-
Atari Launches Home Video Gaming
October 14, 1977 Atari releases their Video Computer System (known as the VCS and later as the Atari 2600). It took two years for the VCS to gain traction, but by 1979 it was the best selling gift of the Christmas season. Once it was established, the Atari VCS took the market by storm, popularized home video…
-
Cellular Goes Live in US
October 13, 1983 Ameritech Mobile Communications executive Bob Barnett makes a phone call from a car parked near Soldier Field in Chicago, officially launching the first cellular network in the United States. Previous post: Steve Jobs’ NeXT Computer This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by This Day in Tech History.com
-
Steve Jobs’ NeXT Computer
October 12, 1988 Hailed by Steve Jobs as a computer “five years ahead of its time”, NeXT, Inc. introduces their NeXT Computer. Due to its cube-shaped case, the computer was often referred to as “The Cube” or “The NeXT Cube”, which led to the subsequent model offically being named “NeXTcube“. The new computer introduced several…
-
NASA’s First Launch
October 11, 1958 NASA launches Pioneer 1, the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed space agency. Originally intended to fly by the Moon, a launch malfunction due to a programming error caused Pioneer 1 to only attain a ballistic trajectory, which caused it to fall back to the Earth after 43 hours of flight.…
-
First Phone Call Over Outdoor Wires
October 9, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson demonstrate the first two-way phone call over outdoor wires. Bell and Watson made their call between the cities of Boston and Cambridge. Previous post: Finish Him! This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by This Day in Tech History.com
-
Finish Him!
October 8, 1992 The video game Mortal Kombat is released into arcades. Now one of the most popular fighting game series in history, the original Mortal Kombat became well-known for its graphic display of blood and deadly finishing moves known as “fatalities”. As often happens in situations like these, the controversy surrounding the game only…
-
Steve Jobs Passes Away
October 5, 2011 After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, technology visionary and founder of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs passes away. Jobs’ contributions to the technology industry are undeniable. Together with Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs started the personal computer revolution with their Apple II computer. After being forced out of Apple, Jobs went on to…
-
Ethernet is Drafted
September 30, 1980 Digital, Intel, and Xerox release version 1.0 of the Ethernet specification, known as the Blue Book. Since that time, Ethernet has evolved into the de facto networking standard for local area networks (LAN) in businesses and in the home. Previous post: Microsoft Word 1.0 for DOS Next post: The First CD Player…