1956
Jay Wright Forrester of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is awarded a patent for his coincident current magnetic core memory. (US No. 2,736,880) The device, which Forrester describes as a multicoordinate digital information storage device, will become the standard for computer storage devices until it’s usurped by solid state RAM in the mid-seventies.
1959
The Discoverer 1 satellite is launched. It is the first satellite to be put into polar orbit.
1966
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) creates a new regulation aimed at protecting the right to privacy by prohibiting eavesdropping of private conversations by the direct or indirect use of radio-controlled devices. Visit the official FCC website.
The Star Trek episode The Cloud Minders first airs. (No. 76) In it, the Enterprise’s mission to obtain a life-saving mineral are complicated when terrorist strike out at the city which provides the mineral. Memory Alpha entry
1983
MASHThe final two and a half hour episode of the comedy series MAS*H, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, is broadcast in the US on the CBS network, becoming the most watched television episode in history, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 106 to 125 million viewers (estimates vary by source), a 60.3 rating and a 77 share. Advertising spots during the episode sold for a record US$450,000 per thirty seconds.
1990
NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixty-fifth manned space mission. (STS-36) The mission is for the United States Department of Defense.
1996
Version 1.07 of AdeptXBBS, a port of XBBS written by Mark Kimes for the OS/2 operating system, is released. It was developed by Julie Strietelmeier.
1997
The website of Åsö Gymnasium is hacked by PM.
The website of Passagen is hacked by THC.
1999
The Chapter 11 reorganization of JTS Corporation is revised in United States Bankruptcy Court into a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.
PeopleSoft, Inc. of Pleasanton, California, the second largest provider of business management software, reveals plans to dismiss four hundred thirty employees, or about six percent of its work force. The firm will also take a charge against earnings in the first quarter for nearly US$175 million to create a new business group called Momentum.
Reuters news service reports that a British military communication satellite has fallen under the control of hackers who have issued terms for its release back to the British government. The newspaper quotes unnamed security sources which claim that the satellite was seized nearly two weeks prior.
2000
The Quintus Corporation acquires Mustang Software, developers of the popular Wildcat! BBS and other communications software, in a deal valued at approximately US$290 million.
Sega Enterprises, Ltd. publicly announces that lower-than-expected sales of the Dreamcast video game system have lead to deep financial losses. Sega requests assistance from its largest shareholder, CSK Corporation.
Version 0.9.5 of OpenSSL, an open source implementation of the SSL and TLS protocols. Visit the official OpenSSL website.
2001
Intel unveils seven new optical-networking chips. The chips allow an optical signal to travel up to four hundred percent farther than before with speeds up to ten gigabits per second.
The last cable segment of the Southern Cross Cable between Hawaii to California goes into operation. The fibre optic segment operates at 160Gbps.
Microsoft releases BackOffice Server 2000, which includes Exchange Server 2000, ISA Server 2000, Host Integration Server 2000, SMS 2.0, SQL Server 2000, and Windows 2000 Server.
2002
Disney CEO Michael Eisner testifies at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on the protection of digital content from piracy. Eisner claims that Apple Computer advertisements for the iPod encourage copyright violations.
2005
Legislators in Illinois introduce a bill to ban the sale of violent or sexually explicit games to anyone under the age of eighteen. Governor Rod Blagojevich will sign the Safe Game Illinois Act into law on July 2, but on the same day that the act is signed into law, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the largest video game industry trade group in the US, will announce that it will file suit to overturn the law. On December 2, an Illinois District Court issues a permanent injunction against the act, ruling that the two criminal laws it created, the Violent Video Games Law and the Sexually Explicit Video Games Law, both violate the First Amendment. On November 28, 2006, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will uphold the lower court’s ruling.
2008
Apple begins shipping the WiFi Hard drive Time Capsule