By:
December 16, 2004
Previous: 1975 / Next: 1977
Intro and links to the other years in the timeline

TECHNOLOGY

  • The Apple I personal computer is introduced by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Also in 1976, Jobs and Wozniak leave their jobs at Atari and Hewlett-Packard to form the Apple computer company.
    (Related: “    Early Apple Business Documents.” Computer History Museum.)
  • Cray Research produces the Cray-1 supercomputer. “The first Cray 1 system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976 for $8.8 million. It boasted a world-record speed of 160 million floating-point operations per second (160 megaflops) and an 8 megabyte (1 million word) main memory.”
    (Source:     Cray History)
  • Although for most people it was just a fad, during the middle and late 1970s the CB (Citizens Band) radio was a popular personal communication device. Short-distance CB radios were considered a cutting-edge technology of their day.
  • Wang Laboratories introduces a CRT-based word processor system. During 1976 Wang also develops 5 1/4″ floppy disks.

THE MEDIA

  • A British teletext standard is developed that is different from earlier BBC and Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) services. (During the 1970s both the Ceefax and Oracle British teletext services are launched. See also: “Ceefax marks 30 years of service.” BBC, Sept. 22, 2004.)
  • News Examples:
    July 4, 1976 —
    Bicentennial,
    Nov. 3, 1976 —
    Presidential Election,
    New York Times.
    (Abstracts available from
    the Infobank database service.)
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