Today in Tech History – September 9, 2015

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1940 – In McNutt Hall at Dartmouth College, George Stibitz demonstrated the first remote operation of a computer. He connected to his Complex Number Generator at Bell labs by telephone using 28-wire teletype cable.

In 1947 – While troubleshooting the Harvard University Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator, operators found a moth trapped between the points of relay #70 in Panel F. They affixed the bug to the log and wrote “First actual case of bug being found.” While this was not the first use of the term ’bug’ for a computer problem, ‘debugging’ became popular for fixing bugs after this case.

In 1999 – The Sega Dreamcast debuted in North America. However many were distracted by the supposed 9/9/99 bug that ended up being just as much of a non-problem as the Y2K bug.

In 2014 – Apple announced the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6+ along with Apple Pay, a system that used NFC for payments. The company also unveiled the Apple Watch.

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2 Responses to “Today in Tech History – September 9, 2015”

  1. Karl Roebling

    Today in computer history? The first computer bug discovered!
    Yep, on this day, Sept. 9, in 1947, at 3:45 p.m., Grace Murray Hopper records the first computer bug in her log book as she worked on the Harvard Mark II. The problem was traced to a moth stuck between a relay in the machine, which Hopper duly taped into the Mark II’s log book with the explanation: “First actual case of bug being found.”