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Money For Nothing?
May 13, 1985 The British rock band Dire Straits releases their fifth album, Brothers in Arms, which will become the first CD to sell over a million copies. It was the most successful album release on compact disc for over two decades. I guess “Money for Nothing” was more than a song title. Money For Nothing?…
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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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IBM 704 Introduced
May 7, 1954 IBM announces the IBM 704 Data Processing System, the world’s first mass produced computer to feature floating point arithmetic hardware. Besides this ultra-geeky distinction, the IBM 704 will leave its mark in computer history before it is discontinued on April 7, 1960. Both the FORTRAN and LISP programming languages were first developed…
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“i” is for Apple
May 6, 1998 At the Flint Center Theater, the same place where the Mac was first unveiled in 1984, Steve Jobs introduces the original iMac. This iMac was later known as the “Bondi Blue”, after the color of its case (named for a beach in Australia). According to Jobs, the iMac is “the Internet-age computer…
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Wolfenstein 3D Blasts Onto Scene
May 5, 1992 Id Software Inc. releases the game Wolfenstein 3D, the original first person shooter game for DOS computers. The game becomes an instant success, putting id Software on the map and launching the first person shooter genre. If you’re curious, you can play the game today on an iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad. Wolfenstein…
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Love Stinks
May 4, 2000 The Love Letter computer virus, aka the “ILOVEYOU” bug, spreads to personal computers running Windows around the world in just six hours. Spreading through e-mail, the virus entices victims to open the message with the subject of “ILOVEYOU”. About 2.5 to 3 million PCs will become infected. The cost of system downtime…
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Dell Founded
May 3rd, 1984 Dell Computer Corporation is founded by Michael Dell, running the direct-to-order PC company from his dorm room. Dell, Inc. eventually became the largest manufacturer of PCs in the world for many years. It is currently surpassed by HP and Acer. Dell Founded is original content of This Day in Tech History. This…