The Origins Of Google Earth, Microsoft, Barcodes, And The World's Most Valuable Company--Apple

Beijing, CHINA: A Chinese jobseeker walks pass a poster showing Microsoft founder Bill Gates (L) and Apple computers' Steve Jobs, at an employment fair in Beijing 27 February 2007. This week's milestones in the history of technology include the first patent for aerial photography leading eventually to Google Earth, how Popular Mechanics made Bill Gates drop out of Harvard, and Apple becoming the planet's most valuable company 22 years after going public. Cornele B. Adams is awarded the first US patent for aerial photography. His method of photogrammetry can produce a topographic map by means of photographing the same tract of land from different points from an unmanned stationary balloon on a tether. Keyhole, Inc. launched the Earth Viewer application in 2001 and was acquired by Google in 2004.