Other projects

In 1947 – ENIAC was switched on after being transferred to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. It operated continuously until October 2 1955.

In 1951 – A recording was made of Beethoven’s 9th by EMI that eventually became used to justify the diameter of the CD.

In 1958 – President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

In 1858 – The first use of fingerprints as identification took place in India. William James Herschel, magistrate of Nuddea, India requested local businessman Rajyadhar Konai make a hand print on the back of a contract. Herschel wanted to “frighten out of all thought of repudiating his signature.”

In 1997 – Dell announced its entry into the work station market with the Dell Workstation 400.

In 2000 – Ted Kekatos celebrated the First System Administrator Appreciation Day. He had been inspired by an HP ad showing people bringing gifts to their System Administrator. The day is celebrated annually on the last Friday of July.

In 1949 – The first jet-powered airliner, the de Havilland Comet, made its first flight. Previously jet engines had only been used to power small fighter aircraft.

In 1981, Microsoft bought the rights for QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) from Seattle Computer Products for $25,000.

In 1993 – Microsoft released Windows NT 3.1, completing its attempt to build an advanced 32-bit operating system from scratch.

In 1996 – Microsoft releases Beta 2 of Internet Explorer 3.0, touting customization options like parental controls and the ability to handle shared applications and Web phone calls.

In 1989 – Cornell student Robert Tappan Morris became the first person indicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act after releasing a worm on the Internet. Morris claimed his worm was just measuring the size of the Internet.

In 2004 – Motorola announced that its next generation of cell phones would be iTunes-compatible. This first Apple phone, the Rokr, was not to meet with much success.

1959 – Christopher Cockerell’s Hovercraft crossed the English Channel for the first time, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Frenchman Louis Bleriot’s historic first cross-Channel heavier-than-air flight.

In 1990 – Microsoft became the first software company to exceed $1 billion in sales in a single year, reporting revenues of $1.18 billion for fiscal year 1990.

In 2010 – Wikileaks published classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.

1874 – Woodward and Evans Light filed a patent for Artificial light by means of Electricity with the Canadian Department of Agriculture. Woodward later sold the patent to Thomas Edison, who patented a different and more successful version of the incandescent lamp in the US..

In 1950 – The Bumper 8, made of a German V-2 missile lower stage and WAC-Corporal upper stage launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was the first launch from what would become the Kennedy Space Center.

In 1969 – Apollo 11 arrived safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first manned mission to land on the Moon.

In 1903 – Ford sells its first car to Dr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago. The two-cylinder Model A was assembled at Mack Avenue Plant in Detroit.

In 1985 – Commodore introduced the Amiga personal computer at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York’s Lincoln Center. Amiga cost $1,295 and shipped with a base configuration of 256K of RAM.

In 1996 – The first commercial HDTV signal was broadcast in North Carolina by WRAL channel 32 operating at 100 kilowatts with an antenna 1,750 feet above the ground. 200 members of the press watched the broadcast at WRAL.

In 1933 – Wiley Post returned to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes after leaving, becoming the fastest person to circumnavigate the Earth by air and the first to do it solo.

In 1962 – The first Mariner space probe to Venus had to be destroyed shortly after lift-off because of “improper operation of the Atlas airborne beacon equipment.” The error was caused by a missing overbar in the program that must have disappeared during hand transcription.

In 1997 – Apple announced OS 8 for Macintosh computers. It added easier Internet integration and a 3D look to the OS.

1975 – Xerox announced its withdrawal from computer mainframe manufacturing. The company did indicate it would continue activities in other computer-related businesses like computer disk drives, serial printers, and apparently giving away secrets to companies like Apple and Microsoft.

In 2002 – WorldCom filed for the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. history. It was the number two long-distance phone company, at a time when that still meant something. It would end up changing its name back to MCI, and its remains exists as Verizon’s business division.

In 2011 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility Runway 15, ending the US space shuttle missions.

It’s been three months of big changes for me, and since I’ve had a few folks ask me why this or that is changing, I thought I’d collect some answers here I could link to.

The big thing that’s driving me to change what I do is the need to focus. I’ve found two things in doing as many shows as I do. One, is that each show I add makes it harder to make any of the shows as good as they can be. The other thing was that at a certain point, by doing so many shows, I was making it harder for people to keep up with all the things I do, hurting the audience numbers overall.

The idea is that even though I’m doing a couple fewer shows, I can do them all much better. So here’s what stays for me, what goes, and what changes.

WHAT STAYS

Tech News Today
There are many reasons for the time change of TNT to 10 AM, the biggest one being the need to have a consistent start time for a news show that has recurrent guests. I’ve gone over the plusses and minuses of this ad nauseum. The best discussions are on Google + here. But one side benefit of the new time is I’m focused on Tech News Today from 6 AM until 11 AM every day. This means I’m not distracted trying to mix in other work. I think it’s made all of us on the show improve and we’ll keep trying to make the best tech news show that can be done. Huge thanks to Leo for understanding and supporting the move. TNT is a full time job of its own really.

Sword and Laser
Launching the video show for Geek and Sundry was a GARGANTUAN task. Veronica and I formed a company, hired a set designer who built a dragon, contracted a production company, got an intern, created a show format, booked guests, worked on giveaways and, well, created a show from scratch. Thank goodness we’ve been doing the audio podcast for 5 years, so we knew the content. All the folks at Geek and Sundry have been tremendously supportive through it all, and we would have failed utterly without them. We’re also continuing the audio podcast and striving to make it better too. Between audio and video, this is also a full time job.

Frame Rate
I could not do this show without Brian Brushwood. He is the heart and soul of what makes it work. And beyond his enthusiasm and knowledge, he tirelessly works to make sure he’s there from the show. Anyone who has seen him from countless hotel rooms and lobbies knows this. Thankfully he’s put up with the constant time changes, and now that we’ve lodged on Monday afternoons, I think we can stick there for a good long while. Cord-cutting and Internet video is a category that’s in its very early days, so even though the audience may be small, it keeps getting bigger every week. I’m betting this show becomes huge… someday.

Other stuff
I will still post Tech History Today on TomMerritt.com. I’ll still call into KFWB-Los Angeles every Monday morning to talk tech. I’ll still be on The Morning Stream every Wednesday to talk about what I’m working on for TNT with Scott and Ibbot. And I’ll still make occasional guest appearances on other shows.

WHAT CHANGES

Who am I kidding? I can’t not try new stuff. But the other shows that I do are going to have to be on a seasonal model. Autopilot with Scott Johnson ran for 12 episodes and then we took a break. We’ll probably do another 12 starting in September, after FSL Tonight is done. No more than one seasonal show at a time. You hear me Merritt?!? Oh and East Meets West is back to audio only, with Roger and I just doing it when we damn well please.

WHAT’S GONE

Alas poor FourCast. The number of viewers was lower each week and it was harder and harder to get guests I also won’t be co-hosting Trinagulation with Leo Laporte. As much as I ADORE that show, it doesn’t need me to be successful. Leo was very generous to share the stage with me but it will be just as good if not better without me. I also won’t be filling in for Leo as much on other TWiT shows.

WHAT’S NEW
Specials! I just did the first of these about bandwidth caps, and I think it went well. I’m going to try to focus on good topics that people care about, and do them in months when there aren’t any conferences or big product (cough Apple cough) announements. The next special will be the Mars Landing on August 5th.

And who knows? I may throw in another thing or two. But not too much, and nothing with an unending commitment. I’m already feeling more productive with these changes.

If any of you have actually read down to here, you have my sincere thanks for your interest. It’s probably a lot more than you wanted to know, but I’ve had questions about all the things mentioned here in one place or another, so figured I’d answer them all.

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