1853
The world’s first public aquarium, the Aquatic Vivarium, is opened at Regent’s Park, in London, England. Read more about the Aquatic Vivarium.
1873
The New York Times publishes a proposal for a “travelling sidewalk” to accommodate pedestrian traffic along Broadway in New York City. The transport system consists of two sidewalks, one running in each direction at a speed of nineteen miles an hour. The design will never be implemented, but in 1893, a moving sidewalk of similar design will be built for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This later design will feature four sidewalks, two running in each direction at speeds of 3 mph and 6 mph for easier boarding.
1877
A demonstration of a mobile telephone system for trains is given at the Pennsylvania Railroad Company manufacturing facility at employees of Alexander Graham Bell.
1927
The Spirit of St. Louis, the plane of Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, France, completing the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
1928
Walt Disney files a trademark application for his character, Mickey Mouse, with the United States Patent Office.
1932
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, when she arrives in Ireland from Newfoundland, Canada.
1952
International Business Machines (IBM) announces the IBM 701, also known as the Defense Calculator, in a move intended to emphasizes the company’s commitment to innovation in the field of electronic computing. The IBM 701 is the company’s first computer designed for scientific computations. It has an electrostatic storage tube memory and stores information on magnetic tape. The company will eventually sell nineteen of the machines to the government, large companies, and universities for complex research. Visit the official IBM website.
1956
In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is all but obliterated by the first airborne detonation of a hydrogen bomb.
1958
Universal Studios releases the film Touch of Evil, directed by Orson Welles and starring Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, and Janet Leigh, is released to US theaters. It will later be considered one of the last examples of classic film noir from the genre’s classic era. IMDB listing
1961
US President John F. Kennedy commits the country to “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth before this decade is out.”
1962
A British patent application entitled “A Computer Arranged for the Automatic Solution of Linear Programming Problems” is filed. The invention is concerned with efficient memory management for the simplex algorithm with only software. It is one of the very earliest software patents.
1969
MGM releases the science fiction B-movie The Green Slime is released to US theaters. The film was released in Japan on December 19, 1968. In it, a group of astronauts set out to stop a giant asteroid on a collision course with the planet Earth, and while they are successful, one of the scientists unwittingly brings a luminous-green substance back with him. The substance soon mutates into horrendous monsters with the ability to shooter bolts of electricity. The crew fends off the alien, which swiftly begins to multiply, only to discover that the creatures feed off their weapons’ energy. As the creatures overrun the station, the crew continues to fight back against overwhelming odds. IMDB listing
1980
Twentieth Century Fox releases science fiction film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher, is released to 126 theaters. This sequel to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is set three years after the destruction of the Death Star. In it, Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance are being pursued by Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire. While Han and Leia are chased across space, Luke goes to study the way of the Force under Jedi Master Yoda. However, Vader is one step ahead of Solo, and secretly plotting a trap for Skywalker that will conclude in a one-on-one battle and a shocking revelation. Produced on a budget of US$18 million, it will gross US$4,910,483 domestically in its opening weekend. Visit the film’s official website. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 2 hrs 9 mins
1982
According to Twin Galaxies, Scott Macalino scores 342,720 points on Space Duel by Atari Inc. after playing the game for one hour and thirty minutes in Millinocket, Maine. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.
1984
Atari announces the Atari 7800 video game system. The system offers superior graphics and game play for new enhanced games. The system could handle virtually all existing Atari 2600-compatible games without an adapter. The new features are made possible by the 4K Maria chip. It gives the system power to move up to one hundred objects simultaneously on the screen and provide up to 256 color hues. Additional features promised by Atari include an optional US$100 keyboard, a high score cartridge and a modem cartridge. Price: US$149
Atari officially discontinues the Atari 5200 video game system. The 5200 was created to compete with the Mattel Intellivision, but ended up more directly competing with the Colecovision shortly after its release. A number of design flaws had a serious impact on usability, and the system is generally considered a failure.
Disney executives meet with the chairman of Bally Manufacturing Corporation, which perceived itself as a takeover target, to explore the possible business opportunities.
1987
Atari Corporation announces a two-for-one stock split at the company’s annual meeting in Santa Clara, California. Jack Tramiel explains that the stock will be payable on June 19 to those who hold stock as of June 2.
1992
Nintendo releases Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Game Boy in Europe.
1996
K-Tel releases an oldies collection of ten silly songs on compact disc called Madcap Melodies. The second track, Pac-Man Fever, was recorded by Buckner & Garcia in 1981 as a single, and it was included on the 1982 Pac-Man Fever album distributed by Columbia Records. Read the lyrics of Pac-Man Fever.
1997
The season three finale of Star Trek: Voyager, “Scorpion, Part I” first airs. (No. 326) In it, the ship must pass through a region held by the Borg, and the arrival of a new hostile species from fluidic space forces Janeway to forge a precarious alliance with them. This episode is noted for introducing the character Seven of Nine and for having one of the shortest “teasers” (pre-credit sequences) in television history. In the teaser, two Borg cubes appear, and barely have time to broadcast “Resistance is futile” before they are blown to pieces by an unknown energy weapon. It is regarded as one of the most powerful teasers of any Star Trek series, as no other force in the Star Trek continuum has previously been capable of inflicting such damage on the Borg. Memory Alpha entry
1998
America Online (AOL) completes the acquisition of MovieFone, Inc. in a US$525 million stock deal. Moviefone is the United States’ most popular movie listing and information service, where moviegoers can obtain advance tickets, film reviews, local showtimes, and theater information by dialing a local telephone number or visiting the Moviephone website. Visit the current official Moviefone website.
America Online (AOL) and Eastman Kodak jointly announce plans to offer American Online subscribers the ability to have photograms delivered in digital form to their e-mail mailbox.
Sega Enterprises Ltd. announces its intentions to launch a new video game system for the home called Dreamcast. The new system will feature cooperative development from Microsoft and will incorporate the Windows CE operating system. The initial launch is scheduled to take place Friday, November 20 in Japan and sometime the next year in other parts of the world. Sega’s president, Syouichirou Irimaijiri, estimates that the initial price of the system will be between 20,000 and 30,000 yen for its Japan launch and between US$150 and US$225 for its US launch. The new system will reportedly exceeds 300 million polygons-per-second and offers 1,677 million colors. Other features will include 64 channel ADPCM capability and an integrated 33.6kbs modem.
The United States Postal Service publicly refutes an email hoax spreading virally across the Internet that claims that a Congressman Schnell has introduced “Bill 602P,” which would allow the federal government to impose a five-cent surchange on email to defray the financial losses the the US Postal Service has suffered since the advent of the Internet. The Postal Service warns that the report is a hoax and there is no real Congressman Schnell. Read the original hoax email.
Working Designs releases the scrolling shooter game Thunder Force V for the PlayStation in Japan.
2000
Rare releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 in England and the US. ESRB: M (Mature)
2001
Apple Computer, Inc. begins shipping computers equipped with its new operating system, OS X. Visit the official Mac OS X Server website.
Apple Computer releases the Mac OS X Server, a version of their server operating system based on Mac OS X v10.0. The system is a Unix-like operating system based on technology that Apple acquired from NeXT Computer.
Attrition.org, an information security website updated by an all-volunteer staff, announces that it has ceased the process of tracking online vandalism because its staff simply cannot keep up with the number of incidents. The organization has been tracking the incidents of online graffiti for five years. Reportedly, over one hundred defacements occurred on each of several days in April. Each of those day’s vandalisms totaled more than three times the total number of recorded vandalisms in 1995 and 1996 combined.
Intel introduces the 600 and 800MHz mobile Celeron processors.
Intel announces the 600MHz mobile Pentium III processor. The 1.1-volt processor can step down to 300MHz at 0.975 volts when running on battery power.
Intel announces the 750MHz mobile Pentium III processor. The 1.35-volt processor can step down to 500MHz at 1.1 volts when running on battery power.
Intel introduces the Xeon i860 processors, designed to support dual Pentium 4 sets. The Xeon, available in 1.4, 1.5, 1.7GHz speeds, features a Level-2 cache, a System Bus Speed of 400MHz, and SSE2 SIMD Extensions.
Nintendo announces that the initial price of its upcoming GameCube video game console will be US$199 at the system’s launch and it’s games will cost US$49.95.
2002
Max Butler, also known as “Max Vision” and “The Equalizer” is sentenced to eighteen months in prison for launching an Internet worm that crawled through hundreds of military and defense contractors’ computers over a few days in 1998. Max Butler also lived three lives for five years. As “Max Vision”, he was an incredibly skilled hacker and security expert who boasted that he’d never met a computer system he couldn’t crack. As “The Equalizer”, he was an FBI informant, reporting on the activities of other hackers. As Max Butler, he was a family man in Santa Clara, California who ran a Silicon Valley security firm. At Max Vision Network Security, he specialized in running “penetration tests,” attempting to break into corporate networks to test their security.
Nintendo reduces the price of the GameCube video game system from US$199.95 to US$149.95 in the United States. Visit the official Nintendo GameCube website.
Two Kazakhstan citizens, Oleg Zezov and Igor Yarimaka, accused of breaking into the computer system of Bloomberg L.P. in Manhattan, New York from computers located in Almaty, Kazakhstan are extradited from England to the United States. The two hackers allegedly sent a number of emails to the company’s founder, Michael Bloomberg, using the alias “Alex,” demanding that Bloomberg pay US$200,000 in exchange for an explanation of how Alex was able to infiltrate Bloomberg’s computer system.
2003
Activision releases Lost Kingdoms II for the GameCube in the US. The game is a card-based action RPG in which battles are fought in real-time. ESRB: T (Teen)
Intel releases the 2.4, 2.6, and 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processors with 800MHz front-side buses. Price: US$180, US$228, and US$278 respectively in 1000-unit quantities
Nintendo releases WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! for the Game Boy Advance in Canada and the US. The game is a collection of micro-games, each of which lasts of seconds. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E (Everyone)
Software developer Caldera International officially changes its name to SCO in order to reflect the change in the focus of its business to UNIX development, following the acquisition of the Server Software and Services divisions of Santa Cruz Operation. Visit the official SCO website.
The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “The Expanse” first airs. (No. 226) In it, an alien probe attacks Earth, killing seven million people. In response, Enterprise returns to Earth to be refitted before being heading into the Delphic Expanse in pursuit of the planet’s attackers. In order to remain aboard the Enterprise, T’Pol resigns her commission with the Vulcan High Command. Memory Alpha entry
2004
The first release of the Minislack operating system, version 0.1, first becomes available to the public under a GPL license. Later known as Zenwalk Linux, the system is a Slackware-based Linux distribution founded by Jean-Philippe Guillemin. Minislack focuses on internet, multimedia, and programming applications. Visit the official Zenwalk website.
Stanislav Petrov is awarded the World Citizen Award for averting a potential World War III in 1983 by ignoring his instruments when they indicated that the United States had launched an attack on the Soviet Union. Read more about Petrov at BrightStarSound.com.
Virtual Battlespace One (VBS1) is refined and improved and released to the public release. VBS1 is an interactive, 3D training system serious game. With it, team members may practice small unit tactics. Photo-realistic terrain, user-definable mission scenarios, customized vehicles and equipment, and variable environmental conditions enhance the team training experience. After using the system, a review assists the training facilitator in assessing the team’s performance and in aiding process improvement. Previously, the product was only released to military and law enforcement organizations. The release occurred primarily to increase awareness of the product and to foster a user community. Exclusive distribution rights for VBS1 are given to Coalescent Technologies in North America, while Bohemia Interactive Australia (BIA) distributes the software to the rest of the world via their website. Visit the official VBS website.
Version 1.41 of Z-Net is released. Z-Net is an mIRC script created by DarkAkuma that allows users to play SNES games online with others. Z-Net uses the immensely popular SNES emulator, ZSNES to run the games. Visit the official Z-Net website.
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