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Altair 8800 Goes on Sale; Inspires PC Era
December 19, 1974 Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, otherwise known as MITS, begins selling the Altair 8800 microcomputer kit. As the base computer used toggle switches for input and LEDs for output, it was far from a personal computer as we know it today. However, it is one of the most important computers in history,…
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The Internet Goes Hollywood
December 18, 1998 The Warner Brothers motion picture You’ve Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, is released to theaters. While mostly known as a romantic comedy, the film was chock-full of technology symbolism. Primarily I find interesting that the movie’s themes of business and technology was foreshadowing larger charges to come. Starting with the…
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Wright Brothers First Powered Flight
December 17, 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright make their famous first controlled and sustained flights with a heavier than air, powered aircraft. Orville made the very first flight which lasted about 12 seconds. Three more flights were made that day by both brothers, with the most successful being the fourth and final flight in which Wilbur flew…
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Canning Spam
December 16, 2003 The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 is signed into United States law. Passed in an attempt to control the growing deluge of junk e-mail, the law’s effectiveness is dubious at best, especially considering political spam is exempt from the law. Previous post: AltaVista Launches This Day in Tech History
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AltaVista Launches
December 15, 1995 Developed by researchers at Digital Equipment Research Laboratories, the AltaVista search engine is launched. It was the first world wide web search service to gain significant popularity. One of the most popular search engines in the early world wide web, Google didn’t overtake AltaVista until 2001. AltaVista was eventually purchased by Yahoo!…
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Apple’s IPO Makes Forrest Gump Rich
December 12, 1980 Apple Computer holds their initial public offering, selling 4.6 million shares at $ 22 per share and turning more than 40 Apple employees and investors into instant millionaires. With the stock value closing at $ 29, the market capitalization puts the company’s worth at $ 1.778 billion. Stock held by Steve Jobs…
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Relay I Launched
December 13, 1962 NASA launches the active repeater communication satellite Relay I from Cape Canaveral. One of the earliest communication satellites to be launched, Relay I’s mission was primarily experimental, but it nonetheless was used for some notable events. On November 22, 1963 Relay I was the first satellite to broadcast television from the United…
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Apple’s IPO Makes Forrest Gump Rich
December 12, 1980 Apple Computer holds their initial public offering, selling 4.6 million shares at $ 22 per share and turning more than 40 Apple employees and investors into instant millionaires. With the stock value closing at $ 29, the market capitalization puts the company’s worth at $ 1.778 billion. Stock held by Steve Jobs…
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Google Releases Chrome
December 11, 2008 Google releases the first stable public version of their web browser, Chrome. Chrome is now considered the third-most popular web browser in the world. Previous post: iD Software Releases DOOM This Day in Tech History
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iD Software Releases DOOM
December 10, 1993 Video Game developer iD software releases the game DOOM. DOOM is considered one of the most influential titles in video game history, popularizing the first-person shooter genre with its “deathmatch” multi-player mode. Its use of graphic violence and satanic imagery also made the game controversial, which of course only served to increase…