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Author Archives: GilPress
Preserving and Digitizing Timbuktu’s Medieval Manuscripts
Sarah Laskow in The Boston Globe: Though today Timbuktu is a remote and dusty city of 54,000 at the edge of the Sahara, 500 years ago it was a major commercial crossroads and a great center for scholarship. Copied onto … Continue reading
Posted in Digitization, Libraries, Preservation
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First Feature-Length 3-D Film in Color
60 years ago today, Bwana Devil opened in New York. The film was advertised as the “the world’s first feature length motion picture in natural vision 3 dimension: The Miracle of the Age!!! A LION in your lap! A LOVER in your arms!”
Posted in Film, This day in information
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Boston Computer Society Established
Today in 1977, 13-year-old Jonathan Rotenberg established the Boston Computer Society (BCS), an organization for personal computer users which will eventually grow into the largest such organization in the world. Four people attended the first meeting of this group, which, … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, User groups
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The First Social Network
Today in 1978, the first public dial-up Bulletin Board System, the Computerized Bulletin Board System, or CBBS, went online. It was developed by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess and reportedly connected more than 250,000 callers before it was finally retired with … Continue reading
Posted in Community, Computer history, Social Networks
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Does Texting Hurt Your Grammar?
A study has found that texting may impact students’ grammar.
Posted in Education, Infographics, Reading, Social Impact
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Preserving Astronomy’s Photographic Legacy
From FierceBigData.com: “In a 2009 paper called ‘Preserving Astronomy’s Photographic Legacy: Current State and Future of North American Astronomical Plates,’ Wayne Osborn, department of physics at Central Michigan University, and Lee Robbins, department of astronomy at the University of Toronto, … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, Big Data, Digitization, Preservation
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The Future of Liabraries (Infographic)
“The internet has already had a major impact on how people find and access information, and now the rising popularity of e-books is helping transform Americans’ reading habits. In this changing landscape, public libraries are trying to adjust their services … Continue reading
Posted in Forecasts, Infographics, Libraries, Predictions, Quotes, Stats
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The Future of the Password (Infographic)
Is your password obsolete?
Posted in Infographics, Security
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First Integrated Circuit Patent Application
Today in 1959, Jack Kilby filed a patent application for the Integrated Circuit, titled: “Method of making miniaturized electronic circuit.” Harold Evans in They Made America: “The University of Illinois gave him only average grades in electrical engineering, a disappointment … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, Patents
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First U.S. “Calculating Machine”
Today in 1850, the first US patent (US No. 7,074) for a push-key operated adding machine is issued to Dubois D. Parmelee of New Paltz, New York. The first commercially successful calculator will be invented forty years later by William Burroughs.
Posted in Computer history, Patents
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