New Star Trek Trailer....

Gear driven business card...

Straight from HackADay.com (boy I love that site)

Here is the link to download the patterns.. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:211

Things - Adam Mayer Digitally Designed Geared Business Cards from Bre Pettis on Vimeo.

Mini-Review: Visual Land V-Bop 4gb model VL-867

I just bought the 4gb model without the micro-sd slot for only $39.99 U.S. and have to say I am very happy with it. It is seen just like a flash drive (very important to me), has an FM tuner, displays text files and pictures and has voice record that really seems to kick butt. The only 2 things I would change would be to add shuffle for the .mp3's and the ability to play the radio through the built-in speaker... the mp3's play just swimmingly through it, but for some reason, the radio won't... not a deal breaker by any means anyhow. If you are in the market for a player that won't set you back a whole lot and won't tie you to itunes, this is a well made player for a pretty great price.



.8" Color TFT Screen
Display Resolution
208 x 176
Digital Audio Formats Supported (Playback)
MP3, WMA
Digital Video Formats Supported (Playback)
AMV
Photo Formats Supported
JPEG, GIF, BMP
Memory Type
Flash Memory
Memory Installed
4GB (up to 1,000 Songs, or 12,000 Images, or 12 Hours of Video)
Frequency Response
20Hz - 20KHz
Signal-To-Noise Ratio
85 db
Built-In FM Tuner
FM Stereo Radio
Audio Amplifier (EQ)
Integrated Audio Amplifier
DSP (EQ) Modes
Normal, Classic, Rock, Pop, Jazz
Voice Recorder
Voice Recording up to 1500 Hours
Audio Input
Built-in Microphone
Ports and Connectors
(1) USB Connector Port; (1) Headphone Port
Interface Type
USB 1.1/2.0 Interface
Included Software
Drivers & Utilities
Included Accessories
Headphones, Protective Skin, Wall Charger
Included Cables
USB cable
Battery
Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery
Battery Life
Up to 12 Hours of Audio Playback; Up to 3 Hours of Video Playback
Dimensions
55mm x 70mm x 7mm
Weight
2.1 oz.

I just ran across this really disturbing article on Hack-a-Day.com (great site) about listening to the rf interference generated by keyboards as far away as 20 meters, even through walls.

Tin-foil hat time....

Compromising Electromagnetic Emanations of Keyboards Experiment 1/2 from Martin Vuagnoux on Vimeo.

Compromising Electromagnetic Emanations of Keyboards Experiment 2/2 from Martin Vuagnoux on Vimeo.

Star Trek in HD on CBS.com!!

Only a few episodes so far, but lets hope more will follow.

Here is the link.... http://www.cbs.com/hd/?show=star_trek_remastered

Linux Games and resources

This is just a quick list of games/game sites avaliable for linux.

• http://whdb.com/2008/top-25-linux-games-for-2008/ A list of the 25 top linux games for 2008.
• http://www.linux-gamers.net/ linuX-gamers.net is one of the biggest linux-gaming communities with an integrated multi-gaming-clan. On this page you will find latest Linux gaming related news, a big moderated forum, a huge HOWTO collection and other information about the community and the clan.
• http://www.happypenguin.org/ An online database of many games around.
• Straight from Linux Reality site.... Quake 2, Quake 3, OpenArena, Unreal Tournament, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, FreeCiv, LinCity, LinCity-NG, Micropolis, OpenTTD, Frozen-Bubble, Enigma, Fillets-NG, Pingus, Neverball, Neverputt, Supertux, Abe’s Amazing Adventure, Secret Maryo Chronicles, Trip on the Funnyboat, TuxKart, SuperTuxKart, Armagetron, GLTron, Tuxracer, PlanetPenguin Racer, Extreme Tux Racer, Battle for Wesnoth.

Ubuntu Linux related stuff..

• The main Ubuntu page.
• http://www.ubuntugeek.com/ Has lots of tutorials, tips and articles.
• While not strictly ubuntu relates, I find the following useful... http://www.linuxhq.com/ http://www.linuxguruz.com/ http://www.linuxforums.org/ http://www.linuxquestions.org/ http://www.linuxclues.com/ http://www.howtoforge.com/

Ubuntu Cheat Sheet - Upload a Document to Scribd

Apress Beginning Ubuntu Linux 3rd Edition Jun 2008 - Upload a Document to Scribd

How to Make a Double Dovetail Puzzle

I once saw this puzzle and linke it so much I had to make one for myself.... Here are the directions. How to Make a Double Dovetail Puzzle

Lockpicking Resources

Many people that are interested in puzzles are also interested in lock-picking. Although no expert, I am no execption. The following is a small collection of links I've found around the web that might be of interest.

Scott

• http://www.wikihow.com/Pick-a-Lock Has nice graphics and a video showing how it is done.
• http://www.lockpicking101.com/ Has FAQS, VIdeo and lots of links.
• Hacking BMW locks
• Here is how to make shims out of soda cans.

Lock Picking (THIS IS INSANE!!) - Click here for more amazing videos

If all movies had cell phones...

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Obfuscated TCP

Obfuscated TCP is a transport layer protocol that adds opportunistic encryption. It's designed to hamper and detect large-scale wiretapping and corruption of TCP traffic on the Internet.

World's dumbest criminal...

This Dallas News Story is funny as hell, some dope tried to cash a check for 360 BILLION dollars! Gotta love the education system in America....

Sarah Palin Disney Trailer

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Africa is big!!

I ran across this picture some time ago somewhere online and it just blew my mind.

Alternative operating systems.

"10 amazingly alternative operating systems and what they could mean for the future"

http://royal.pingdom.com/2008/09/26/10-amazingly-alternative-operating-systems-and-what-they-could-mean-for-the-future/


I just ran across this article and it gives a good summary for those of you who don't follow osnews.com I've used most of these and wish the article had made the list 20 or so long.
Scott

Michael Palin for President!

Python Resources and Video

These are just posted for a friend who wanted an intro. http://www.python.org/ is the official website for python and has everything you need to download as well as forums to get help on.

• http://pytut.infogami.com/ Has a nice python wiki
• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-Programmer
• http://www.sthurlow.com/python/ Broken down into lessons.
• http://rholbert.colug.net/pdf/easytut_s4.pdf A nice booklet style tutorial.

Bypass IPhone 3G passcode video

Just something I found on Hackaday.com... a nice one hour webcast for a iphone book where, among other things the passcode of an iphone 3g is bypasssed.

Collective names for groups of animals (list)

Groups of animals
ANIMAL GROUP (Collective Names)

Antelope: A herd of antelope
Ant: A colony or An army of ants
Ape: A shrewdness of apes
Baboons: A troop of baboons
Bacteria: A culture of bacteria
Badger: A cete of badgers
Bass: A shoal of bass
Bear: A sleuth or sloth of bears
Beaver: A colony of beavers
Bee: A swarm, grist or hive of bees
Bird: A flock, flight, congregation or volery of birds
Boar: A sounder of boars
Buffalo: A herd of buffalo
Buck: A brace or clash of bucks
Caterpillar: An army of caterpillars
Cat: A clowder or clutter of cats
Cattle: A herd or drove of cattle
Chicken: A brood or peep of chickens
Chicks: A clutch or chattering of chicks
Clam: A bed of clams
Cobra: A quiver of cobras
Cockroach: An intrusion of cockroaches
Colt: A rag of colts
Cow: A kine of cows (twelve cows are A flink)
Coyote: A band of coyote
Crane: A sedge or siege of cranes
Crocodile: A float of crocodiles
Crow: A murder of crows
Cub: A litter of cubs
Curlew: A herd of curlews
Cur: A cowardice of curs
Deer: A herd of deer
Dog: A pack of dogs
Donkey: A herd or pace of asses
Dove: A dule of doves
Duck: A brace, paddling or team of ducks
Elephant: A herd of elephants
Seal: A pod of elephant seals
Elk: A gang of elks
Emus: A mob of emus
Ferret: A business or flensing of ferrets
Finches: A charm of finches
Fish: A school, shoal, run, haul, catch of fish
Fly: A swarm or business of flies
Fox: A skulk or leash of foxes
Frog: An army or colony of frogs
Geese: A flock, gaggle or skein (in flight) of geese
Giraffe: A tower of giraffes/giraffe
Gnat: A cloud or horde of gnats
Goat: A herd, tribe or trip goats
Goldfince: A charm of goldfinches
Gorilla: A band of gorillas
Goldfish: A troubling of goldfish/goldfishes
Greyhound: A leash of greyhounds
Hare: A down or husk of hares
Hawk: A cast or kettle of hawks
Hen: A brood of hens
Heron: A hedge of herons
Hippopotamus: A bloat of hippopotamuses /hippopotami
Hog: A drift, or parcel of hogs
Horse: A team, pair or harras of horses
Hound: A pack, mute or cry of hounds
Jellyfish: A smack of jellyfish
Kangaroo: A troop or mob of kangaroos
Kitten: A kindle or litter of kittens
Lark: An ascension or exaultation of larks
Leopard: A leap (leep) of leopards
Lion: A pride of lions
Locust: A plague of locusts
Magpie: A tiding of magpies
Mallard: A sord of mallards
Mare: A stud of mares
Marten: A richness of martens
Mole: A labour of moles
Monkey: A troop of monkeys
Moose: A herd of moose
Mouse: A mischief of mice
Mule: A barren or span of mules
Owls: A parliament of owls
Otter: A romp of otters
Oxen: A yoke, drove, team or herd of oxen
Oyster: A bed of oysters
Parrot: A company of parrots
Partridge: A covey of partridges
Peacock: A muster, pride or ostentation of peacocks
Peep: A litter of peeps
Penguin: A colony,parcel or huddle of penguins
Pheasant: A nest, nide (nye) or bouquet of pheasants
Pigeon: A flock or flight of pigeons
Pig: A litter of pigs
Plover: A wing or congregation of plovers
Pony: A string of ponies
Porpoise: A pod of porpoises
Quail: A covey or bevy of quail
Rabbit: A nest of rabbits
Rat: A pack or swarm of rats
Rattlesnake: A rhumba of rattlesnakes
Raven: An unkindness of ravens
Rhino: A crash or herd of rhinos
Roebuck: A bevy of roebucks
Rook: A building or clamour of rooks
Seal: A herd or pod of seals
Sheep: A drove or flock of sheep
Snake: A nest of snakes
Snipe: A walk or wisp of snipe
Sparrow: A host of sparrows
Squirrel: A dray or scurry of squirrels
Starling: A murmuration of starlings
Stork: A mustering of storks
Swallow: A flight of swallows
Swan: A bevy, herd, lamentation or wedge of swans
Swift: A flock of swifts
Swine: A sounder or drift of swine
Teal: A spring of teal
Tiger: A swift or ambush of tigers
Toad: A knot of toads
Trout: A hover of trout
Turkey: A rafter of turkeys
Turtledove: A pitying or dule of turtledoves
Turtle: A bale of turtles
Walrus: A pod of walrus
Whale: A school, gam or pod of whales
Viper: A nest of vipers
Wolf: A pack or route of wolves
Woodcock: A fall of woodcocks
Woodpecker: A descent of woodpeckers
Zebra: A herd,zeal or dazzle of zebras

Tutorial: Low-Latency Audio w/Real Time Kernal

Worlds Deepest Hole!

The Mir diamond mine in Siberia (closed in 2004) is so big helicopters can get "sucked into" it when flying over it! 525m deep and 1.25km in diameter is nothing to sneeze at.

History of Communications & the Cell Phone --Links

I know the links go off topic, but I ran into so much neat stuff that I just had to put it up.

• The Wikipedia article on the history of cell phones (short)
• PC World History of cell phones in pictures.
• User uploaded pictures at http://www.ebaumsworld.com/
• Antique-Cell-Phones-Pictures at http://www.freakingnews.com/
• http://www.tech-faq.com/history-of-cell-phones.shtml is available in multiple languages.
• About.com article about Martin Cooper, the inventor of the cell phone.
• http://www.fas.org/irp/nsa/safford.pdf Not really on topic, but a declassified report on the history of communications intelligence in the US.
• A timeline of the history of communications (35,000 BC - 1998 AD)
• Another timeline with good general tech info.
• Yet another timeline.
• History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network.
• This timeline (pdf) puts it into perspective with other inventions; who knew that the cell phone was invented around the same time as post-its.
• A really nice large jpeg (3000 pixels across!!) timeline of analog cell phone history.

Comment with more links!!!

UFO's in Ancient Art

I've always been interested in the UFO phenomenon, but I only found out a few years ago that there is a decent sized body of artwork that has been illustrating it for some time now.

"Ancient UFO Art" By WillEase - For more funny videos, click here

Links:

• http://sprezzatura.it/Arte/Arte_UFO_eng.htm Many, many pictures and text (italian)
• http://www.bibleufo.com/index.htm The Bible - UFO Connections has many of these pictures along with many theories about the Bible and UFO's.
• http://www.ufoartwork.com/ Has a really nice slideshow with blowups of portions of some of the pictures.
• http://www.crystalinks.com/ufohistory.html more pictures

French Military History in a Nutshell

This an old google joke about those poor french....
Try typing "french military victories" into google and hit "I'm feeling lucky"


Gallic Wars: Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.

Hundred Years War: Mostly lost, saved at last by a female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare - "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchmen."

Italian Wars: Lost. France becomes the first and only country ever to lose two wars when fighting Italians.

Wars of Religion: France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots.

Thirty Years' War: France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.

War of Devolution: Tied; Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.

The Dutch War: Tied.

War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War: Lost, but claimed as a tie. Deluded Frogophiles the world over label the period as the height of French Military Power.

War of the Spanish Succession: Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved ever since.

American Revolution: In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare: "France only wins when America does most of the fighting".

French Revolution: Won, primarily due to the fact that the opponent was also French.

The Napoleonic Wars: Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.

The Franco-Prussian War: Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.

WWI: Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it's like not only to sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.

WWII: Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.

War in Indochina: Lost. French forces plead sickness, take to bed with Dien Bien Flu.

Algerian Rebellion: Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a Western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare -"We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Eskimos.

War on Terrorism: France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe.

Man I want one of these cars!!!

The people over at a company called Aptera have developed a "motorcycle" that gets killer mileage and will go from New Youk to Los Angeles on 1 tank of gas. Pricing is going to be about $27,000 all electric version and the plug-in hybrid $30,000. No Solid word on when it goes into production, so don't hold your breath.

Large Hadron Collider - Search For The Higgs Boson

A really nice overview of the new LHC getting ready to come online.. Gotta love YouTube!

1/3



2/3



3/3

Sony Playstation Linux and Emulators

I am getting a playstation 3 soon, not for games, but just for the cell procesor on it.. Can't wait to play with linux on it. Anyway, I found a bunch of videos of emulators including Super Nintendo, Genesis, TG-16, nes, Xmame - people are running XP on their ps3 linux box!! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what distro to run? I've seen Yellow Dog, Ubuntu and Fedora but don't know enough about that aspect of the linux scene to pick the best distro...



PS3 Running Windows XP






Super NES (SNES)







Xmame

Crazy Rainbow Lady does science

I don't know what to make of this lady, she thinks that the rainbow caused by her lawn sprinkler is in fact connected to HAARP!? Worth the two minute run time....

Hack that IPhone

straight from gizmodo.com

First, password protect your phone and lock it. Then slide to unlock and do this:
1. Tap emergency call.
2. Double tap the home button.

Done. You are now in your favorites. This seems like a feature, because you may want to have emergency number in your favorites for quick dial. The security problem here is double. The first: anyone picking up your phone can make a call to anyone in your favorites. On top of that, this also opens access to your full Address Book, the dial keypad, and your voice mail.
If that wasn't bad enough, the second one is even worse: if you tap on the blue arrows next to the names, it will give you full access to the private information in a favorite entry. And it goes downhill from there:
• If you click in a mail address, it will give you full access to the Mail application. All your mail will be exposed.• If there's a URL in your contact (or in a mail message) you can click on it and have full access to Safari.• If you click on send text message in a contact, it will give you full access to all your SMS.

Hopefully, this major security break that fully exposes your most private information will be solved as soon as possible. Until then, you can avoid any potential breach doing the following:
1. In the iPhone home, go to Settings.
2. Click on General.
3. Click on Home Button.
4. Click on either "Home" or "iPod".

This way, the double-click on the home button will take the user back to the unlock screen (if you use "Home") or the iPod screen. I recommend using Home. You will lose the ability to quickly access your favorites for a quick call—which is one of my favorite features—but that's better than having all your private mails, contacts, and SMS database compromised. UPDATE: Evidently Apple has a fix coming in their next firmware update, but we've got no word on when that release is planned

GP2X WIZ is almost here--- portable Linux Gaming

This is the awesome linux based handheld that will make Nintendo DS and PSP owners cry, imagine tons of free games as well as Nintendo 8 bit, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NeoGeo, TurboGrafx/16, Atari Lynx, Atari 2600, Atari 400/800/5200, Sega Genesis / MegaDrive and MAME emulation , toss in movie and mp3 playback and you have one awesome device.

Here are the specs from the Wikipedia article...


Chipset: MagicEyes Pollux System-on-a-Chip
CPU: 533MHz ARM9 3D Accelerator
NAND Flash ROM: 1 GB
RAM: SDRAM 64 MB
Operating System: GNU/Linux-based OS
Storage: SD Card
Connection to PC: USB 2.0 High Speed
USB Host: USB 2.0
Power: Internal 2000mAh Lithium Polymer Battery
Display: 320×240 2.8 inch OLED Touch Screen
Microphone Input
Physical size: 121 mm wide, 61 mm high, 18 mm deep
Weight: 98 g (without battery), 136 g (with battery)

W54RTGL Router fun

Holy crap! this guy( http://www.jbprojects.net/projects/wifirobot/ ) took a linksys router and turned it into a WiFi robot! Check it out!!

Just a quickie.. over at archive.org they have some great Tenacious D (Jack Black) stuff to watch.. And I might as well throw in the MTV music awards Lord of The Rings Spoof.... Makes me laugh every time.

Video: I will Derive

I didn't find this one, Commander Taco over at Slashdot did but it is so funny (in a math-ey kinda way) I had to put it here.

Geek Flowchart From NY Times.... Very funny...

Flash Gordon OTR 1935 available for download .mp3

In addition to downloading the .mp3 edisodes of Flash Gordon, I've also posted a few other links to fans. The following site has 26 episodes available for download in .mp3 format for your listening pleasure. http://hollowaypages.com/OTR.htm Quailty is pretty good on most of them and they are quite small files. (quick downloads) You can also get complete scripts for four episodes of flash http://www.genericradio.com/library.php (scroll down). Here is a list of various appearences of flash in print, radio, tv and movies http://www.keefestudios.com/flashfile/story.html. A nice history of flash gordon can be found at http://www.sflare.com/archives/flash-gordon-a-history/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Gordon I might as well post a link to the 1980 movie script for those diehard Flash Gordon fans http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/f/flash-gordon-script-transcript.html

191 mpg car video

Jim Plilippi gets 191mpg in his plug-in hybrid car... Short Video
Check out http://www.hybridplugs.com/ for more information on plug in hybrids .

UFO video from Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC recently did a story on UFO's and they posted a bunch of video at the following link... Judge for yourself.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24695796/?pg=1#DTL_10UFO

Video: History of the Internet from Scott MacLeod

• http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/ A really nice timeline

Great Google TechTalk on Nereus: Massively Parallel Computation in Java

Really interesting 30 minute lecture.

Short Video on the Tunguska Blast in 1908

For those who don't know what the Tunguska Blast was, check out Wikipedia for a very through introduction to this mysterious event.

Lenord Nimoy Star Trek Memories

Just a quick note, I was looking for some resources for surface mounted soldering and ran across this great video tutor Here Here is a PDF from Make... http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/01/soldering_tutor.html
Here is also a video from google that has a nice soldering tutor

Flash based StarCraft Fangame

I was just looking around for more info on StarCraft 2 and found this neat fangame based on starcraft, downloadable too... Sure to waste a little of your bosses time.
http://uploads.ungrounded.net/350000/350461_scfa5_final.swf

Movie: Monster From a Prehistoric Planet

Classic bad monster movie....

Starcraft II Developer Walkthrough

Man this game looks good... You can check out the new units at http://starcraft2fans.com/

Solving a Rubiks Cube

There are so many tutorials out there for solving the cube, I'll just list several and let you pick the best one for you.

• http://jeays.net/rubiks.htm Detailed solution for solving the cube
• http://lar5.com/cube/ Solving for speed
• http://peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html Easy to follow graphical solution
• http://www.wrongway.org/cube/solve.html An online solver
• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_solve_the_Rubik Another good tutor
• http://webplaza.pt.lu/public/geohelm/myweb/cubeold.htm Has online cube, solutions and pictures of his collection.
• http://www.geocities.com/jaapsch/puzzles/ Jaap's Puzzle page.. Great page for all kinds of puzzles
• http://www.alchemistmatt.com/cube/rubik.html another good solution
• http://forpetsandkidsake.com/mcart/index.cgi?code=3&cat=6 Get 6 photos on a custom cube!
• http://www.rubikssolver.com/ Another nice graphical solution.
  
  

Another Tutorial 1/2

Another Turorial 2/2

Kevin Smith on The Flying Car

Funny: Thumbtanic

Not Quite as good as Thumb Wars, but still very funny.

Old Time Radio (OTR) Science Fiction: Dimension X

Stories in time and space ... told in future tense!

Thanks to the Old Time Radio Researchers at yahoo groups, we now have the complete series available for download. The following descriptions are from the CD documentation.

Dimension X was first heard on NBC April 8, 1950, and ran until September 29, 1951.
Strange that so little good science fiction came out of radio; they seem ideally compatible, both relying heavily on imagination. Some fine isolated science fiction stories were developed on the great anthology shows, Suspense and Escape. But until the premiere of Dimension X - a full two decades after network radio was established - there were no major science fiction series of broad appeal to adults. This show dramatized the work of such young writers as Ray Bradbury, Robert (Psycho) Bloch, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Kurt Vonnegut. In-house script writer was Ernest Kinoy, who adapted the master works and contributed occasional storied of his own.
Dimension X was a very effective demonstration of what could be done with science fiction on the air. It came so late that nobody cared, but some of the stories stand as classics of the medium. Bradbury's "Mars Is Heaven" is as gripping today as when first heard. His "Martian Chronicles" was one of the series' most impressive offerings.
Dimension X played heavily on an "adventures in time and space, told in future tense" theme. Actors who worked regularly on the show included Joe Di Santis, Wendell Holmes, Santos Ortega, Joseph Julian, Jan Miner, Roger De Koven, John Gibson, Ralph Bell, John Larkin, Les Damon, and Mason Adams. It was directed by Fred Weihe and Edward King. The deep-voiced narrator was Norman Rose.
The series played heavily on the "X" factor in the title, as did X-Minus One a few years later. The signature was boomed out of and echo chamber as "DIMENSION X X X X X x x x x x . . . "


Download Links:

• MP3 CD 1 686.2 MB
• MP3 CD 2 654,4 MB
• Single Episodes from archive.org
• http://www.otr.net/?p=dimx 32 episodes for RealMedia

Episode guide

Series: "DIMENSION X"
NBC SUSTAINING FIRST SERIOUS SCIENCE FICTION RADIO SERIES
NARRATOR: Norman Rose
DIRECTORS: Fred Wiehe and Edward King
WRITERS: Ernest Kinoy (Adaptor and in-house Writer), Ray Bradbury,
Robert Bloch, Robert Heinlein, Issac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut

1. THE OUTER LIMIT (1950-04-08) (PREMIER PROGRAM)
Story of an
experimental rocket plane which
disappears for ten hours when it only
had fuel for ten minutes. The pilot
tells an incredible story of an alien
contact. Graham Doar wrote the
original and Ernest Kinoy adapted it
to radio. Stars Joseph Julian, Wendell
Holmes and Joe DeSantis. 30 min.

2. WITH FOLDED HANDS (1950-04-15) The story is about the robots made to
serve man, but which were inefficient
and bungling until a new brand appears
on the market, and then.. John Dossell
of the NBC staff wrote the script and
it stars Alexander Scourby. 30 min.

3. REPORT ON THE BARNHOUSE (1950-04-22) A professor's assistant makes this
EFFECT report of his association with the the
man who developed the ability to alter
physical objects and events by the
power of his mind alone. Script by
Claris Ross and the show starred Bill
Quin, Ed Jerome and Karl Webber. 30 min.

4. NO CONTACT (1950-04-29) Tale by George Lefferts involves a
frustrating barrier of some kind which
the Earth ships have crashed against
... or that's what Earth thinks!
Starring Luis van Rooten, Donald Buka
and Cameron Prud Homme. 30 min.

5. KNOCK (1950-05-06) The last man on Earth sat in a room.
there was a knock on the door."
Ernest Kinoy adapted, stars are Arnold
Moss, Luis Van Rooten and Joan
Alexander. 30 min.

6. ALMOST HUMAN (1950-05-13) This story is about an android who is
taken over by a criminal for "proper"
training. The hood has the tables
turned on him by the creature which is
"Almost Human". Script is by George
Lefferts and featured in the cast are
Santos Ortega and Jack Grimes among
others. 30 min.

7. THE LOST RACE (1950-05-20) A great race is discovered to have
spread at one time across the
universe, hundreds of thousands of
years ago, but as Earth men explore
the galaxies they find only rubble
until a disabled ship lands near some
perfectly preserved ruins and solves
the mystery. Adapted by Ernest Kinoy
and featuring Matt Crowley, Roger De
Koven and Joseph Julian. 30 min.

8. TO THE FUTURE (1950-05-27) (Ray Bradbury's, "The Fox In The
Forest") A couple touring Mexico are
approached by a strange man who is
convinced they have escaped back into
the past from a totalitarian state of
the future. Adapted by Ernest Kinoy
and stars John Larkin and Jan Minor. 30 min.

9. THE EMBASSY (1950-06-03) A man goes to a private investigator
with a plea for help to find a group
of Martians that he says are on Earth.
Adapted by George Lefferts and starred
Joseph Julian and Barry Kroger. 30 min.

10. THE GREEN HILLS OF EARTH (1950-06-10) Account of blind singer of the space
ways that wants to return to Earth.
Tom Glazer put the words to tunes and
was backed by a trio in this
production. 30 min.

11. THERE WILL COME SOFT (1950-06-17) The first tale is a story of an
RAINS/ZERO HOUR automated house after a war. The
second tale is about children playing
a strange game all over the country, a
game they call "Invasion". Script by
George Lefferts. Cast included Denise
Alexander, Rita Lynne and Roger De
Koven. (Today was the beginning of
the Korean War!) 30 min.

12. DESTINATION MOON (1950-06-24) Under threat of governmental ban a
team of rocket men rush to get off to
the moon. The cast included Joe de
Santis and Wendell Holmes. (War
Bulletin From Korea About 3/4 Through) 30 min.

13. A LOGIC NAMED JOE (1950-07-01) Tale of computers that tend to most of
the needs of man. Suddenly they
overcome their electronic censors and
start attending to all of their needs.
Script by Claris Ross, NBC staff
writer. (War Bulletin at Start) 30 min.

14. MARS IS HEAVEN (1950-07-07) An expedition to Mars from Earth
discovers that the houses look like
Earth houses in the 1920's. Ernest
Kinoy adapted and featured in the cast
were Peter Kapell and Wendell Holmes. 30 min.

15. THE MAN IN THE MOON (1950-07-14) Story begins with a broadcast by the
Federal Missing Persons Bureau which
is interrupted by a sos. Triangulating
to locate the offender, they discover
that the message came from the Moon.
As of yet, no one has been to the
Moon. Script by George Lefferts and
featured in the cast were Luis Van
Rooten and Santos Ortega. 30 min.

16. BEYOND INFINITY (1950-07-21) A scientist in Europe has invented a
machine that will shrink objects to
the size of atoms and beyond. Original
script by Villiers Gersen and featured
in the cast were Les Damon, Lada
Staviski, E. A. Krumschmidt and Joe De
Santos. 30 min.

17. POTTERS OF FIRSK (1950-07-28) Story about natives of a remote world
who are mysterious about the beautiful
pottery they make, and for a good
reason. Script by Ernest Kinoy and
Karl Weber, Wendell Holmes and Raymond
Edward Johnson were in the cast. 30 min.

18. PERIGI'S WONDERFUL (1950-08-04) Tale about a government official whose
DOLLS daughter finds a doll maker in
Washington capable of producing dolls
that talk. Original script by George
Lefferts. The cast included Les
Tremaine, Joan Alexander and Joe De
Santis. 30 min.

19. THE CASTAWAYS (1950-08-11) Story begins with a test of a new bomb
on a Pacific Isle. The military is
having trouble with the natives who
will not leave because their ancestors
were "Castaways" from the "Bird
Canoe". Original script by Ernest
Kinoy and in the cast were Santos
Ortega, Greg Morton & many more. 30 min.

20.THE MARTIAN CHRONICALS (1950-08-18) Stories about the colonization of Mars.
This adaptation of Ray Bradbury's book
of related tales so titled is
skillfully brought to radio by Ernest
Kinoy and starred Inga Adams, Roger De
Koven and Donald Buka. 30 min.

21. THE PARADE (1950-08-25) Story involves the Martians hiring an
ad agency to stage a parade which will
herald their arrival. Original script
by George Lefferts and the cast
members were Joe Curten, Barry Kroger
and Alexander Scourby. 30 min.

22. THE ROADS MUST ROLL (1950-09-01) Drama about future when cars and
trucks are replaced by giant rolling
roads and the engineers who maintain
them. Script by Ernest Kinoy. In the
cast were Wendell Holmes, Ralph Bell
and many more. 30 min.

23. THE OUTER LIMIT (1950-09-08) Story of an experimental rocket plane
which disappears for ten hours when it
only had fuel for ten minutes. The
pilot tells an incredible story of an
alien contact. Graham Doar wrote the
original and Ernest Kinoy adapted it
to radio. Stars Joseph Julian, Wendell
Holmes and Joe DeSahtis.
Rebroadcast of 04/08/1950 program. 30min.

24. HELLO TOMORROW (1950-09-15) The tale takes place in the fourth
millennium, long after the atomic wars
have ravaged the surface back in the
second millennium. In the subterranean
society, the atomic mutants are
outcasts and the genetically pure
human strains mate scientifically.
Original story by George Lefferts. The
show starred Nancy Olson. (War
Bulletin at Start) 30 min.

25. DR. GRIMSHAW'S (1950-09-22)The narrator describes what follows as
SANATORIUM an account found in a fountain pen
cover. Then a detective tells the
story of how he discovered a phony
burial of an inmate of the titled
Sanitorium and got admitted as a
patient to find out the true story.
Script by George Lefferts and in the
cast were Karl Weber and Roger De
Koven. 30 min.

26. AND THE MOON BE STILL (1950-09-29) An expedition to Mars finds all the
AS BRIGHT Martians dead from chickenpox, brought
to Mars by earlier expeditions by the
Earth men. The Earth men enjoy
themselves in callous disregard of the
beautiful artifacts left behind,
except for one man who acts
differently. Script by Ernest Kinoy
and in the cast were Alexander Scourby
and Wendell Holmes. 30 min.

27. NO CONTACT (1950-10-28) Tale by George Lefferts involves a
frustrating barrier of some kind which
the Earth ships have crashed against
... or that's what Earth thinks!
Starring Luis van Rooten, Donald Buka
and Cameron Prud Homme. Rebroadcast
of 04/29/1950 program. 30 min.

28. THE PROFESSOR WAS A (1950-11-05) The story begins when a newspaper gets
THIEF a call saying Grant's Tomb has
disappeared, but came back. It happens
again and a reporter and salty
city-desk-man like in the old movies
goes for the story. Script by George
Lefferts and in the cast were Arthur
Maitland, John Larkin, and John Gibson
as the professor. 30min.

29. SHANGHIED (1950-11-12) Tale about a man who is kidnapped on
the evening before he is to be
married. The star ship he is put on is
one of the fleet he owns. Ernest Kinoy
scripted this tale. Stars John
Sylvester and Bill Griffis. 30 min.

30. COMPETITION (1950-11-19) The story about colonists that are
going to various worlds. Then they get
an announcement that they must choose
one world that they all will be put
on. Script by Ernest Kinoy and it
stars Les Tremaine and Elaine Ross. 30 min.

31. UNIVERSE (1950-11-26) Drama about inhabitants of a giant
spaceship that have been traveling so
many generations that they think the
ship is the universe. George Lefferts
scripted the tale and the large cast
included Mason Adams & Peter Kapeell. 30 min.

32. THE GREEN HILLS (1950-12-24) Account of blind singer of the space
OF EARTH ways that wants to return to Earth.
Tom Glazer put the words to tunes and
was backed by a trio in this
production. Although not a Christmas
Program, there is a Christmas message
by President Harry Truman at the
start. rebroadcast of 06/10/50. 30 min.

33. MARS IS HEAVEN (1951-01-07) An expedition to Mars from Earth
discovers that the houses look like
Earth houses in the 1920's. Ernest
Kinoy adapted and featured in the cast
were Peter Kapell and Wendell Holmes.
Rebroadcast of 07/07/1950 program. 30 min.

34. THE MARTIAN DEATH (1951-01-14) A Martian colonist's recollection of
MARCH an incident in his youth when he
accompanied the spider-like Martians
on their last trek from the
Earth-imposed reservations, back to
their mountain homes. Original story
by Ernest Kinoy. 30 min.

35. THE LAST OBJECTIVE (1951-06-03) The story about an underground
war-ship. Script by Ernest Kinoy and
in the cast were Lawson Zerbe, Ralph
Bell, Wendell Holmes and Jack Grimes. 30 min.

36. NIGHTMARE (1951-06-10) Tale of a computer operator's
discovery of an alarmingly increasing
rate of accidents. Original story by
George Lefferts with John Gibson and
Rita Lynne in the broadcast. 30 min.

37. A PEBBLE IN THE SKY (1951-06-17) Future when Earth is a backward
radioactive planet peopled by
inferiors while it's former colonies
rule the universe unaware of their
origins. Script by Ernest Kinoy. The
cast includes Santos Ortega & Susan
Douglas. 30 min.

38. CHILD'S PLAY (1951-06-24) Humorous tale of a man who
accidentally receives delivery of a
toy from the future, a " build-a-man
kit." George Lefferts adapted the
story and Leon Janney, Karl Weber and
Patsy Cambell were cast members. 30 min.

39. TIME AND TIME AGAIN (1951-07-12) Story takes place in the near future.
A soldier fighting on American soil is
wounded and transported back to 1945
where he is a thirteen year-old again
with his memory of the future intact.
Script adapted by Ernest Kinoy and the
cast included David Anderson and
Joseph Cotten. 30 min.

40. DWELLERS IN SILENCE (1951-07-19) Tale of Earth men returning to Earth
from colonies on Mars after nuclear
war wasted Earth. They come upon an
old scientist that has a young family.
George Lefferts did the script and
the cast members included Peter
Kapell, Bill Griffis and Gertrude
Warner. 30 min.

41. COURTESY (1951-07-26) Story about Earth explorers on the
planet Landro. They need a plague
serum they don't have and must get it
from the natives. 30 min.

42. UNIVERSE (1951-08-02) Drama about inhabitants of a giant
spaceship that have been traveling so
many generations that they think the
ship is the universe. George Lefferts
scripted the tale and the large cast
included Mason Adams & Peter Kapeell.
Rebroadcast of 11/26/1950 program. 30 min.

43. THE VELDT (1951-08-09) Futuristic house has a nursery and the
walls can be changed by the children
to any locale or give the illusion of
it. Script by Ernest Kinoy and the
cast included Leslie Wood, Bill Quinn,
Joan Alexander and Byat Alexander. 30 min.

44. THE VITAL FACTOR (1951-08-16) A ruthless tycoon desires space travel
at all costs. Lastly he finds a
scientist that has an anti-gravity
device. Cast members include Raymond
Edward Johnson, Luis Van Rooten and
John McGovern. 30 min.

45. UNTITLED STORY (1951-08-23) A politician who purchased an elixir
of life hires a detective to
investigate the seller. George
Lefferts did the script and it
included George Petrie, Ann Sargeant
and Bernard Lenrawl in the cast. 30 min.

46. MARIONETTES, INC. (1951-08-30) Husbands that want the night out have
androids that can replace them when
they are away. Scripted by George
Lefferts. The cast included Kermit
Murdock, Martin Rudy and Ross Martin. 30 min.

47. FIRST CONTACT (1951-09-08) Two ships meet in a remote galaxy
which is the home of neither. Both
want to follow each other home to see
where the other lives, but don't want
the other to know where they live.
Script by Howard Rodman. 30 min.

48. KALEIDOSCOPE (1951-09-15) Story of two men floating in space and
the woman on Earth awaiting the return
of one of them. George Lefferts
adapted the script. The cast included
Joan Alexander, Joe DeSantis and Leon
Janney. 30 min.

49. REQUIEM (1951-09-22) Tale of a millionaire that wants to
die on the Moon. Script by Ernest
Kinoy. The cast included Bill Quinn,
Rod Hendrickson and Own Jordan. 30 min.

50. NIGHTFALL (1951-09-29)
Story of a world where night only
takes place once in 2500 years due to
multiple suns. Night is approaching
and scientists are worried about what
takes place as records of the last
night don't exist. Script by Ernest
Kinoy. The cast included Cameron Prud
Homme and John McGovern. Last show
of the series. 30 min.

Brief History Of Computer Chess

History of Computer Chess Video

Playing chess by computer began in the early 1950s, nearly as soon as computers became available. As a human activity, chess is believed to require thinking, yet in 1997 a massively-parallel supercomputer, drawing on over four decades of continual advances in both hardware and software, defeated the best human player in the world.Does playing chess require thinking? Or is human thinking perhaps a form of calculation, parts of which a computer can mimic? What is the tradeoff between knowledge and search? Was Claude Shannon's 1950 prediction that studying computer chess might lead to applications in other areas fulfilled? This panel, comprising seminal contributors to the solution of this challenge including two of AI's leading pioneerswill discuss these and other questions as well as the origin and development of computer chess and what it tells us about ourselves and the machines we build."

Computer Chess History Timeline by Bill Wall Link reproduced here 'cause geocities is flaky.

• In 1945 Alan Turing (1912-1954) used chess-playing as an example of what a computer could do. Turing himself was a weak chess player.
• In 1946 Alan Turing made his first reference to machine intelligence in connection with chess-playing.
• In 1947, Alan Turing specified the first chess program for chess.
• In 1948 the UNIVAC computer was advertised as the strongest computer in the world. So strong, that it could play chess and gin rummy so perfectly that no human opponent could beat it.
• In 1948 Turing challenged Donald Michie to see who could first write a simple chess-playing algorithm.
• In March, 1949 Claude Shannon (1916-2001) described how to program a computer and a Ferranti digital machine was programmed to solve mates in two moves. He proposed basic strategies for restricting the number of possibilities to be considered in a game of chess. Shannon was an avid chess player. He first proposed his idea of programming a computer for chess at the National Institute for Radio Engineers (IRE) Convention in New York.
• In 1950, Alan Turing wrote the first computer chess program. The same year he proposed the Turing Test that in time, a computer could be programmed (such as playing chess) to acquire abilities rivalling human intelligence. If a human did not see the other human or computer during an imitation game such as chess, he/she would not know the difference between the human and the computer.
• In 1950 Shannon devised a chess playing program that appeared in the paper "Programming a computer for playing chess" published in Philosophical Magazine, Series 7, Vol. 41 (No. 314, March 1950). This was the first article on computer chess.
  In November 1951, Dr. Dietrich Prinz wrote the original chess playing program for the Manchester Ferranti computer. The program could solve simple mates in two moves.
• In 1952 Alick Glennie, who wrote the first computer compiler, defeated Alan Turing's chess program, TurboChamp. He was the first person to beat a computer program at chess. Turing never finished his chess-playing program.
• In 1953 Turing included an example of his chess program in action in chapter 25 (Digital Computers Applied to Games) of the book Faster than Thought by B. Bowden.
• By 1956 experiments on a Univac MANIAC I computer (11,000 operations a second) at Los Alamos, using a 6x6 chessboard, was playing chess. This was the first documented account of a running chess program. It used a chess set without bishops. It took 12 minutes to search 4 moves deep. Adding the two bishops would have taken 3 hours to search 4 moves deep. MANIAC I had a memory of 600 words, storage of 80K, 11KHz speed, and had 2,400 vacuum tubes. The team that programmed MANIAC was led by Stan Ulam.
• In 1957 a chess program was written by Alex Bernstein at MIT for an IBM 704. It could do 42,000 instructions per second and had a memory of 70 K. This was the first full-fledged game of chess by a computer. It did a 4-ply search in 8 minutes.
• In 1957 Herbert Simon said that within 10 years, a digital computer would be the world's chess champion.
• In 1958 the alpha-beta pruning algorithm for chess was discovered by three scientists at Carnegie-Mellon (Allen Newell, John Shaw, and Herbert Simon). Here is how it works. A computer evaluates a move and starts working on its second move. As soon a a single line shows that it will return a lower value than the first move, it can terminate the search. You could now chop off large parts of the search tree without affecting the final results.
  In 1958, a chess program (NSS) beat a human player for the first time. The human player was a secretary who was taught how to play chess one hour before her game with the computer. The computer program was played on an IBM 704. The computer displayed a level of chess-playing expertise greater than an adult human could gain from one hour of chess instruction.
• In 1959 some of the first chess computer programmers predicted that a chess computer would be world chess champion before 1970.
• In 1962 the first MIT chess program was written. It was the first chess program that played regular chess credibly. It was written by Alan Kotok for his B.S. thesis project, assisted by John McCarthy of Stanford. The program ran on an IBM 7090, looking at 1100 positions per second.
• In 1963 world chess champion Botvinnik predicted that a Russian chess playing program would eventually defeat the World Champion.
• In 1965 the Soviets designed a chess program developed at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP) in Moscow. ITEP's programming team was led by Georgi Adelson-Velskiy.
• On November 22, 1966 a USSR chess program began a correspondence match with the Kotok-McCarthy MIT chess program. The match lasted 9 months and was won by the Soviet computer, with 3 wins and 1 loss.
• The first chess computer to play in a tournament was MAC HACK VI (DEC PDP-6) written at MIT in assembly language (MIDAS) by Richard Greenblatt. The computer entered the 1966 Massachussets Amateur championship, scoring 1 draw and 4 losses for a USCF rating of 1243.
• In the spring of 1967, MacHACK VI became the first program to beat a human (1510 USCF rating), at the Massachussets State Championship. By the end of the year, it had played in four chess tournaments. It won 3 games, lost 12, and drew 3. In 1967 MacHACK VI was made an honorary member of the US Chess Federation. The MAC HACK program was the first widely distributed chess program, running on many of the PDP machines. It was also the first to have an opening chess book programmed with it.
• In 1968 International Master David Levy made a $3,000 bet that no chess computer would beat him in 10 years. He won his bet. The original bet was with John McCarthy, a distinguished researcher in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford. The bet was made at the 1968 Machine Intelligence Workshop in Edinburgh University.
• In 1970 the first all-computer championship was held in New York and won by CHESS 3.0 (CDC 6400), a program written by Slate, Atkin and Gorlen at Northwestern University. Six programs had entered the first Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) North American Computer Championships. The event was organized by Monty Newborn. The other programs were DALY CP, J Brit, COKO III, SCHACH, and the Marsland CP.
• In 1971 the Institute of Control Science, Moscow, created KAISSA using a British computer to play chess.
• In 1971 Ken Thompson wrote his first chess-playing program.
• In 1971 CHESS 3.5 wins the 2nd ACM computer championship, held in Chicago.
• In 1972 CHESS 3.6 wins the 3rd ACM computer championship, held in Boston.
• In 1973 CHESS 4.0 wins the 4th ACM computer championship, held in Atlanta.
• In 1974 World Correspondence Champion Hans Berliner wrote his PhD dissertation on "Chess Computers as Problem Solving."
• In 1974 KAISSA (ICL 4/70) won the first world computer chess championship, held in Stockholm with a perfect 4-0 score. It was programmed by Donskoy and Arlazarov. 2nd place went to CHESS 4.0
• In 1974 RIBBIT wins the 5th ACM computer championship, held in San Diego.
• In 1975 Grandmaster David Bronstein used the endgame database in KAISSA to win an adjourned game in a tournament in Vilnius.
• In 1975 CHESS 4.4 wins the 6th ACM computer championship, held in Minneapolis.
• In 1976 CHESS 4.5 won the Class B section of the Paul Masson tournament in Northern California. The performance rating was 1950.
• In 1976 a computer program was used to make the chess pairings at the chess olympiad in Haifa.
• In 1976 CHESS 4.5 wins the 7th ACM computer championship, held in Houston.
• By 1976 all legal moves of castling were established by a chess computer.
• In 1977 the first microcomputer chess playing machine, CHESS CHALLENGER, was created. The International Computer Chess Association (ICCA) was founded by computer chess programmers. It has about 400 members.
• In 1977 CHESS 4.5 won the Minnesota Open winning 5 games and losing one. It had a performance rating of 2271. Stenberg (1969) became the first Class A player to lose to a computer.
• In 1977 SNEAKY PETE was the first chess computer to play in a U.S. Open, held in Columbus, Ohio.
• In 1977 Michael Stean became the first grandmaster to lose to a computer; it was a blitz game.
• In 1977, BELLE was the first computer system to use custom design chips to increase its playing strength. It increased its search speed from 200 positions per second to 160,000 positions per second (8 ply). Over 1,700 integrated ciruits were used to construct BELLE. The chess computer was built by Ken Thompson. The program was later used to solve endgame problems. The cost of BELLE was $20,000.
• In 1977 CHESS 4.6 wins the 8th ACM computer championship, held in Seattle.
• In 1977 CHESS 4.6 won the 2nd world computer championship, held in Toronto.
• In 1977 the International Computer Chess Association was founded.
• In 1977 David Levy played his first computer, KAISSA, as part of his bet. He won.
• In 1978 SARGON won the first tournament for microcomputers, held in San Jose. David Levy collected his 10 year bet by defeating CHESS 4.7 in Toronto with the score of 3 wins and one draw. The drawn game was the first time a computer drew an international master. Computer chess experts predicted that a computer would be world chess champion in 10 years.
• In 1978 BELLE wins the 9th ACM computer champonship, held in Washington, DC.
  In 1978 David Levy defeated MacHack in 2 games.
• In 1979 CHESS 4.9 wins the 10th ACM computer championship, held in Detroit.
• In 1980 CHAMPION SENSORY CHALLENGER won the first world microcomputer championship, held in London.
• In 1980, Edward Fredkin created the Fredkin Prize for Computer Chess. The award came with $100,000 for the first program to beat a reigning world chess champion.
• In 1980 BELLE wins the 11th ACM computer championship, held in Nashville.
• In 1980 BELLE won the 3rd world computer championship, held in Linz.
• In 1981 CRAY BLITZ won the Mississipi State Championship with a perfect 5-0 score and a performance rating of 2258. In round 4 it defeated Joe Sentef (2262) to become the first computer to beat a master in tournament play and the first computer to gain a master rating (2258).
• In 1981 BELLE wins the 12th ACM computer championship, held in Los Angeles.
• In 1982 BELLE was confiscated by the State Department as it was heading to the Soviet Union to participate in a computer chess tournament. The State Department claimed it was a violation of a technology transfer law to ship a high technology computer to a foreign country. BELLE later played in the U.S. Open speed championship and took 2nd place.
• By 1982 computer chess companies were topping $100 million in sales.
• In 1982 BELLE wins the 13th ACM computer championship, held in Dallas.
• In 1983, the first chess microcomputer beat a master in tournament play. BELLE became the first chess computer to attain a master's rating when, in October, 1983, its USCF rating was 2203.
• In 1983 CRAY BLITZ won the 4th world computer championship, held in New York.
• In 1984 a microcomputer won a tournament for the first time against mainframes, held in Canada.
• In 1984 CRAY BLITZ won the ACM computer championship in San Francisco.
• In 1985 HITECH achieved a performace rating of 2530. It was the first computer to have a rating over 2400.
• In 1985 Kasparov played 15 of the top chess computers in Hamburg, Germany and won every game, with the score of 32-0.
• In 1985 HITECH won the ACM computer championship in Denver.
• In 1986 BELLE won the ACM computer championship in Dallas.
• In 1986 CRAY BLITZ won the 5th world computer championship, held in Cologne.
• In 1987 the U.S. Amateur Championship became the first national championship to be directed by a computer program.
• In 1987 CHIPTEST-M won the ACM computer championship in Dallas.
• In 1988 DEEP THOUGHT and Grandmaster Tony Miles shared first place in the U.S. Open championship. DEEP THOUGHT had a 2745 performance rating.
• In 1988 HITECH won the Pennsylvania State Chess Championship after defeating International Master Ed Formanek (2485). HITECH defeated Grandmaster Arnold Denker in a match. HITECH became the first chess computer to rated Grandmaster strength.
• In 1988 Grandmaster Bent Larsen became the first GM to lose to a computer in a major tournament - the American Open.
• In 1988 DEEP THOUGHT won the ACM championship in Orlando.
• In November 1988, DEEP THOUGHT had a rating of 2550.
• In 1989 DEEP THOUGHT won the 6th world computer championship in Edmonton, with a 5-0 score. DEEP THOUGHT defeated Grandmaster Robert Byrne in a match game. DEEP THOUGHT can analyze 2 million positions a second. In March 1989, Garry Kasparov defeated Deep Thought in a match by winning 2 games. Deep Thought easily beat International Master David Levy in a match with 4 wins. Deep Thought Developers claimed a computer would be world chess champion in three years.
• In 1989 the first Computer Chess Olympiad was held in London.
• In 1989 IBM started working on 'Big Blue' and later Deep Blue.
• In 1989 HITECH won the ACM championship in Reno.
• In 1990 World Champion Anatoly Karpov lost to MEPHISTO in a simultaneous exhibition in Munich. MEPHISTO also beat grandmasters Robert Huebner and David Bronstein. MEPHISTO won the German blitz championship and earned an International Master norm by scoring 7-4 in the Dortmund Open.
• In 1992 Kasparov played Fritz 2 in a 5 minute game match in Cologne, Germany. Kasparov won the match with 6 wins, 1 draw, and 4 losses. This was the first time a program defeated a world champion at speed chess.
• In March, 1993 GM Judit Polgar lost to Deep Thought in a 30 minute game.
• In 1994 WCHESS became the first computer to outperform grandmasters at the Harvard Cup in Boston.
• In 1994 Kasparov lost to Fritz 3 in Munich in a blitz tournament. The program also defeated Anand, Short, Gelfand, and Kramnik. Grandmaster Robert Huebner refused to play it and lost on forfeit, the first time a GM has forfeited to a computer. Kasparov played a second match with Fritz 3, and won with 4 wins, 2 draws, and no losses.
• At the 1994 Intel Speed Chess Grand Priz in London, Kasparov lost to Chess Genius 2.95 in a 25 minute game. This eliminated Kasparov from the tournament.
• The 13th World Micro Computer Chess Championship (WMCCC) was held in Paderborn, Germany in October, 1995. It was won by MChess Pro 5.0 (by Marty Hirsch) after a playoff with Chess Genius (by Richard Lang).
• The 8th World Computer Chess Championships were held in May, 1995 in Hong Kong. The event was won by Fritz, after it won a playoff game against StarSocrates.
• In November 1995, Kasparov beat Fritz 4 in London with a win and a draw. He then played Genius 3.0 in Cologne and won the match with one win and one draw.
  The 6th Harvard Cup Human Versus Computer chess challenge was held in New York in December, 1995. The Grandmasters won with a score of 23.5 to the computers 12.5 score. The computers scored 35%, a slight decrease in performance from 1994. Joel Benjamin and Michael Rohde had the best human scores with 4.5 out of 6. The best machine was Virtual Chess (I-Motion Interactive) with 3.5 out of 6.
• In February 1996, Garry Kasparov beat IBM's DEEP BLUE chess computer 4-2 in Philadelphia. Deep Blue won the first game, becoming the first computer ever to beat a world chess champion at tournament level under serious tournament conditions. Deep Blue was calculating 50 billion positions every 3 minutes. Kasparov was calculating 10 positions every 3 minutes. DEEP BLUE had 200 processors.
• The 11th AEGON Computer Chess Tournament (Mankind vs Machine) was held on April 10-17, 1996 in The Hague, Netherlands. There were 50 masters, International Masters, and Grandmasters and 50 computers (most playing on HP Pentium-166 machines with 16MB of RAM). Yasser Seirawan won the event with 6 straight wins and no losses. The best computer was QUEST, with 4.5/6 and a 2652 performance rating. The machines won with 162.5 points versus the humans with 137.5 points.
• The 14th World Microcomputer chess championship was held in Jakarta in October, 1996. It was won by SHREDDER, followed by FERRET.
• On May 11 1997, DEEP BLUE defeated Garry Kasparov in a 6 game match held in New York. This was the first time a computer defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. DEEP BLUE had 30 IBM RS-6000 SP processors coupled to 480 chess chips. It could evaluate 200 million moves per second.
• In November, 1997 Junior won the 15th World Micro Computer Championship. The event was held in Paris.
• In 1997, the Allen Newell Medal for Research Excellence went to several people involved in computer chess. Ken Thompson and Joe Condon won for their pioneering work on Belle, the first master in 1983. Richard Greenblatt won for having developed MacHack VI in 1967, the first Class C chess computer. Lawrence Atkin and David Slate won for developing CHESS 4.7, the first Class B and first Expert chess computer from 1970 to 1978. Murray Campbell, Carl Ebeling, and Gordon Goetsch won for developing Hitech, the first Senior Master computer in 1988. Hans Berliner won for all his work in computer chess. Feng Hsu won for developing Deep Thought, the first chess computer that performed at a Grandmaster level in 1988. Thomas Anantharaman, Michael Browne, Murray Campbell, and Andreas Nowatzyk won for their work on Deep Thought in 1997. Murray Campbell, A. Joseph Hoane, Jr, and Feng Hsu won for their work on Deep Blue which defeated Garry Kasaparov in 1997.
• In 1997 the $100,000 Fredkin Award went to the inventors of Deep Blue - Feng Hsu, Murray Campbell, and Joseph Hoane, of IBM. Their program defeat Kasparov.
• The 9th World Computer Championship was held in Paderborn, Germany from June 14, 1999 to June 19, 1999. The winner was Shredder. This was also the 16th World Microcomputer Chess Championship, won by Shredder.
• In 1999 the highest rated chess computer is Hiarcs 7.0, followed by Fritz 5.32, Fritz 5.0, Junior 5.0, Nimzo 98, Hiarcs 6.0, Rebel 9.0, MChess Pro 7.1, Rebel 8.0, and MChess Pro 6.0 (based on SSDF ratings as of Jan 28, 1999).
• In August 2000, Deep Junior took part in the Super-Grandmaster tournament in Dortmund. It scored 50 percent and a performance rating of 2703.
  In 2000 the 17th World Microcomputer Chess Championship was held in London. It was won by Shredder.
• In August, 2001, Deep Junior won the World Micro Computer Championship. The event was held in the Netherlands.
• From May 13 to May 18, 2002, a match between Grandmaster Mikhail Gurevich and Junior 7 was held in Greece. Junior won with 3 wins and 1 draw.
• On July 6-11, 2002, the 10th World Computer Championship was held in Maastricht, Netherlands. The winner was Deep Junior after a playoff with Shredder.
• In October, 2002, Kramnik drew a match with Deep Fritz in Bahrain with a 4-4 score. Kramnik won games 2 and 3. Deep Fritz won games 5 and 6. The rest of the games (1, 7, and 8) were drawn.
• From January 26 to February 7, 2003, Kasparov played Deep Junior 7 in New York. The match ended in a draw. Kasparov won game 1. Deep Junior won game 3. The rest of the games (games 2, 4, 5, and 6) were drawn. This was the first time that a man/machine competition was sanctioned by FIDE, the World Chess Federation. Deep Junior took 10 years to program by Tel Aviv programmers Amir Ban and Shay Bushinksy. It can evaluate 3 million moves a second, and positions 15 moves deep.
• On November 11-18, 2003, Kasparov played X3dFritz in New York. The match was tied 2-2. Fritz won the 2nd game. Kasparov won the 3rd game. Games 1 and 4 were drawn. It was the first official world chess championship in total virtual reality, played in 3-D.
  The 11th World Computer Chess Championship was held in Graz from November 22 to November 30, 2003. It was won by Shredder after a play-off with Deep Fritz. 3rd place went to Brutus, which evolved into Hydra.
• In 2003 the top chess computers were Shredder 7.04 (2810), Shredder 7.0 (2770), Fritz 8.0 (2762), Deep Fritz 7.0 (2761), Fritz 7.0 (2742), Shredder 6.0 (2724), and Chess Tiger 15.0 (2720).
• The 12th World Computer Chess Championship was held at Bar-llan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel from July 4 to July 12, 2004. It was won by Deep Junior (programmed by Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky). Shredder took 2nd place, followed by Diep. Shredder won the 12th World Computer Speed Chess Championship. Crafty took 2nd place.
• In 2004, Hydra defeated GM Evgeny Vladimirov with 3 wins and 1 draw. It then defeated former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov (rated 2710) in a 2-game match, winning both games.
• In June, 2005, Hydra beat Michael Adams, the 7th ranked chess player in the world. Hydra won 5 games and drew one game.
• The 13th World Computer Chess Championship was held at Reykjavik University in Iceland from August 13 to August 21, 2005. It was won by Zappa (programmed by Athony Cozzie). 2nd place went to Fruit. Shredder won the speed championship, followed by Zappa.
• In 2005, a team of computers (Hydra, Deep Junior, and Fritz) beat Vesilin Topalov, Ruslan Ponomariov, and Sergey Karjakin (average rating 2681) in a match by the score of 8.5 to 3.5.
• The 14th World Computer Chess Championship was be held in Turin, Italy from May 24 through June 1, 2006. It was won by Junior, rated at 2800, with a score of 9 out of 11. 2nd place went to Shredder (2810), followed by Rajlich (2820).
• In December, 2006, world champion Vladimir Kramnik was defeated by Deep Fritz, which won with a 4-2 score (2 wins and 4 draws).
• The 15th World Computer Chess Championship was held in June, 2007, in Amsterdam and sponsored by the International Computer Games Association (ICGA). The winner was the USA program Rybka ("little fish"), programmed by Internatonal Master Vasik Rajlich, with a score of 10 out of 11 (defeating Shredder in the last round). 2nd place went to the USA program Zappa, programmed by Anthony Cozziem with 9 points. 3rd place went to Loop, with 7.5 points. Defending champion Junior, nor Fritz, did not participate. The German program Shredder won the blitz world championship.
• In June, 2007, the "Ultimate Computer Challenge" was held in Elista. Deep Junior defeated Depp Fritz with the score of 4-2 (2 wins, 4 draws).
• In August, 2007, Grandmaster Joel Benjamin played a match with Rybka in which Rybka played without one of its pawns (pawn odds). Rybka won the match 4.5 - 3.5 (2 wins, 1 loss, 5 draws for Rybka).
• In December, 2007, Hiarcs won over tiebreaks against Rybka, with a score of 5.5 out of 7 at the 17th International Paderborn Computer Chess Championship.
• In January, 2008, Rybka defeated GM Joel Benjamin with a 6-2 score. Joel had White in every game. Also, every draw was scored as a win for Benjamin.
• In March, 2008, Rybka and Dzindzichashvili drew 4-4 in their match. Rybka won 2, lost 2, with 4 draws. Dzindzichashvili had White every game and Rybka played without one of its pawns in every game.
• The 16th World Computer Chess Championship will be held in Beijing, China in September, 2008.

Other Resources:

The Computer History Museum has a nice Exhibit.

Yes, another Wikipedia article.

A short bur nice history over at Chessbase.com

http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o/divulge/chimp.html has a nice history with descriptions of basic algorithms used by chess programs.

http://www.lokasoft.nl/jchess/chessgame.htm Nice java applet to play chess and you can even put it on your own site.

http://www.java-chess.de/ gpl java based chess game to practice on.