Today in Tech History – September 25

1956 – The first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, TAT-1 was inaugurated, replacing slow telegraph and unreliable radio system.

1973 – The first Personal Computer You Never Heard Of

Micro Computer Machines of Canada introduces their MCM/70 microcomputer at a programmer’s user conference in Toronto. Possibly the earliest commercially manufactured device that can now be considered a personal computer, the MCM/70 gained customers at companies such as Chevron, Mutual Life Insurance, NASA, and the US Army. The company worked closely with Intel in the design of their computer and made very early use of the Intel 8008 processor, of which the basic design was used for the future Intel 8086. However, failing to generate venture capital in the Canadian marketplace, the MCM/70 never gained significant market acceptance and by the time the Apple II and other early personal computers were being released, the MCM/70 was relegated to a footnote in history.

1987 – IBM Announces “Micro Channel Architecture”

IBM announces plans to develop a new design for transmitting information within a computer, called Micro Channel Architecture, which it said could transfer data at 160 million bytes per second or eight times faster than the fastest speed at the time. Although IBM was hoping to make its system the industry standard, manufacturers of IBM-compatible computers largely chose other methods.

2001 – Apple announced the release of Mac OS X 10.1 Puma, the first major upgrade to OS X.

2006 – iWoz (From Computer Geek to Cult Icon) Book

The book iWoz: from Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-founded Apple and Fun Doing it. (**WHEW!**) came out. It was a book that was written to dispel some of the rumors and misconceptions on many different items. iWoz Computer Geek to cult Icon at Amazon.com.

2012 – Blizzard launched its 4^th World of Warcraft expansion, called Mists of Pandaria.

2013 – Amazon announced the Kindle HDX tablets with a service called “Mayday” that promised to let users speak with a real person by video over the Internet within 15 seconds of tapping a button.