Computers
Computer First Predicts Presidential Election
November 4, 1952
As part of a publicity stunt to help boost sales, Remington Rand collaborates with CBS to have its UNIVAC computer predict the results of the 1952 US presidential election between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson live on air. Because the pre-election polls had the election very close, the publicity surrounding a computer predicting the winner generated a lot of popular interest.
UNIVAC correctly predicted a landslide victory by Eisenhower early in the evening after only 3 million votes had been returned and entered into the system. However, because it was so different than the expected result, the decision was made to hold back the computerized prediction. It appears that both Remington Rand and CBS feared the computer was incorrect so they didn’t want to take the risk. It was only late in the broadcast when continuing returns seemed to indicate that UNIVAC was in fact correct, did CBS announce the landslide prediction from the computer and the fact it had done so hours earlier. In the end, UNIVAC had come within 3.5% of the popular vote, within 4 electoral votes, and predicted 100-1 odds of the Eisenhower victory.
The publicity stunt worked as UNIVAC became relatively famous. For a time people started calling all computers “UNIVACs”, it was featured on the cover of a Superman comic book, and in a Looney Toons cartoon. By the next presidential election 4 years later, all 3 major networks were using computers to predict the results.
Apple Introduces PowerBook
October 21, 1991
At the COMDEX computer expo in Las Vegas, Apple introduces the first line of PowerBook notebook computers, the PowerBook 100, PowerBook 140, and PowerBook 170. The first truly portable Macintosh, the PowerBook line redefined portable computing and set the bar for future laptop designs. For example, the PowerBooks were the first laptop to have a trackball positioned in front of the keyboard. Most existing PC laptops of the time ran DOS and were therefore keyboard-oriented, requiring the use of external mice.
VisiCalc Officially Released
October 19, 1979
According to Dan Bricklin, the first “real” release of VisiCalc was completed and packaged for shipment. VisiCalc was the first commercially available spreadsheet software and quickly became the first “killer app” of the personal computer market.
CDC 1604 Released
October 16, 1959
Control Data Corporation (CDC) releases their CDC 1604 computer, the world’s fastest computer at the time and the first commercially successful fully-transistorized computer. The 1604 was CDC’s first computer, primarily designed by engineer Seymour Cray, who would later go on to found Cray Research and be called the “father of the supercomputer”.