roller coaster

January 20, 1885: the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway Patent

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine 0120, aggregator, amature, apple, BBS, blind mice, blind mouse, businessmen, carleen thomas, comcast, Geek, Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway, IBM, iTunes, january 20, LaMarcus Adna Thompson, lemmings, mac, macintosh, macintosh apple, macintosh office, Microsoft, microsoft market, oblivion, oppression, rendition, roller coaster, RSS, sledgehammer, super bowl, Super Bowl advertising, superbowl, superbowl commercial, Switchback Railway 0 Comments January 20, 2025

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1885 – Sounding like anything but a roller coaster, the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway was the first American designed amusement coaster designed by LaMarcus Adna Thompson.

Only 5 cents to ride, the Switchback was a simple coaster that took you about 600 feet to the next tower at six miles per hour. It had a height of 50 feet and a drop of 43 feet.

It opened on June 16, 1884 and eventually was replaced. But on this day, the roller coaster saw one of its first patents from this ride.

Learn more about Patents: Ingenious Inventions, How they work and How they came to be from Amazon

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Robert and Carleen Thomas (Amature Action BBS) were raided
Microsoft market value surpasses IBM for the first time to $26.78 Billion
Microsoft sells all shares of Comcast

Computer/ Day in Tech History

June 16, 1997: NetPC Announced

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine 0616, aggregator, bob miner, cia, compaq, Compaq Deskpro, coney island, Databases, day in tech history, development laboratories, development labs, Gateway, Geek, geek history, Google, google docs, gravity, history, Inc., intel, iPhone, larry ellison, mainframe computer, Mark Hurd, operating system, oracle, Oracle Corporation, packard bell, pendulum clock, Personal computer, Podcast, roller coaster, SAP AG, sdl, software development, stitcher, technology history, twitter, windows 98 0 Comments June 16, 2024

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1997 – Several computer companies banded together to help create the NetPC. A disk-less computer that got all information, including install – from a corporate server or the Internet.

Basically, these would be similar to thin clients or “Dumb terminals” for work computers. No CD drive, no floppy disc and limited disk space. Cases were sealed so nobody could get inside to reconfigure the computer. Installs would be handled via the Internet, therefore, no personal software could be installed.

Microsoft and Intel unveiled the system at the PC Expo trade show. NetPC would work with Compaq, Dell, IBM, HP, Acer, Gateway 2000, Mitac, Misubishi, NEC, Pionex, and Groupe Bull computer companies to make the first group of NetPC computers.

The sub-$1,000 computer was a great idea that would work better today than in 1997. IBM dropped out of the project before the first NetPCs came out. They decided to make something their customers would use.

Microsoft finally pulled the plug at the Windows Engineering Conference in 1998 when John Frederiksen, lead project manager for thin clients acknowledged the phase-out process.

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1657 – The first Pendulum Clock
1884 – Coney Island’s first gravity powered Roller Coaster
1988 – Intel releases the i386DX
1999 – Windows 98 SP1 is released
2008 – Google Docs gets PDF Support
2009 –iPhone OS 3.0

Apple/ Day in Tech History

January 20, 1885: the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway Patent

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine aggregator, amature, apple, BBS, blind mice, blind mouse, businessmen, carleen thomas, comcast, Geek, Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway, IBM, iTunes, january 20, LaMarcus Adna Thompson, lemmings, mac, macintosh, macintosh apple, macintosh office, Microsoft, microsoft market, oblivion, oppression, rendition, roller coaster, RSS, sledgehammer, super bowl, Super Bowl advertising, superbowl, superbowl commercial, Switchback Railway 0 Comments January 19, 2019

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1885 – Sounding like anything but a roller coaster, the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway was the first American designed amusement coaster designed by LaMarcus Adna Thompson. Only 5 cents to ride, the Switchback was a simple coaster that took you about 600 feet to the next tower at six miles per hour. It had a height of 50 feet and a drop of 43 feet.

It opened on June 16, 1884 and eventually was replaced. But on this day, the roller coaster saw one of its first patents from this ride.

Learn more about Patents: Ingenious Inventions, How they work and How they came to be from Amazon

Subscribe to Day In Tech History:

RSS Feed - iTunes - Android - Spotify - iHeartRadio

Facebook -

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Robert and Carleen Thomas (Amature Action BBS) were raided
Microsoft market value surpasses IBM for the first time to $26.78 Billion
Microsoft sells all shares of Comcast

Computer/ Day in Tech History

June 16, 1997: NetPC Announced

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine aggregator, bob miner, cia, compaq, Compaq Deskpro, coney island, Databases, day in tech history, development laboratories, development labs, Gateway, Geek, geek history, Google, google docs, gravity, history, Inc., intel, iPhone, larry ellison, mainframe computer, Mark Hurd, operating system, oracle, Oracle Corporation, packard bell, pendulum clock, Personal computer, Podcast, roller coaster, SAP AG, sdl, software development, stitcher, technology history, twitter, windows 98 0 Comments June 16, 2018

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1997 – Several computer companies banded together to help create the NetPC. A disk-less computer that got all information, including install – from a corporate server or the Internet.

Microsoft finally pulled the plug at the Windows Engineering Conference in 1998 when John Frederiksen, lead project manager for thin clients acknowledged the phase-out process.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 16

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1657 – The first Pendulum Clock
1884 – Coney Island’s first gravity powered Roller Coaster
1988 – Intel releases the i386DX
1999 – Windows 98 SP1 is released
2008 – Google Docs gets PDF Support
2009 –iPhone OS 3.0

Computer/ Day in Tech History

June 16, 1977: Software Development Labs (Oracle) Incorporated

Jeffrey Powers @geekazine aggregator, bob miner, cia, coney island, Databases, day in tech history, development laboratories, development labs, Geek, geek history, Google, google docs, gravity, history, intel, iPhone, larry ellison, Mark Hurd, oracle, Oracle Corporation, pendulum clock, Podcast, roller coaster, SAP AG, sdl, software development, stitcher, technology history, twitter, windows 98 0 Comments June 16, 2016

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1977 – Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates incorporate Software Development Laboratories (SDL). Of course, SDL’s big program was Oracle. It was a codename for a CIA funded project.

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 16

Subscribe to Day In Tech History:

RSS Feed - iTunes - Android - Spotify - iHeartRadio

Facebook -

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1657 – The first Pendulum Clock
1884 – Coney Island’s first gravity powered Roller Coaster
1988 – Intel releases the i386DX
1999 – Windows 98 SP1 is released
2008 – Google Docs gets PDF Support
2009 –iPhone OS 3.0