Kate Johanns

All posts by Kate Johanns

Kate Johanns is a communications professional and freelance writer with more than 13 years of experience in publishing and marketing.

Pioneers in tech
Pioneers in Tech: The chance to own the image of a visionary

Pioneers in Tech: The chance to own the image of a visionary

If you have a couple of hundred thousand dollars to spare, you currently have the opportunity to purchase the only known photographs of the world’s first computer programming visionary, Ada Lovelace. Discover her legacy in this edition of Pioneers in...

/ June 13, 2025
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Celebrating milestones in Sims history

Tech Time Warp: Celebrating milestones in Sims history

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of The Sims, an occasion the gaming company Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) marked with a re-release of The Sims, The Sims 2, and their respective collections of expansion packs, along with...

/ June 6, 2025
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Thank you, Steve Wilhite, for the best GIFt ever

Tech Time Warp: Thank you, Steve Wilhite, for the best GIFt ever

Chances are, you shared or received a GIF today, whether on social media or a messaging application. In 1987, developer Steve Wilhite and his team at CompuServe had no idea the impact they would have on modern communication when they...

/ May 30, 2025
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Remembering the video phone skeptics

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...

/ May 23, 2025
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Ignoring patches leads to a “Sadmind”

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...

/ May 16, 2025
Pioneers in Tech
Pioneers in Tech: Happy early birthday to Ivan Sutherland, the “Father of Computer Graphics”

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...

/ May 9, 2025
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: A Blaster from the past

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...

/ May 2, 2025
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Beware of the nefarious floppy disk

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...

/ April 25, 2025
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: The women who powered Bletchley Park

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...

/ April 18, 2025
Pioneers in Tech
Pioneers in Tech: Happy birthday to Ben Hammersley, who coined the term “podcast”

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...

/ April 11, 2025