Tech History Today – Jan. 8

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.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Tech History Today – Jan. 7

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.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Tech History Today – Jan. 6

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.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

What I learned about LA on day 1

Yesterday was my first full day living in Los Angeles. I spent most of it waiting in a cold house for Verizon to show up. But it was worth it. Here’s what I learned.

1. People do walk in LA. Maybe not a lot. Maybe not everywhere, but at least near Santa Monica Blvd. west of the 405 nobody looked at me odd when I walked from our temporary house to the UPS store to check Sword and Laser’s new mailbox. And no, the people walking weren’t homeless. They were normal people of all kinds, Latinos, Asians, African-Americans and whiteys like me. One guy even said hello and remark don how stinky the roofers nearby were.

2. Verizon FiOS can be f@)$!! fast. Also Ron my installer was excellent. He was competent and knowledgable and knew enough to skip the things he could tell I knew (like ‘setting up email’) and tell me the things he thought I didn’t know ( like a bit about how their box works). 300 Mbps down and 65 up with .7 ping ain’t bad either. Pricey but not bad.

3. Brent Bye can hang a light. He’s helped a ton at the TWiT brick house in Petaluma. My little setup was child’s play for him and his buddy. They clamped up a kino and a couple back lights without drilling into my landlords ceiling beams. I also hooked up the HV30 Mac Mini and got the bare minimum hardware I need for streaming p and running. Might need a better camera, but we’ll see.

4. Mitsuwa Marketplace makes the best ramen I’ve ever tasted. I haven’t been to Japan. But damn that spicy ramen with extra pork was fantastic.

5. My landlord is on it. As soon as I emailed about the furnace my landlord set the wheels in motion to geton getting it fixed. Hopefully it will be resolved today. This is a temperate climate so it’s not a habitability or survival issue like it would be in some areas, but that didn’t delay the response any.

6. I still hate moving. That’s not about LA. But it’s true. Can’t wait to be done.

Tech History Today – Jan. 5

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.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.