by the Parisian municipal council.
1752
Benjamin Franklin confirms his theory that lightning is electrical when he and his son conduct an experiment in which they fly a kite with a key attached to it during a thunderstorm. He will publish a article on the experiment in the October 19th 1752 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette.
1869
John Wesley Hyatt and Isaiah Hyatt are issued a US patent for the first plastic, described as an “Improved Method of Making Solid Collodion.” (US No. 91,341) In their method, soluble cotton, pyroxyline, or prepared cellulose is placed into a strong cylinder or suitably-shaped mold. Then, “the employment of a very small quantity of ether or other appropriate solvent, and dissolving pyroxyline therewith, under a heavy pressure, so that a comparatively hard and solid product is obtained, with great economy of solvents and saving of time.” A filler may then be mixed with the pyroxyline such as ivory-dust, bone-dust, asbestos, flake-white, or any other desirable substance, according to the nature of the product required.
1911
The Computing Scale Company of America, The Tabulating Machine Company and The International Time Recording Company of New York merge and incorporate as the Computing Tabulating Recording Company (CTR), which will later be known as International Business Machines (IBM). In the decades that will follow, IBM will become a leader in PC production and innovation.
1919
British Royal Airforce Pilot Captain John Alcock and navigator Lieutenant Arthur W. Browne successfully complete the first, non-stop, transatlantic, airplane flight. They flew from Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland in sixteen hours and twelve minutes aboard a Vickers Vimy WWI bomber, winning the prize offered by the London Daily Mail. During their flight, they faced many problems. Their radio breaks down shortly after take off. Fog and drizzle prevent the fliers from seeing anything for much of the journey. They aim to land in a green field but instead land in a bog. The plane suffers some damage when it hits the ground and sinks into the bog. Luckily, both Alcock and Brown come away uninjured.
1920
Britain’s first advertised public broadcast program takes place. A song recital by Dame Nellie Melba is broadcast using a Marconi 15kW telephone transmitter at the Marconi works in Chelmsford, and the program is heard in many countries. This marks the birth of audio broadcasting.
1949
Professor Jay Forrester of MIT, records a proposal for core memory in his notebook. Forrester will eventually install a magnetic core memory on the Whirlwind computer. Core memory will one day make computers faster and more reliable.
1973
The science fiction film Battle for the Planet of the Apes, directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Natalie Trundy, John Huston, and Paul Williams, is released to US theaters. The film is the fifth and final entry in the Planet of the Apes series. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: G Running Time: 1 hr 33 mins
1977
An area is designated for microcomputer companies for the first time at The National Computer Conference in Dallas, Texas.
1978
Soyuz 29 carries two cosmonauts to the Salyut 6 space station for a 139 day visit.
1982
New York state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Galligan rules that New York City can limit the locations of video game arcades, stating that arcade games are not protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
1983
Microsoft, Spectravideo, and fourteen Japanese computer companies announce the MicroSoft eXtended BASIC (MSX) specifications for low-end, 8-bit home computers systems. The standard consists of a Zilog Z80, a TI TMS9918A video processor, a General Instruments AY-8910 sound processor, a NEC cassette interface chip, an Atari joystick interface, 64kB RAM, and Microsoft’s 32kB ROM-based extended BASIC.
1987
Nintendo releases Donkey Kong Junior for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in Europe.
1989
A hearing is held regarding the injunctions Tengen and Nintendo have brought against each other in an attempt to halt the manufacture and sale of their respective versions of the Tetrsi video game. Judge Fern Smith decides that neither Mirrorsoft nor Spectrum Holobyte had been granted the video game rights and therefore the rights could not have been legally transfered to Tengen. Nintendo is therefore granted a preliminary injuction blocking Tengen from selling its Tetris game cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), effective June 21.
Technosoft releases the scrolling shooter game Thunder Force II, the sequel to the very unpopular Thunder Force, for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in Japan.
1990
Namco, Ltd. announces that they have ended a five-year relationship with Atari Games. By selling its 4.6 million shares of stock (43.8% of the company) back to Atari Games, Namco hopes to improve their sales of coin-op machines in the United States. Namco also purchases Atari Operations, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atari Games which operates forty arcade game locations in the West and Southeast. Visit the official Namco website.
Warner Bros. releases the comedy film Gremlins 2: The New Batch, directed by Joe Dante and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover, Robert Prosky, Robert Picardo, and Christopher Lee, to 2,075 US theaters. Produced on a budget of US$50 million, the film will gross US$9,702,804 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hr 47 mins
1992
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Time’s Arrow, Part I” first airs. (No. 526) In it, Data’s severed head is discovered in a five hundred year old cavern near Starfleet Headquarters. Memory Alpha entry
1994
Atlus releases the racing game GP-1: Part II for the Super Nintendo (SNES) in North America. The gameplay and graphics of the game are similar to Super Mario Kart, but instead of driving karts, the player drives a motorcycle.
Creative Technology offers public shares for the first time on the main board of the Singapore Stock Exchange.
Sony announces that LSI Logic will build a custom processor for its upcoming PlayStation game system. The processor will incorporate a 34MHz MIPS R3000 microprocessor, a graphics coprocessor, video decompression logic, and system logic. Visit the LSI website.
1998
In the Monday, June 15 issue of BusinessWeek magazine, an article on the PlayStation phenomenon written collaboratively by Irene Kunii of Tokyo, Japan, Steven V. Brull of Los Angeles, California, Peter Burrows of San Mateo, California, and Edward C. Baig of Atlanta, Georgia. The three page article notes that Sony’s four-year game division has sold more than thirty-three million units worldwide along with 236 million games. “In the fiscal year that ended March 31, the PlayStation business accounted for US$5.5 billion, or 10% of Sony’s worldwide revenues.
The Magic: The Gathering expansion set Exodus is released. The set’s expansion symbol is a bridge. It is the final set in the Rath Cycle block. The set includes 143 cards: 55 common, 44 uncommon, and 44 rare.
1999
International Business Machines (IBM) releases the world’s smallest harddrive, the MicroDrive, and world’s largest hard drive, the Deskstar 37GXP. The Deskstar has a 37GB capacity, which is a significant improvement over the current market leader (also an IBM), which holds 25GB. It features a 5400-rpm motor, five platters, a 2MB cache buffer, and an ATA-4 interface for US$350. Meanwhile, the company’s new MicroDrive has a 340MB capacity and is approximately the size of a matchbox. It is designed for handheld devices and digital cameras. Visit the official IBM website.
Microsoft acquires OmniBrowse, Inc.
2000
The Brazilian website of Serra On Line Informatica is hacked by “c3zar”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
An Information Technology consultant breaches the security of the British internet service provider Redhotant to expose security lapses. He manages to obtain the names, addresses, passwords and credit card details of more than 24,000 people, including military scientists, government officials, and top company executives just to prove that it can be done. The hacker says that breaching the site’s security was “child’s play”.
Microsoft releases the Windows CE 3.0 operating system. The embedded operating system includes better real-time and multimedia capabilities, supports more languages, and is more easily broken up for use in pieces. It comes bundled with comprehensive development tools, Platform Builder 3.0 and eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0, which enable developers to build rich embedded devices with dynamic applications and Internet services.
2001
Activision releases X-Men: Wolverine’s Rage for the Game Boy Color in Europe. The game follows the story of Wolverine as he chases down Lady Deathstrike and Sabretooth. The game is relatively simple and repetitive. There are twenty levels in the game, grouped into chapters of five with a boss battle at the end of each one. The objective on most of the levels is to run through them before time runs out, battling enemies on the way. There is no save system in Wolverine’s Revenge, instead after completing a level you are given a password.
Christine Gunhus, the wife of an US Senator, pleads no contest to charges of using a pseudonym to send e-mail messages through Hotmail disparaging her husband’s Democratic rival.
Microsoft reaches an agreement with a small holding company that does business using the XBOX name. For an undisclosed sum, XBOX Technologies will alter their name and drop the lawsuit they brought against Microsoft for using XBbox as the name of their forthcoming video game system.
Midway releases the boxing game Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 for the Game Boy Advance the in Europe.
Nintendo releases Pokémon Puzzle Challenge for the Game Boy Color in PAL regions.
Paramount Pictures releases the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, directed Simon West by and starring Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight, and Daniel Craig, to 3,308 US theaters. The film is based on the popular Tomb Raider video game series. Produced on a budget of US$94 million, the film will gross US$47,735,743 domestically in its opening weekend. The film will also have the highest highest box office gross for a movie headlined by a woman, surpassing the $40.1 million debut of Charlie’s Angels. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hr 40 mins
2002
Near earth asteroid 2002 MN misses an impact with Earth by only 75,000 miles (120,000 km), or about one third the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
2004
Apple Computer launches the iTunes Music Store in three European markets: France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. One week later, 800,000 songs have been sold to European customers, 450,000 in the UK alone. Visit the official iTune Music Store website.
Atari releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Shadow Ops: Red Mercury for Windows and the XBox. Visit the game’s official website.. ESRB: T (Teen)
NovaLogic releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising for Windows. ESRB: T (Teen)
Ubisoft releases the third-person stealth-based video game Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow for PlayStation 2 in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
Version 0.9 of the Mozilla Firefox web browser is released. It features a new default theme (Winstripe), comprehensive data migration, a new extension and theme manager, a reduced download size, a new help system, and a Linux installer. Visit the official Firefox website..
2005
Michael Robertson steps down as CEO of operating system developer Linspire, Inc., though he will continue as Chairman. He will be replaced as CEO by Kevin Carmony. Visit Michael Robertson’s official website.
Microsoft releases Windows XP N Edition, a version of the Windows XP operating system without the Windows Media Player. Visit the official Windows XP website.
Version 1.2.1 of the operating system Damn Small Linux, a Linux distribution that emphasizes size over function. The developers of the system claim that it will never grow larger than 50MB. Visit the official website.
Version 3.2 of MetaBB, a phpBB forum, is released. Visit the official MetaBB website.
Version 6 of DivX is released. This version features a media container format in addition to a codec and a media player by adding . Visit the official DivX website..
Warner Bros. Pictures releases the film Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, and Morgan Freeman, to 3,858 US theaters. The film is based on the Batman comic franchise and specifically draws inspiration from Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: The Man Who Falls, and Batman: Year One. After the complete commercial and critical failure of Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin in 1997, this film begins the film franchise anew with a new, darker mood. Produced on a budget of US$150 million, the film will gross US$48,745,440 domestically in its opening weekend. Visit this film’s official website. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
2006
Bill Gates announces that he will transition out of his day-to-day role at Microsoft over the next two years in order to dedicate more time to philanthropy via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He will divide his responsibilities between two successors, placing Ray Ozzie in charge of day-to-day management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy. Visit the official Microsoft website.
Eidos Interactive releases the first-person shooter Urban Chaos: Riot Response for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
In Louisiana, Governor Kathleen Blanco signs bill HB1381 into law. The bill imposes fines of between US$100 and US$2,000 and up to one year in prison for selling games with violent content to minors. The bill was introduced by Democratic Representative Roy Burrell and passed through both the state House and the Senate unanimously. It will ultimately be ruled unconstitutional in November.
The Pirate Bay temporarily changes its logo to a phoenix to commemorate the website’s return to service after a May 31st raid conducted by Swedish police took the Bay’s server’s down for several days. Visit the official Pirate Bay website..
Ubisoft releases Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. Visit the game’s official website.
Version 3.0 of Pixen, an open-source raster graphics editor, is released for the Mac OS X. Visit the official Pixen website.
2007
Microsoft releases a special commemorative Halo 3 Zune exclusively available at GameStop. The device features a black case with Halo-themed graphics, and it comes preloaded with promotional videos from Halo. Visit the official Zune website.. Price: US$246
|
|
|
