birthday

News Byte

Computing Pioneer Ada Lovelace Gets Deserved Google Doodle

Kara Swisher in News on December 10, 2012 at 1:14 am PT

Google does commemorative logos — called Google Doodles — pretty regularly now. But today, it’s a much-deserved tip-of-the-pen to celebrate the 197th birthday of Ada Lovelace, a woman who is one of computing’s earliest pioneers. She was a collaborator of Charles Babbage, designer of the ground-breaking mechanical computers — which he never actually built — the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine. Lovelace’s notes on the Analytical Engine are considered to be among the first algorithms created; she also theorized about the larger potential of computers beyond mathematics, including to make music. All that with just a quill and some paper.

News Byte

To Twitter, on Your Sixth Birthday

Liz Gannes in Social on March 21, 2012 at 8:25 am PT

It’s Twitter’s sixth birthday today, counting from when Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet on March 21, 2006. According to Wikipedia, here are some child development markers we can expect from a 6-year-old: “Movements are more precise and deliberate, though some clumsiness persists”; “span of attention increases; can concentrate effort but not always consistently”; “loves telling jokes and riddles; often, the humor is far from subtle.” Sounds about right!