Ford changes the manufacturing industry, the first successful video game is released and a popular video game console goes on sale… It all happened This Week in Tech History.
1913 – Ford Motor Company introduced the first moving assembly line and forever changed the manufacturing industry. Ford’s innovation reduced the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to two and a half.
1927 – The first Ford Model A was unveiled on this day in New York City’s Waldorf Hotel and in 35 other cities around the U.S., Canada and Europe. The car was priced affordably: the Phaeton sold for $395.00 and the Tudor Sedan for $495.00.
1972 – Atari released Pong, the first commercially successful video game. The game was first tested in a California bar. Shortly after installation, the machine began to malfunction. When they went to repair it, they found that the problem was the coin mechanism was overflowing. It was obviously a popular game.
1994 – The original PlayStation developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment was released in Japan. The PlayStation has gone on to become one of the most popular and widely-used game consoles.
1996 – The Mars Pathfinder was launched from Cape Canaveral on a 310 million-mile odyssey to explore the planet’s surface. It had a remote-controlled 22-pound, 6-wheel, roving vehicle to sample Martian soil and rock and send data back beginning on July 4, 1997.