Today in Tech History – November 19, 2016

Today in Tech History logo1872 – E.D. Barbour of Boston, Mass. received the first US patent for an adding machine capable of printing totals and subtotals. The so-called “calculating machine,” proved impractical.

1967 – Hong Kong TV, the first free over the air commercial television station in Hong Kong was established. Today it is known as TVB.

1981 – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos banned video games, citing such insidious examples as Space Invaders and Asteroids as a “destructive social enemy, the electrical bandit.”

2006 – The Nintendo Wii launched in North America.

2007 – Amazon launched an e-reader called the Kindle that used an e-ink screen.

Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.