This week in 1906 – The Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey began to manufacture the Victrola, or record player. The hand-cranked unit, complete with horn cabinet, sold for $200. That would be about $4,800 today.
1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
1985 – The machine that revolutionized the world’s offices, the original Xerox 914 copier, took its place among the honored machines of other eras at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The document copier had been formally introduced to the world in March of 1960. In just twenty-five years, the machine, invented by patent lawyer Chester Carlson, had become obsolete enough to make it into the museum.
And this week in 1995 – Microsoft officially rolled out Windows 95. Midnight parties at retailers across the U.S. offered the new system for sale to those who just couldn’t wait any longer. NBC’s Jay Leno hosted the official launch party at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. The company lit up the Empire State Building with the Windows 95 logo colors, and licensed the Rolling Stones song, “Start Me Up”, to use in its TV advertisements.