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1981
to 1985
This chronology covers -
1981
Lagardere buys Hachette
US General Accounting Office predicts that email
will put two-thirds of postal workers out of work by 2000
US businesses uses 850 billion pages of paper
21,000 industrial robots in use in Japan v 6,000 in US
launch of Space Shuttle and MTV
first Nintendo home video game
invention of the mouse
Jim Rutt coins the term 'snail mail'
Microsoft provides software for IBM personal computers
Lonrho buys Observer from Atlantic Richfield (ARCO)
1982
US government drops 1969 antitrust case against IBM
USA Today typeset in regional plants via satellite
first PC Local Area Network
first recombinant DNA vaccine for livestock
Compaq founded
British Telecom privatised
Sky Channel (first European satellite TV channel) launched
Kodak camera uses film on a disc cassette
200 computers connected to the internet worldwide
Australian Freedom of Information Act (FOI)
Lotus 1-2-3
Sun Microsystems founded
Scott Fahlman devises 'smiley' emoticon in email
1983
number of computers in US exceeds ten million
mobile phone network starts in US
Cisco founded
Astral expands into pay-tv in Canada
Time magazine names computer as "Man of the Year"
AT&T forced to break up
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) established
deregulation results in first Canadian pay-tv channels
Lagardere's Hachette acquires 25%
of Amaury
American videotext service starts but fails in three years
Ithiel de Sola Pool's Technologies of Freedom
Fairfax buys David Syme
Bonnier buys Svensk Filmindustri
Carlton Communications founded
1984
SPH formed
William Gibson coins term 'cyberspace' in Neuromancer
CD Walkman
first PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) - Psion Organiser
Sky TV, first UK satellite TV channel
Camcorder
Apple Macintosh, IBM PC AT
32-bit microprocessor and one megabyte memory chip
Fourth Estate founded
public float of Reuters
Prodigy online service provider launched by IBM, CBS and Sears
1985
Murdoch buys 20th Century Fox and Metromedia
broadcasting stations
Murdoch becomes US citizen, triggering change of ownership
of Australian tv networks
Berlusconi buys Mondadori publishing group
first colour photocopiers
AOL founded
Symbolic.com becomes first registered dot-com
domain
car-based cellular phones in US
average US TV viewing peaks at 7 hours 10 minutes per day
US TV networks begin satellite distribution to affiliates
pay-per-view channels open for business in US
20% of US households have VCRs
Sea Containers buys Illustrated London News
next page (1986
to 1990)
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