Day in Tech History

Day in Tech History Podcast, Blog 365 Days a Year!

December 6, 2018

December 7, 1978: Microsoft Staff Picture

1978 – It is one of the most infamous pictures in tech today. This is the Microsoft crew. Can you guess which one is Bill Gates? The picture was updated in 2008 when the group (except Bob Wallace, who passed away in 2002) got back together for Bill Gates last few days at Microsoft (below). The staff picture includes: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen (2nd row) Bob O’Rear, Bob Greenberg (who helped launch Cabbage Patch Kids), Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin, (3rd row) Steve Wood, Bob Wallace (passed away in 2002) and Jim Lane. This Day in Tech...

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Day in Tech History / Geek

December 5, 2018

December 6th, 1768: Encyclopedia Britannica Published

1768 – Encyclopedia Britannica began publishing the first print – otherwise known as “part I”. It was the brain child of Colin Macfarquhar, and Andrew Bell, and was a conservative reaction to the French Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot. The first volume would be completed Edinburgh, Scotland by 1771. The 3rd edition would become popular and also expand for the first time. Since then, the Britannica would be digitized and put on CD, then DVD format. Today’s current version has 400 editors and 1,000 contributors. The Encyclopedia also saw several pirate copies during it’s 242 year run.The Encyclopedia would move to the US in 1901. Today,...

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Richard Wexelblat - History of Programming Languages

Day in Tech History / Geek

December 4, 2018

December 5, 1965: First Computer Science Degree: Richard Wexelblat

1965 – Richard Wexelblat was the first candidate to complete his doctoral dissertation, hence giving him a degree in “Computer Science“. It was presented at the University of Pennsylvania – Moore School of Electrical Engineering. Richard went on to write the “History of Programming Languages” (ISBN:0-12-745040-8) This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for December 5 Today is the official birth of the Transistor Amazon Crashes HD Support for YouTube Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe! Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More

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Computer / Day in Tech History

December 3, 2018

December 4, 1985: Cray X-MP/48 Supercomputer

1985 – The Cray X-mp/48 Supercomputer begins operation in San Diego Supercomputer Center in California. The $15 million dollar supercomputer could process 400 megaflops (200 per processor). It was a shared-memory parallel vector processor and supported 2 or 4 million 64-bit words of main memory in 16 or 32 banks. The first Cray didn’t get installed until October 1986. Cray X-MP/48 replaced the Cray-1. It was succeeded by the Cray Y-MP8/864 in 1990. Movies such as “the Last Starfighter” were rendered using the Cray Supercomputer. This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for December 4 OS/2 Standard 1.0 ships The EV1 – GM‘s General Market...

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Day in Tech History / IBM

December 2, 2018

December 3, 1981: Disbanding of IBM Data Processing Division

1981 – For many years, whenever something came out, it was “IBM’s Data Processing Division releases”… Well, on Dec 3rd 1981, IBM decided and announced that the Data Processing Division was going to be absorbed into the IBM National Accounts Division (NAD), and the National Marketing Division. The 2 divisions would then become part of the Information SystemsGroup. This would be effective January 1982. The Data Processing Division was launched in 1956. IBM DPD had launched many 370 mainframe systems, as well as the 7090 – which we talk about it’s release on Dec 3rd 1968. For more information, see IBM...

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Apple / Day in Tech History

December 1, 2018

December 2, 1991: Apple Quicktime

1991 – What was first a Multimedia add-on for System 6, Quicktime has spent 21 years being Apples’ proprietary player. The original version contained graphics, animation and Video codecs – What was refered to as “Road Pizza”. Since then Quicktime had developed on both Mac and Windows sides (starting in 1992). The current version is called Quicktime X but there are signs the technology is either moving a new direction or possibly retired. This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for December 2 The Virginia Internet Policy Act AT&T pulls pay phones Digg.com was not for sale Podcast: Play in new window...

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Day in Tech History / Internet

December 1, 2018

December 1, 2013: The Amazon Flying Drone Project

2013 – Jeff Bezos is interviewed on the show “60 Minutes” on CBS with Charlie Rose. During his interview he unveils a project Amazon has been working on – Flying drone delivery. This secret R&D project called “Octocopter” will have drones fly the packages from outposts in each city to the homes. In a project Amazon is calling “Prime Air”, they expect the delivery system to be available in the next 4-5 years. Charlie Rose’ reaction summed it up. “Oh, my God!”. 1999 – It was the most expensive internet domain name. Business.com was first bought in 1997 for $150,000 by...

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Day in Tech History / IBM

November 29, 2018

November 30, 1959: $2.9 Million IBM 7090 Mainframe

1959 – Want to see a 2.9 million dollar computer? That was the IBM 7090 – a transistorized mainframe computer that was designed for scientific research and tech applications. It replaced the 709 series, which used vacuum tubes. The first two were delivered – one of the 7090’s would be used for the Mercury and Gemini space missions. Check out more on the IBM 7090 This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for November 30 The First Coaxial cable is installed Microsoft Vista is released to Volume licence customers Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings loses. Podcast: Play in new window |...

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Day in Tech History / Geek

November 28, 2018

November 29, 1972: First Pong Machine

1972 – Andy Cappa’s tavern in CA was the site for the first Pong game was wheeled into the establishment. The coin-operated game was put in by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell and game designer Al Alcorn. The duo decided that making their own game – rather than having 3rd parties do it – would help keep costs down. They then turned an old Roller rink and converted to a production line. Pong was the first successful video game system. This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for November 25 Microsoft is first mentioned in a letter from Bill Gates to Paul Allen...

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