1932 – The US patent Office
received a patent application for the cyclotron by Ernest Orlando Lawrence as a
“Method and Apparatus for the Acceleration of lons.”
1949 – The Hale telescope
at Palomar Observatory saw first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble,
becoming the largest aperture optical telescope. Hubble photographed Hubble’s
Variable Nebula (NGC 2261).
1962 – Ranger 3 Launched
Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe was designed to
transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10
minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon. Due to a series of
malfunctions, the spacecraft missed the Moon by 22,000 miles.
1983 – Lotus 1-2-3 Goes on Sale
The Lotus Development Corporation releases Lotus 1-2-3 for IBM
computers. While not the first spreadsheet program, Lotus was able to develop
1-2-3 because the creators of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet, did not patent
their software. 1-2-3 outsold VisiCalc by the end of the year and 2 years later
Lotus bought out the assets of VisiCalc and hired its main creator as a
consultant.
1997 – Electronic vs. Paper Books in SF Library
The New York Times chronicles the
debate between electronic and paper books in an article about the new San
Francisco Public Library. Critics complained that the library sacrificed too
much book space for computer terminals and too many books for online
information lamenting as well the end of the traditional card catalogue that
has marked a move to the information age for many libraries.
1998 – Compaq Purchased DEC
Compaq Computer purchases Digital Equipment Corporation for $9.6
billion. Digital, or DEC, was a pioneering company in the early history of
computers from the 1960’s – 1980’s. Unfortunately, as was seen with many
companies, they were slow to recognize the rise of the PC which ultimately led
to the sell-off of all the company’s business units, cumulating with the final
sale to Compaq. Compaq itself was eventually merged with HP.
2006 – Grand Theft Auto Lawsuit: Hot Coffee
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was a game that changed perception of the
industry. The grit and cruelty of the GTA franchise has not only brought
controversy, its also brought the fans.
One bit of controversy was the “Hot Coffee”
minigame within GTA. Hot Coffee was a euphemism for sex. In the minigame, the
main character and the girlfriend initiated in coitus, which got a lot of
parents upset.
The Hot Coffee minigame was disabled by
Take-Two, but people found ways around the block. This minigame prompted a
re-rating to Adult, ultimately getting pulled from many game shelves.
If you like this post kindly comment below and do share your response. Thanks for reading.
Comments
Post a Comment