In 1939 – In a garage in Palo Alto, California, William Hewlett and David Packard founded Hewlett-Packard a little company that made audio oscillators. And later TouchPads.

In 1983 – A new Internet and Transmission Control Protocol (Yep called IP/TCP by some at the time, weird I know) went into effect on the ARPANet, replacing the Network Control Protocol. The result was a new ARPA Internet combining ARPA hosts of the time new systems.

In 1985 – The Nordic Research Network NORDUnet registered the first domain name NORDU.NET.

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In 1923 – The chimes of Big Ben were broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC, beginning a new year’s tradition.

In 1938 – Cops in Indianapolis put Indiana University professor Rolla Harger’s drunkometer to its first practical New Year’s Eve test as a breath analyzer. Suspected tipplers blew into a balloon and the air was mixed with a chemical solution that turned darker the more alcohol was present. The drunkometer was replaced in 1958 by the more portable Breathalyzer.

In 2001 – Microsoft provided its last day of support for Windows 95 making it officially “obsolete” according to the Microsoft Lifecycle policy, after only 6 years.

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In 1873 – A number of gentlemen in New York City founded the American Metrological Society, feeling that a change to the Metric System was needed by civilized nations. 100 years later their defunct and gallons, miles, and Fahrenheit rule the US.

In 1913 – Dr William David Coolidge patent for improvements in tungsten and methods for making the same for use as filaments in incandescent lights. It made light bulbs last a lot longer. Too bad that in 1928, GE got a court to declare the patent was not an invention.

In 1924 – Astronomer Edwin Hubble announced that he had found stars in the spiral nebula Andromeda, and using Leavitt’s formula measured them as 860,000 light years away proving Andromeda was a separate galaxy. He would go on to find a dozen more galaxies.

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In 1949 – TV station KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut became the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.

In 1952 – The first hearing aid using a junction transistor went on sale, the model 1010 manufactured by the Sonotone Corporation in Elmsford, NY, U.S.

In 1959 – Physicist Richard Feynman gave a talk called “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom”, in which he suggested it should be possible to make nanoscale machines that can arrange atoms the way we want. So happy birthday nanotechnology.

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