Posts Tagged ‘mercury’

1959 – Want to see a 2.9 million dollar computer? That was the IBM 7090 – a transistorized mainframe computer that was designed for scientific research and tech applications. It replaced the 709 series, which used vacuum tubes. The first two were delivered – one of the 7090’s would be used for the Mercury and Gemini space missions. Check out more on the IBM 7090

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Other Technology History Facts

• The First Coaxial cable is installed
• Microsoft Vista is released to Volume licence customers
• Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings loses.

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1972 – Andy Cappa’s tavern in CA was the site for the first Pong game was wheeled into the establishment. The coin-operated game was put in by Atari co-founders Nolan Bushnell and Al Alcorn. The duo decided that making their own game – rather than having 3rd parties do it – would help keep costs down. They then turned an old Roller rink and converted to a production line. Pong was the first successful video game system.

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Other Day in Tech History items:

• Microsoft is first mentioned in a letter from Bill Gates to Paul Allen
• Mercury-Atlas 5 carries the first chimpanzee into space
• Microsoft starts talking to Yahoo again – this time on a search deal

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The story of Exploding laptops is not a new one. The Lithium battery in your laptop expands to the point where it breaks the encasement. Dell, Sony and IBM ended up recalling a series of batteries to prevent computer loss.

Today scientists announced they had made a solid, non-flammable polymer to replace the liquid electrolyte that is used to make the batteries. The science is new, and wont see the light of the public eye for 3 to 5 years, mainly because the polymer needs work to hold a longer charge. However, will this help the laptop not explode?

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