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2 Jul, 1979

Mint introduces Anthony dollar coin

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1979The United States Mint produces more than 750 million 1979 Susan B. Anthony dollar coins featuring a portrait of the famous figure from the women’s rights movement in the 19th century. The series has a significantly reduced diameter.

24 Feb, 1994

First issue of Tokyo Classified published

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After months of planning the first issue of Tokyo Classified is published. Mark designs and lays out the magazine while Mary sells the ads. Classified ads are collected from various noticeboards throughout Tokyo and through a Macintosh-based voicemail system linked to a premium-rate telephone line. The four-page sheet is handed out in about 15 locations where foreigners hang out by a “target team”. Mary:

There was just no information in English.

Tokyo Classified - Metropolis 1994

Sep 2000

Japan Today launch

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Japan Today is launched as a rival to Japan’s English language newspapers. Over the next year the site will become the most popular news site about Japan in the world, regularly hovering around the top 5000 sites in the world. Japan Today is the first news site in the world to have reader comments directly under the news articles. Before then the readers had always been forced into the forum area of the site.

4 Jan, 2001

Runescape launch

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Brothers Paul and Andrew Gower release the beta Runescape while in college, and out of their parent’s home in Nottingham. The game is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The game is browser based, or cloud-based, meaning that any computer accessing the game can do so with no downloads required, a feature that makes the game unique. Andrew:

When I went to university, I discovered text-based MUDs, or multi-user dungeons. I loved the fact that these sorts of games had all these players playing at once – even when you were not playing, the world carried on without you. Because of this, I began creating my own text-based MUD, but I quickly realized that with so many of them out there, there was no way that mine would ever get noticed. So I began to search for a way to make mine stand out, and the obvious way, of course, was to add graphics. With my game, I was trying to emulate text MUDs at the time, purely as a hobby. I worked on it on and off over a number of years…and I believe I started from scratch 3 or 4 times. I finally launched a version of the game after a left university in 2001. The basic plan was to run it for free, but to pay for my hobby through advertising. However, when the dot com bubble began to collapse, advertising dried up, and there was no way to pay for the game’s server.

This was really unfortunate because just the week before I had got 3 big servers for the game, and now was left with no way to pay for them. I began asking players for donations, but quickly decided that this was not the best way to go about it – to rely on people’s sympathy. Basically what we did was calculate how many people we’d need to keep going, and came up with 5000. Thankfully, we managed to get like 2000 subscribers in the first hour, and had our 5000 in the first week. Once we had people paying, we were able to reinvest back into the game. The more we invested, the faster it grew.

3 Oct, 2005

Ning

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Andreessen and Bianchini launch Ning, a free online service where users can build social applications. The service is a product of Palo Alto startup 24 Hour Laundry. Developers can use Ning’s tools to build new programs or work off of clones of existing services.

The difference between apps built on Ning and any of these other services is that we make it easy for developers to build whatever app they want for any topic, interest, group, language, location or product, without a lot of effort. As a user, you get to explore and take advantage of this wider variety of social apps.

31 Jan, 2007

Starts Disrupt

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michael-arrington-disruptArrington and Calacanis announce the conference, which is designed to allow startups to demonstrate their product for free.

Jason and I are going to do something a lot different than the pay-to-demo model. The TechCrunch20 conference will be a two day event, held this fall (more details soon), where twenty hot startups will demo their new products—and they don’t pay a dime to do this.

9 Sep, 2008

TNA IMPACT: The Game

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TNA releases TNA IMPACT: The Game for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. This is the first video game release by TNA wrestling.

TNA IMPACT: TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING (PS3) GAMEPLAY

23 Feb, 2009

Imgur launch

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Reddit user MrGrim creates Imgur, an image hosting service. The user describes it as his gift to Reddit:

I got fed up with all the other image hosts out there so I made my own. It doesn’t force you to compress your images, and it has neat things like crop, resize, rotate, and compression from 10-100. It’s my gift to you. Let’s not see anymore imageshack/photobucket around here 😉 I’ll be listening if anyone has some suggestions.

26 Jun, 2009

Amumu release

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The Sad Mummy is released in the June 26, 2009 patch. His abilities include Crushed Touch, Bandage Toss, Despair, Tantrum and Curse of The Sad Mummy. Designer:

To everyone in Valoran / so he wouldn’t be ignored / Amumu sent an invitation / — an Urf Day party right next door.

So glad he’s born / The manatee / Of spatula-slapping fame. / Amumu wrote of the birth of Urf /and asked if they’d all play a game.

At last, the morning of the party / Urf Day was finally here. / Out the window, Amumu looked / but not a single friend appeared.

So young Amumu took tiny steps /and traveled through the land. / But even when Amumu stood /and peeked into their home / He saw they partied without him /And he was still alone…

Cho’Gath release

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The Terror of the Void is released. His ablities include Carnivore, Rupture, Feral Scream, Vorpal Spikes and Feast, where he attempts to eat an enemy whole. Designer:

There is a place between dimensions, between worlds. To some it is known as the Outside, to others it is the Unknown. To most, however, it is called the Void. Cho’gath is a creature born of the Void, a thing whose true nature is so horrific most will not speak its name. Its fellows have been poking at the dimensional walls for a crack, a way into Runeterra, where they can visit their own personal paradise of horror upon the world. A way in they have found, as something dark stirs in Icathia, perverting the summoning ritual – how Cho’gath came to be here. Fortunately, the power of the summoning has chained Cho’gath to the League of Legends, where it uses its Voidborn abilities to help decide the fate of the world. It knows what it would choose, if given half the chance.

7 Aug, 2009

Kassadin release

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kassThe Void Walker is released in patch version 0.9.22.7. His abilities include Void Stone, Null Sphere, Nether Blade, Force Pulse, and Riftwalk, which he can use to teleport a small distance and deal damage. Designer:

Within a decaying cyclopean city, Kassadin found secrets of the kind that he will never share – secrets that made him quake with fear at the visions of things to come that were thrust upon him. The power of the place threatened to consume him forever, but Kassadin took the only route available to him in order to survive – he let the Void inside him. Miraculously, he was able to overcome the alien urges that went with it, and he emerged as something more than human. Though a part of him died that day, he knows that he must protect Valoran from the things scratching at the door, waiting to get in and visit their torments upon the world. They are only one step away… something to which the appearance of the abomination known as Cho’Gath attests.

2 Sep, 2009

Blitzcrank release

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blitzThe Great Steam Golem is released in patch version 0.26.14. His abilities include Mana Barrier, Rocket Grab, Overdrive, Power Fist, and Static Field, which deals a large amount of damage and silences nearby enemies. Designer:

The city of Zaun is a place where both magic and science have gone awry. The unchecked nature of experimentation has taken its toll on the city. However, Zaun’s lenient restrictions allow their researchers and inventors the leeway to push the bounds of science at an accelerated rate, for better or worse. It was under these conditions that a team of doctoral students from Zaun’s College of Techmaturgy made a breakthrough in the field of intelligent steam automation. Their creation, the steam golem Blitzcrank, was developed to exercise judgement on-the-fly in order to assist with Zaun’s hazardous waste reclamation process, since so often the conditions did not allow for human supervision.

19 Sep, 2009

Corki release

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corkiThe Daring Bombardier is released in patch version 0.9.25.21. His abilities include Phosphorus Bomb, Valkyrie, Gatling Gun, and Missile Barrage, which fires a missile at location, dealing damage. Designer:

Corki is the most renowned of the Screaming Yipsnakes for remaining cool under fire and exhibiting bravery to the point of madness. Before the League, he served several tours of duty, often volunteering for missions that would take him behind enemy lines, either gathering intelligence or delivering messages through hot zones. He thrived on danger, and enjoyed nothing more than a good dogfight in the morning.

5 Jan, 2010

Nexus One

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The Nexus One, the first phone in Google’s line of Nexus Android devices, is released at a cost of $529. The device has 512 MB RAM, a 5 megapixel camera, and a 4GB removable SD card. All devices in the Nexus line of products are not tied to any specific carrier:

Through the web store found at www.google.com/phone, consumers can buy the Nexus One without service (meaning any GSM network SIM card can be inserted into the device), or purchase the phone with service from one of Google’s operator partners. As new phones come to market through this channel, consumers will benefit from the ability to match a phone of their choice with the service plan that best meets their needs.

Nexus One: "Web meets phone"

2 Feb, 2010

Gragas release

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gragasThe Rabble Rouser is released in patch version 1.0.0.72. Designer:

The Rabble Rouser leaves a path of drunken destruction in his wake, both in the Fields of Justice and off.

Pantheon release

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pantheonThe Artisan of War is released in patch version 1.0.0.72 along with the Myrmidon Pantheon skin. Designer:

Since Singed joined the League of Legends, there has been a decided dearth of champions with extremely large shields. Luckily, Pantheon is coming to help prevent this extremely important demographic from becoming marginalized.

16 Mar, 2010

Ezreal release

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ezrealThe Prodigal Explorer is released in patch version 1.0.0.79. Designer:

As you may have noticed, we’ve been releasing some champions that really challenge existing gameplay paradigms. And this next one is no exception. In addition to a haircut that defies the very laws of physics, the latest and greatest from our design team is sporting some pretty edgy magical abilities. Meet Ezreal the Prodigal Explorer, a champion who breaks new ground – in both gameplay and fashion – here at the League of Legends. If you’re feeling rather passionate about skill-shots these days, start getting excited, because this particular gentleman should really scratch that itch.