Category Archives: This day in information

First Showing of Films with Synchronized Sound

Posted on April 15, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1923, Lee DeForest premiered 18 short films made in the Phonofilm system, which recorded synchronized sound directly onto film, at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.

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First Showing of Commercial Motion Pictures

Posted on April 14, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1894, the first commercial exhibition of motion pictures in history was given in New York City, using ten Kinetoscopes. 

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Ranking Innovations: Friction Matches

Posted on April 12, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1827, English pharmacist John Walker sold the first friction matches, which he called “Friction Light,” from his pharmacy in Stockton on Tees.

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First Mobile Phone Call, 1973

Posted on April 3, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1973, Martin Cooper made a phone call from a prototype Dyna-Tac handheld cellular phone.  The phone, which weighed about 2.5 lb, connected Cooper to Dr. Joel S. Engel, head of research at Bell Labs.

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From Desktop Computing to the Web in Our Hands

Posted on April 1, 2011 by GilPress

Thirty-five years ago today, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne signed a partnership agreement that established the company that will become Apple Computer, Inc. on January 3, 1977. (Wayne left the company eleven days later, relinquishing his ten percent share … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer history, PCs, Social Networks, This day in information, World Wide Web | Leave a comment

First Sound Recording

Posted on March 25, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1857, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville received a patent for the Phonautograph, the first device to record sound.  He made sound recordings in order to analyze sound visually, not to play them back. But in 2008, audio historians and … Continue reading →

Posted in Recorded sound, This day in information | 1 Comment

First Internet Domain Name and a New Era for IT

Posted on March 15, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1985, the first Internet domain name, symbolics.com, was registered.  

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This Day In Information: Automated Telephone Switching

Posted on March 10, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1891, Almon Brown Strowger was issued a patent for his electromechanical switch to automate telephone exchanges.

Posted in Social Impact, Telephone, This day in information | 2 Comments

InfoStory Meetings: Morse and Daguerre

Posted on March 5, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1839, Samuel F. B. Morse and Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre met in Daguerre’s studio, in Paris, France. 

Posted in InfoStory Meetings, Photography, Telegraph, This day in information | 1 Comment

This Day In Information: First Photo Studio

Posted on March 4, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1840, Alexander S. Wolcott and John Johnson opened the first commercial photography studio in New York. 

Posted in Photography, This day in information | 3 Comments