10 Interesting Facts About Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell left a long legacy. The name Bell at one point was synonymous with the telephone. Here a few facts about him that you may not know:

• Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• He was an influential scientist, engineer and inventor.
• His close friends and family called him Aleck.
• He is widely credited with the invention of the first practical telephone.
• Bell’s mother and wife were both deaf, which had a major impact on his work.
• When he was 11 years old, his father gave him the middle name Graham as a birthday present since he didn't have one like his older brothers.
• Bell’s first words spoken on the first functioning telephone to his assistant Watson were somewhere along the lines of “Mr Watson, come here. I want to see you.”
• Bell was one of the co-founders of the National Geographic Society, and was its serving president from 1896 to 1904.
• Bell also had very strong interest in other scientific fields such as, conducting medical research, searching for alternative fuel sources, experimenting with metal detectors, developing hydrofoil watercraft and much more.
• Alexander Graham Bell died on August 2, 1922, at Baddeck, Cape Breton Island and as a tribute to his life the entire phone system was shut down for one minute.

If you know any interesting facts we may have left off, make sure to leave them in the comments!

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5 Awesome Facts About Phone Numbers

1. How Numbers Came to Use

When phones were first invented all you had to do was call the operator and asked to be patched through to a particular person's phone line by name. Dr. Moses Greeley Parker, a friend of Alexander Graham Bell was the first to question this system. The city where he loved had an outbreak of measles and he brought up that if the towns phone operator were to become sick, the replacements would have a hard time running the system. Numbers were the obvious choice as a better solution.

2. The First U.S. Area Codes

Area codes as an idea, first came about in late forties, but were not fully established until 1951 with the intro of New Jersey's 201 area code. Originally, there were 90 codes and they were given based on the population. Cities with the largest population were given codes that were

easier to dial on a rotary (yes, I said rotary) phone. For instance, New York is 212 and Los Angeles 213. More Rural places would get codes like 915.

3. The 411 on Emergency Numbers

Emergency numbers are different from country to country. The standard number for United States and Canada is 911, while in Europe the number is 112. 911 was originally known as nine-eleven but was later changed to nine-one-one as people were getting confused because they could not find the "11" button. In some states in the US it is possible to dial "3473" which spells fire.

4. Fictional Numbers for the Film Industry

There was originally a phone exchange named "Klondike" that was used to generate fake numbers for TV and films in America. The prefix 555 evolved from this system and have been set aside purely for fictional purposes. 01632 is the recommended code in the UK.

5. Last but not least, a Cool Phone Number Magic Trick

This is a cool phone number trick you can use to have your friends scratching their heads thanks to a little math riddle. Use the 7 digits of your phone number. 555-9875. Multiply the first three digits by 80. Add one. Multiply by 250. Add the last four digits of the original phone number. Add the last four digits again. Subtract 250 and divide by two. Mind Blown!

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Agoura Hills - A Brief History

Panorama of Agoura Hills and Westlake Village with Ballard Mountain prominent as the leftmost peak in the image.

Datavo is now located in sunny Agoura Hills, California so we thought we would give you a brief history of our new town!

The area now known as Agoura Hills was inhabited for many hundreds of years by the Chumash tribe of Native Americans. Very few of them lived in the area permanently since it was much easier to get year around food closer to the shore, but during the autumn some would camp out, collect acorns, and hunt different animals such as deer and rabbit.

Explorers from Spain visited California in the 1500's and 1600's for brief periods of time. It wasn't until the end of the 1700's when the Spanish missinaires built the El Camino Real (also known as the King's Highway) connecting all of their missions through out Alta California that the people were here to stay. The road went right through the middle of what is Agoura Hills today. 

In 1800, the Spanish King granted Miguel Ortega a land grant called Rancho Las Virgenes - covering 17,000 acres, which was abandoned after his death in 1810. It was then given to Jose Maria Dominguez as a Mexican land grant in 1834. During this time agriculture played a big role in the history of the city. In 1845 the ranch was purchased by  Maria Antonia Machado de Reyes. (The Reyes Adobe Museum was opened in 2004 and is located in central Agoura Hills and includes the city's oldest building.) 

Agoura Hills is a picturesque area and by the early 1900's it was a popular stop along the Camino Real due to the natural springs at the foot of Ladyface Mountain. As a testament to the areas beauty, by the 1920's the city was briefly known as Picture City due to Paramount Pictures owning a ranch in the area that was used to film numerous Westerns. The name Agoura Hills came about because the residents were required to pick a one-word name, and in 1927 chose the shortest named suggested: a misspelling of Pierre Agoure's last name, who was a Frenchman that settled in the area in 1871. 

During the 1960's Agoura Hills saw a surge in population once the Ventura Freeway section of Highway 101 was built right through the city's heart separating the north and the south sides of the city from each other. The growth continued through the 1970's when schools and the downtown section of the city were erected.

In 1982, Agoura Hills received its cityhood, becoming the 83rd city in Los Angeles County. Throughout the 1990's the city saw more growth and many businesses setting up shop, with downtown filled with shops and restaurants. The 90's also brought the live music scene to the city and many well known bands such as Linkin Park, Incubus, Hoobastank, Dead by Sunrise, and Fort Minor originated from here. 

Today, Agoura Hills is a diverse family community with numerous hiking trails, biking trails, public and private country clubs, tennis, swimming, boating, libraries, nightlife, restaurants, quality medical facilities and neighborhood events.

Interesting Facts of 2012

We love interesting news here at Datavo...so we thought we would review the year of 2012 for you!

Jan 18th - Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) blackout becomes the largest protest in the history of the internet.

Jan 19th -  FBI shuts down Megaupload.com for alleged copyright infringement, hacker group Anonymous responds by attacking government and entertainment industry websites.

Mar 13th - Encyclopedia Britannica announces that it will no longer public printed versions of its encyclopedia.

Mar 19th - Wendy's overtakes Burger King to become the second best selling hamburger chain.

Apr 5th - International internet group Anonymous hack several Chinese bureaus in opposition to censorship.

Apr 10th - Apple Inc claims a value of $600 billion making it the largest company by market capitalization in the world.

May 12th - The discovery of a missing Mayan calender piece disproves 2012 Armageddon.

May 25th - A SpaceX Dragon becomes the first commercial spacecraft to dock at the International Space Station.

Jun 6th - The Solar Impulse completes the world's first intercontinental flight powered by the sun.

Jun 11th - Los Angeles Kings defeat New Jersey Devils 6-1 in game 6 to win the NHL's Stanley Cup.

Jun 15th - Apple I computer sells for a record $374,500.

Jun 21st - Miami Heat win the 2012 NBA finals after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 4 games to one.

Jul 25th - The 2012 Summer Olympics begin in London.

Aug 9th - Usain Bolt becomes the first person to win the 100m and 200m sprint in back to back Olympics.

Aug 12th - The 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony completes the games.

Aug 16th - Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, is granted political asylum by Ecuador.

Aug 24th - Both Apple and Samsung are found guilty of patent infringement in a South Korean court.

Aug 27th - First interplanetary human voice recording is broadcast from the Mars Rover Curiosity.

Sep 9th - Serena Williams wins her fourth women's tennis singles at the US Open.

Sep 12th - Apple unveils its iPhone 5 and iOS 6.

Oct 17th - The exoplanet Alpha Centauri Bb is discovered orbiting Alpha Centauri.

Nov 1st - Google's Gmail becomes the world's most popular email service.

Nov 10th - The final US presidential election results are declared after Barack Obama wins Florida to defeate Mitt Romney 332-206 in Electoral College votes.

Nov 16th - Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 grosses $500 million in 24 hours to become the biggest entertainment launch of all time.

Nov 20th - Toshiba unveils a robot designed to help in nuclear disasters.

Dec 10th - Google begins selling US$99 laptops.

Feel free to leave any tech news we left out in the comments.