October 18, 1931: Thomas Alva Edison Passes

by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine · Published October 18, 2017 · Updated October 10, 2017

Thomas Alva Edison

A lot happened on this day that Thomas Edison was responsible for. In 1878, Edison brought electricity into the home. 1879 Edison manufacturers the first incandescent light bulb, which was tested on October 22nd. Two major leaps in the technology ago.

But it was on October 18, 1931, Edison died of complications to diabetes in New Jersey. His last breath was captured in a test tube, which is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI.

1985– The Nintendo Entertainment System, along with the Robotic Operating Buddy (R.O.B.) and the Zapper light gun are released in New York. Eighteen games were available, two of which came bundled with the system: Duck Hunt and Super Mario Brothers.

The NES was a step up to it’s predecessor – the Famicon Disk system (which looks like a Steampunk version of the NES). Differences included 60-pin cartridges (famicon had 72-pin), case design and extra peripherals, like a 3.5 inch floppy drive.

Nintendo Favicon Family Computer with HVC-022 floppy disk drive

I remember riding my bike to the bank (there was no on-line banking in 85) – which actually was 35 miles away from my house – to get the money and buy this system. It was well worth it. My favorite game to date is still Tetris.

The NES system cost $125. Worldwide release would be in Feb 1986.Now You’re Playing With Power!

This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for October 18

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