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.   Continue reading →

Posted in Computer history, Standards, This day in information | Leave a comment

The Future is Not What it Used to Be

Posted on March 13, 2011 by GilPress

Many predictions are what the forecasters want the future to be or simply an extension of what they are familiar and comfortable with. It is particularly illuminating to look at predictions of our past that we can assess with the benefit of hindsight. Yesterday’s futures reveal a lot about what did not happen and why it didn’t. Continue reading →

Posted in Predictions, Social Impact, Yesterday's Futures | 1 Comment

Passion and Information Explosion

Posted on March 12, 2011 by GilPress

“Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available” –Gregory Benford [also known as Benford’s Law of Controversy] Continue reading →

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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. Continue reading →

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

InfoStory Quote: Inventing “The Mirror with a Memory”

Posted on March 5, 2011 by GilPress

A reproduction of a Holmes-type stereoscope

“The Daguerreotype… has fixed the most fleeting of our illusions, that which the apostle and the philosopher and the poet have alike used as the type of instability and unreality. The photograph has completed the triumph, by making a sheet of paper reflect images like a mirror and hold them as a picture… [it is the] invention of the mirror with a memory…  Continue reading →

Posted in Photography, Quotes | 2 Comments

InfoStory Meetings: Morse and Daguerre

Posted on March 5, 2011 by GilPress

Daguerre

Morse

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

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.  Continue reading →

Posted in Photography, This day in information | 3 Comments

Apple and the iPad: The Triumph of Close

Posted on March 4, 2011 by GilPress

Apple sold nearly 15 million iPads in 2010, generating about $9.5 billion in revenue. Continue reading →

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This Day In Information: Birth of The Optical Telegraph

Posted on March 2, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1791, at 11 A.M., the Chappe brothers sent the message “si vous réussissez, vous serez bientôt couverts de gloire” (if you succeed, you will soon bask in glory) between Brulon and Parce, a distance of ten miles, over their optical telegraph, using a combination of black and white panels, clocks, telescopes, and codebooks.  Continue reading →

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This Day In Information: The IT Industry in 1971

Posted on March 1, 2011 by GilPress

Today in 1971, Time magazine published an article on the computer industry, titled “A Growth Industry Grows Up.”   Continue reading →

Posted in Computer history, This day in information | Leave a comment