On January 9, 2007, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveils the
iPhone—a touchscreen mobile phone with an iPod, camera
and Web-browsing capabilities, among other features—at
the Macworld convention in San Francisco.

When it went on sale in the United States six months later, on
June 29, amidst huge hype, thousands of customers lined up
at Apple stores across the country to be among the first to
purchase an iPhone.

In November 2007, by which point more than 1.4 million
iPhones had been sold—Time magazine named the sleek,
4.8-ounce device, originally available in a 4GB, $499 model
and an 8GB, $599 model, its invention of the year.

On December 28, 1895, the world’s first commercial movie
screening took place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film
was made by Louis and Auguste Lumière, two French
brothers who developed a camera-projector called the
Cinematographe.

On December 28, the entrepreneurial siblings screened a 
series of short scenes from everyday French life and they
charged admission for the first time.

       
        
        
        
       
Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière, the fathers of
cinema.        

The brothers developed a combination movie camera
and projecting, capable of projecting images on a
screen to be seen by audiences.

On December 24, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge (center) pushed 
a button and lit up the first national Christmas tree to grace the
White House grounds.

Coolidge’s “inauguration” of the first outdoor national Christmas
tree initiated a tradition that has been repeated with every
administration.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan began another custom by
authorizing the first official White House ornament, copies of
which were made available for purchase.

Calvin Coolidge 
(July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933)

30th President of the United
States

In office
August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929

On December 21, 1891, 30-year-old James Naismith (above) 
introduced the first game of basketball. Based on 13 rules
created by Naismith, the game was tested by 18 students at
the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training
School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

On December 17, 1892, Arthur Baldwin Turnure first published
a new magazine, dedicated to “the ceremonial side of life”
and targeted at “the sage as well as the debutante, men of
affairs as well as the belle.” 

As a product of the Gilded Age, Vogue has chronicled and
influenced high society, fashion and culture ever since.

Arthur Baldwin Turnure(1856–1906)

Vogue, November 2024.