The Great Geek Manual

1543
Copernicus circulates “The Little Commentary,” which demonstrates the heliocentricity of the solar system.

1753
Swedish botanist and explorer Carolus Linnaeus publishes the first edition of his two volume work Species Plantarum in which he systematically names plants. He is the first person to frame principles for defining genera and species of organisms in order to create a uniform system for naming them. Thus, he is often called the father of classification. The Species Plantarum will be adopted by international consent in 1905 as the starting point for modern botanical nomenclature.

1849
A telegraph register is patented by Samuel F. B. Morse. (US No. 6,420) However, Morse won’t construct the first practical system until 1844.

1869
A horse is reportedly killed by a meteorite near New Concord, Ohio.

1884
Construction begins on the first skyscraper in the US on the corner of Adams and LaSalle in Chicago, Illinois. Once completed, the building will stand ten stories tall, housing the Home Insurance Company of New York. The building’s frame will be constructed of steel in order to bear the weight of the building, rather than the walls themselves supporting the weight. The building was designed by American architect Major William Le Baron Jenney.

1888
Nikola Tesla receives several patents relating to the alternating current (AC) synchronous motor, alternating current (AC) transmission, induction magnetic motor, and an electricity distribution system. (Nos. 381,968-70; 382,279-82) He will later sell the rights to his rotating field motor to George Westinghouse. The invention is integral to generating and transmitting AC power.

1921
The first successful marine radio navigation beacon in the US goes into service. The beacons are initially called radio fog signals, and they they will be installed in three stations in order to assist ships navigating New York Harbor: the Ambrose Channel Lightship, the Fire Island Lightship, and the Sea Girt Light station.

1930
The name of the dwarf planet Pluto, as decided by the staff of the Lowell Observatory, is officially announced.

1941
Electrical Research Products, Inc. (ERPI) changes its name to the Altec Lansing Corporation following the acquisition of the All Technical Service Company and the bankrupt Lansing Manufacturing Company. Visit the official Altec Lansing website.

1947
The first US radar developed for commercial and private planes by the Hughes Aircraft Corp. is demonstrated aboard a Trans World Airlines (TWA) airplane in Culver City, California. The system warns pilots of obstacles with a bright red light and a horn.

1949
Gerard Kuiper discovers Nereid, the second satellite of Neptune. Its eccentric orbit around Neptune varies from 1,353,600 to 9,623,700 kilometers. It is named for the sea nymphs were said to dwell in the Mediterranean sea.

1958
News of the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts that surrounds Earth is published in the Washington Evening Star. The article covers the report made by their James Van Allen to the joint symposium of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Physical Society in Washington D.C. Van Allen used data from the Explorer I and Pioneer III space probes to reveal the existence of the radiation belts, which are concentrations of electrically charged particles.

1961
The first episode of Otogi Manga Calendar, the world’s first anime series, is broadcast. The black-and-white series will run for 312 episodes, through February 24, 1962.

1964
At approximately 4:00am, mathematicians John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz run the very first program written in BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), launching the Darthmouth Timesharing System (DTSS) at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire on a General Electric 225 mainframe computer. The first program is a simple compiler. Kemeny and Kurtz created the simple language, which is based on Algol and FORTRAN, to teach their students how to programing, using on the timesharing system, which allows multiple users to run programs simultaneously on one processor. Prior to BASIC, an understanding of programming languages had only be accessible to true computer professionals. The development of the system was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Subsequently, the College will release the language into public domain in an attempt to accelerate its acceptance.

1965
The Soviet Union launches the Luna 5 spacecraft on a mission to the Moon.

1969
The integrated circuit manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is founded by Jerry Sanders and seven former employees of Fairchild Semiconductor. Visit the official AMD website.

1981
Tim Paterson leaves Seattle Computer and goes to work for with Bob O’Rear at Microsoft on the highly secret “Project Chess”, which will later be revealed to be IBM’s MS-DOS operating system.

1982
The World’s Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee and continues through Sunday, October 31. Attendance the first day is 87,659 people. The Magnavox Odyssey² is the “Official Game” of the fair. The system ranks third behind the Atari 2600 and the Mattel Intellivision, but Knoxville-based Magnavox decides to hold the finals for a Pick-Axe Pete competition during the final weekend of the fair.

1984
Video game developer Quicksilver Software is founded in Irvine, California by three former Mattel Electronics programmers. Visit the official Quick Silver website.

1987
The Philadelphia Enquirer prints a Knight-Ridder Newspaper story by G. Pascal Zachary entitled, “Tramiel trims Atari into a growing success.” The story quotes Trip Hawkins, president of Electronic Arts of San Mateo, California referring to Atari computers as “a poor man’s Macintosh”.

1989
The original Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Pen Pals” first airs. (No. 141) In it, Data befriends a child from a doomed planet, breaking the Prime Directive. Memory Alpha entry

1991
Bantam Spectra releases the Star Wars novel Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn as a hardcover. (ISBN 0-553-07327-3) It is the first book in a trilogy of novels known as The Thrawn Trilogy. Length: 361pp

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Steve Jackson, and other alleged computer hackers file suit against members of Chicago Task Force which conducted a series of raids against the alleged hackers. Read more about the incident in Bruce Sterling’s The Hacker Crackdown.

1992
Following a ten week trial, a San Francisco district court jury finds that Nintendo’s licensing program has not financially harmed Atari after less than four days of deliberation. The Atari Corporation alleged that Nintendo illegally attempted to monopolize the United States video game market in the in the late eighties. The jury determines that Nintendo has in fact obtained monopolistic powers, however, they deadlocked on the issue of whether or not Nintendo obtained those powers through the illegal restraint of trade.

Nintendo announces a reduction in the price of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the US.

1994
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Maquis, Part II” first airs. (No. 441) In the episode, Federation colonists reject a treaty with Cardassia and take matters into their own hands. Memory Alpha entry

1995
Midway Amusement Games releases Mortal Kombat 3 Version 2.0 to arcades in the US.

The Star Trek: Voyager episode “Cathexis” first airs. (No. 113) In it, an alien mind takes over crew-members’ bodies, and Chakotay is left apparently brain-dead after something attacks his shuttlecraft. Memory Alpha entry

1996
Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) launches a low-end PlayStation developer’s station for hobbyists in Japan.

Version 2.50 of the RemoteAccess bulletin board system (BBS) is released.

1997
Bandai releases the Tamagotchi in the US for the first time. The Tomagotchi is a keychain size virtual pet that requires feeding and attention to evolve and survive. The device is available in six color combinations, including apple green accented with yellow, yellow accented with orange, pink accented with yellow, white accented with blue, purple accented with pink, and transparent turquoise with yellow buttons. By mid-June, nine additional color combinations will be released.

2000
International Business Machines (IBM) announces the ThinkPad T20 portable computer, featuring a 650 – 700MHz Pentium III processor, a 12 – 20GB hard drive, 128 – 512MB RAM, a 13.3-14.1 inch display, a drive bay, an Ethernet card, a modem, and a TV out port. The ThinkPad T20 is intended to supplant the 600 series. Price: US$3,099-3,999 Weight: 5 pounds

2001
Apple Computer unveils a new iBook G3 Dual USB laptop computer, featuring a 500MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 64-128MB RAM, a 10-20GB hard drive, a 1024×768 resolution 12-inch screen, FireWire, USB ports, and a CD/DVD drive. Prices: US$1,299 to US$2,099 Weight: 4.9 pounds

As tensions rise over the Hainan Island incident in which a US Navy spy plane that was forced to make an emergency landing in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter, subsequently killing fighter pilot Wang Wei, Chinese and US hackers attack each other with increasing brutality.

Corel releases the WordPerfect Office 2002 suite. The Standard Edition includes the WordPerfect word processor, Quattro spreadsheet, and Corel presentation software. The Professional Edition also includes Paradox database and Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice-recognition software. Visit the official WordPerfect website. Full price: US$259 Upgrade: US$159

McGraw-Hill publishes the Star Trek novel Avatar by S.D. Perry as a paperback. (ISBN-13: 978-0074340059) The novel picks up the story of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where the television series ended ended. Length: 234 pages

Sony Electronics introduces the Song Clié PEG-N710C handheld computer, featuring a 33MHz Dragonball VZ processor, 8MB RAM, 4MB Flashable ROM, an 8MB Memory Stick, the Palm OS v3.5.2S, a 320×320 resolution 256-color reflective TFT display, and a USB synchronization cradle. The rechargeable lithium ion battery powers the unit for about fifteen days. Price: US$499 Weight: 6.4oz

Version 6 of the Delphi programming language is released.

2002
AOL announces that they will use Google to deliver their search-related ads. The announcement marks a turning point in Google struggle against one of its chief competitors, Overture.

David L. Smith, age 34, is sentenced to twenty months in federal prison, three further years of supervised release, and a US$5,000 fine for releasing the Melissa virus which damaged computers around the globe in 1999.

Hundreds of Internet radio stations observe a “Day of Silence” to protest a proposed song royalty rate increase in the US that would only target only Internet broadcasters.

The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Vox Sola” first airs. (No. 122) In it, an unknown alien boards Enterprise and starts capturing crew members, linking them together neurologically. It’s up to Hoshi to decipher the creature’s complex language. Memory Alpha entry

Sun Microsystems releases version 1.0 of OpenOffice.org, a free office suite of applications. It is the second release of OpenOffice, following Build 638c. Visit the official OpenOffice website.

2005
Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo acquires the personal computer division of International Business Machines (IBM) for US$655 million in cash and US$600 million in stock, or approximately 19.9% of Lenovo. Lenovo also assumes US$500 million of IBM’s debt. Visit the official Lenovo website.

2006
Yahoo! launches Yahoo! Tech. The website offers device information, tutorials, reviews, and setup advice. Visit the official Yahoo! Tech website.

2007
Ace Books releases the fantasy novel All Together Dead as a hardcover. (ISBN-13: 978-0441015818) The book is the seventh in The Southern Vampire Mysteries series. The book is notable for being among the first major fiction novels to incorporate the real-life Hurricane Katrina disaster into its story. Length: 336pp

Dell publicly announces that it will ship the Ubuntu operating system pre-loaded on select systems. The announcement follows a February 26th announcement that the company would sell a range of computers with pre-installed Linux distributions as an alternative to Microsoft Windows. On May 24, 2007, Dell will begin selling a budget desktop, a high-end desktop, and a laptop, with Ubuntu Linux 7.04 pre-installed. Visit thek official Ubuntu website.

After the news aggregater Digg receives a DMCA cease and desist notice ordering the site’s administrators to remove all articles containing an AACS encryption key, a 128-bit hexadecimal number used as a cryptographic key for Blu-ray Discs and HD DVDs. (09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0) When the site complies with the order by deleting dozens of stories, users express their anger over the perceived censorship in what will be dubbed the “Digg Revolt,” a “cyber-riot” or “digital revolt” in which users post the pirated hex code and spread the key across Digg and rest of the Internet in overwhelming numbers. By the day’s end, the number will appear on over 293,000 separate pages. The incident will be considered by many to be a pivotal moment in internet free-speech.

2008
Version 4.3 of the OpenBSD operating system is released. Visit the official OpenBSD website.