Hi I'm Molly Wood. It's May 1, 2008. Here's what happened today
in technology history.
Today is quite a momentous day in tech history. On this date in
1978, the first piece of spam was sent. A marketing rep from the
Digital Equipment Corporation, or DEC, sent an unsolicited bulk
commercial email to over 400 ARPANET addresses on the West
Coast. Spam now accounts for, according to some reports, nearly
95 percent of all email sent. So, thank you, anonymous DEC
employee. And may I just say: good idea!
Also on this date, in 1930, Pluto was officially named. Back then,
it was considered our solar system's ninth planet. In 2006, it was
reclassified as a "dwarf" planet, and given the number 134340.
Poor Pluto.
And finally, on this date in the year 2000, President Bill Clinton
announced that civilians would be granted access to accurate
GPS technology, which had previously been restricted to military
use. Until midnight on May 1st, civilians could only target
coordinates within a 100-meter margin of error. The change
allowed units, in 2000, to get within 10 to 20 meters, depending
on the weather.
That's all the news for today ... until next year, that is. See you
all tomorrow.
