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VisiCalc Unveiled
May 11, 1979 At the West Coast Computer Faire, Harvard MBA candidate Daniel Bricklin and programmer Robert Frankston give the first demonstration of VisiCalc, the original spreadsheet software. First released for the Apple II, VisiCalc made a business machine of the personal computer. VisiCalc was a huge success, selling more than 100,000 copies in the…
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The Birth of Wireless
May 10, 1894 “Wireless” is born when Guglielmo Marconi sends a radio wave three-quarters of a mile. Three years later the Marconi Company will successfully communicate “ship to shore” over a distance of twelve miles. Marconi’s work leads to the commercialization and proliferation of most of the radio technologies we know today. The Birth of Wireless…
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Linux Gets Happy Feet
May 9, 1996 Linus Torvalds decides to adopt Tux the penguin as a mascot for the Linux operating system. Perhaps had he known the movie Happy Feet would be released a little over 10 years later, he would have chosen a Warbler instead. Linux Gets Happy Feet is original content of This Day in Tech…
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Germans Can Be So Dry
May 8, 1886 German scientist, Dr. Carl Gassner, is issued a German patent for the first “dry” cell battery, which uses zinc as its primary component. A U.S. patent will be issued to Gassner in 1887. His battery is much like today’s carbon-zinc, “general purpose” batteries, although most people use alkalines. Germans Can Be So…
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Commercial Computer Mouse Introduced
April 27, 1981 Xerox introduces the Xerox 8010 Star Information System, the first commercial system utilizing a computer mouse, among other now commonplace technologies. The 8010 was geared towards business and was not a commercial success, therefore the mouse remained in relative obscurity until the Apple Lisa, but more prominently the Apple Macintosh, brought the mouse into…
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Sprechen Sie Sassy?
April 29, 2004 The Sasser worm is released into the wild, infecting over 1 million Windows computers worldwide. Looks like 1 million PC users stepped into a big pile of sassy! Sprechen Sie Sassy? is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by This Day in…
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Sprechen Sie Sassy?
April 29, 2004 The Sasser worm is released into the wild, infecting over 1 million Windows computers worldwide. Looks like 1 million PC users stepped into a big pile of sassy! Sprechen Sie Sassy? is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by This Day in…
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World Wide Web Made Public Domain
April 30th, 1993 At the urging of Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web protocol, the directors of CERN release the source code of World Wide Web into the public domain, making it freely available to anyone, without licensing fees. The decision to make the World Wide Web software and protocols freely available…
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GPS Gets Less Selective
May 1, 2000 The U.S. government removes Selective Availability from its Global Positioning System, improving the accuracy of civilian GPS devices from 100 meters to 20 meters. GPS Gets Less Selective is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by This Day in Tech History.com
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World Wide Web Made Public Domain
April 30th, 1993 At the urging of Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web protocol, the directors of CERN release the source code of World Wide Web into the public domain, making it freely available to anyone, without licensing fees. The decision to make the World Wide Web software and protocols freely available…