In 1922 – The BBC sent its first daily transmission from station 2LO at Marconi House London. Arthur Burrows, first Director of Programmes, read the first newscast.
In 1971 – The American space probe Mariner 9 began orbiting Mars becoming the first spacecraft to successfully orbit another planet.
In 2007 – The last Direct Current electrical distribution system in the US was shut down by Con Edison in New York.
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Is it possible to reclaim your privacy? Darren Kitchen and Tom Merritt look at privacy protection picks from Edward Snowden and add a couple of their own.
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If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
In 1851 – The first public message was sent on the submarine telegraph cable under the English Channel between Dover, England and Calais, France.
In 1982 – 15-year-old Scott Safran of Cherry Hill, New Jersey set the world record score on Asteroids. His record stood for 27 years, the longest-running high score in videogame history.
In 1983 – The MIT TX-0, an experimental transistorized computer, was brought back to life for the last time at The Computer Museum in Marlboro, Massachusetts.
Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
The iPad Pro is big in size and price. Tom Merritt talks with Allison Sheridan and Lamarr Wilson about whether its worth the price. And could you seriously replace a PC with it?
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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
The second episode of “Pretend I’m Dumb About Star Wars” Wherein rocket guy fights for the clones and green guy proves himself worthy of remembering his name. It’s Tom Merritt’s attempt to forget everything he knows about the Star Wars universe and embrace the story in episodic order.
Big thanks to Ryan for the fancy graphic!
Get the music! Live from the Cantina at more from andrewallentrio.com.
In 1946 – The US Army held a contest between an abacus used by Kiyoshi Matsuzaki from Japan’s postal ministry and an electric calculator operated by Private Thomas Nathan Wood. The abacus won 4 to 1.
In 1970 – The Oregon Highway Divisions made an ill-advised attempt to destroy a dead whale by blowing it up with explosives. The results, documented by local news, eventually became Internet gold as the “exploding whale” video.
In 1990 – Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for a hypertext project. The proposal referred to a “web of information nodes” and implementing “browsers” The project eventually became the World Wide Web.
Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Are optical discs set for a resurgence? Sony announced their first set of 4K Blu-rays and Tom Merritt and Scott Johnson discuss what this means for physical media.
Using a Screen Reader? Click here
Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!
Winter Movie Draft, The Walking Dead (601 & 602), Fargo (204), The Leftovers (206), The Shield (713)
01:19 – Winter Movie Draft
06:18 – The Walking Dead (601 & 602)
16:54 – Fargo (204)
25:17 – The Leftovers (206)
33:49 – The Shield (713)
In 1675 – Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of good ol y=f(x). That is, if you believe what he wrote in his notebooks.
In 1930 – Albert Einstein, yes that Albert Einstein, and Leo Szilard received a US patent for a refrigerator that required no electricity, just a heat source. Electrolux bought up the patents.
In 2006 – The Sony PS3 went on sale with a built-in Blu-ray player and hard drive.
Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
George R R Martin will only say that Game of Thrones will end in a bittersweet way. We’re pretty sure we know what that means. Also Chinese Nebula Award winners and our first impressions of Time and Again by Jack Finney.