In 1908 – Lee de Forest, a French engineer and scientist, broadcast a phonograph record show from the Eiffel Tower for an audience of less than 50 people. The show was also heard over 500 miles from the tower, becoming the first long-distance radio message transmission.

In 1964 – Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He would grow up to study computer science at Princeton, and set the standard for online shopping with his company, Amazon.com.

In 2005 – Deep Impact launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta 2 rocket, headed to an impact with a comet 9P/Tempel.

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In 1954 – BBC TV broadcast their first ‘in-vision’ weather forecast. George Cowling of the Meteorological Office presented from the BBC’s Lime Grove studios with two hand-drawn weather charts pinned to an easel.

In 2001 – AOL and Time Warner completed their merger. At the time it was seen as a signal of the victory of the Internet over old media. Time Warner would eventually come out on top and spin AOL back out as separate company.

In 2005 – Apple introduced the first iPod Shuffle, a music player with no screen and flash memory.

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In 1899 – A U.S. patent was issued for an “Electric Device,” invented by David Misell, which used D size batteries laid end to end in a paper tube with a light bulb and a brass reflector at the end. The batteries only lasted long enough for a “flash” of light, hence the name Flashlight.

In 1949 – In response to Columbia’s new 33-RPM long playing record, RCA kicked off a platter war introducing the the 7-inch diameter 45 rpm “single” in the U.S.

In 1962 – NASA announced plans to build the C-5, a three stage rocket launch vehicle. It became better known as the Saturn V Moon rocket, which launched every Apollo Moon mission.

In 2008 – Sony BMG became the last major label to agree to sell DRM-free MP3s.

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In 1901 – The first application for a patent for Meccano was submitted. Known at first as “Mechanics Made Easy,” this invention of Frank Hornby became a worldwide success and is sold in the US under the name “Erector Set”

In 1992 – Apple CEO John Sculley coined the term Personal Digital Assistants, or PDA, and indicated Apple would get into the business of making them later that year.

In 2001 – Apple introduced iTunes for the Macintosh, featuring CD ripping, digital music organizing, and Internet radio.

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In 1889 – Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electronic tabulating machine. His Tabulating Machine Company would go on to merge with three others and be called International Business Machines known today as IBM.

In 1973 – Less than a month after Apollo 17, the last manned Moon mission, the USSR launched space mission Luna 21 carrying lunar rover Lunakhod 2.

In 1982 – The United States vs. AT&T settlement was finalized with AT&T agreeing to divest itself of local exchanges in exchange for being allowed to start AT&T Computer Systems. Like Voltron, the behemoth would eventually reassemble.

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In 1714 – Henry Mill patented a machine for transcribing letters “one after another, as in writing”. Sadly, he died before he perfected the first typewriter.

In 1839 – Louis Daguerre made the first announcement of his photographic system at the Académie des Sciences in Paris, though details were not presented until August of that year.

In 1954 – In New York at IBM headquarters, IBM and Georgetown University showed off their joint project on machine translation. More than 60 sentences were translated from Russian to English using 8 grammar rules.

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In 1838 – Samuel Morse, with his partner, Alfred Vail, gave the first public demonstration of their new electric telegraphic system at the Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, NJ. They used Morse’s specially designed code to send the message ““A patient waiter is no loser.”

In 1851 – Leon Foucault proved the rotation of the Earth experimentally by. He wrote in his journal that he made the discovery at 2:00 am working with his famous pendulum in the cellar of his house.

In 2004 – Apple debuted the iPod Mini, a diminutive 4GB version of the iPod available in five colors at $249.

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In 1948 – Warner Brothers showed the very first color newsreel, featuring the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football game.

In 1972 – President Richard M. Nixon announced that NASA would develop a space shuttle system, emphasizing its reliability, reusability and low cost.

In 1984 – Richard Stallman began working on the GNU Operating system,a free UNIX-like OS. GNU/Linux is seen as the most successful outgrowth of that project.

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In 1642 – Sir Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe in England and would go on to develop describe universal gravitation and the three laws of motion as well as star in Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle.

In 1958 – Sputnik I the first manmade object to orbit the earth, fell back into the atmosphere and disintegrated, after 92 days in space.

In 2004 – One half of NASA’s Mars Rover team, Spirit, landed on Mars to analyze the planet’s rocks, looking for evidence of water. Its partner rover Opportunity was 21 days behind. Spirit is no longer active, but Opportunity keeps on chugging along.

In 1957 – Hamilton Electric held a press conference to announce the World’s First Electronic Watch, the Hamilton Electric 500, a watch that never needed winding. Just batteries.

In 1977 – Apple Computer Co. was incorporated by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Ron Wayne famously backed out selling his shares back for $800. Ouch.

In 1999 – The U.S. Mars Polar Lander was launched. It would spend most of the year wending its way towards Mars before it lost communication with Earth in December, presumably after crashing.

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