Tech Time Warp: Remembering the video phone skeptics
Since March 2020, many office workers rarely go a day without hopping on a quick Zoom or Teams call. However, back on May 30, 1996, when Intel announced its new PC-based videophone, few could imagine a day in the future...
Tech Time Warp: Ignoring patches leads to a “Sadmind”
Woe to those who ignore the security patch. Technology history is filled with opportunities to say “I told you so.” A golden example is the story of the “Sadmind/IIS worm” of 2001. Learn more in this edition of Tech Time...
Pioneers in Tech: Happy early birthday to Ivan Sutherland, the “Father of Computer Graphics”
As we celebrate the early birthday of Ivan Sutherland—the “Father of Computer Graphics”—this edition of Pioneers in Tech takes a look at his groundbreaking legacy. Born May 16, 1938, in Hastings, Nebraska, Sutherland invented the Sketchpad for his doctoral thesis...
Tech Time Warp: A Blaster from the past
Although early conclusions suggest a cyber attack was not the cause of the historic April 28 power outages in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France, only time and the inevitable investigations will tell. The blackout does bring to mind another...
Tech Time Warp: Beware of the nefarious floppy disk
Modern computer users are becoming increasingly aware of the potential cybersecurity risks associated with USB drives. (Whatever you do, don’t get curious about a USB drive you find on the ground!) In this edition of Tech Time Warp learn about how similar...
Tech Time Warp: The women who powered Bletchley Park
Historians and the public widely recognize the contributions of the men at Bletchley Park, especially Alan Turing, who cracked the Germans’ Enigma Code. (So, too, is the tragic end to Turing’s life.) But a sizable female workforce made Bletchley Park’s...
Pioneers in Tech: Happy birthday to Ben Hammersley, who coined the term “podcast”
Let’s all send birthday wishes to British journalist-turned-speaker-and-futurist Ben Hammersley, who turned 49 this month and is perhaps most famous for coining the term “podcast” 21 years ago. Learn how the the word came about in this edition of Pioneers...
Tech Time Warp: Funny April Fools’ Day tech pranks you may not know about
Did you survive April Fools’ Day 2025? Or did you sign up for Duolingo’s five-year world cruise? April Fools’ Day is a love-it-or-hate-it tradition in the technology world, with Google leading the charge from 2000 up until the COVID-19 pandemic....
Tech Time Warp: How Hewlett-Packard shook up multiple industries and the modern workplace
Technology innovations typically arise from humble locations, not glassy high-rises. Michael Dell started his company from a dorm room in 1984. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the Apple I in a garage in the mid-1970s. Another name we all...
Tech Time Warp: The 10-day takeover of a botnet
In 2009, researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, outsmarted the cybercriminals behind the notorious Torpig botnet. They uncovered critical knowledge about how this type of malware works. Learn how in this edition of Tech Time Warp. Researchers first...