1977 – Two days prior, Microsoft send MITS a letter with the allegation that they were not up on royalty payments and if they didn’t catch up, MITS would be in breach and the 8080 BASIC would be pulled. MITS sends a letter stating that they are not correct. Ultimately, this would begin a debate that would end in November when Microsoft pulled the 8080 BASIC out.
2000– Before smartphones, Personal Digital Assistants were the device to have. You could store contacts, write memos, set up, read and send email and even play a nice game of Solitaire, or the game where you eliminated color marbles. I – in my IT career – not only had a Palm III, but also ran with an iPAQ 3650, Handspring Visor and Jornada. Well, while this was not the first handheld, we would see a day where many vendors would release the new versions of their devices. It all hovered around Microsoft and their release – the Pocket PC specification: Windows CE 3.0 with mobile IE, Windows Music Player and Mobile Word. Compaq then releases the iPAQ, HP releases the Jornada 545 and Casio introduced the Cassiopeia E-115.
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.
2009– Susan Boyle takes the Stage at “Britian’s Got Talent”. A person that most would write-off at first glance, sings “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables. Once she was done, the 48 year-old Scot got a standing ovation. The next day, her audition was posted and became one of the most viral on YouTube. It had been downloaded over 347 million times.
Of course, Boyle’s performance has been overshadowed by Gangnam Style…
2012 – Facebook – trying to get a hold on photosharing – decides to not wait for their iPhone app to come out but instead purchase Instagram for 1 billion dollars ($300 million and 23 million shares of Facebook stock). The reason Facebook made the purchase was for the close to 50 million Instagram users. Facebook had plans to keep both companies separate, but found later that joining the two via databases would help both companies grow. The companies finalized the deal on September 6, 2012.
April 6, 1968: 2001: A Space Odyssey releases to theaters
1968 – 2001: A Space Odyssey actually premiered in Washington DC on April 2nd, New York and Los Angles on April 4th. It was April 6th that was the major theatrical release date for the US. This Stanley Kubrick classic won an Oscar for best visual effects and was nominated for best director, best art direction and best writing , story and screenplay. For any Sci-Fi geek, this is an important movie in the genre. It was also known as “How the Solar System Was Won” and “Journey Beyond the Stars” (working titles).
1992 – At the Spring Comdex in Chicago, IL, Microsoft released “Janus” – otherwise known as Windows 3.1. The new 16 bit Operating System had some inventive features, including support for TrueType fonts, support for media formats like CD ROMs and MIDI and Super VGA monitors. Price: $149.00
1975– Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, NM. The company was founded there simply because that is where Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) is located. The duo was building BASIC for the Altair 8800.
April 3, 1973: The first mobile cell phone call was made
1973 – Martin Cooper made the first handheld cellular phone call in public. Walking down the streets of New York, Cooper – the General Manager of Motorola’s communication system division – talked on the phone. It’s not the first cellular call since car phones have been around before then. The phone is also known as the “Brick” cell phone.