Archive for 2025
Brown Box Demonstrated to Magnavox VP
July 17, 1970
Ralph Baer demonstrates the video game system he invented, simply called the “Brown Box”, to Magnavox engineering, production, and marketing management in Ft Wayne, IN. Previously Baer had demoed the Brown Box to many other TV manufacturers including RCA, GE, Zenith, Sylvania, and Magnavox themselves without any licensing agreements. A licensing agreement with RCA was written but cancelled in March of that year. It was this demo with Magnavox’s VP of Marketing present that would eventually lead to creation of the first home video game system, the Magnavox Odyssey, and the birth of the video game industry.
First Photograph of a Star
July 17, 1850
The first photograph of a star is taken at the Harvard Observatory. The star photographed was Vega in the Lyra constellation, the 2nd brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere.
Apollo 11 Heads for the Moon
July 16, 1969
Apollo 11 is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, on the way to becoming the first space mission to land men on the Moon.
Nintendo Releases Famicom
July 15, 1983
Nintendo releases their Famicom system, short for “Family Computer,” in Japan. The Famicom would be slightly modified with a copy protection system, a redesigned chassis, a front loading cartridge mechanism, and released in North America just over two years later as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The Famicom/NES system would become one of the most influential game systems ever produced, making Nintendo the premier company in the video game industry during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, picking up the mantle where Atari left off.
First Mars Fly-By
July 14, 1965
NASA’s Mariner 4 becomes the first spacecraft to perform a successful fly-by of Mars and the first to send back photographs of another planet from deep space. The photographs are the first showing details of Mars’ surface including extensive cratering.
Code Red Worms its Way into the Internet
July 13, 2001
The Code Red worm is released onto the Internet. Targeting Microsoft’s IIS web server, Code Red had a significant effect on the Internet due to the speed and efficiency of its spread. Much of this was due to the fact that IIS was often enabled by default on many installations of Windows NT and Windows 2000. However, Code Red also affected many other systems with web servers, mostly by way of side-effect, exacerbating the overall impact of the worm, ensuring its place in history among the many malware outbreaks infecting Windows systems in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Not-So Final Fantasy
July 12, 1990
Nintendo releases the original Final Fantasy video game for its Nintendo Entertainment System in North America. One of the most successful role-playing games for the NES, Final Fantasy helped to popularize the genre and has gone on to spawn one of the most well-known RPG franchises in history. Ironically, the game’s creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, thought the game would be his last one, hence the “final” in Final Fantasy. Had the game not sold well, he would have quit making games and gone back to college. So much for that.
Skylab Reentry
July 11, 1979
The first American space station, Skylab, reenters the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up after plans for keeping it in orbit fail to materialize. Fragments of Skylab fell around Perth, Australia, killing one cow.
First International Communications Satellite
July 10, 1962
The world’s first experimental international communications satellite, Telstar I, is launched into orbit. Built by Bell Labs and launched by NASA, Telstar 1 was a collaboration between the US, Britain, and France. Telstar I introduced the world to trans-Atlantic video feeds and ushered in a new era of communication. For example, in August of that year, Telstar I became the first satellite to synchronize time between the UK and the US, bringing them to within 1 microsecond of each other, where 2000 microseconds had been the previously most accurate effort. Telstar 1 was also the first satellite to send data between 2 computers, doing so in October of that year between two IBM 1401s in Endicott, New York and La Gaude, France.
For all its technological achievements, Telstar 1 was damaged by high levels of radiation in the Van Allen radiation belts primarily due to high altitude nuclear bomb testing by both the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962. It went out of service in November of that year, only 4 months after its launch. It was able to be restarted in January of 1963 but in late February it failed again and was not able to be placed back in service. Telstar 2 was launched a few months later in May of 1963, using radiation-resistant transistors and launched at a higher altitude to reduce the amount of time in the Van Allen radiation belts. Telstar 2 stayed in operation for 2 years. The success of the two Telstar satellites, along with other experimental satellites launched in the few years after 1962 helped paved the way for the first commercial geosynchronous communication satellite, Intelsat I in 1965. Both Telstar 1 and 2, although no longer in service, still orbit the Earth to this day.
Gil Amelio Ousted from Apple
July 9, 1997
Apple Computer announces the resignation of Gil Amelio as CEO. Having been ousted by the board of directors, Amelio’s departure paved the way for Steve Jobs to re-take the helm of Apple. Ironically, it was Amelio who brought Jobs back into the fold of Apple by purchasing Jobs’ company NeXT to use as the basis for the next Mac operating system.