1869
Richard Wagner‘s opera Das Rheingold, the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen, debuts in Munich.
1888
The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published, though it is dated October. The magazine is the scientific journal of the National Geographic Society, but in 1905, the magazine will shift to photojourrnalism with an issue featuring full page shots from Tibet.
The terms ampere, ohm, and volt are indoctrinated at the Electrical Conference in Paris, France.
1893
The Duryea Brothers publicly demonstrate their automobile, the first to be built in America, two days after it’s completion in Springfield, Illinois. In 1896, the brothers will found the first company in the world to manufacture gasoline powered automobiles.
1955
The first commercial television broadcast in Britain is transmitted by Rediffusion, an Independent Television (ITV) contractor, in London. The first advertisement shown at 9:12pm shows Gibbs SR toothpaste in a block of ice. The ad was produced by AB-Pathé.
1964
The television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., staring Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo premieres on the NBC network with the episode “The Vulcan Affair.” The series will run for one hundred five episodes, or just less than four seasons. IMDB entry
1966
The Star Trek episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” first airs. (No. 02) It is production number two, but it is the third episode in the series to be aired. In it, the Enterprise journeys to the edge of the galaxy, where two crew members develop dangerous psychic powers, and one declares himself a god. Memory Alpha entry
1973
The science fiction television series The Starlost, created by acclaimed author Harlan Ellison, premieres on CTV with the episode “Voyage of Discovery.” The series is set aboard an enormous eight thousand mile long generational colony ship, composed of dozens of isolated biospheres, each of which is home to a population of humans representing a different Earth culture. The story opens generations after the ships launch, following a mysterious catastrophe which has disabled the ship and killed most of its crew, leaving the inhabitants of the biosphere completely oblivious to the fact that their world exits within a ship. The series follows a trio of characters from an Amish-like community of rustics who are desperately racing to set the ship to rights and correct its course before it collides with a star. The series will run for on season of sixteen episodes. IMDB entry
The Star Trek: The Animated Series episode “One of Our Planets is Missing” first airs. (No. 003) In it, the Enterprise encounters a giant cloud creature that feeds on the energy of the planets that lie in its path. When the crew determines that the cloud is heading for Mantilles, home to a Federation colony, Kirk takes the Enterprise into the cloud in an attempt to stop it. Memory Alpha entry
1975
The Enix Corporation is founded as a producer of Japanese manga, but the company will go on to make its name in video games. Visit the company’s official website.
1980
Paul Allen of Microsoft contacts Rod Black of Seattle Computer Products (SCP), asking to sub-license 86-DOS to a potential customer. The customer will be IBM, which will put the system on its PC line, making Microsoft’s name.
1983
Kevin Poulsen, also known by the handle “Dark Dante”, and Ron Austin are arrested for hacking into the ARPANET. Because he is a minor, Poulsen, age 17, won’t be prosecuted, but Austin will be sentenced to three years’ probation. Visit Poulsen’s official website.
1986
In the case of NEC Corp. v Intel Corp, the US District Court for the Northern District of California rules that code used to run computers and other electronic devices enjoys the same protections under copyright law as any literary work, setting perhaps the single most important legal precedent in computer history. Specifically, the court rules that microcode embedded in Intel microprocessors constitutes a copyrightable “computer program” under Section 101 of the 1976 Copyright Act. However, the court also ruled that reverse engineering that microcode did not infringe upon the microcode’s copyright and that the independent development of similar code was strong evidence of non-infringement.
1991
Erik Labs releases version 1.25 of Bimodem, which will be the last official version to be released. BiModem is one of the last file transfer protocols developed for use in BBS systems. This version allows computers running Intel 486 processors access with com ports other than COM1. The protocol will later be developed by third parties.
1993
Version 2.01 of the RemoteAccess BBS is released.
1997
Compaq introduces the Compaq Deskpro 4000N, the first Net PC. The system features a 166MHz Pentium processor, a 1.6GB hard drive, 32MB RAM, one PCI slot, and the Windows NT 4.0 operating system. Price: US$1,149
1998
AMD releases the 300MHz K6 processor, the final model in the K6 line. Price: US$229 each in quantities of ten thousand units
1999
An eBay member posts an online auction for five hundred pounds of marijuana. Bidding reaches US$10 million before eBay officials closed the auction down.
Analysts report that the massive earthquake in Taiwan the day prior (September 21) has disabled the island’s semiconductor industry and that it will take a minimum of fourteen days to reopen production facilities. The shut down is estimated to cost an estimated US$350 million in lost production.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microelectronics Research, Inc., Michael Rostoker, is arrested at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). According to authorities, Rostoker allegedly had sex with a thirteen-year-old girl in Vietnam in exchange for paying her family US$150,000. The forty-one year old had also allegedly initiated plans to bring her to the United States as a sex slave. Microelectronics Research is a semiconductor subsidiary of Kawasaki Group.
The Rogers University website is hacked by the “bl0w team”.
The United States and Australia jointly announce raids on persons alleged to have “Page-Jacking” unwilling and unsuspecting Internet users browsing legitimate websites and taking them to pornographic locations. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) believes that as many as twenty-five million of approximately one billion pages on the internet may be directly affected by Page-Jacking. Such sites include several children’s game sites and the Harvard Law Review.
2000
Jason Diekman, age 20, known by the handles “Dark Lord” and “Shadow Knight”, is arrested after Federal agents discovered evidence on Diekman’s computers indicating that he intercepted usernames and passwords from universities, including Harvard University. In a statement made to investigators, Diekman will admit that he had hacked into “hundreds, maybe thousands” of computers, including systems at the California State University at Fullerton, Cornell University, Harvard, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Stanford, and University of California campuses in Los Angeles and San Diego. On February 4, 2002, Diekman will be sentenced to twenty-one months in federal prison, three years supervised release, and over US$87,000 in restitution.
2004
Activision releases the real-time tactics game Rome: Total War (RTW) for Windows. The game features large-scale battles of ancient armies with thousands of warriors. The main innovation is a brand new high-quality 3D graphics engine able to render over thirty thousand men on a single battlefield. Another prominent feature is the integration of the strategic and tactical views – the landscape for the battles is the same as seen on that particular spot on the strategic map where the armies meet. The game will garner considerable critical acclaim, receiving numerous awards and nearly universal rave reviews. The History Channel will be use the title’s game future to stage simulations of famous historical for its series Decisive Battles. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen) PEGI: 12+
Intel releases the 2533MHz Celeron D 325J and Celeron D 326 featuring 256KB Level-2 Caches and 533MHz Front Side Buses.
Intel releases the 2667MHz Celeron D 330J and Celeron D 331 featuring 256KB Level-2 Caches and 533MHz Front Side Buses.
Intel releases the 2800MHz Celeron D 335J and Celeron D 336 featuring 256KB Level-2 Caches and 533MHz Front Side Buses.
Intel releases the 2933MHz Celeron D 340J and Celeron D 341 featuring 256KB Level-2 Caches and 533MHz Front Side Buses.
The science fiction series Lost premieres on the ABC network with the episode “Pilot: Part 1.” It follows the adventures of the survivors of a plane crash as they struggle to survive and escape a mysterious island populated with seemingly paranormal pitfalls and hostile scientists. The show will prove to be both a critical and commercial success, winning numerous awards and swiftly achieving a large fan-base. Visit the series’ official website. TV.com entry
2005
Symantec, a leading developer of security software, announces plans to acquire WholeSecurity, a developer of anti-phishing technology.
2006
Google looses its appeal of a Belgian court’s order to publish an earlier September 5th ruling on its Belgian home pages, Google.be and news.google.be, claiming that the requirement was “disproportionate and unnecessary.” Google spokesman D.J. Collins told the press that the company would appeal the ruling yet again at a November 24th hearing. In the mean time, Google faces a daily fine of US$640,000 until it posts the ruling.
OneWebDay is first observed. The event is a celebration of the World Wide Web. To mark the occasion, users are encouraged to share the ways in which the web has affected their lives. The first OneWebDay is kicked off with an event in New York City’s Battery Park, during which technology advocates Craig Newmark, Drew Schutte, and Scott Heiferman speak. Visit the official OneWebDay website.
Universal Pictures releases the science fiction film Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Pam Ferris, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, to UK theaters. It is based on the 1992 science fiction novel The Children of Men by P.D. James. In it, the world’s youngest citizen has just died at the age of eighteen, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction as the solution to humanity’s infertility continues to elude scientists. Set against a backdrop of London torn apart by violence and warring nationalistic sects, “Children of Men” follows an unlikely champion of Earth’s survival: Theo, a disillusioned ex-activist turned bureaucrat, who is forced to face his own demons and protect the planet’s last remaining hope, one last pregnant woman. The film was produced on a budget of US$80 million. Visit the film’s official website. IMDB entry
2008
A global class action lawsuit is filed against Electronic Arts, complaining that the company failed to disclose its use of SecuROM to customers before they purchased Spore and that the system operates along the same lines as a rootkit, even remaining on the hard drive after the game is uninstalled. The suit is initiated by plaintiff Melissa Thomas and its seeks an aggregate sum of five million dollars. Read the full text of the complaint online.
SanDisk announces a new music format dubbed “SlotMusic,” a type of microSD memory card preloaded with an album worth of MP3 files. The format is backed by four of the major music labels (EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group), and it will be first offered through Best Buy and Walmart stores over the upcoming holiday season. The devices’ audio files contain will be completely free of digital rights management technologies and encoded at a minimum bitrate of 256kbit/s. Visit the official SlotMusic website.
2009
Point Grey Research, Inc. and Fresco Logic demonstrates the the world’s first SuperSpeed USB-enabled digital video camera, which is also the world’s first device to feature USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed USB) connectivity, at the 2009 Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, California. The demonstration highlights the benefits of SuperSpeed USB by streaming uncompressed High Definition 1080p60 video captured by a 3 megapixel (MP) Sony IMX036 CMOS image sensor. Vlad Tucakov, Director of Sales and Marketing at Point Grey comments that “One of the potential benefits of the increased bandwidth of USB 3.0 is that it allows the main processor to handle
compression. This means that different types of compression can be used for different applications and that some applications, like face recognition, can work on uncompressed video data for increased performance.” Visit the official Point Grey Research website.
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