Jacob&Co watches

In 1952, A.S. Douglas wrote his PhD degree at the University of Cambridge on Human-Computer interaction. Douglas created the first graphical computer game. The game was programmed on an EDSAC vacuum-tube computer, which had a cathode ray tube display.

William Higginbotham created the first video game ever in 1958. His game, called “Tennis for Two,” was created and played on a Brookhaven National Laboratory  oscilloscope. In 1962, Steve Russell invented “SpaceWar!”.” SpaceWar!” was the first game intended for computer use.

In 1967, Ralph Baer wrote the first video game played on a television set, a game called Chase. Ralph Baer was then part of Sanders Associates, a military electronics firm. Ralph Baer first conceived of his idea in 1951 while working for Loral, a television company.

In 1971, Nolan Bushnell together with Ted Dabney created the first arcade game. It was called Computer Space, based on Steve Russell’s earlier game of “Spacewar!”. The arcade game Pong was created by Nolan Bushnell a year later. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney started Atari Computers that same year. In 1975, Atari re-released Pong as a home video game.

In 1972, the first commercial video game console that could be played in the home, the Odyssey was released by Magnavox and designed by Ralph Baer. The game machine was originally designed in 1966 while Ralph Baer was still at Sanders Associates, who managed to gain his legal rights to the machine after Sanders Associates rejected it. The Odyssey came programmed with twelve games.

In 1976, Fairchild released the first programmable home game console called the Fairchild Video Entertainment System, and later renamed Channel F. Channel F was one of the first electronic systems to use the newly invented microchip invented by Robert Noyce for the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation that allowed video games to not be limited by the number of TTL switches.

On June 17, 1980, Atari’s “Asteroids” and “Lunar Lander” were the first two video games to ever be registered in the Copyright Office.

No item of clothing is more American than blue jeans, which were invented in the late 19th century by Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss. These two immigrants turned denim, thread and a little metal into the most popular clothing product in the world – blue jeans.

In 1853, twenty-four-year-old Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco to open a west coast branch of his brothers’ New York dry goods business. He had spent a few years studying the trade in New York after emigrating there from Germany. He built his business into a very successful operation over the next twenty years.

One of Strauss’s many customers was a tailor named Jacob Davis, who regularly purchased bolts of cloth wholesale from Strauss’ company. Among Davis’ customers was a difficult man who kept ripping the pockets of the pants that Davis made for him. Davis tried to think of a way to strengthen the man’s trousers. One day, he hit upon the idea of putting metal rivets at the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly.

These riveted pants were an instant hit with Davis’ customers and he worried that someone might steal his idea. So he decided to apply for a patent on the process, but didn’t have the $68 that was required to file the papers. He needed a business partner, and Strauss was just the one.

In 1872 Davis wrote a letter to Strauss to suggest that they hold the patent together. Strauss, an astute businessman, saw the potential for this new product and agreed. On May 20, 1873, the two men received the patent no.139.121 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That day is considered to be the official ‘birthday’ of blue jeans.

Within a very short time, all types of working men were buying the innovative new pants and spreading the word about their unrivaled durability. When the patent expired, dozens of garment manufacturers began to imitate the original riveted clothing made popular by Levi Strauss & Co.

In the 1950s, high school kids put them on as a radical way of defining themselves, of wanting to look and be more adult. A decade later, blue jeans became a symbol of egalitarianism. In the 1970s with the beginnings of a celebrity culture surfacing, jeans were definitely about being sexy and all about fashion.