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This Month In Tech History.

PAC-MAN is born.

October 10, 1980

Midway releases the video game Pac-Man to arcades in North America. While the Japanese release under the name “Puck-Man” occurred in May of that year, the game’s popularity didn’t take off until being released in the United States. Pac-Man will become the first true mega-hit video game in history, sparking “Pac-Man Fever” and catapulting the video game industry into mainstream culture.

Pac-Man[a] is a maze arcade game developed and released by Namco in 1980. The original Japanese title of Puck Man was changed to Pac-Man for international releases as a preventative measure against defacement of the arcade machines.[7] Outside Japan, the game was published by Midway Games as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The player controls Pac-Man, who must eat all the dots inside an enclosed maze while avoiding four coloured ghosts. Eating large flashing dots called power pellets causes the ghosts to turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points. It is the first game to run on the Namco Pac-Man arcade board.

The development of the game began in April 1979, directed by Toru Iwatani with a nine-man team. Iwatani wanted to create a game that could appeal to women as well as men, as most video games at the time were war- or sports-themed. Although the inspiration for the Pac-Man character was, reportedly, the image of a pizza with a slice removed, Iwatani has said he also rounded out the Japanese symbol “kuchi”, meaning “mouth”. The in-game characters were made to be cute and colourful to appeal to younger players. The original Japanese title of Puckman was derived from the titular character’s hockey-puck shape.

Pac-Man is a widespread critical and commercial success. The game is important and influential, and it is commonly listed as one of the greatest video games of all time. The success of the game led to several sequels, merchandise, and two television series, as well as a hit single by Buckner and Garcia. The Pac-Man video game franchise remains one of the highest-grossing and best-selling game series of all time, generating more than $14 billion in revenue (as of 2016) and $43 million in sales combined. The character of Pac-Man is the mascot and flagship icon of Bandai Namco Entertainment and has the highest brand awareness of any video game character in North America.

Guinness World Records has awarded the Pac-Man series eight records in Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition 2008, including “Most Successful Coin-Operated Game”. On June 3, 2010, at the NLGD Festival of Games, the game’s creator Toru Iwatani officially received the certificate from Guinness World Records for Pac-Man having had the most “coin-operated arcade machines” installed worldwide: 293,822. The record was set and recognized in 2005 and mentioned in the Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition 2008, but finally actually awarded in 2010.

The Pac-Man character and game series became an icon of video game culture during the 1980s, and a wide variety of Pac-Man merchandise has been marketed with the character’s image, from t-shirts and toys to hand-held video game imitations and even specially shaped pasta. General Mills manufactured a cereal by the Pac-Man name in 1983.

The game has inspired various real-life recreations, involving either real people or robots. One event called Pac-Manhattan set a Guinness World Record for “Largest Pac-Man Game” in 2004. The business term “Pac-Man defence” in mergers and acquisitions refers to a hostile takeover target that attempts to reverse the situation and take over its would-be acquirer instead, a reference to Pac-Man’s energizers. The game’s popularity has led to “Pac-Man” being adopted as a nickname, most notably by boxer Manny Pacquiao, as well as the American football player Adam Jones.

On August 21, 2016, in the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, during a video which showcased Tokyo as the host of the 2020 Summer Olympics, a small segment shows Pac-Man and the ghosts racing against each other eating dots on a running track.

In 2008, a feature film based on the game was in development.

The Pac-Man character appears in the film Pixels (2015), with Denis Akiyama playing series creator Toru Iwatani. Pac-Man is referenced and makes an appearance in the 2017 film Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

In Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale where Kirito and his friends beat a VR Pac-Man game called PAC-Man 2024.[102] Iwatani makes a cameo at the beginning of the film as an arcade technician. In the Japanese tokusatsu film Kamen Rider Heisei Generations: Dr. Pac-Man vs. Ex-Aid & Ghost with Legend Riders, a Pac-Man-like character was introduced as the main villain.

The 2018 film Relaxer uses Pac-Man as a strong plot element in the form of a 1999 couch-bound man who attempts to beat the game (and encounters the famous Level 256 glitch) before Y2K occurs.

In April 2011, Soap Creative published World’s Biggest Pac-Man working together with Microsoft and Namco-Bandai to celebrate Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary. It is a multiplayer browser-based game with user-created, interlocking mazes.

In 2016, an in-app version of Pac-Man was introduced in Facebook Messenger. This allows users to play the game against their friends while talking over Facebook.

What a game this was and continues to be.

Best Laptop For Bloggers Revealed.

If you are planning to start your own blog or else, you are already a blogger and looking for the best weapon for your job then a laptop is must-have.

A computer will always do the trick but if you tend to travel a lot for your work purpose, then the laptop should be the best choice. First, consider the factors that are required for your blogging job and then go ahead to pick up the suitable one.

The bloggers generally write articles, edit the photos and videos, and require an all-time internet connection. Travelling is also a part of their job. So, while choosing the best laptops for bloggers, you should have all these points on your mind. Anyways, we are here to narrow down the searching process by listing some of the best laptops for bloggers. Read to know the suitable blogger’s laptop.

Chromebooks are still a debatable product because some of the buyers are not convinced about the product and its total adoption of the internet for everything they need to do. On the other hand, you will hardly be using the hard disk space on your computer and rarely work in an environment where there is no internet. Most bloggers and writers who love to have some private time will find working in a coffee shop, a park or a resort. They do have the option of sharing 4G from their phone if they need to or make use of the public Wi-Fi.

The HP Chromebook offers the best package for anyone who wants a very affordable laptop for their blogging needs. After all, you can’t post content on a blog without an internet connection and you can make use of the offline feature to type things at any location of your choice. For such a requirement, the HP laptop sounds like an ideal choice and it runs on the latest version of the Chrome OS. There is no need to worry about upgrading to the latest Windows or upgrade Office 365 because everything is done on the go by Google.

In terms of specifications, this may not be the most impressive product, but it is more than enough for your blogging needs. The HP Chromebook is powered by an Intel Celeron N3060 1.6 GHz dual-core processor coupled with 4 GB of RAM and uses Intel HD Graphics 400. The laptop has just 16 GB of storage space offered by the eMMC storage. The display is rather small and compact measuring at just 11.6-inches with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels with the capacity to display most word documents appropriately. You can always choose to view things on a desktop PC if required at a later time which has a full HD display.

What Makes the HP Chromebook an Ideal Blogger’s Laptop?

• The HP Chromebook features a simple yet productive design so that you could carry it around easily
• The grey and silver finish provides it with a very professional look
• It can work even when offline and is very affordable
• The product has all the necessary ports including USB C, USB, headphone jack, HDMI required for easy connectivity

Recommended For:

• Bloggers who travel a lot and require a primary or a secondary laptop that is easily affordable

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This week in Tech History.

February 4, 2004

Mark Zuckerberg launches The Facebook, which later becomes Facebook. The world changes forever.

Original layout and name of Thefacebook, 2004

Thefacebook, Thiel investment, and name change

Zuckerberg built a website called “Facemash” in 2003 while attending Harvard University. The site was comparable to Hot or Not and used “photos compiled from the online facebooks of nine Houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the “hotter” person”.

Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours. The site was sent to several campus group list-servers but was shut down a few days later by Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion and was charged with breaching security, violating copyrights and violating individual privacy. Ultimately, the charges were dropped. Zuckerberg expanded on this project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final exam. He uploaded all art images to a website, each of which was accompanied by a comments section, then shared the site with his classmates.

A “face book” is a student directory featuring photos and personal information. In 2003, Harvard had only a paper version along with private online directories.  Zuckerberg told the Crimson, “Everyone’s been talking a lot about a universal face book within Harvard. … I think its kind of silly that it would take the University a couple of years to get around to it. I can do it better than they can, and I can do it in a week.”^] In January 2004, Zuckerberg coding a new website, known as “TheFacebook”, inspired by a Crimson editorial about Facemash, stating, “It is clear that the technology needed to create a centralized Website is readily available … the benefits are many.” Zuckerberg met with Harvard student Eduardo Saverin, and each of them agreed to invest $1,000 in the site. On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched ” the service.

Six days after the site launched, Harvard seniors Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing that he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com. They claimed that he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to the Crimson and the newspaper began an investigation. They later sued Zuckerberg, settling in 2008 for 1.2 million shares (worth $300 million at Facebook’s IPO).

Facebook has gone on to dominate the social media world and in 2010 announced they had over 500m users,

In March 2012, Facebook announced App Center, a store selling applications that operate via the website. The store was to be available on iPhones, Android devices, and mobile web users. In April 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock.

On April 12, 2016, Zuckerberg outlined his 10-year vision, which rested on three main pillars: artificial intelligence, increased global connectivity and virtual/augmented reality

On April 18 Facebook announced the beta launch of Facebook Spaces at its annual F8 developer conference  Facebook Spaces is a virtual reality version of Facebook for Oculus VR goggles. In a virtual and shared space, users can access a curated selection of 360-degree photos and videos using their avatar, with the support of the controller. Users can access their own photos and videos, along with media shared on their newsfeed

In January 2019, the 10-year challenge was started asking users to post a photograph of themselves from 10 years ago (2009) and a more recent photo.

Facebook has changed the way the world work and the way we interact with each other, who would have thought that 10 years ago?

First Handheld Scientific Calculator Released.

January 4, 1972

Hewlett-Packard introduced the first handheld scientific calculator, the HP-35. The precision of the calculator was greater than most mainframe computers of its time. For such a technological achievement, the name of the calculator is simply derived from the fact that it has 35 buttons.

History

In about 1970 HP co-founder Bill Hewlett challenged his co-workers to create a “shirt-pocket sized HP-9100”. At the time, slide rules were the only practical portable devices for performing trigonometric and exponential functions, as existing pocket calculators could only perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Introduced at $395 (equivalent to $2,366 in 2018), Like HP’s first scientific calculator, the desktop 9100A, it used Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) rather than what came to be called “algebraic” entry. The “35” in the calculator’s name came from the number of keys.

The original HP-35 was available from 1972 to 1975. In 2007 HP announced the release of the “retro”-look HP 35s in commemoration of the original HP-35.

The HP-35 was named an IEEE Milestone in 2009.

Description

The calculator used a traditional floating decimal display for numbers that could be displayed in that format but automatically switched to scientific notation for other numbers. The fifteen-digit LED display was capable of displaying a ten-digit mantissa plus its sign and a decimal point and a two-digit exponent plus its sign. The display used a unique form of multiplexing, illuminating a single LED segment at a time rather than a single LED digit because HP research had shown that this method was perceived by the human eye as brighter for equivalent power. Light emitting diodes were relatively new at the time and were much dimmer than high-efficiency diodes developed in subsequent decades.

The calculator used three “AA”-sized NiCd batteries assembled into a removable proprietary battery pack. Replacement battery packs are no longer available, leaving existing HP-35 calculators to rely on AC power, or their users to rebuild the battery packs themselves using available cells. An external battery charger was available and the calculator could also run from the charger, with or without batteries installed.

Internally, the calculator was organized around a serial (one-bit) processor chipset made under contract by Mostek, processing 56-bit floating-point numbers, representing 14-digit BCD numbers.

Still widely used today, By definition, a scientific calculator is a calculator designed to help you calculate science, engineering, and mathematics problems. It has way more buttons than the standard calculator that just lets you do your four basic arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Have you ever got the hang of using one? I know I’ve not.

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This Month In Tech History

Atari Launches Home Video Gaming.

October 14, 1977

Atari releases their Video Computer System (known as the VCS and later as the Atari 2600). It took two years for the VCS to gain traction, but by 1979 it was the best selling gift of the Christmas season. Once it was established, the Atari VCS took the market by storm, popularised home video gaming, and helped cement the video game movement into mainstream culture, in our latest short blog we look back at the phenomenon that was the Atari.

Atari SA is a French corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972, currently by Atari Interactive, a subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA.The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company’s products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.

In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a competitor called Kee Games, headed by Nolan’s next door neighbour Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors’ insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market virtually the same game to different distributors, each getting an “exclusive” deal. Joe Keenan’s management of the subsidiary led to him being promoted president of Atari that same year

In 1976, Bushnell, through Grass Valley, CA firm Cyan Engineering, started development of a flexible console that was capable of playing the four existing Atari games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System, or VCS (later renamed 2600 when the 5200 was released). The introductory price of $199 (equivalent to $856 in 2017) included a console, two joysticks, a pair of paddles, and the Combat game cartridge. Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976 for an estimated $28–32 million, using part of the money to buy the Folgers Mansion. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuation of the pinball division, and most importantly, the notion of discontinuing the 2600. In 1978, Kee Games was disbanded. In December of that year, Nolan Bushnell was fired following an argument with Manny Gerard. “[W]e started fighting like cats and dogs. And then the wheels came off that fall. Warner claimed they fired me,” recalled Bushnell. “I say I quit. It was a mutual separation.”

Development of a successor to the 2600 started as soon as it shipped. The original team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years; it then set forth to build the most powerful machine possible within that time frame. Mid-way into their effort the home computer revolution took off, leading to the addition of a keyboard and features to produce the Atari 800 and its smaller sibling, the 400. The new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. From this platform Atari released their next-generation game console in 1982, the Atari 5200. It was unsuccessful due to incompatibility with the 2600 game library, a small quantity of dedicated games, and notoriously unreliable controllers.

1980s as interference from the New York-based Warner management increasingly affected daily operations. Its home computer, video game console, and arcade divisions operated independently and rarely cooperated. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600.

These problems were followed by the video game crash of 1983, with losses that totalled more than $500 million. Warner’s stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division.

In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the original Atari Inc. was split, and the arcade division was turned into Atari Games Inc. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text “Games” on arcade games, as well as rights to the original 1972–1984 arcade hardware properties. The Atari Consumer Electronics Division properties were in turn sold to Jack Tramiel’s Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation.

In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse-merged with disk-drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS),becoming a division within the company. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation related properties from JTS, creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive.

Infogrames Entertainment (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it Infogrames Interactive, which intermittently published Atari branded titles. In 2003, it renamed the division Atari Interactive. Another IESA division, Infogrames Inc. (formerly GT Interactive]), changed its name to Atari Inc. the same year, licensing the Atari name and logo from its fellow subsidiary.

In October 2001, Infogrames (now Atari SA) announced that it was “reinventing” the Atari brand with the launch of three new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts: Splashdown, MX Rider and TransWorld Surf. Infogrames used Atari as a brand name for games aimed at 18–34 year olds. Other Infogrames games under the Atari name included V-Rally 3, Neverwinter Nights, Stuntman and Enter the Matrix.

On May 7, 2003, Infogrames had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames NA officially renamed Atari, Inc. renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment. The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Hasbro Interactive, was also made a separate corporate entity renamed as Atari Interactive.

On March 6, 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames sole owner of Atari Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames’ buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 8, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary

On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios, a MMORPG developer.

Namco Bandai purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from Infogrames. Atari had significant financial issues for several years prior, with losses in the tens of millions since 2005.

In May 2009, Infogrames Entertainment SA, the parent company of Atari, and Atari Interactive, announced it would change its name to Atari SA.

In April 2010, Atari SA board member and former CEO David Gardner resigned. Original Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell joined the board as a representative for Blubay holdings.

As of March 31, 2011, the board of directors consisted of Frank Dangeard, Jim Wilson, Tom Virden, Gene Davis and Alexandra Fichelson

On January 21, 2013, the four related companies Atari, Atari Interactive, Humongous, and California US Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino.Frederic Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated that their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people.

On June 22, 2014, Atari announced a new corporate strategy that would include a focus on “new audiences”, specifically “LGBT, social casinos, real-money gambling, and YouTube”

On June 8, 2017 a short teaser video was released, promoting a new product; and the following week CEO Fred Chesnais confirmed the company was developing a new games console – the hardware was stated to be based on PC technology, and still under development. In mid July 2017 an Atari press release confirmed the existence of the aforementioned new hardware, referred to as the Ataribox. The box design was derived from early Atari designs (e.g. 2600) with a ribbed top surface, and a rise at the back of the console; two versions were announced: one with a traditional wood veneer front, and the other with a glass front. Connectivity options were revealed, including HDMI, USB (x4), and SD card – the console was said to support both classic and current games.Also, according to an official company statement of June 22, 2017, the product was to be initially launched via a crowdfunding campaign in order to minimize any financial risk to the parent company

On September 26, 2017, Atari sent out a press release about the new “Atari VCS”, which confirmed more details about the console. It will run a Linux operating system, with full access to the underlying OS, but it will have a custom interface designed for the TV.

Did you own the original Atari ?

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