1996– Nineteen year old Jennifer Kaye Ringley takes several webcams and places them within her house. For the next seven years, she would livestream her life to all on the Internet. Since Ringley was raised a nudist, she would appear on the video without clothes on. The site was not pornographic – although any sexual escapades would be caught live. Jennifer leads a Social media free life nowadays.
1988 – The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is what we use daily to open up email, our web browser and even those apps on your smartphone or tablet. With the first real GUI came the first copyright infringement for it as Apple sued both Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard for stealing features from Macintosh’s interface.
Hewlett Packard was also named for their New Wave desktop environment. Missing from the suit is Microsoft Presentation Manager, which became the interface for IBM’s OS/2.
The lawsuit got muddied when Xerox sued Apple for the same thing. That instance got thrown out rather quick. But the original suit lasted until 1994 when the court ruled: “Apple cannot get patent-like protection for the idea of a graphical user interface, or the idea of a desktop metaphor…”
Apple tried to take the case to the Supreme Court but was denied.
1904– To show the effects of how dangerous Nikolai Tesla’s Alternating current was, Thomas Alva Edison filmed the electrocution of the elephant, Topsy. This was falsely advertised as the first Elephant to be born in America by the Forepaugh Circus. Topsy was named after a slave girl in the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.
Topsy was sold to Cony Island’s Sea Lion park. Her handler, William Whitey Alt, used Topsy to try and go after police. He also was involved in an incident where he used the elephant as an intimidation factor to the local police. Alt was fired and the owners of Luna Park were ready to get rid of her but no one wanted Topsy.
The owners planned to euthanize her by hanging, but the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stepped in and said hanging was a needlessly cruel means to killing. After debate, it was finally arranged that the Edison Electric Illuminating company of Brooklyn would perform the electrocution.
The electrocution was witnessed by 1,500 who payed for their seats at Coney Island, along with 100 media personnel.
1997 – Microsoft violated a July 1994 consent decree, so 3 years later, the US Justice department decides to hold Microsoft in contempt. This was the ongoing issues with Internet Explorer bundled in Windows 95. The Justice department wants Microsoft to pay $1 Million a day until Microsoft stops bundling. Microsoft says they have the right to bundle software with the operating system. This was an ongoing battle for Antitrust issues.
This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for October 20
The United States Justice Department asks a Federal judge to hold Microsoft in contempt of court for allegedly violating a July 1994 consent decree by continuing to force computer manufacturers to distribute Internet Explorer with Windows ‘95. The Justice department asks the court to hold Microsoft in contempt and to impose a one million dollar a day fine on the company until it stops bundling the browser into the operating system. Microsoft responds by stating they have the right to integrate products and the browser has become an integral part of the system.
Hewlett Packard came out with their first Programmable calculator in 1979. The HP-41c was the first to give alphanumeric display capabilities. It would actually tell you what to do (ex. “ENTER RADIUS”) instead of leaving your wondering. It also had four ports that could be used to expand memory, install a Thermal printer, magnetic reader or bar code scanner.
2011 – Apple Announces the iPhone 4s, with retina display and Siri functionality. The 4s contains the A5 chipset and would be on sale October 10th. Apple also announced iOS5 update, which would be available on October 12th.
This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for October 4
1995 – The online auction site eBay officially was founded on this day by Pierre Omidyar, but it was known back then as “AuctionWeb“. The first auction was for a broken laser pointer. It was sold for $14.83.Makes me wonder how much that laser pointer would be worth if it went back up on the auction block.
The hobby became a business real quick when his server fees increased dramatically. He decided to take AuctionWeb to the next level and hire an employee – Chris Agarpao. Soon, eBay got their first president in 1996 when Jeffrey Skoll took the reins.
Since then the company has grown to a juggernaut in the online Auction business. They even have an ebay slot machine. Just like the auction site, I personally didn’t do too well in profiting from it…
This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for September 3
The Defendant – Jeffery Howell had willfully and intentionally destroyed evidence related to his peer-to-peer activities after being notified of pending legal action by the RIAA. Furthermore, since it was done in bad faith, it “therefore warrants appropriate sanctions.
The RIAA went after Pamela and Jeffrey Howell for copyright infringement back in 2006. They claimed Kazaa was used to make copyrighted files available for download. Jeffrey then tried to cover his tracks by erasing the hard drive. Not a good practice, there.
This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for August 26
2011 – Steve Jobs, unable to continue due to failing health, officially puts his resignation in to Apple. He asks for his successor to be Tim Cook, then COO of Apple. The Board of Directors agree and announce the changing of CEO. The official resignation letter read:
To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. The official resignation letter read:
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
1995 – Microsoft releases Windows 95. It was a stellar event with it’s newest operating system. The first MS OS in 32 bit mode, it also debut TCP/IP, dial up networking and Long Filename support. The event brought along many different celebrations, including places like New York, which lit up the Empire State Building with the Windows colors.
IBM wasn’t sure if they were getting Windows 95 until 15 minutes before release. Companies like HP and Compaq (at that time they were separate) were able to let consumers know that they will get upgrades, but IBM could not make that promise.
This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for August 24