1474 – The Venetian Senate issued a Statue
on Industrial Brevets that is widely considered the first patent law. Patents
had been issued before, often at the whims of monarchs, but this statue
codified the practice and set out a standard 10-year term.
1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened.
It is the world’s largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge with the top
of the bridge standing 134 meters above the harbour.
1972 – Atanasoff Judged
Official “Inventor” of Computer
John
Vincent Atanasoff emerges as victor from a protracted US legal battle for the
title of the inventor of the electronic digital computer. A judge determined
his work had preceded and contributed to development of the ENIAC machine,
whose inventors had previously been credited.
1986 – IBM.com and sun.com
Registered
The
domains ibm.com and sun.com come online. These domains are considered the 11th
and 12th oldest domains in history.
1991 – US patent No. 5,000,000 was issued to
microbiologist Lonnie. O. Ingram of the University of Florida for a process of
turning garbage into fuel. His method depended on the creation of a new species
of bacterium genetically formed from two other bacteria.
1997 – First Consumer DVD
Player Released in U.S.
Toshiba
– a member of the DVD consortium – put out the first consumer DVD player on
November 1, 1996 in Japan as the SD-3000. After some initial changes (and
having to change the DVD region code for U.S. based DVD players), Toshiba
debuted two U.S. models – the SD-2006 and the SD-3006.
The SD-3006 had two more analog outputs and a Y-Cr-Cb video
out with selector. Both players could run in 16:9 or 4:3 modes, but had to be
selected when not in use. The SD-2006 sold for $699.
There are questions as to the first DVD titles available
(since it was for sale in Japan Since November). The first U.S. DVD titles
included twister, Bonnie & Clyde and the Mask.
Comments
Post a Comment