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Category Archives: This day in information
The Penguin Paperback Takes Off
Today in 1935, the first ten Penguin Books, paperback reprints of titles previously published as hardbacks, are issued by publisher Allen Lane. Each title costs only sixpence each, the price of a pack of cigarettes, and all the titles feature the Penguin … Continue reading
Posted in Books, This day in information
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The Integrated Circuit: Bringing Mass Production to the Computer Industry
Today in 1958, Jack Kilby sketched a rough design of the first integrated circuit in his notebook. By the early 1960s, some computers had more than 200,000 individual electronic components–transistors, diodes, resistors, and capacitors–and connecting all of the components was becoming increasingly … Continue reading
America’s First Television Theatre
Today in 1938, musical performances in an upstairs area at 568 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, were screened on a television display in the auditorium below, seating 200 patrons paying 25 cents each. The studio and auditorium were linked by cable. About … Continue reading
Posted in Television, This day in information
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The Day the NSA Started Using Computers
Today in 1950, Samuel S. Snyder, a cryptographer at the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA–the forerunner to the NSA), met with Dr. A. Sinkov, then Technical Director in Communications Security (COMSEC), and his deputy. In a 1973 declassified paper (PDF, … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, NSA, This day in information
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Bipolar Junction Transistor Announced
Today in 1951, the bipolar junction transistor was announced by its inventor, William Shockley. It was an improvement over the bipolar point-contact transistor which was invented four years earlier by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain and became the device of … Continue reading
E-Books Born on July 4, 1971
Today in 1971, Michael Hart keyed in The United States Declaration of Independence to the mainframe he was using, all in upper case, because there was no lower case yet. Hart was a student at the University of Illinois and … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Digitization, ebooks, This day in information
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The Founding Document of Modern Computing Published
Today in 1945, John von Neumann published “A First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC.” Campbell-Kelly and Aspray call it in Computer: The History of the Information Machine “the technological basis for the worldwide computer industry.” In A History of Modern Computing, Paul … Continue reading
News Networks Launched, Newspapers Survive
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
Posted in News, Newspapers, This day in information
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Envisioning Television, 1908 and 2013
Today in 1908, Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton published a letter in the journal Nature titled “Distant Electric Vision” in which he envisioned television as it was developed three decades later. He wrote: “Possibly no photoelectric phenomenon at present known will provide what … Continue reading
Posted in Forecasts, Predictions, Television, This day in information
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The IBM Idea Launched, Defying Management Gurus for 102 Years
Today in 1911, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was incorporated. It changed its name to IBM in 1924. Many commentators on IBM’s centenary two years ago attributed its longevity to the power of idea or ideas. In “Ideas make IBM 100 years … Continue reading
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