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Author Archives: GilPress
First Classical Music Recording
Today in 1888, Edison’s foreign sales agent, Colonel George Gouraud, made a wax cylinder recording in the Crystal Palace, London, of a 3016-person choir performing Handel’s Israel in Egypt at a distance of more than one hundred yards from the … Continue reading
Posted in music, This day in information
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The Government Steps in to Reduce Information Overload
“The storekeeper and the clerk depended for their livelihood on selling the goods in your day. Of course that is all different now. The goods are the nation’s. …
Posted in Information Overload, Predictions, Social Impact
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Hot News Becomes Cold in a Nanosecond in the Modern World
Today in 1846, the first telegraph link was established between New York City and Boston. From the AP Archives: “In the spring of 1846, Moses Yale Beach (1800-68), publisher of The New York Sun, establishes a pony express to deliver … Continue reading
The Internet of Things Launched
Today in 1974, a Universal Product Code (UPC) label was used to ring up purchases at a supermarket for the first time. The first UPC ever scanned is on a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum (now on display at the Smithsonian’s National … Continue reading
Posted in Big Data, IBM, Internet of things, This day in information
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The Talking Telegraph Demonstrated
Today in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell gave a public demonstration of his new invention, the telephone, at the Centennial Exhibition, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Steven Lubar in InfoCulture: “Bell demonstrated three induction telephones to a select jury that included Sir William Thomson, perhaps … Continue reading
Posted in Telephone, This day in information
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The “Manchester baby” finally spits out the expected answer
Today in 1948, the world’s first stored-program electronic digital computer successfully executed its first program. F.C. Williams who designed and built (with Tom Kilburn) the Small Scale Experimental Machine (later nicknamed “Baby”), described the first successful run: “A program was laboriously … Continue reading
What’s the Big Idea? IBM @100
Today in 1911, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was incorporated. It changed its name to IBM in 1924. Many commentators on IBM’s centenary attribute its longevity to the power of idea or ideas.
Posted in Computer history, IBM, This day in information
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The Richard John Interview: The Politics of Network Evolution
The Politics of Network Evolution: An Interview with Richard John Richard John is Professor at the Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, and a historian of communications networks in the United States. His most recent book, Network Nation, won the … Continue reading
Posted in Interviews, Network Effect, News, Post Office, Social Impact, Social Networks, Telegraph, Telephone
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The Birth of Big Data
The Economist on IBM’s celebration of its 100th birthday tomorrow: “Official history notwithstanding, the company’s true age is 125. In 1886 Herman Hollerith, a statistician, started a business to rent out the tabulating machines he had originally invented for America’s … Continue reading
Posted in Big Data, Censuses, Computer history
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When Mauchly Met Atanasoff: Creating the Digital Computer
Seventy years ago today, John Mauchly visited John Atanasoff at Iowa State University. During the next five days he learned everything he could about what became to be known as the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) which he first heard about when … Continue reading
The Story of Information 