Athena Advanced Technologies

Today in Computer History

April 15th, 1452
While only indirectly related to computers, he was a technological genius.
Happy Birthday, Leonardo da Vinci!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_vinci

April 15th, 1977
First West Coast Computer Faire Begins

The first West Coast Computer Faire begins, featuring the debut of the Apple II from Apple Computer. The new machine includes innovations such as built-in high-resolution color graphics. For about $1,300, buyers receive a machine and built-in keyboard, 16 kilobytes of memory, BASIC, and eight expansion slots.

West Coast Computer Faire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The West Coast Computer Faire was an annual computer industry conference and exposition most often associated with San Francisco, its first and most frequent venue. The first fair was held in 1977 and was organized by Jim Warren and Bob Reiling. At the time it was the biggest computer show in the wo...

Today in Computer History - April 10, 1943

"ENIAC" Project Underway

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania begin work on the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), a machine capable of the then-remarkable speed of 5,000 additions per second. ENIAC was shrouded in wartime secrecy since its main purpose was to compute "firing tables" for artillery shells. Before ENIAC, this was done by women (called "computers") working in large groups at mechanical desktop calculators. ENIAC was not completed until after the war (February 1946) but a generation of computer designers learned from its design and from the summer course given by Eckert and Mauchly at the Moore School. ENIAC could solve a wide range of general purpose computing problems, however, and was booked for two years in 1948. The ENIAC becomes public upon its completion in February 1946, when project leaders John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert proudly show off 1,000 square feet of plugs, switches, and lights that calculate 1,000 times faster than other machines at the time.

ENIAC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ENIAC (pron.:/ˈini.æk/ or /ˈɛni.æk/; Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer)[1][2] was the first electronic general-purposecomputer. It was Turing-complete, digital, and capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems.[3]