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DES Cracked
June 17, 1997 A group of users organized over the Internet cracked the Data Encryption Standard — the strongest legally exportable encryption software in the United States — after five months of work. The United States bans stronger encryption software out of fear that it would be used by terrorists, but companies designing the software say such…
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Ford Motor Company Incorporated
June 16, 1903 Henry Ford incorporates the Ford Motor Company with ten investors and $ 28,000. Ford will begin building automobiles on Mack Avenue in Detroit in a converted factory that previously produced wagons. Ford Motor Company Incorporated is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History provided…
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Gates Announces Transition from Microsoft
June 15, 2006 Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft (Steve Ballmer was CEO at this point) announces that he will transition out of his day-to-day role at Microsoft by July 2008 in order to dedicate more time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates Announces Transition from Microsoft is original content of This Day in…
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Charles Babbage Unveils Difference Engine
June 14, 1822 Charles Babbage unveils his design for a machine he called the Difference Engine, the first example of a mechanical computing machine. The British government funded the building of a Difference Engine, which Babbage never actually completed. However, Babbage’s design for the Difference Engine and his later Analytical Engine spurred future designs of…
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First Man-Made Object to Leave Solar System
June 13, 1983 The NASA space probe Pioneer 10 crosses the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-made object to leave the Solar System. It was launched on March 2, 1972 toward the red star Aldebaran, which forms the eye of the constellation Taurus. The last contact with Pioneer 10 was on January 23, 2003. …
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Launch of Venera 4
June 12, 1967 The Soviet probe Venera 4 is successfully launched. On October 18, 1967, it will enter Venus’ atmosphere where it will become the first space probe to successfully return atmospheric data from another planet. Launch of Venera 4 is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History…
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Speak & Spell
June 11, 1978 Texas Instruments Inc. introduces the Speak & Spell, a talking educational toy for children. The device features the first electronic duplication of the human voice on a single chip of silicon. It transformed digital information processed through a filter into synthetic speech and could store more than 100 seconds of linguistic sounds.…
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Crossing the Atlantic With Cable
June 10, 1858 Two ships head out to begin work on what will become the first operational Transatlantic cable. Previous attempts at laying a Transatlantic cable had failed. Designed for telegraph operation, the cable run is completed on August 5th and the first test message is sent on August 12th. However, the cable fails on…
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Life Finds a Way
June 9, 1993 The motion picture Jurassic Park premiers in Washington D.C. The highest grossing film in history at the time, the contributions of Jurassic Park to the field of special effects is perhaps as important as the original Star Wars movie 16 years prior. During the production of the movie, the decision was made to…
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One Processor to Rule Them All
June 8, 1978 Intel introduces the 16-bit 8086 processor with clock speeds of 10, 8, and 5 MHz. The 8086 would become the basis for the series of processors used in “IBM Compatible” PCs and the x86 family (later marketed under the name “Pentium”) would dominate the market in the PC era. Ironically, however, it…