February 28, 1966: FCC creates Right to Privacy[/caption]
During non-leap years, this Day in Tech History episode will be for the 28th and 29th.
1966 (Feb 28) – With all these ways to listen in on a conversation, the FCC has to make a ruling to protect the rights of US citizens. They create the Right to Privacy act which bands evesdropping or direct and indirect use of radio – controlled devices.
1984 – Apple announced they would split up the Cupertino based company into three divisions – Apple II (handling all Apple III computers as well), the Apple 32 division (Lisa, and new Macintosh line of computers) and Accessory Products (Printers, keyboards, etc).
Delbert Yocam led the Apple II group which Steve Jobs would take care of Apple 32. Michael Muller would lead the accessories.
Apple did a lot of reorganizing, including Michael Spindler to VP of the European group and William Campbell to VP of sales in the US.
In 1984, they also introduced the Macintosh, with a groundbreaking Superbowl ad. At this time, Sculley and Jobs were co-working on a better Apple computer, but that would turn sour where Jobs resigned in 1985 to start NeXT Computers.
1948 – At IBM world headquarters, IBM dedicated the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC). The machine – otherwise known as Poppa – was the first computer to combine electronic computation with stored instruction. The 13,500 vacuum tube computer contained 21,000 relays.
The 1,800 square foot computer room had a large glass window so the public could see the building of Poppa. IBM created a raised floor for this computer so cables could run underneath and would not be tripped on. This was all in promotion to compete with the ENIAC computer.
The first calculations were of the positions of the Moon and planets. This would eventually be used by NASA to plot the course of the 1969 Apollo flight.
1896 – Although he was not the only person to be working on the technology and not the first X-ray, Wilhelm Roentgen gave the first public lecture and demonstration of his device. He photographed Dr. Albert von Kolliker’s hand at the Wurzburg Physical Medical Society.
The first X-ray he ever took was of his wife’s hand (with wedding ring on). The practice is also known as Röntgen rays.
2001 – Yahoo announces that they will acquire 98.6 percent of the outstanding stock to <a class="zem_slink" title="Yahoo! HotJobs” href=”http://HotJobs.yahoo.com” rel=”homepage”>HotJobs. They bought it for $10.50 / share for $436 million. They overbid Monster.com for the site. Ironically, Yahoo! ended up selling HotJobs to Monster on Feb 3, 2010 for $225 million.
1971 – Intel announced the 4004 microprocessor in an ad in Electronic News Magazine. Intel called it a micro-programmable computer on a chip, this was the first single-chip processor. It was also concidered to be the precursor to the x86 processor. The 4004 was followed with the 8008, 8080 and 8085 processors. Federico Faggin was the chip lead designer. He holds 2 of the chip’s patents.The 4004 could run 60,000 interactions per second (0.06 MIP). The clock rate on the chip was 108 KHz and was accompanied by the Intel RAM chip. It only cost $200. The chip made it’s debut on March 2, 1973 – More information on the Intel 4004
2008 – TiVO and Research in Motion (RIM) announce they will collaborate to give people another option to record their favorite shows. Coming soon, you would be able to set your DVR and review schedules right from your Blackberry device. That way if you forget to set your recorder, you can call up the application and make the change.
It was also the historic day that New York City’s Twin Towers were taken down by a terrorist attack. We at the Day in Tech History commemorate the 10 year anniversary and take a moment of silence in the show to remember those who lost their lives.
2011 – HP announced the TouchPad, their entry into the tablet market. Using the WebOS software they purchased from Palm back in 2010, the TouchPad introduced some new features, including the ability to sync with the upcoming Pre3 phone by touching the two together. However, the tablet was squashed in September by then CEO Leo Apetheker.
Since then, HP abandoned WebOS, making it open source. They have put out another tablet in early 2013 using the Android software.
2000 – Remember the days of the Instant Messenger? Yahoo IM or Microsoft Messenger, ICQ, AIM and many more. In 2000, a company called Trillian tried to capitalize on the market by making a IM client that could connect to all of these instant messengers. Only problem is that Yahoo! and Microsoft didn’t want to allow this to happen. They tried to block the software. However, new patches were installed and Trillian was able to access the messengers again.
Trillian (www.trillian.im) is still in existance to this day. You can download for your Mac, PC, Android, iPhone, Blackberry, and more!
Funny thing, in 2004, Microsoft put out a multiple – IM software called IM2.