Welcome to the eighth installment of Tech History Thursday! If you’re keeping up to date with tech news by reading Techaeris, you’re just as interested in the origins of our high-tech world as we are. This weekly snapshot will give you a look at what happened throughout history as it relates to tech. Keep reading for this week’s tech history rundown.
August 10
- 1987 – Quattro spreadsheet software is released for the IBM PC.
- 1989 – Boston, MA hosts the first Macworld Expo.
- 2005 – Apple is unable to patent the technology behind the iPod interface due to a similar patent registration by a Microsoft employee in 2002.
- 2010 – Verizon announces the launch of the Droid 2 smartphone. It sells for $199 USD on-contract.
August 11
- 1999 – The company that developed the Red Hat open source software goes public on the New York Stock Exchange.
- 2003 – Exploiting a security breach in Microsoft’s Windows operating system, the MSBlast computer worm is released on the Internet.
- 2006 – The final software patent on the GIF format finally expires.
- 2010 – Verizon begins releasing over the air updates of Android 2.2 Froyo.
August 12
- 1981 – Microsoft releases MS-DOS 1.0.
- 2003 – The Blaster worm exploits Microsoft Windows.
- 2005 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cap Canaveral, FL on the very first Atlus V rocket used by NASA.
August 13
- 1953 – Iconic science fiction movie The War of the Worlds is released in theaters.
- 1973 – The Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals is founded.
- 1999 – Apple releases the Power Mac G4 line to the general public.
- 2012 – 4,000 jobs are cut at Motorola by Google.
August 14
- 1894 – For the first time ever, wireless transmissions of Morse code is achieved at Oxford University in England. The signal is received about 150 yard from the origination point.
- 1940 – John Atanasoff writes a paper detailing the first electronic digital computer, the Atanasoff Berry Computer.
- 1995 – The Virtual Boy video game console is released in North America by Japanese game company Nintendo. It suffers from poor sales.
- 2008 – Google Street View launches in Japan.
August 15
- 1877 – The first ever audio recording, which is of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” is made by Thomas Edison.
- 1977 – The Big Ear radio telescope receives a signal from deep space. The narrowband signal lasts for 72 seconds.
- 2006 – Voyager 1 reaches a distance of 100 astronomical units from the Sun.
- 2011 – Google begins the purchase of Motorola for $12.5 billion USD.
August 16
- 1890 – Herman Hollerith’s Census Machine tabulates the latest United States Census.
- 2005 – Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev becomes the record holder for most days spent in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
- 2013 – The United States Government officially acknowledges the existence of Area 51, a “secret” military testing facility in the Nevada dessert.
There you have it! Which of these events do you think has had the most impact on how technology has been shaped? Sound off in the comments below.
Have a favorite moment in tech history that you’d like to add to next week’s snapshot? Leave a comment or connect with us on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, or by email!
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Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
