Today in Tech History – March 12

1790 – John Frederic Daniell was born. He would grow up to invent the Daniell cell, a battery that supplied an even current during continuous operation, thus making battery power practical.

1889 – Almon B. Strowger of Kansas City filed his patent for the first time automatic telephone exchange.

1923 – Inventor Lee De Forest demonstrated the Phonofilm for the press. It was the first motion picture with a sound-on-film track.

1989 – First Proposal for a World Wide Web

             Tim Berners-Lee submits a proposal to CERN for developing a new way of linking and sharing information over the Internet. It was the first time Berners-Lee proposed a system that would ultimately become the World Wide Web. However, this proposal was a relatively vague request to research the details and feasibility of such a system. He would later submit a proposal on November 12, 1990 that much more directly detailed the actual implementation of the World Wide Web. So while some people consider today the birthday of the World Wide Web, I would put forth November 12, 1990 as a more accurate date.

1997 – Fairchild Semiconductor Sold

             National Semiconductor Corp. completes the sale of its Fairchild Semiconductor business. Many consider Fairchild the “original” Silicon Valley Company for its profound and diverse institutional legacy: a survey of over 100 large Silicon Valley companies in the 1980s found that almost all of them had links to Fairchild, mostly through ex-Fairchild employees who had spun off and started these companies on their own. Fairchild had been founded by Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore and six others who left en masse from Shockley Semiconductor, after that firm’s founder and co-inventor of the transistor, William Shockley, struggled with a confrontational management style. Noyce and Moore later co-founded Intel Corporation.

1998 – V-Chip Becomes Mandatory

              The FCC announced they have come to a finalization on the video programming rating system and have fulfilled all requirements for the proposed “V-Chip”. Along with NAB, NCTA and MPAA, the chip will follow the TV Parental Guidelines and each program will be rated as follows:

TV-Y (All Children – This program is designed to be appropriate for all children.)

TV-Y7 (Directed to Older Children – This program is designed for children age 7 and above.)

For programs designed for the entire audience, the general categories are:

TV-G (General Audience – Most parents would find this program suitable for all ages.)

TV-PG (Parental Guidance Suggested – This program contains material that parents may find unsuitable for younger children.)

TV-14 (Parents Strong Cautioned – This program contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age.)

TV –MA (Mature Audience Only – This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17)

2008 – Hulu is Unleashed

              The video streaming service Hulu is launched to the public. Hulu has since become a focal point for the ongoing development of “streaming TV” along with the agonizing by TV networks and movie studios. It also revealed Alec Baldwin to be an alien, which didn’t surprise anybody.

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