The Great Geek Manual

1886
The first US patent for a typewriter ribbon is issued to George Kerr Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee. (US No. 349,026) The ribbons each contain a portion near the end of the ribbon that is colored differently from the rest to notify the operator that the direction of the ribbon feed needs to be reversed. Although the innovation results in type of a different color, it’s text isn’t lost. Previous uniformly colored ribbons would result in rapidly fading type as a consequence of the ribbon coming to the end of its reel and being left in its place.

1920
Paul Specht & His Orchestra become the first dance band to be broadcast live over the radio in the US, on station WWJ in Detroit, Michigan.

1927
Gene Austin records My Blue Heaven for Victor Records. It will be the first “modern song” to become a major hit, selling an estimated five million copies.

1939
The Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 becomes the first practical helicopter to ever successfully lift off. Designer Igor Sikorsky piloted the vehicle as it lifted off the ground to an altitude of roughly three feet for a duration of about ten seconds.

1958
The first German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.

1959
Bank of America adopts the Electronic Recording Method of Accounting (ERMA) system featuring checks pre-printed account numbers printed in a computer-readable font in magnetic ink. The Stanford Research Institute of Menlo Park, California developed the system.

The Soviet space probe Luna 2 impacts the Moon, east of the Sea of Serenity, thirty-six hours after its launch, becoming the first man-made object to reach a celestial body.

1964
The sci-fi series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, created by Irwin Allen and starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison, premieres on the ABC network with the episode “Eleven Days to Zero.” It is based on the 1961 film of the same name, and the series will go on to be the decade’s longest-running American science fiction series with a static cast of characters. TV.com entry

1973
Judge Sherman Christensen hands down his verdict in an antitrust trial between International Business Machines (IBM) and Telex, which began with a suit filed in January of 1972 by Telex accusing IBM of monopolizing the “plug compatible” equipment market (tape drives, disk drives, and add-on memories). In the 222 page verdict, Christensen found both Telex and IBM are guilty for the allegations waged against each other. Telex is awarded the trebled damage sum of more than US$350 million and IBM will be restrained in its ability to market its computer and software bundles. IBM is awarded a series of fines against Telex which come to about US$22 million. The decision spawns a tidal wave of similar suits against IBM from companies such as CalComp (300 million), Memorex (3 billion) and Marshall Industries (108 million).

1974
Charles Kowal discovers the thirteenth satellite of the planet Jupiter, which will later be renamed Leda.

1982
According to Twin Galaxies, Jim Banbury scores a record-setting 2,056,100 points playing the Midway arcade game Omega Race at the Amusement Crossing arcade in Charlotte, North Caroline. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.

1987
It’s disclosed publicly that young German computer hackers calling themselves the “Data Travellers” have managed to break into NASA network computers and other world-wide top secret computer installations.

1989
“Fry Guy”, a 16-year-old in Elmwood, Indiana hacker is sentenced to forty-four months probation and four hundred hours community service.

1993
The United States Customs Service office of San Jose, California launches an investigation into ViaCypt of Phoenix, Arizona, Austin Code Works of Austin, Texas, Philip Zimmermann, and anyone acting one behalf of Philip Zimmermann. The investigation relates to a violation of the restrictions against exporting encryption software, which is protected under the Arms Export Control Act.

1995
Apple Computer recalls all of its PowerBook 5300 laptops due to a Sony-manufactured batteries that could explode while overheated
while charging on AC power, though the company claims that only about one hundred units ever reached consumers. In two weeks, the company will re-release the line equipped with nickelmetal-
hydride (NiMH) batteries originally intended for its PowerBook 190, rather than the model’s original LiIon batteries. However, the batteries weren’t the only shortcoming of the PowerBook 5300. The laptop’s case was prone to cracking, its electrical plug would often snapped off its cord, its power system couldn’t run certain combinations of hardware expansions simultaneously. After repeated failures and widespread criticism, Apple will halt the production of model on May 10, 1996.

A live martial arts stage show titled Mortal Kombat: The Live Tour premieres at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) announce that domain registration will no longer be free of charge, effective immediately. According to the plan, new registrants will pay a US$100 fee for a two-year registration, and thereafter, will pay US$50 per year. Prior registered organizations will be charged a US$50 annual fee on the anniversary of their initial registration. Educational domains are still paid for by the NSF.

1996
The website of Netch is hacked by the Swedish hacking group “Power Through Resistance” (PTR), also known as the Swedish Hackers Association. View an archived version of the defaced website.

1997
The Star Trek: Voyager episode “Nemesis” first airs. (No. 404) In it, Chakotay is trapped on a planet where two species are fighting a genocidal war against each other. Memory Alpha entry

1998
At the end of the day’s stock market trading, Microsoft stands as America’s most valuable company, at US$261.1 billion. Microsoft and General Electric are both valued at over US$300 billion in July, but Microsoft survived a stock market plunge better, putting it on top.

Bargain-hunters browsing stalls in the southern Italian city of Naples for cheap pirate media find a surprise. A ripped-off version of the software for Sony’s bestselling Playstation video game are labeled the apology, “Sorry Sony but we’re out of work,” on one side of the disc alongside an imitation Sony logo. Naples is Italy’s capital of counterfeiting. Media at a fraction of their proper price are hawked to drivers at traffic lights and throughout flea markets.

MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their merger, valued at US$37 billion, to form MCI WorldCom.

Motorola shows its Blackbird set-top box which features VM Lab’s Project X technology at the International Broadcasting Conference in Amsterdam. Motorola describes the Blackbird as “a cross between a broadband router, network computer and digital home theater.” It is comprised of three essential components including: a Motorola PowerPC processor, the Project X media chip, and an operating system. Offered in three forms, the systems are expected to be launched commercially within the first three months of 1999.

The website of Slashdot is hacked by the hacking group “H4G1S” (Hackers Against Geeks In Snowsuits). View an archived version of the defaced website.

Yahoo! launches Yahoo! Auctions.

1999
eBay, Inc. announces a decision to ban auctions of most alcohol and tobacco products from their auction service. The new policies will go into effect in thirty days.

Handspring, Inc. releases the Handspring Visor Deluxe handheld computer, featuring 16MHz Motorola Dragonball EZ processor, 8MB RAM, 2MB ROM, a Springboard expansion slot, the Palm OS 3.1, a 2.1×2.1 inch passive matrix 16-shade grayscale backlit display, an infrared port, a microphone, and a USB port. Price: US$250 Weight: 6oz

Seagate Technology, Inc., the world’s largest disk drive manufacturer, based in Scott’s Valley, California, announces plans to cut its global work force by up to ten percent in a plan to save US$150 million each year.

Silicon Graphics, Inc. announces that they have plans to lay off up to three thousand workers in a restructuring plan that will turn a profit in their second fiscal quarter. The layoffs represent about double the count initially projected in August.

2000
Microsoft introduces Version 8.0 of the MS-DOS operating system.

Microsoft releases the Windows Millenium Edition (ME) operating system for a limited-time promotional price of only US$59.95 for home users replacing Windows 98 and Window 98 Second Edition. The introductory price is valid through Monday, January 15, 2001. ME is designed for the home user. Unlike Microsoft’s Windows 2000 which offers advanced security, reliability, and networking features, Windows Me is basically just an upgrade to the DOS-based code on which previous Windows versions have been built. Within four days of its release, it will sell 250,000 copies.

2001
In Japan, Nintendo launches the GameCube video game system in Japan, featuring 405MHz “Gekko” processor based on the 256-bit IBM Power PC, 43MB RAM. 162MHz graphic processing unit, four controller ports, and two memory card slots in Japan. Visit the system’s official website. Code-name: Dolphin Price: ¥25,000

Version 4.00 of Job Access With Speech (JAWS), a screen reader program for the visually impaired, is released for Windows. It is produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group at Freedom Scientific of St. Petersburg, Florida. This version make several improvements to the interface and adds an optional tutorial. Its purpose is to make personal computers with Windows installed accessible to blind and visually impaired users. It accomplishes this by providing the user with access to the information displayed on the screen via text-to-speech or by means of a braille display and allows for more comprehensive keyboard interaction with the computer. Visit Freedom Scientific’s official website.

2004
EA Games releases The Sims 2 for personal computers in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)

FreeCast, a free software application for peer-to-peer streaming, under a GNU General Public License. The application makes it possible to broadcast an audio or video stream to a large number of listeners over a simple DSL connection. Visit the application’s official website.

2005
The alpha version of MySQL Workbench, a visual database design tool that integrates database design, modeling, creation and maintenance into a single, seamless environment for the MySQL database system, is released. Visit the application’s official website.

A seventeen year old Massachusetts teenager pleads guilty to nine counts of juvenile delinquency and is sentenced to eleven months detention at a juvenile facility for a string of crimes that include the online posting of revealing photos and celebrity contact numbers from Paris Hilton’s phone on the T-Mobile network. As an adult, he will then undergo two years of supervised release in which he will be barred from possessing or using any computer, cell phone or other electronic equipment capable of accessing the Internet. While his name is withheld from the press, it is known that he is the youngest member of the same hacking group that federal investigators allege was responsible for a series of electronic break-ins at data giant LexisNexis. The teen also pleaded guilty to making bomb threats at two high schools and for breaking into a telephone company’s computer system to set up free wireless-phone accounts for friends.

2006
Creative Technology releases the ZEN Vision W portable media player, featuring a 30 or 60GB capacity, a USB 2.0 interface, and a removable and rechargeable Li-Ion battery. Visit the player’s official website.

The Hungarian Automated Telescope Network (HATNet) Project announces the discovery of the extrasolar planet HAT-P-1b orbiting the Sunlike star ADS 16402 B through the use of telescopes in Arizona and Hawaii. Visit the HATnet official website.

2007
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launches the lunar orbiter SELENE on a mission to study the origin of the Moon and its geological evolution. SELENE is an acronym for Selenological and Engineering Explorer and is also a reference to Selene, the Greek godess of the Moon. Visit the official JAXA website for SELENE.

Google announces the Lunar X Prize, a competition that will award US$20 million to the first corporation to successfully land and operate a robotic rover on the surface of the Moon. The competition also offers a US$5 million second prize and several US$5 million bonuses for achieving certain technological milestones, such as discovering ice on the lunar surface, photographing man made objects residing on the lunar surface, traveling more than five thousand meters across the lunar surface, or remaining functional through a lunar night. The X Prize deadline is December 31, 2012, after which the first prize will be reduced to US$15 million through the final deadline of December 31, 2014.