Miscellaneous Technology
First Use of Tape Recorder in Radio
August 26, 1938
Radio station WQXR in New York City broadcasts a program using a tape recorder for the first time. The tape recorder used was the Phillips-Miller recording system, also known as Millertape, invented by James Arthur Miller.
HP Incorporated
August 18, 1947
Hewlett-Packard is incorporated by William Hewlett and David Packard, nine years after they sold their first products from their garage in Palo Alto. Hewlett and Packard got their start in 1938 by producing oscillators used to test audio equipment. Since selling eight of their first oscillators to Disney for use in preparing movie theaters for the movie Fantasia, HP has grown to one of the largest technology companies in the world.
The First Music CD
August 17, 1982
“The Visitors” by ABBA becomes the world’s first commercial music compact disc (CD) manufactured, pressed in Langenhagen, Germany by Polygram Records, a subsidiary of Royal Phillips Electronics. Phillips and Sony co-developed the CD standard, which was designed to be the successor to the phonograph record. By the time the CD went on sale in November of that year, about 150 titles had been produced.
Diesel Engine Patented in US
August 9, 1898
The US Patent Office awards patent 608,845 to Rudolf Diesel for his diesel internal combustion engine.
Apple Introduces the Newton
August 3, 1993
Apple introduces the Newton MessagePad, one of the world’s first Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). The term PDA was first used by Apple CEO John Scully in 1992. While a commercial failure, the Newton platform set the bar for future PDA designs. But perhaps the most important advancement the Newton offered to the technology industry was the development of the ARM processor architecture. Apple partnered with and invested heavily in the fledgling architecture to power the Newton devices, acquiring 43% of Advanced RISC Machines, Ltd. in the process. The ARM architecture has been the foundation of most of the world’s mobile devices since that time, including all versions of the Apple iPhone and iPad and now the M series processors for the Macintosh. Incidentally, in 1998 Apple began selling much of their ownership interest in ARM, reportedly generating around $1 billion through 1999. This gave Apple some much needed cash to carry them through their darkest days and into their turnaround to become the world’s most valuable company.
First San Francisco Cable Car
August 2, 1873
The Clay Street Railroad begins operation, making it the first cable car in San Francisco’s now famous cable car system.
Tokyo Skytree Completed
February 29, 2012
Construction of the Tokyo Skytree broadcast tower, delayed two months due to the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, is completed on leap day – February 29th, 2012. The Tokyo Skytree is the tallest structure in Japan and the world’s tallest tower.