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Digital Debut

June 15, 2013

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Profile America -- Saturday, June 15th. This date 62 years ago was a Friday, and the first full, official day on the number-crunching job for UNIVAC I, after a dedication ceremony the day before. Delivered to the Census Bureau in late march, UNIVAC I was the first commercial electronic computer, and launched today's digital revolution by processing data from the 1950 Census of population. Now, over three-quarters of America's approximately 120 million households have computers, and 44 percent have Internet access either at home or outside such as at schools or libraries. You can find current data on the country's economy by downloading the new "America's Economy" mobile application at <www.census.gov/mobile>.

Sources: www.census.gov/history/www/innovations/technology/univac_i.html
U.S. Census Bureau, Computer and Internet Use, Table 1A, 1C
http://www.census.gov/hhes/computer/publications/2010.html