1948 – What was first expected to be a practical use computer, the SSEM, or Small-Scale Experimental Machine became the first stored-program computer. Basically, it stores program instructions into it’s electronic memory. This 32-bit word length, cathode-ray tube computer was designed to only run subtraction and negation through hardware. Other functions could be run, but only through software.
The first program was run on this day. It was written by Professor Tom Kilbum. The seventeen-instruction stored-program took 52 minutes to run. The program was tasked to find the highest proper factor of 218 (262,144).
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 21
1987 – North American Phillips Company introduced the compact disc video format. Using the same technology as LaserVision, the “CD’s with Pictures” would be gold in color and the same size as an audio CD. They could hold up to 800 MB – which would allow for a full length movie in SD, or a video music album.
The CD-V didn’t last that long, dissolving by 1991.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 30
1997 – Toshiba – a member of the DVD consortium – put out the first consumer DVD player on November 1, 1996 in Japan as the SD-3000. After some initial changes (and having to change the DVD region code for U.S. based DVD players), Toshiba debuted two U.S. models – the SD-2006 and the SD-3006.
The SD-3006 had two more analog outputs and a Y-Cr-Cb video out with selector. Both players could run in 16:9 or 4:3 mode, but had to be selected when not in use. The SD-2006 sold for $599 and the SD-3006 sold for $699.
There are questions as to the first DVD titles available (since it was for sale in Japan Since November). The first U.S. DVD titles included Twister, Bonnie & Clyde and The Mask.
1995 – Programming language Delphi was released by Borland. Delphi is an object oriented derivative of the Pascal programming language meant for Windos and Mac OS in 32-bit and 64-bit. It was the successor to Borland Pascal.
Delphi is still in release – XE7. It has ported over to current desktop and mobile devices including Android devices. Software such as Oracle SQL Developer, MySQL Admin tools, Skype, WinRAR, Nero Burning Rom, Partition Magic, Media Monkey, Ultimate Paint, Age of Wonders and multiple emulators were all written on Delphi at one point in time.
1995– A company founded by students in Illinois, Spyglass becomes a publicly traded company. Of course, their web browser – Mosaic – was the heart of their software. Spyglass was used in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 1.0. The company was ultimately acquired by OpenTV, a privately held internet TV company.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 27
1995 – It’s the one event that brought major legal woes to the software giant. Microsoft representatives met with Netscape reps, requesting they do not compete the Netscape Navigator browser with Microsoft’sInternet Explorer. They would, in turn, get a seat on the board of directors. Co-creator Jim Clark turned down the offer, then took the matter to his lawyer. Joel Klein hears the issue and that starts the initial inquiries through the Department of Justice.Further Read: Microsoft on Antitrust
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 21
2008 – The Mozilla foundation made an interesting statement – They want to be in the Guinness book of world records as the most downloaded browser with Firefox 3.0. Download day was June 17th. After a problematic start, they hit their record over 8 million. Enough to make the Guinness book of World Records.Mozilla broke off of Netscape and created Firefox on November 9, 2004. Mozilla is currently the #3 browser, behind Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. Mozilla 12 is the current revision. Firefox uses the Gecko engine, and is open source, so it can be customized. It can be downloaded at Mozilla.org, and also comes included in certain Linux distributions.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 30