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July 9, 1969: ACM hosts inaugural "Computer Music and Art Festival"
For the first time, computer-generated music and art was featured at one of the largest computer conferences in the world. “Computer Arts Festival Planned” published in Computerworld Volume 3, Issue...
Jan. 24, 1973: Computer optimizations reduce waste in furniture manufacturing
An optical scanner combined with a minicomputer enabled furniture companies to cut more usable wood from each plank. “Mini Plots Furniture Part Cutting” published in Computerworld Volume 7, Issue 4...
Jan. 29, 1969: North Carolina installs computer system to track legislative bills
Computerizing the bill-tracking process in the North Carolina legislature saved time and enabled new connections with the media and academic researchers. “System to Help Legislature Monitor Progress of Bills” published...
Dec. 4, 1968: Patentability of computer programs legally recognized in Prater and Wei
A tumultuous series of court hearings granted a software patent to two engineers and helped establish the legality of software patents. “Court Overrules Patent Office, Qualifies ‘Mental Process’ Ban” published...
June 19, 1968: First software patent awarded to Martin Goetz
In the early days of software engineering, innovations in the software realm were considered to be unpatentable. This began to change with the first patent, awarded to an engineer for...
May 8, 1968: The Baseball Encyclopedia becomes first book with computer typesetting
An IBM 360 computer processed and typeset 100 years of baseball data into an encyclopedia, marking a milestone in both baseball history and publishing technology. “Complete Baseball Fact Book Planned”...
April 3, 1968: Early visions for self-driving cars relied on computerized roadways
While today’s efforts to create a driverless future focus on artificially intelligent cars, an early attempt instead focused on computer-controlled roads. “A Driverless Car In Your Future” published in Computerworld...
April 3, 1968: Students rule ancient cities in early educational video games
In 1968, students played The Sumerian Game, recognized as the world’s first educational video game. It was originally designed by Mabel Addis, recognized as the world’s first video game writer....
March 27, 1968: ASCII character encoding adopted as federal standard under President Johnson
To improve efficiency within the federal government, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a Presidential Memorandum requiring the adoption of ASCII character encodings. Before these words could appear on your screen,...
Nov. 22, 1967: Analog computer simulations shake up agriculture
Tree shaking was an early attempt to automate crop harvesting. Analog computers, now obsolete, were used to refine the process. “Computer Aids Fruit Growers” published in Computerworld Volume 1, Issue...