IBM And Apple Demonstrate How To Sell Computers To The Public And The First Human Killed By Robot

This week's milestones in the history of technology include two introductions of the future of computing and successful demonstrations of tech PR--IBM's SSEC and Apple's Macintosh--and the first man killed by a robot and the first commercial telephone switchboard. Robert Noyce, co-founder and research director of Fairchild Semiconductor (and later, co-founder of Intel Corporation), makes an entry in his notebook--a solution to the problem of efficiently making electrical connections between the components of an Integrated Circuit. The Apple Macintosh is launched, together with two applications, MacWrite and MacPaint, designed to show off its interface. It was the first mass-market personal computer featuring an integral graphical user interface and mouse. By April 1984, 50,000 Macintoshes were sold.