-
iPod Nano Introduced
September 7, 2005 Apple introduces the iPod Nano, effectively replacing the iPod Mini. The move surprised many in the industry, as the iPod Mini was extremely popular. However, the use of flash storage instead of a hard drive allowed for a much smaller form factor, increased reliability, and better battery life. These improvements proved extremely popular…
-
“Google Satellite” GeoEye-1 Launched
September 6, 2008 After 5 months of delays, the high resolution earth observation satellite, GeoEye-1, is launched from Vandenburg Air Force Base. Owned by the corporation GeoEye, Inc., GeoEye-1 is capable of taking high resolution images with detail of down to 16 inches. However, the US Government has restricted that resolution for its own use.…
-
Last IBM “Stretch” Computer Shut Down
September 5, 1980 The last IBM 7030 “Stretch” mainframe in active use is decommissioned at Brigham Young University. The first Stretch was was delivered to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1961, giving the model almost 20 years of operational service. The Stretch was famous for many things, but perhaps most notably it was the first…
-
Google Files for Incorporation
September 4, 1998 Larry Page and Sergey Brin file incorporation papers for Google in California. Filing on a Friday, the date of official incorporation would be marked as Monday, September 7th. Starting out as a privately held company, Google would hold their IPO about 6 years later on August 19, 2004. Google Files for Incorporation is original content of This…
-
First Search Engine
September 2, 1993 The world’s first primitive web search engine is started. Known as W3Catalog or the CUI WWW Catalog, it was started by Oscar Nierstrasz at the Centre Universitaire d’Informatique (CUI) of the University of Geneva. This search site lasted for about 3 years before more modernized search engines began appearing. I could not find an actual picture…
-
Aldus – Adobe Merger Finalized
August 31, 2004 Aldus, the company that created PageMaker – considered the world’s first desktop publishing application – merges with Adobe, the company that created PostScript – which was the page description language powering many early laser printers. The combination of Pagemaker running on Apple’s Macintosh and printing to the Apple’s PostScript-powered LaserWriter sparked the desktop publishing revolution in the 1980’s. Aldus –…
-
First Building Block of the Internet
August 30, 1969 The first Interface Message Processor (IMP) is delivered to Leonard Kleinrock’s research group at UCLA. The IMP was the device that would interconnect networks between research facilities on the developing ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. As a packet-switching device, the IMP can be considered the first generation of what we now…
-
Faraday Discovers Electromagnetic Induction
August 29, 1831 English scientist Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction. Electromagnetic induction is the primary principle behind electric motors and electric generators, two very important inventions that power and drive our electronic technology of today. Faraday Discovers Electromagnetic Induction is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History…
-
Snow Leopard Released; The End of AppleTalk
August 28, 2009 Apple releases Mac OS X 10.6, “Snow Leopard” for their Macintosh computers. Snow Leopard was an important release as it was the first to drop support for PowerPC-based Macs and focus optimization for the Intel processor-based Macs. The networking protocol that Apple had used since the 1980’s, AppleTalk, was also discontinued in…
-
World’s Largest Battery Backup
August 27, 2003 The city of Fairbanks, Alaska connected to what was at the time the world’s largest battery backup. Designed to help prevent serious blackouts that plagued the city every two to three years, the batteries could provide power to the city for a few minutes – enough time to start up the city’s…