1877
Thomas Edison announces the invention of his “talking machine,” which he will later name the phonograph. The device can record and play sound using a tin-foil cylinder. He will receive a patent for the invention on February 19, 1878.
1905
Albert Einstein publishes his paper, “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”, in the journal “Annalen der Physik“. This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass and leads to the mass-energy equivalence formula E = MC2.
1969
The first ARPANET link is established, after a bit of tweaking, between UCLA and the SRI machine at Stanford over a 50Kbps connection. An earlier attempt had failed when the SRI system crashed after typing “L” and “O” of the login command. Most industry historians consider this to be the birth of the internet.
1983
After two years of testing, Time, Inc. announces that it will not go commercial with its Time Teletext system, closing it down.
1984
Warner Bros. releases the action film Supergirl, directed by Jeannot Szwarc and starring Faye Dunaway, Helen Slater, Peter O’Toole, Mia Farrow, Maureen Teefy, Hart Bochner, Peter Cook, Marc McClure, and Brenda Vaccaro, to 1,608 US theaters. In it, a power source for a community of Krypton’s survivors is accidentally whisked to Earth, Kara-El, Superman’s cousin, comes to Earth to retrieve it. Upon her arrival, she discovers that she has become just as powerful as Superman, but trouble arises when she encounters a woman with arcane powers who wants the power source for herself. Produced on a budget of US$35 million, it will gross US$5,738,249 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 2 hrs 5 mins
1988
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Child” first airs. (No. 201) In it, Dr. Pulaski joins the Enterprise while La Forge prepares the Enterprise to carry dangerous plague specimens and Deanna gives birth to a mysterious child, Ian. Memory Alpha entry
1989
Atari releases the Lynx hand-held video game system, featuring a 4.0MHz 65C02 processor, 64KB DRAM, a 16-bit graphics processor, 6 sound channels, and a 3.5-inch color LCD screen. The Lynx is the world’s first handheld electronic game with a color LCD display. Games are stored on 2MB cartridges. Price: US$189.95
1990
Nintendo releases the Super Family Computer (Super Famicom) game system in Japan. The system features a 16-bit processor and 512KB RAM. The system comes bundled with the Super Mario World platform game. The system’s launch was so successful that the Super Famicom will sell out across Japan within three days.
Twentieth Century Fox releases the science fiction film Predator 2, directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Kevin Peter Hall, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso, and Bill Paxton, to 1,950 US theaters. While fighting a battle with drug lords, a police chief discovers a being that slowly starts to slaughter the criminals in a sadistic fashion. As the invisible hunter kills off the drug lords and fellow officers, the police chief discovers that the visitor, an extraterrestrial big game hunter, has targeted him as its next victim. Although his superiors prohibit him from taking any action, the police chief sets out to put an end to the murders. Produced on a budget of US$35 million, it will gross US$8,784,943 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing Running Time: 1 hr 48 mins MPAA Rating: R
1995
Buena Vista releases Toy Story, directed by John Lasseter and starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, John Morris, and Erik von Detten, to 2,457 US theaters. It is the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery. Produced on a budget of US$30 million, it will gross US$29,140,617 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: G Running Time: 1 hr 21 mins
1996
CBS This Morning reveals the result of the top video games from their annual toy test. The games were tested in a unique video arcade constructed at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. Children tested fifty-seven different titles over a three week period. Results were tabulated from over ten thousand ratings obtained from more than three thousand participants. Among the top ten games are: Crash Bandicoot, Project: Horned Owl, Star Gladiator, Tekken 2, Tobal No. 1, and Twisted Metal 2 for the PlayStation“>PlayStation. Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64 system took the number one spot in the survey.
1997
New Line Cinema releases the action film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, directed by John R. Leonetti and starring Robin Shou, James Remar, Talisa Soto, Sandra Hess, Brian Thompson, and Lynn “Red” Williams, to 2,140 US theaters. It is based on the popular Mortal Kombat game series, particularly Mortal Kombat 3. In it, a group of martial arts warriors have only six days to save the Earth from an extra-dimensional invasion. It will gross US$16,771,694 domestically in its opening weekend. Visit the game’s official website. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hr 31 mins
The website of Springfield College is hacked by “Mr 9X (GM 288)”.
1998
Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 in Japan. Visit the game’s official website.
2000
Jay Leno airs a match pitting Chin-Killa against Ginsu in Vegas on the Tonight Show.
Version 4.2 of the FreeBSD operating system is released.
2001
Sega reduces the price of the Dreamcast game system in the US from US$79.95 to US$49.95.
The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Fortunate Son” first airs. (No. 110) The cargo ship Fortunate was attacked by Nausicaans and the Enterprise lends a helping hand only to find the crew of the Fortunate has secret plans. Memory Alpha entry
2004
Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) in Canada and the US. The system features two ARM processors, a 67MHz ARM946E-S main CPU and a 33MHz ARM7TDMI co-processor, 4MB Mobile RAM, two 3-inch diagonal TFT LCD screens, stereo speakers, a microphone, and IEEE 802.11 wireless communications with range about thirty feet. It also includes PictoChat and a demo of Metroid Prime: Hunters built-in. It is the first Nintendo system to be first released outside Japan, where it will be released on December 2. Visit the game’s official website. Price: US$149.99, CDN$199
2006
TomB releases version 6.10 of the nUbuntu operating system is released. This system is an Ubuntu distribution remastered as a LiveCD with the tools required to penetration-test servers and networks. Visit the system’s official website.
The value of Google stock exceeds five hundred dollars for the first time, peaking at US$507.52.
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