1683
The general public is admitted for the first time to the world’s first university museum, the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, in Oxford. It is the first public museum to open in Britain, and perhaps in the entire world. The building serves several purposes. The basement contains a chemistry laboratory, the ground floor contains lecture halls, and the top floor houses a collection of curiosities acquired by Elias Ashmole and donated to the university. Visit the official Ashmolean website.
1899
Thomas Alva Edison is issued a patent for his “Filament for And Process of Incandescent Lamps.” (US No. 626,460) “I form a filament of highly-refractory non-conducting material which is preferably porous, and incorporate therein isolated particles of carbon, so as to produce spark gaps between the particles, whereby high-tension currents, either alternating, continuous, or intermittent, will be conducted from particle to particle of the carbon to raise the filament to incandescence. … The highly refractory material I prefer to use … is an oxid or oxids of the rare earths – such as the oxid of zirconium, thorium and others.”
1902
Scottish chemist professor James Dewar exhibits air in the solid state and a jet of liquid air rising six feet above it with beautiful effects, before the Prince and Princess of Wales.
1933
The first drive-in movie theater is opened on a ten acre site off Wilson Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey by garage-owner Richard Hollingshead. The theater features a 40ft x 30ft screen and a 400 car capacity arranged in semi-circular rows. The premiere film shown was Wife Beware. Hollingshead had shown films on his gas station forecourt the previous year and patented the idea of the “automobile theatre.”
1966
Gemini 9 returns to Earth, landing at 13:59 GMT, after a flight which included a two hour space walk, broadcast live on television. The crew remained with the spacecraft, which was hoisted aboard the primary recovery ship, the aircraft carrier Wasp fifty-three minutes after landing.
1969
The first Internet connection is established when network control protocol packets are sent from the data port of one IMP to another.
1971
The first space station flight, Soyuz 11 is launched on a mission to Salyut 1 by the USSR. Equipment aboard Salyut 1 includes a telescope, spectrometer, electrophotometer, and television. The crew checks improved on-board spacecraft systems in different conditions of flight and conducts medico-biological research. The main instrument, a large solar telescope, is rendered inoperative when it fails to jettison. A small fire and difficult working conditions will lead to a decision to return the station’s crew before the mission’s planned duration of thirty days.
1975
Atari introduces the Anti-Aircraft coin-operated arcade game.
1982
The Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is held. During the event, 20th Century-Fox Film announces its entry into the video game industry, by forming a new division to create software for the Atari VCS game system.
1983
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Texas Instruments (TI) introduces the TI 99/8 home computer, featuring 80kB RAM. Price: Under US$500
1989
IBM introduces the Interleaf desktop publishing software for DOS-based personal computers. Price: US$750-995
1995
International Business Machines (IBM), Toshiba, and Siemens unveil the world’s smallest and fastest 256MB Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chip. It is 13.25 mm x 21.55 mm and has a twenty-six nanosecond access time.
The Los Angeles Times reports on the merging of religion and technology in Vatican City, where Father Leonard Boyle is working to put the Vatican’s extensive library on the Internet, “bringing the computer to the Middle Ages and the Vatican library to the world.” Boyle is computerizing the library’s catalog and working to place manuscripts and paintings online in a project funded by IBM.
1996
Yahoo, Inc. announces a plan to “beef up” their search service by adding Digital Equipment Corporation’s (DEC) Alta Vista search technology.
1997
IBM introduces Aptiva C3D computers with DVD-ROM drives. Price: US$1799 to US$2899
1998
Donruss Trading Cards launches a cross promotion with PlayStation with specially marked Donruss Update and Donruss Studio Baseball trading card packs. The packs have randomly placed sweepstakes cards making collectors eligible to win PlayStation prizes.
PHP 3.0 is released.
1999
The ExploreZip worm, which destroys Microsoft Office documents, is first detected.
2000
At the COMPUTEX Taipei trade show, Via Technologies of Taiwan introduces the Cyrix III processor, available in speeds ranging from 533 to 667MHz. Price: US$75 to US$160
2001
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the 950 MHz Duron processor. Price: US$122 in 1000-unit quantities
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the 1.4 GHz Athlon processor. Price: US$253 in 1000-unit quantities
Romany Groups announces its intentions to sue International Business Machines (IBM) for US$10,000 for each of up to 1.2 million people who were made orphans by Nazis during World War II. According to their claims, IBM’s Hollerith tabulating machine was fundamentally instrumental to the Nazi tracking system.
Sega Corporation reveals its intentions to enter the Chinese video game market by releasing two titles for the PC on Friday, June 15.
World War II Online goes online after a lengthy closed beta. It’s release has been timed to coincide with the anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. While its disastrous launch will become legendary in the game industry, it is widely considered groundbreaking as the first massive multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS).
2002
Konami releases Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance for the Game Boy Advance in Japan.
Microsoft release Class Server 3.0, a learning management platform for grades K-12. By helping teachers create, deliver and grade standards-aligned assessments and lessons over the Web, Class Server allows school districts to easily track, analyze and improve student achievement against local curriculum standards in accordance with the requirements of the “No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001.
2003
Activision releases Lost Kingdoms II for the Nintendo GameCube in Europe.
Corel announces it has agreed to be acquired by Vector Capital, for about US$98 million.
Nintendo releases Donkey Kong Country for the Game Boy Advance in Europe.
2004
Evolved Games and Mud Duck Games releases Malice for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox.
2005
The Adventure Company releases Still Life for the XBox in North America. The story follows private investigator Gustav McPherson in late twenties Prague and his granddaughter, FBI Special Agent Victoria McPherson, in Chicago of the near future, as they hunt down what seems to be the same ritualistic, and beastly, serial killer, more than seventy years apart.
In a keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Steve Jobs announces that Apple will begin transitioning the Macintosh line of computers from PowerPC to Intel microprocessors and demonstrates a version of Mac OS X running on a computer powered by an Intel Pentium 4 CPU. Intel-powered Macs are able to run Macintosh software compiled for PowerPC processors with a dynamic translation system known as “Rosetta“.
Time magazine features an article entitled, “It’s a Wiki, Wiki World.” The article spotlights the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales. Read the article at Time magazine online.
Vivendi Universal releases the fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft for the personal computer in China.
2006
Apple re-releases the U2 Special Edition iPod in a 30GB capacity with a distinctive all black case, a red click wheel, and engravings of the band members’ autographs on the back.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) files a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota in Minnesota Federal District Court, in order to overturn a new bill that would finie minors (children and teens) US$25 for buying or renting mature and adults-only games. The group argues that the law violates First Amendment rights. In July, the court will rule the law unconstitutional.
The film The Omen directed by John Moore and starring Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, is released to 2,723 theaters. It is a remake of the 1976 horror classic of the same name. Produced on a budget of US$25 million, the film will gross US$16,026,496 in the opening weekend. The Omen opened on a Tuesday in order to be released on June 6, and recorded the highest opening Tuesday box office gross in domestic box office history in the United States IMDB listing
Hewlett-Packard (HP) announces that it will acquire Silverwire Holding AG, a commercial digital photography solutions and software provider with a strong presence in the retail photo market.
Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PlayStation 2 in North America.
THQ releases Cars Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Personal Computers, and the XBox in the US.
|
|
|
Comments are closed
