Electronic television is born, the first computer bug is discovered, and AOL makes a big purchase… It all happened This Week in Tech History.
This week in 1927 – The first fully electronic television system is achieved by American inventor, Philo Farnsworth. Farnsworth continued to perfect his system and gave the first demonstration to the press in September of the following year.
1947 – The first case of a computer bug being found: Operators traced an error in the Harvard Mark II computer to a moth trapped in a relay. The bug was carefully removed and taped to the log book. And that is why, today we call errors or glitches in a program a bug.
1997 – America Online acquired CompuServe, the oldest U.S. on-line computer service. The billion-dollar deal also saw AOL involved with WorldCom, a telephone company with hundreds of miles of high-capacity line. Under the deal, WorldCom kept CompuServe’s global data network and agreed to provide network services to AOL. The deal gave AOL much-needed cash to develop new online content and expand its base of 9 million subscribers.