2000 – Dr. Alan chow and brother Vincent announced they successfully placed a silicon microchip beneath human retinas. The chip is smaller than the head on a pin and only microns thin. These chips also contain solar cells to help power the chip.

In what is called “Optobionics”, the ASR chip is inserted behind the retina in the “subretinal space”. This is a 2 hour procedure and the chip can last up to 8 years after (depending on care).

Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 30

2000 – IBM unveiled the ASCI White – their fastest computer yet. This supercomputer was based on IBM’s commercial RS/6000 SP computer. 512 computers were connected to make this supercomputer. over 8 million processors, 5 Terabytes of memory and 160 TB of disk storage.

The computer was completed on this day in New York, and would go on-line on August 15, 2001 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

2014 – Trying to be the first provider of over-the-air channels, Aereo was told to shut down completely after a supreme court decision went against the company.

The idea was simple – take the over-the-air network channels and offer them on the Internet. Based in New York, the company opened services in 24 different cities. You could only watch the programming of your area on your PC, Mac or Linux. There were around 28 channels you could choose from and pricing was simply $1 a day.

Aereo was faced with many legal issues, including the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition act. The rebroadcast through the service undermined cable re-transmission fees.

It was also a wake-up call as after the fact, many cable providers started offering live streaming options.

<img width="1500" height="2100" data-tf-not-load src="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/gates_print1.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Bill Gates" decoding="async" srcset="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/gates_print1.jpg 1500w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/gates_print1-214x300.jpg 214w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/gates_print1-731x1024.jpg 731w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" />

2008 – Microsoft CEO Bill Gates officially steps down from office. He hands the reigns over to Steve Ballmer, and stays on as Chairman of the Board.

<img width="250" height="350" data-tf-not-load src="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/motorola-first-cell-phone-dayintechhistory.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Motorola Cell Phone" decoding="async" srcset="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/motorola-first-cell-phone-dayintechhistory.jpg 250w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/motorola-first-cell-phone-dayintechhistory-214x300.jpg 214w" sizes="(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px" />

1997 – Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Unwired Planet create a partnership to start and build on the Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP) as a non-profit organization. The industry group was formed to keep wireless devices on track, bring Internet connected devices to all who need it, create a wireless protocol that works on all network technologies, make scalable applications and content, and work with existing standards to expand as wireless needs grow.

<img width="640" height="360" data-tf-not-load src="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/ht_microsoft_cc_120823_wg1.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Microsoft Logo" decoding="async" srcset="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/ht_microsoft_cc_120823_wg1.jpg 640w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/ht_microsoft_cc_120823_wg1-300x168.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" />

1981 – Microsoft goes through a restructure to incorporate in Washington. Bill Gates would become president, Paul Allen was Executive Vice President. Steve Ballmer would come on full-time with a $50,000 year salary.

The reason why they incorporated? On this same day, Paul Allen sends a proposal to Rod Black of Seattle Computer Products for Microsoft to purchase all rights to 86-DOS for $30,000.  At that point, they had only a non-exclusive license (since September 22, 1980). This was a strategic move because Microsoft had a relationship with IBM, and wanted to re-license for the IBM PC.

After a month of negotiations, Seattle Computer agreed to the purchase for $50,000. However, that was not the end of it, as they found out of the IBM deal. They finally settled years later for $1 million.

<img width="686" height="273" data-tf-not-load src="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/686px-Symbian_OS_logo.svg1_-1.png" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Symbian" decoding="async" srcset="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/686px-Symbian_OS_logo.svg1_-1.png 686w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/686px-Symbian_OS_logo.svg1_-1-300x119.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 686px) 100vw, 686px" />

2008 – Nokia announced they have purchased Symbian outright. They originally owned 46% of the company, and bought out the remaining 54% for $410 million. But then the company turned around and created the Symbian Foundation – a group that would house and give away the software code.

The group and software would remain functioning until 2010. Symbian Foundation then closed, citing that it would change to a legal entity, responsible for licencing software and intellectual property.  The transition completed in 2011.

<img width="640" height="640" data-tf-not-load src="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/11246127_485953944896655_698057230_n1-1.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="DNS" decoding="async" srcset="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/11246127_485953944896655_698057230_n1-1.jpg 640w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/11246127_485953944896655_698057230_n1-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/11246127_485953944896655_698057230_n1-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/11246127_485953944896655_698057230_n1-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/11246127_485953944896655_698057230_n1-1-320x320.jpg 320w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/11246127_485953944896655_698057230_n1-1-65x65.jpg 65w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" />

1983 – Paul Mockapetris and Jon Postel run the first successful test of the distributed Domain Name System (DNS). This automated process was to take over failing Arpanet and CSnet protocols because those relied on address books.

DNS uses a hierarchical distributed naming system for the Internet or any private network. It associates the domain names with numerical IP addresses.

<img width="1261" height="1024" data-tf-not-load src="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1261px-Kodachrome_2001-1.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Kodachrome Film" decoding="async" srcset="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1261px-Kodachrome_2001-1.jpg 1261w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1261px-Kodachrome_2001-1-300x244.jpg 300w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1261px-Kodachrome_2001-1-768x624.jpg 768w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1261px-Kodachrome_2001-1-1024x832.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1261px) 100vw, 1261px" />

2009 – Kodak announced they would ended the production of Kodachrome color film. Once the leftover film is distributed, there will be no more made. That lasted until December, 2010.

Kodak created their iconic Kodachrome film in 1935. This is a non-substansive, color reversal film was used in still photos and cinematography. It used the subtractive color method – which required a complex chemical system to make the negative.

Kodachrome was invented by John Capstaff, who worked for a competitor until Eastman bought the company out.

<img width="1280" height="691" data-tf-not-load src="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1280px-Manchester_baby_head_on1-1.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM)" decoding="async" srcset="https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1280px-Manchester_baby_head_on1-1.jpg 1280w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1280px-Manchester_baby_head_on1-1-300x162.jpg 300w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1280px-Manchester_baby_head_on1-1-768x415.jpg 768w, https://dayintechhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/1280px-Manchester_baby_head_on1-1-1024x553.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" />

1948 – What was first expected to be a practical use computer, the SSEM, or Small-Scale Experimental Machine became the first stored-program computer. Basically, it stores program instructions into it’s electronic memory. This 32-bit word length, cathode-ray tube computer was designed to only run subtraction and negation through hardware. Other functions could be run, but only through software.

The first program was run on this day. It was written by Professor Tom Kilbum. The seventeen-instruction stored-program took 52 minutes to run. The program was tasked to find the highest proper factor of 218 (262,144).