The Great Geek Manual

1879
The first electric company in the US to produce and sell electricity California Electric Light Company is established in San Francisco, California.

1905
Albert Einstein publishes the article “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies“, wherein he introduces the concept of special relativity.

1908
At around 7:15am, northwest of Lake Baikal, Russia, a huge fireball nearly as bright as the Sun is seen crossing the sky. Minutes later, there is a huge flash and a shock wave felt up to 400 miles (650km) away. Over Tunguska, a meteorite traveling at over 60,000mph (25km per second) penetrates Earth’s atmosphere, heats to about 10,000°C, and detonates 3 to 4 miles (6 to 10km) above the ground. The blast releases the energy of 10-50 Megatons of TNT, destroying 830 square miles (2,150 sq km) of forest (approximately 80 million trees) and leaving no trace of life. The Tunguska rock came out of the Taurid Meteor storm that crosses Earth’s orbit twice a year. Read more about The Tunguska Event.

1930
The first US broadcast to be transmitted globally takes place, using a series of short-wave radio relays with only a one-eighth of a second delay. The broadcast, a live oration from Clyde D. Wagoner, originates at station W2XAD in Schenectady, New York.

1945
John von Neumann introduces the concept of a stored program in the first draft of a report on the Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC) is published. Brian Randell notes, “It is generally accepted that the first documented discussion … of the advantages of using just one large internal memory, in which instructions as well as data could be held, was the draft report on EDVAC written by Von Neumann.” The draft report contains a description of the planned machine and the reasoning behind the various design decisions. The stored-program computer will subsequently become known as “von Neumann architecture”.

1946
“Able,” the first US atomic bomb, is dropped as a part of Operation Crossroads. A US Air Force B-29 Superfortress, named Dave’s Dream, is used to deliver the bomb, which is dropped over the Bikini Lagoon in the Pacific Ocean onto a target group of seventy-three ships placed there for the purpose. The explosion results in a 520 foot burst of flame. Two transport ships are sunk, and eighteen of the other ships are damaged.

1948
The point-contact transistor is first publicly demonstrated by its inventors, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, scientists at the Bell Telephone Laboratory in Murray Hill, New Jersey. It is a simple, tiny device utilizing the electronic semiconducting properties of a germanium wafer. The transistor represents a significant advance in technology. As it is developed over the next few years, it will become the successor to the vacuum tube.

Telephone recording devices are first authorized for use in the US outside the government for the first time. To comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations, recording devices must periodically “beep” to make those using the telephone line aware that their conversation is being recorded.

1965
The Tandy Corporation converts the preferred Radio Shack stocks acquired in 1964 to common stock and exercises their option to acquire additional shares of common stock. The Tandy Corporation now owns eighty-five percent of the outstanding shares of stock for the Radio Shack Corporation. Read more about the history of the Tandy Corporation.

1969
International Business Machines (IBM) announces that, effective January 1, 1970, it will begin to unbundle (charge separately for) some of its software, effectively ending its customers’ expectation that they would always be able to get all the software they needed from IBM for free.

1970
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) announces the IBM System/370 (S/370) mainframe as the successors to the System/360 line. The new architectural introduces standard dual-processor capability, full support for virtual memory, and a 128-bit floating point arithmetic.

1971
The crew of Soyuz 11, cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev, and Vladislav Volkov, suffocate after undocking from the Salyut 1 space station when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve which accidentally opens as the service module separates. The three cosmonauts die during re-entry after a twenty-four day mission in space, and they are found dead inside their spacecraft after it returns to Earth.

1972
A leap second is added to UTC time system for the first time.

The sci-fi film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Roddy McDowall, Don Murray, and Natalie Trundy, is released to US theater. It is the third sequel to the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes. In it, Apes have replaced cats and dogs as pets and, shortly after, as servants. Ceaser, the son of Cornelius and Zera (who died in the previous film) leads a rebellion against the humans. The film will gross US$9,043,472 during the course of its theatrical run. IMDB listing

1973
A solar eclipse, predicted to be the longest for a thousand years, is observed by American, British, and French scientists aboard the French prototype Concorde 001 supersonic aircraft on a flight from Las Palmas, Canaries to Fort Lamy, Chad. The path of totality crossed the Atlantic, the Sahara Desert and East Africa. The moon’s shadow traveled at over 3,000km per hour ground speed. Flying at 55,000 feet, the jet’s speed makes it possible to continually view the solar eclipse for seventy-four minutes, ten times longer than it could be seen by an observer on the ground. Four months later, Concorde 001, the first supersconic prototype to fly, will be retired on October 19, 1973, to the French Air Museum at Le Bourget Airport.

1982
It is estimated that there are video game machines are in about eight million US homes.

1985
Microsoft’s year-end revenues total US$140 million, including US$31.2 million in profit.

1986
Mark Caesar, age 14, and Robin Hallingstad, age 16, file a suit against Atari Games Corp. for US$1 million plus profits alleging that the company stole the idea for a video game that was marketed by the name of PaperBoy. The boys had submitted a detailed proposal for a similar game to Atari in July 1983.

1989
Microsoft announces that Jon Shirley will be retiring as president and chief operating officer of Microsoft as of Saturday, June 30, 1990. Shirley, who assumed his leadership roles at Microsoft in August 1983, will retain his position as a member of the Board of Directors and as a consultant.

1990
Michael R. Hallman takes over the role of president and chief operating officer of Microsoft as Jon Shirley retires.

1995
Hollywood Pictures releases the comic book action film Judge Dredd, directed by Danny Cannon and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Armand Assante, Max von Sydow, and Rob Schneider, to 2,204 US theaters. The film based on the Judge Dredd strip in the British comic 2000 AD. Produced on a budget of US$90 million, the film will gross US$12,291,536 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: R) Running Time: 1 hr 36 mins

Universal Pictures releases Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan, to 2,197 US theaters. The film is a dramatization of the true events of the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission, which was crippled by an explosion en route to the Moon. Produced on a budget of US$62 million, it will gross US$25,353,380 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDb profile (MPAA Rating: PG) Running Time: 2 hrs 20 mins

1996
International Business Machines (IBM) closes its only factory-outlet store after more than two years of operation in Morrisville, North Carolina. The company states that telesales have overwhelmed the storefront operation.

1997
The website of the Republic of Indonesia is hacked by “Urban Ka0s” as part of the East Timor Campaign, a series of attacks against the IT infrastructure of Indonesia led by the hacker group “Toxyn” in protest of abuses of Indonesian military officers against East Timor’s people during the country’s occupation. The campaign, which began on October 2, 1997, is one of the first major hacktivism campaigns in history. View an archived version of the defaced website.

1998
Take 2 Interactive releases Grand Theft Auto for the PlayStation. (ESRB: M)

The US Coast Guard personnel database is wiped out by disgruntled employee. Former Coast Guard employee, Shakunla DeviSingla, entered a personnel database she had helped design. DeviSingla then used her experience and a former co-worker’s password and other identification to delete data. Her action required 115 employees and 1800 hours to recover the deleted information.

Yahoo! launches Yahoo! Real Estate.

A young male juvenile, referred to as John Doe in court documents, pleads guilty to having stolen more than five hundred America Online (AOL) users’ passwords. Prosecutors allege the boy sent Trojan Horse programs to AOL members via e-mail. Once recipients open the files, a program begins capturing keystrokes, including passwords, and emailing the data back to the sender.

1999
According to a study, eighty-four percent of retail office suite sales for the past six months have been generated by Microsoft products. Seventy-seven percent of retail operating system sales for the past six months have been generated by Microsoft products. Twenty-three percent of retail software sales revenues for the past six months have been generated by Microsoft products.

AirTouch Communications in the US and Vodafone Group Plc in the UK announce plans to merge in a deal valued at US$69 billion. The two companies, both leaders in mobile communications, will boast a combined 150 million customers in 102 countries and across 217 networks. The new company will be named Vodafone AirTouch Plc., and in September, the company will become Verizon Wireless. Visit the official Vodafone website.

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

National Semiconductor announces that it will exit the computer processor market. Visit the official National Semiconductor website.

VIA Technologies of Taiwan announces that it will acquire National’s Cyrix division from National Semiconductor of California.

Warner Bros. releases the sci-fi western film Wild Wild West, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek, M. Emmet Walsh, Ted Levine, Musetta Vander, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Ling, to 3,342 US theaters. The film was inspired by the sixties television series of the same name. In the film, Legless Southern inventor Dr. Arliss Loveless plans to rekindle the Civil War by assassinating President U.S. Grant. Only two men can stop him: gunfighter James West and master-of-disguise and inventor Artemus Gordon. The two must team up to thwart Loveless’ plans. The film features highly advanced steampunk technology and many bizarre mechanical inventions, including innumerable inventions of the mechanological geniuses Artemus Gordon and Arliss Loveless, including nitroglycerine-powered penny-farthing bicycles, spring-loaded notebooks, bulletproof chainmail, flying machines, steam tanks, and Loveless’s giant mechanical spider. Produced on a budget of US$170 million, the film will gross US$27,687,484 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 1 hr 47 mins

2000
The Brazilian website of Claudionor Ramos Advocacia E Consultoria Empresari is hacked by “Crime Boys”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

The Brazilian website of Visitenosso is hacked by “Death Knights”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

The Colombian website of Visa is hacked by “McM4nus”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

Dr. Alan Chow and his brother, Vincent Chow, an electrical engineer, announce that they have successfully implanted silicon microchips beneath human retinas. The chip is smaller than the head of a pin and about half the thickness of a sheet of paper. It contains about 3,500 microscopic solar cells to convert light into electrical signals to replace damaged photoreceptors within the retina of a previously damaged eye.

Microsoft announces that messages sent to Hotmail users warning that their accounts would be canceled were a hoax. The emails, which claimed to be from a Jon Henerd from Hotmail’s Administration Department, threatened to cancel users accounts if the message wasn’t forwarded to someone to prove that the account receiving the message was still active.

United States President William Jefferson Clinton uses an electronic card and his dog’s name as a password to “e-sign” a new bill into law that makes such electronic signatures legally binding in contracts.

2002
Microsoft reports that it has sold four million Xbox systems worldwide to date along with approximately twenty million video game units.

The US technology consulting firm Gartner issues a report estimating that approximately one billion personal computers have been sold worldwide since the mid-seventies. According the report, the one billionth PC was likely shipped in April. Read more at the BBC.

2003
Activision sues Viacom, alleging that its ten-year exclusive deal to produce Star Trek video games is depreciating in value due to Viacom’s neglect of the franchise.

The total sales of video game hardware and software in the US since the beginning of the year totals US$3.5 billion.

Version 7.1 of Netscape, a proprietary cross-platform Internet suite, is released. Visit the official Netscape website.

2004
Hungarian hacker László Kovács is sentenced to two years probation and a fine of 500,000 forints (approx. £1300) for distributing the Magold worm in May 2003. The teenager’s worm spread through email, IRC, and peer-to-peer networks as an attachment purported to be an erotic screensaver of Hungarian porn star Maya Gold.

Sony Pictures Entertainment releases the action film Spider-Man 2, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, and Alfred Molina, globally, including 4,152 US theaters. Produced on a budget of US$200 million, the film will gross US$88,156,227 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 2 hrs 7 mins

The total sales of video game hardware and software in the US during since the beginning of the year totals US$3.4 billion.

A United States Court of Appeals unanimously approves Microsoft’s settlement with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Under the terms of the settlement, Microsoft is required to share its application programming interfaces with third-party developers and to abide the rulings of a compliance oversight panel of three people who will have full access to Microsoft’s systems, records, and source code for five years. However, in a concession to the company, the agreement doesn’t require Microsoft to alter its base code or to abstain from tying other future software to Windows.

Version 2 (v1.4.2_05) of the Java programming language is released. Visit the official Java website.

2006
Eidos Interactive announces that the Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend game has sold over 2.9 million copies worldwide, becoming the fastest selling Tomb Raider game in the series.

2007
Microsoft reports that sales of the Xbox 360“>Xbox 360 video game console has lost the company a total of US$1.9 billion over the previous fiscal year. Visit the official Xbox 360 website.