Tech Time Warp: The Cray X-MP/48 brings style and substance to supercomputers
This week’s Tech Time Warp takes a closer look at “the world’s most expensive loveseat.” It’s quite the moniker for a pioneering supercomputer, but when you look at the legacy of electrical engineer Seymour Cray, it’s apt. The Cray X-MP/48, which started...
Tech Time Warp: Celebrating 30 years of Pixar magic
For many families, going to the movies is as much of a Thanksgiving tradition as parades and pumpkin pie. This week’s Tech Time Warp goes back to Thanksgiving weekend 30 years ago—Pixar’s big break. Toy Story was released in theaters...
Tech Time Warp: A bite-sized story from Apple history — how the Macintosh got its name
The 1984 introduction of the Macintosh computer featured the iconic and still-relevant Super Bowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott. More than 40 years later, this advertising masterpiece holds up, as does the brand it launched. Let’s dive into this week’s...
Pioneers in Tech: Robert Fano, a man of many gifts
Technology pioneer Robert Fano’s contributions to computer science are many—so many, indeed, that it would be best to frame them as his Massachusetts Institute of Technology colleague (and fellow innovator) Fernando Carbato did. Fano, he said, had “at least four...
Tech Time Warp: The early business dealings that set the stage for Microsoft dominance
This week marked the 45th anniversary of a pivotal event in Microsoft history: Nov. 6, 1980, the date the then-fledgling company signed a contract with IBM to develop an operating system for the IBM PC. IBM paid Microsoft $700,000 in...
Tech Time Warp: Three scream-inducing examples of historical malware
Malware is one of the managed service provider’s (MSP’s) worst professional nightmares, so it’s no wonder so many viruses have names that sound like horror movies. In honor of Halloween, let’s take a look at this rogue’s gallery of malware,...
Tech Time Warp: Adding salt to the cybersecurity recipe
Despite 22 years of educational efforts during Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the 2025 list of the most commonly used passwords still includes “123456,” “qwerty” and “password.” That’s why we should all thank Unix co-creator Ken Thompson and contributor Robert Morris for...
Tech Time Warp: The multifaceted road to multifactor authentication
In the recent edition of “Oh Behave!,” the annual cybersecurity survey conducted by the National Cybersecurity Alliance, an alarming 44 percent of respondents said they had experienced cybercrime leading to the loss of data or money. This next statistic may...
Pioneers in Tech: Honoring John Atanasoff, inventor of the digital computer
Born Oct. 4, 1903, John Vincent Atanasoff is not just the inventor of the electronic digital computer—he’s the legally proclaimed inventor of the digital computer. On March 19, 1972, in the case Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, a judge ruled that...
Tech Time Warp: Two decades of Cybersecurity Awareness Month—but there’s still work to do
If you’re reading this blog, you probably observe cybersecurity awareness year-round, not just during the annual observance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month each October. But, as a managed service provider (MSP), you also likely appreciate any opportunity to draw attention to...
