Miscellaneous Technology
First Burglar Alarm Installed
February 21, 1858
The first electrical burglar alarm is installed by inventor Edwin T. Holmes in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a very simple system that rang a bell if a door or window was opened.
Edison Patents Light Switch, Sort Of
February 21, 1893
Thomas Edison receives three US patents on this day, two of which are in essence the first light switches: “Cut Out for Incandescent Electric Lamps” (US Patent 491,992) and “Stop Device.” (US Patent 491,993).
HD DVD Surrenders
February 19, 2008First Cable TV Test
February 18, 1946
Television signals are first successfully transmitted from Washington D.C. to New York City over an AT&T coaxial cable. And you thought cable TV was invented in the 1980s!
QuickTake 100 Launched
February 17, 1994
Apple launches their QuickTake 100 digital camera, one of the very first digital cameras aimed at the consumer market. Unfortunately for Apple, as was endemic for them at the time, they didn’t execute the marketing for this device very well, allowing other companies to take the lead in the digital camera market. Apple was out of the digital camera market by 1997.
Hacker Mitnick Arrested
February 15, 1995
Computer hacker Kevin Mitnick is arrested. At the time, he was the most wanted computer criminal in the United States. Now he is a computer security consultant. At least he knows what he’s doing.
First Modern GPS Satellite Launches
February 14, 1989
The first of 24 Block-II GPS satellites was launched. Block-II were the first modern GPS satellites that form the modern GPS system we know today.
The Birth of IBM
February 14, 1924
The Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation is renamed International Business Machines, aka IBM. Either way, it certainly makes for a boring sounding company.
Motion Picture Projector Patented
February 13, 1895
The Lumiere brothers patent their cinematograph, one of the earliest motion picture projectors. The cinématographe also served as a film camera and developer, making it one of the first “all-in-one” devices, beating HP by about 100 years.
DAF 600 Unveiled
February 7, 1958
The Dutch car DAF 600 is introduced at the Amsterdam Motor Show. It would have been an altogether unremarkable car except for the fact that it was one of the first cars to offer an automatic transmission at an affordable price.