This week’s milestones in the history of technology include Microsoft’s investment in Apple, the release of the first animated cartoon and Pixar’s first film, the first machine in the U.S. computing at electronic speeds, and the bundling of Internet Explorer.

August 14, 1940

John Atanasoff completes the paper “Computing Machine for the Solution of large Systems of Linear Algebraic Equations,” describing what became to be known as the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC), arguably the first machine built in the United States to compute at electronic speeds.

August 15, 1994

Microsoft engineer Ben Slivka sends an email message suggesting to his colleagues that a World Wide Web browser should be bundled with the Windows 95 operating system. Released on August 16, 1995, Internet Explorer reached peak browser market share (95%) in 2003.

August 16, 1858

Queen Victoria sends the first official telegraph message across the Atlantic Ocean, from London to United States President James Buchanan in Washington D.C. Transmission of the congratulatory message begins at 10:50am and won’t be completed until 4:30am the next day, taking nearly eighteen hours to reach Newfoundland, Canada.

Source: Forbes