Queen sends first e-mail...30 years ago

by Kari Dean McCarthy

You say you sent your first e-mail in 1976? Yeah, and I'm the Queen of England.

OK, actually it was Queen Elizabeth herself who sent her first e-mail 30 years ago, long before I even got my first Quiz Whiz science cartridge, Simon game, or peeked early at my Atari 2600 under the Christmas tree.

So all hail the early-adopter Queen, who, according BBC News, sent her first e-mail from an Army base in 1976.

Another fun birthday fact: When the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the Moon in 1969, they found the Queen's message of congratulations had been microfilmed and deposited in a metal container for reading upon their arrival.

Topics:

Share:: Digg; Del.icio.us; Reddit; Facebook

Recent posts from News Blog: Nvidia puts NForce chipset development on hold; Opera 10 browser is here; Neil Young Archives Blu-ray: Rip off?; Acronis revises survey results about backup habits; Acronis miscalculates data on users' bad backup habits; Flickr co-founder presses beta button; Comcast, Sony open retail store; Cox to try coaxing the Internet into submission

Related: FAQ: Recognizing phishing e-mails; Sneak peek: Xobni e-mail app for BlackBerry; iPhone: The board gamer's paradise; Germ alert: Attack of the killer necktie!; Verizon offers prepaid wireless service for laptop users; Hands-on with DJ Hero; Top 5 most popular products for November; Mozilla issues near-final Thunderbird 3

About News Blog

Recent posts on technology, trends, and more.

Add this feed to your online news reader

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right

The Space Shot
Shuttle Atlantis glides home after station visit
The shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth after an 11-day three-spacewalk mission to deliver 15 tons of equipment and spare parts to the International Space Station.
Gallery
Top-rated reviews of the week (photos)
Crave
Barnes & Noble Nook to hit stores later than expected
B&N says the company will have the e-readers in some stores on December 7, a week later than expected, because the company is prioritizing delivery to customers who preordered.
Beyond Binary
Windows 8 in 2012?
It's not clear what Microsoft's desktop plans are, but the Windows Server team included slides at PDC suggesting a new major release coming around 2012.
Video
Google Chrome OS demonstration
Technically Incorrect
Droid does, iPhone doesn't: The porn app store
Company called MiKandi launches what it claims is the world's first adult-only mobile app store. But while the apps work with Android phones, they won't with iPhones.
Video
Google Chrome OS unveiling
Geek Gestalt
A wild ride on NASA's massive flight simulator
The Vertical Motion Simulator trains all comers in capsule landings, helicopter flights, and even bobsled runs. Now it's helping in the design of next-gen lunar landers.
Cutting Edge
CERN particle accelerator sees first collisions
Four days after its restart, the scientific work at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland has headed "into new territory. It's been going quite remarkably fast."
Gallery
Motion simulator readies NASA for moon landing (photos)
Technically Incorrect
A slightly unfortunate Twitter billboard
A Twitter billboard for a TV station in Mobile, Ala., manages to marry an image of its three news anchors with the tweet: "3 accused of gang rape in Monroeville."
Green Tech
Underground data center to help heat Helsinki
Excess heat from hundreds of computer servers to be located in the bedrock beneath one of the city's popular tourist sites will be captured and channeled into a system of water-heated pipes used to warm homes.