day in tech history

Thomas Alva Edison

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October 18, 1931: Passing of Thomas Alva Edison

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Thomas Alva Edison
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
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!

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  • Several points in Thomas Edisons’ history
  • Apple Performa 6360
  • VidaLinux
Intel 80386DX

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October 17, 1985: Intel 80386DX Processor Released

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Intel 80386DX
Intel 80386DX released October 17,1985

1985– Intel released the 80386 DX processor. The 275,000 transistor chip was a big jump from the 20 MHz 286. It contained the ability to address up to 4 GB of memory and had a bigger instruction set.  The chip would be released, but most people wouldn’t see the processor until Spring of 1986Interesting enough – the 386 chip was finally discontinued in the Fall of 2007. The chip was used after personal computer days to power many embedded systems.

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  • Texas Instruments “afternoon with TI management”
  • IMDB is formed (sort of)
  • Apple released Mac OS 8.5
Walt Disney Company

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October 16, 1923: Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio

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Walt Disney Company
Walt Disney Company – Founded Oct 16, 1923

1923– 90 years ago, Walt and Roy Disney start what is known as the Walt Disney Company. It started as the Disney Brothers Cartoon studio. Walt Disney created a short film entitled Alice’s Wonderland.

In 1986, the name was officially changed to the Walt Disney Company. Steve Jobs was a shareholder and board member. Walt Disney Studios is one of the largest in Hollywood with networks ESPN, ABC, A&E and more.


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  • FORTRAN is released
  • Wal-Mart Sues Amazon
  • iTunes for Windows
  • President Bill Clinton signs the web copyright law
token-ring-configuration

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October 15, 1985: IBM Announces Token Ring Network

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token-ring-configuration
token-ring-configuration

1985– IBM announced, with co-developer Texas Instruments, the Token Ring network along with PC Network software – six months ahead of schedule. The Token Ring only did network transmission speed of 4 Mbps (It didn’t hit speeds of 16 Mbps until 1989), and worked over standard phone wiring.

Using terminated BNC cable, Token Ring created just that; a Ring connection that talks in one direction.

The standard was also known as the IEEE 802.5 protocol. Token Ring further developed to run 100 Mbps.

Eventually, Ethernet overtook Token Ring because it was cheaper to install, even though it was a better protocol than Ethernet.

Did/Does Cable TV Use Token Ring?

Cable companies use Fiber and Coaxial cable to bring Internet and TV into a home. The coaxial cable is similar looking to the cable used in some Token Ring networks, but the two technologies are different.

Some Token Ring cards did use a similar cable, but also used IBM’s hermaphroditic connector, and DB-9 connector. Some networks also used an RJ-45 or RJ-11 connector with the Twisted pair configuration.


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  • Mac Plus Retires, Mac Classic Launches
  • John Sculley resigns from Apple
  • AOL Lays off 20%
zmodem

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October 14,1986: Open Source ZModem Released

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zmodem
zmodem

1986 – Telenet funded a project to develop an improved public domain application to application file transfer protocol. This protocol would alleviate the throughput problems their network customers were experiencing with XMODEM and Kermit file transfers. ZMODEM could provide high performance and reliability over packet switched networks while preserving XMODEM’s simplicity. It made XModem and YModem obsolete.

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  • Chuck Yeager flies the speed of sound
  • ARM 250 is released
  • Apple launched the iPhone 4S
  • Google announced Buzz was shutting down.
Priceline

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October 13, 1999: Priceline Lawsuit on Microsoft, Expedia

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Priceline
Priceline Lawsuit to Microsoft

1999– Priceline filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and its Expedia travel service. The suit outlined how they violated U.S. patent number 5,794,207, “Method and Apparatus for a Cryptographically Assisted Network System Designed to Facilitate Buyer-Driven Conditional Purchase Offers.” The two sites come to terms in 2001, in where Microsoft pays a fine.

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  • Microsoft tries to acquire Intuit
  • ATI & NVidia antitrust is closed
  • NBCOlympics.com stats
NeXT Computer - Steve Jobs

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October 12, 1988: Steve Jobs Introduces NeXT Computer

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NeXT Computer - Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs Debuts NeXT Computer

1988– Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, California. Steve Jobs shows off the NeXT Computer featuring the Motorola 68030 microprocessor at 25 MHz. The computer introduces several new features including optical storage disk, voice recognition, and object-oriented languages. The system came with the NeXT STep operating system and cost $6,500.

NeXT computer sold around 50,000 units. The NeXTSTEP Operating System was highly influential. It was the basis of Mac OS X. Apple acquired NeXT on Decemeber 20th, 1996 for $429 million in cash. Steve Jobs became interim CEO of Apple and the rest was history.

Steve Jobs almost didn’t come back after he was fired from Apple. He ended up not only founding NeXT, but also helped with Pixar. It does beg the question: Would we have an iPhone, iPad if Jobs wouldn’t have come back? Same question if he wasn’t brought back as CEO of Apple? Would it have been the NeXTPhone and NeXTPad?

NeXT Logo
NeXT Logo

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  • AMD signs agreement with Intel
  • 5th Gen iPod released
  • Clockwise or Counterclockwise Silhouette.
Visicalc - Dan Bricklin

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October 11, 1979: Visicalc – First Killer PC App Released

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Visicalc - Dan Bricklin
Dan Bricklin Shows off Visicalc

1979– Visicalc is released by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston. The spreadsheet application is called the first killer app for personal computers. It turned the PC from a hobby to a business tool.

The software was released under their company name “Software Arts”. It was developed for the Apple II computer with 6502 assmebler. 

Only downfall for the company was they did not patent the system, therefore, clones like SuperCalc, Microsoft’s MultiPlan and Lotus 1-2-3, would show up.

Visicalc is short for “Visual Calculator”. 


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  • IBM 1311 Storage Drive
  • Office 2001 for Mac
  • Poloroid files Chapter 11
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