Tech Time Warp: The history of the Computer History Museum
It might seem a bit meta (not Meta!) for a technology history blog series to cover the history of the Computer History Museum, but the Silicon Valley institution is the mothership, and we certainly rely on its incredible web presence....
Tech Time Warp: Welchia—when the remedy was as bad as the malady
August 2003 was already challenging for network administrators. They were busy fending off the Blaster worm, whose payload caused computers to reboot every 60 seconds, so initially they may have reacted positively to news of the Welkin worm. Welkin was...
Pioneers in Tech: Sir Clive Sinclair, a man ahead of his time
One major development in the demise of the slide rule was the release of the Sinclair Executive Electronic Pocket Calculator in August 1972. At one-third the size of its competitors, not to mention half the cost, the Sinclair Executive was...
Tech Time Warp: The TRS-80 makes its debut
It sounds like a joke today: A major retailer, concerned about waning interest in CB radio, decides to offer a new product line. But the retailer isn’t sure this new product line will have any staying power. Would the market...
Tech Time Warp: Slicing into the history of CT scans
A CT scan is so commonplace no one thinks twice about it anymore—but, as with all things technology, we really should. Take a look at the history behind CT scans in this edition of Tech Time Warp. Forty-two years ago,...
Pioneers in Tech: The man behind Moore’s Law
July 18 marks the 57th anniversary of Intel’s incorporation—and as with any of the Silicon Valley juggernauts, the backstory of its founders is fascinating. Take Gordon Moore, who—along with Robert Noyce and Andy Grove—incorporated the microprocessor company in 1968 and...
Tech Time Warp: The slide rule becomes obsolete
“150 Extra Engineers.” This 1952 IBM advertisement for the IBM Electronic Calculator is not dissimilar from today’s marketing for the latest artificial intelligence (AI) innovations: “An IBM Electronic Calculator speeds through thousands of intricate computations so quickly that on many...
Tech Time Warp: A eulogy for the Blue Screen of Death
The news that Microsoft will soon retire the infamous “Blue Screen of Death,” aka BSOD, in favor of an all-black “simplified UI for unexpected restarts” has inspired a wave of nostalgia for the screen every Windows user has learned to...
Tech Time Warp: 25 years of exploiting poor Pikachu
One of the first pieces of malware designed to target children turns 25 this month. Take a look back in this edition of Tech Time Warp. First detected in June 2000, the Pikachu Pokémon or “Pokey” virus played on a...
Tech Time Warp: The secrets to the Apple II’s success
The Apple II, designed by Steve Wozniak in 1977, was a groundbreaking self-contained machine, with screen, keyboard, power supply, and electronics all in a single plastic unit. The first Apple IIs were shipped on June 10, 1977, and cost $1,298....
