It is the famous drawing tool that became a cult classic. A toy that is as collectable as the LEGO or Star Wars memorabilia. The Etch A Sketch was first brought out on shelves in 1960. Of course, since then it has taken its popularity to many levels. Some people create masterpieces, while others just play with the dials. I have an Etch A Sketch attached to a pencil, but its size is about the same as an iPador other Tablet.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 12
2007 – Oracle releases what they called the $10 billion / year Database software in Oracle 11g. It was the first update since 2004. Oracle’s what as refered to as an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS). It is produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 11
It was a movie that became a cult classic. Tron – The story of Kevin Flynn who tries to figure out if ENCOM stole his game ideas. While hacking into the mainframe, the company sets a trap where Flynn gets sucked into the video game.
The movie debuted in 1982 along with the video game by Bally. Tron starred Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner and Cindy Morgan. It took 17 million to make the movie, it grossed 33 million in return. Tron’s sequel of sorts – called Legacy – was released on Dec 17, 2010. Unfortunately, it did not receive the same status as the original did.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 9
In 2007, developer Dan Kaminsky found a flaw in the addressing of the Domain Name System, or DNS. DNS is found on home to commercial routers around the world. The issue was so severe, that they were not divulging the issue until a patch could be implemented on a wide scale. On March 31st, Kaminsky – along with 16 other developers – gathered at Microsoft to work on a massive patch and synchronize the release so all details could be released as well. The Patch was released in July 8th,2008. For more information, see the Explaination of the DNS Flaw
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 8
In 1881, a man walked into Edward Berner’s drug store in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Since it was the Sabbath, the customer couldn’t have the flavored soda water for religious reasons. As he sat at the soda fountain counter, Berner comes to a compromise. Berner put ice cream in a dish and poured chocolate syrup on top. They then named it Ice Cream Sunday. The name will become “Sundae”, the next day.
1994 – The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) released I3enc – otherwise known at MP3. This is also known as MPEG-3. The MP3 moniker did not get chosen until July 14, 1995 (it was .bit before .mp3). MP3 is still licensed to Fraunhofer Institute – therefore, you must pay a license fee to use the popular .mp3 format. There is an open source format .ogg vorbis.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 7
In a very bold move, Jack Tramiel laid off the majority of his staff outside of engineering. This comes in 1984, 3 days after Tramiel buys Atari for $240 million in 10 and 12 year notes.
The employees note that it wasn’t a Hard layoff. One employee stated that no one cared if they looted the building, so they did.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 6
Not the email version. In 1937, Hormelcame out with the first can of SPAM. The Luncheon meat. Spam was derived from the words Spiced Ham. It is pre-cooked meat that contained chopped pork, ham mean, salt, water, potato starch, and sodium nitrate. So if you have high blood pressure, you might want to stay away from this stuff.
Spam comes in many varieties, including Hot & Spicy, Less sodium (25%), Spam Lite, Oven Roasted Turkey, and others.
SPAM is made in SpamTown, USA – or Austin, Minnesota. McDonalds uses Spam in Guam, hawaii and Saipan. Spam is known as “poor people food”, however, in Hawaii, it is a common meat served.
For their 75th anniversary, Spam introduced Sir Can a Lot.
“The introduction of Sir Can-A-Lot provides an engaging presence that highlights the playful and down-to-earth personality that makes the SPAM brand both unique and timeless,” said Nicole L. Behne, product manager of SPAMfamily of products. “The campaign features him ridding not only mealtimes of boredom, but also helping consumers ‘Break the Monotony.’”
Monty Python‘s version of SPAM came out December 15, 1970 – The first email SPAM happened on May 3, 1978
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 5
“Happy Independence Day. In return, we are going to give you a great new way to get email. It’s called “Hotmail“. Be free from your internet service provider!”
That was the call to action on 1996. Hotmail launched their email service as “HoTMaiL” (HTML is upper-case). It is the first web-based email that was later named MSN Hotmail, then Windows Live Hotmail.
Hotmail had many features since its start. Unlimited storage was one big feature. In 1997, Microsoft purchased Hotmail for $400 million, and changed the name to MSN Hotmail. They paired with the Microsoft Instant Messanger, then built items like the calendar, SkyDrive, and more.
After getting stiff competition from Google in 2004, Microsoft changed the service to Live Hotmail. The service continues on with many updates to compete with Google and Yahoo mail.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for July 4