1833
The first issue of the first daily newspaper in the US, The New York Sun, is published by Benjamin H. Day. By 1836, the penny paper will have a circulation of thirty thousand papers, the largest in the nation.
1860
The Mercury arc lamp is demonstrated for the first time on the Hungerford suspension bridge in London, England by Professor J.T. Way.
1941
NBC station KYW in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania becomes the first television station outside of New York to come on air.
1972
The first joint computer conference between the US and Japan is held in Tokyo, Japan.
1976
The unmanned spacecraft Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars. Its mission is to analyze the soil and climate and return the first close-up photographs of the planet. The lander houses instruments to examine the physical and magnetic properties of the soil, analyze the atmosphere and weather patterns of Mars, and to seek out evidence of the presence of life, be it past or present. The site will later be used as the fictitious setting of the Federation’s ship yard in the science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation.
1981
Coleco Industries obtains exclusive use of a Midway Manufacturing trademark on self-contained and portable electronic versions of Midway’s coin-operated arcade games.
1982
According to Twin Galaxies, Warren Conner scores a record-setting 389,000 points playing the Taito arcade game Alpine Ski at the Aladdin’s Castle arcade in West Burlington, Iowa. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.
1985
Microsoft selects the Republic of Ireland to be the site of the company’s first foreign production facility. The facility will produce all of Microsoft’s software for the European market.
1986
Doubleday publishes the science fiction novel Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov as a hardcover. (ISBN-10: 0385233124) It is the fifth novel of the Foundation series. In the book, which is set several centuries after the events of Second Foundation, two citizens of the Foundation seek to find Earth, the legendary planet where humans are said to have been originated. Even less is known about Earth than was the case in Foundation, when scholars still seem to know the location of ‘Sol’. Length: 356pp
1991
Integral Peripherals introduces the first 1.8-inch hard disk drive, with capacities of 20MB and 40MB. The drive is about the size of a deck of cards.
Lotus Development ships the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software for Windows. The name “1-2-3″ stems from the product’s integration of three main capabilities. It integrates spreadsheets, charting and graphing functions, and rudimentary database operations. Visit the application’s official website. Price: US$595
1993
Dimension Films releases the science fiction film Fortress, directed by Stuart Gordon and starring Christopher Lambert, Kurtwood Smith, Loryn Locklin, Jeffrey Combs, Vernon Wells, and Clifton Collins, Jr., to 1,204 US theaters. The film is set in a future in which it is forbidden for women to give birth to more than one child. John and Karen Brennick are apprehended for violating the restriction and imprisoned in a futuristic prison simply known as the “Fortress,” where prisoners are controlled by lasers, neutron-cannons, cameras, mind-scanners, and electronic pain devices implanted in their stomachs. But they are determined to escape. Produced on a budget of US$8 million, the film will gross US$4,040,711 in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: R) Run Time: 1hr 31mins
Infogear files an application for a US trademark on “I PHONE” (with a space) for its “communications terminals comprising computer hardware and software providing integrated telephone, data communications and personal computer functions.” On March 20, 1996, it will also file for a trademark on “IPhone”. The two patents will raise legal issues when, on January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs announces that Apple will be releasing a product called iPhone.
1995
eBay, the online auction site, is founded in San Jose, California by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as “AuctionWeb.” The first item to be sold on the website will be a broken laser pointer for US$14.83. Surprised by the success of the auction, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder and asked if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. The buyer responded by explaining, “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers.” Visit eBay’s official website.
1996
Corel releases version 4.10 of Paint Shop Pro bitmap and vector graphics editor for Windows. It is the second 32-bit release of the application. Visit the application’s official website.
David Slowinski & Paul Gage discover the thirty-fourth known Mersenne prime number, 21257787-1.
Iomega announces the Ditto tape backup drive, featuring a 2GB storage capacity and backward-compatibility with other tape formats. Cartridges are priced at US$19.99. Price: US$199.95 (external) or US$149.95 (internal)
Nintendo releases the Game Boy Pocket handheld game system in the US.
1997
Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) releases Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
Yahoo! launches Yahoo! Korea.
1999
Microware Systems files a lawsuit in US District Court against Apple Computer, claiming trademark violation by Apple of Microware’s “OS-9″ operating system. Microware seeks Apple’s earnings from the sale of Mac OS 9, and an order restraining Apple from using the name in advertising.
2001
Hewlett-Packard announces that it will acquire Compaq in a deal valued at US$25 billion. Analysts anticipates that the merger of the two computer giants will create a stronger competitor for IBM and Sun Microsystems in the server market, while putting pressure on Dell, Gateway, and IBM in the personal computer market. Hewlett-Packard and Compaq claim that the merged company will be in a position to compete with IBM across virtually its entire product line. Under this new deal, approved by the boards of both companies, each Compaq stockholder will receive 0.6325 shares of HP stock in addition to their current shares in Compaq stock. The merger is expected to be final in the first half of 2002, at which time sixty-four percent of all stockholders in the new company will consist of the original HP stockholders.
2003
The Hubble Space Telescope begins photographing the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, which will be composited from data accumulated between September 3, 2003 and January 16, 2004. The final composite is the deepest image of the universe ever taken in visible light, looking back in time more than thirteen billion years. The HUDF contains an estimated ten thousand galaxies. The patch of sky in which the galaxies reside is just one-tenth the diameter of the full moon when viewed from Earth. It was chosen because it had a low density of bright stars in the near-field. The composite required eight hundred exposures taken over the course of four hundred orbits of the telescope around the Earth. The total amount of exposure time is 11.3 days
2004
Wizards of the Coast premieres the tabletop game Star Wars Miniatures with the release of the “Rebel Storm” set.
2006
Europe’s first lunar probe, the European Space Agency SMART-1, intentionally crashes into surface of the Moon, successfully concluding its sixteen month mission. The probe’s impact had been designed to kicked up a large quantity of regolith so that its composition could be studied. It was launched on September 27, 2003. Visit the official SMART-1 website.
Intel releases the 1066MHz Core Duo ULV U2400 32-bit dual-core mobile microprocessor, featuring a 2048KB Level-2 cache and a 533MHz front-side bus. Price: US$262 in 1,000-unit quantities
Intel releases the 1833MHz Core Duo LV L2500 32-bit dual-core mobile microprocessor, featuring a 2048KB Level-2 cache and a 667MHz front-side bus. Price: US$316 in 1,000-unit quantities
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, premieres at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival. It will later be released to UK theaters on September 22 and to US theaters on December 25. IMDB Running Time: 1 hrs 49 mins
2007
The London Financial Times reports that China’s military successfully hacked into The Pentagon’s computer network in June after several months of effort.
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