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Author Archives: GilPress
This Day in Information: First Audio Radio Transmission
On this day in 1900, Reginald Audrey Fessenden said into a microphone: “Is it snowing where you are, Mr. Thiessen? If it is, telegraph back.” His voice, radiated from a 50-foot antenna on Cobb Island in the Potomac River, Maryland, … Continue reading
Posted in Radio, This day in information
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The InfoStory Quant: Mobile Politics
More than a quarter of American adults – 26% – used their cell phones to learn about or participate in the 2010 mid-term election campaign. In a post-election nationwide survey of adults, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life … Continue reading
Posted in Mobile, The InfoStory Quant
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This Day In Information: The Phonograph Explained
Today in 1877, Scientific American published a note that started “Mr Thomas A. Edison recently came to this office, placed a little machine on our desk, turned a crank, and the machine inquired us to our health, asked how we … Continue reading
Posted in Predictions, This day in information
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This Day in Information: The First Crossword Puzzle
Today in 1913, Arthur Wynne, a journalist from Liverpool, England, published the first crossword puzzle in the New York World. According to Jen Carlson, a New York Times editorial in 1924 called it “a primitive form of mental exercise.”
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This Day in Information: First Daguerreotypes
Today in 1839, John W. Draper made a daguerreotype of the moon with the camera he built, becoming the first person in the US to photograph a celestial body. Around the same time, he also made what may be the … Continue reading
Posted in Photography, This day in information
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Do You Want to Be a Culturomist?
Science published yesterday a “Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books,” an analysis of all the words in about “4% of all books ever printed.” The article (modestly) heralds the arrival of Culturomics, a “new science” which “extends … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Language, Social Impact
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The InfoStory Quant: China, December 2010
* Internet population: 420 million * Mobile Internet population: 227 million * Broadband penetration of those online: 98.1% * Over half of China’s Internet users regularly blog and use social media * Only one in three Chinese consumers use business-to-consumer … Continue reading
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This Day in Information: Birth of W3C
Today in 1994, the first meeting of the Advisory Committee of the World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was held at MIT. Tim Berners-Lee in Weaving the Web:
Posted in Open Web, This day in information, World Wide Web
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This Day in Information: Ethernet Patent
Today in 1977, Bob Metcalfe, David Boggs, Charles Thacker, and Butler Lampson received a patent for the Ethernet, titled “Multipoint Data Communication System with Collision Detection.” On January 18, 1993, Metcalfe published an InfoWorld column titled “Will there be any … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, This day in information
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This Day In Information: Wireless Transmission
Today in 1901, Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in transmitting the letter “S” (in Morse code) via radio telegraph from a transmitter at Poldhu in Cornwall, England, to a receiver in Newfoundland. There was no independent observer present and there were many … Continue reading
Posted in Radio, This day in information
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The Story of Information 