Recreation

0607

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June 7, 1975: Sony Betamax is Released

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Sony Betamax
Sony Betamax

1975 – Sony releases the first home videocassette recorder in the US. Japan first saw the Betamax on May 10, 1975, which was not uncommon. The magnetic tape media was the first to be on the market, as VHS didn’t come around until 1976.

Many believed Betamax was the better of the two in quality. Many TV and professional recording companies used the format almost til the end of their lifetime. Of course, in 1984, the players were under major fire for copyright infringement from Universal. However, it was ruled that although they could record the content, it was not their responsibility if someone used it for illegal activity.

Sony finally stopped producing the player and tapes on August, 2002.

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  • Commodore Executive 64 is released
  • Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson orders the breakup of Microsoft into two companies
Playstation 3

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May 14, 2011: The Return of Sony Playstation Network

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Playstation 3
Playstation 3

2011 – Hackers took down the Sony Playstation network on April 20th, 2011. Around 77 million accounts were comprimised and gamers couldn’t play online for over a month. On May 14, Sony started bringing the services back online on a country-by-country basis. North America was the first, and people could sign-in, play PS3 and PSP games, access rented content, play music already purchased, and use approved 3rd party apps such as Hulu and Netflix. A firmware update 3.61 was also available to update security for the users.

When it was all said and done, Sony had lost $171 million on this outage.

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  • Texas Instruments starts to compete with IBM
  • ZDTV (TechTV, G4) Channel begins operation
  • Google suffers a 1 hour outage
  • George Lucas Birthday
Aloha from Hawaii

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January 14, 1973: Live Via Satellite – Elvis Presley!

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Aloha from Hawaii
Aloha from Hawaii

1973 – Elvis is broadcast via satellite to over 1 billion viewers in over 40 countries. That is, except for the U.S. because Superbowl VII was being played. The U.S. finally got to see the concert on April 4, 1973 on NBC.

The show, entitled “Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite”, cost $2.5 million to produce. Presley taped a backup two days prior in case any problems arose. Presley performed many of his hits such as “Burning Love”, “My Way”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Hound Dog”, “Suspicious Minds”, and “Can’t Help Falling in Love”.

Elvis’ famous jumpsuit from that night can be seen at Graceland. You can also get the Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii (40th Anniversary Edition) DVD from Amazon.

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  • Intel 2.4 GHz processor
  • IBM Data 360
  • Nortel files Chapter 11
Microsoft Crew

/

December 7, 1978: Microsoft Staff Picture

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Microsoft Crew
Microsoft Crew

1978 – It is one of the most infamous pictures in tech today. This is the Microsoft crew. Can you guess which one is Bill Gates?

The picture was updated in 2008 when the group (except Bob Wallace, who passed away in 2002) got back together for Bill Gates last few days at Microsoft (below).

The staff picture includes: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen (2nd row) Bob O’Rear, Bob Greenberg (who helped launch Cabbage Patch Kids), Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin, (3rd row) Steve Wood, Bob Wallace (passed away in 2002) and Jim Lane.

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Microsoft Re-take in 2008
Dave Ulmer

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2000: The GeoCaching Craze

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Dave Ulmer
Dave Ulmer

2000 – Up until May 1, all GPS signals were scrambled for protection. President Bill Clinton announced they would be turning off the Selective Availability (SA) because it didn’t propose a greater threat. But it also gave geeks something new to play with. But what to do?

Dave Ulmer ultimately started the GeoCaching phenomenon. He hid a bunch of trinkets out in the woods of Portland, Oregon. He then went to the USENET group sci.geo.satellite-nav and stated “If you take something, leave something”.

The Usenet message:
From: Dave ([email protected])
Subject: The Great American GPS Stash Hunt!
Newsgroups: sci.geo.satellite-nav
Date: 2000/05/03

—
The Great American GPS Stash Hunt !!
—

Now that SA is off we can start a worldwide Stash Game!! With
Non-SA accuracy it should be easy to find a stash from waypoint
information. Waypoints of secret stashes could be shared on the
Internet, people could navigate to the stashes and get some
stuff. The only rule for stashes is: Get some Stuff, Leave some
Stuff!! The more valuable the stuff the more stashes will be
started.

I’m thinking of half burying a five gallon plastic bucket with
lid at the stash point. Putting in some stuff. Adding a logbook
and pencil so visitors can record their find. The log should
contain: Date, Time, What you got, and What you put in. Scanning
the log book should give you a quick inventory of the stash.

I’ll look for a place near a road where few people would
normally go… Put in some cash, an old digital camera, and some
antique silverware!! I will come up with a cool name for my
stash and post coordinates soon!!!

Make your own stash in a unique location, put in some stuff and
a log book. Post the location on the Internet. Soon we will have
thousands of stashes all over the world to go searching for.
Have Fun!!

Dave…

He also made a video, which has the container and contents.

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  • Dell Computer is founded
  • Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich produce a list of 335,000 Internet users who shared the band’s songs on Napster.
  • First Spam message
Aloha from Hawaii

/

January 14, 1973: Live Via Satellite – Elvis!

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

Play

Subscribe! Spotify | RSS | More

Aloha from Hawaii
Aloha from Hawaii

1973 – Elvis is broadcast via satellite to over 1 billion viewers in over 40 countries. That is, except for the U.S. because Superbowl VII was being played. The U.S. finally got to see the concert on April 4, 1973 on NBC.

The show, entitled “Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite”, cost $2.5 million to produce. Presley taped a backup two days prior in case any problems arose. Presley performed many of his hits such as “Burning Love”, “My Way”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Hound Dog”, “Suspicious Minds”, and “Can’t Help Falling in Love”.

Elvis’ famous jumpsuit from that night can be seen at Graceland. You can also get the Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii (40th Anniversary Edition) DVD from Amazon.

Subscribe to the Day in Tech History

Subscribe to Day In Tech History:

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  • Intel 2.4 GHz processor
  • IBM Data 360
  • Nortel files Chapter 11
Microsoft Crew

/

December 7, 1978: Microsoft Staff Picture

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

Play

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Microsoft Crew
Microsoft Crew

1978 – It is one of the most infamous pictures in tech today. This is the Microsoft crew. Can you guess which one is Bill Gates?

The picture was updated in 2008 when the group (except Bob Wallace, who passed away in 2002) got back together for Bill Gates last few days at Microsoft (below).

The staff picture includes: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen (2nd row) Bob O’Rear, Bob Greenberg (who helped launch Cabbage Patch Kids), Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin, (3rd row) Steve Wood, Bob Wallace (passed away in 2002) and Jim Lane.

This Day in Tech History podcast show notes for December 7

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Microsoft Re-take in 2008

Sony Betamax

/

June 7, 1975: Sony Betamax is Released

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

Play

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Sony Betamax
Sony Betamax

1975 – Sony releases the first home videocassette recorder in the US. Japan first saw the Betamax on May 10, 1975, which was not uncommon. The magnetic tape media was the first to be on the market, as VHS didn’t come around until 1976.

Many believed Betamax was the better of the two in quality. Many TV and professional recording companies used the format almost til the end of their lifetime. Of course, in 1984, the players were under major fire for copyright infringement from Universal. However, it was ruled that although they could record the content, it was not their responsibility if someone used it for illegal activity.

Sony finally stopped producing the player and tapes on August, 2002.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 7
[dithdji]

  • Commodore Executive 64 is released
  • Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson orders the breakup of Microsoft into two companies
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