Category: Tech Insight
Tech Time Warp: Twenty-five years of Wikipedia rabbit holes
This may surprise you: Wikipedia turned 25 this January. (Be honest—how many Wikipedia rabbit holes have you gone done in the past quarter-century?) From “Hello, World!” to 7 million articles Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales made the first edit (“Hello, World!”)...
Tech Time Warp: Remembering the Brain virus, 40 years later
Revenge is a dish best served … via floppy disk? Forty years ago, two Pakistani brothers proved the floppy disk was a highly effective response to wrongdoing. Reports of the first PC virus, “Brain,” began circulating in January 1986. The...
Tech Time Warp: Happy 40th birthday to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Middle age looks good on this week’s Tech Time Warp, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois. The National Science Foundation opened NCSA on Jan. 15, 1986, in response to an unsolicited proposal from eight Illinois...
Pioneers in Tech: Sandra Bullock, Academy award winner, actress, producer, internet pioneer
Your socials may have been buzzing in the past few days with an exciting bit of resurfaced news. One of America’s most popular actresses—known for her girl-next-door persona and rise to stardom in the 1990s—is also a pioneer in technology....
Tech Time Warp: HP introduces the first scientific handheld calculator
In a world where smartphones are ubiquitous, it’s worth marveling that only 54 years ago, market research indicated there would be little interest in a pocket-sized scientific calculator. However, in a stroke of bad luck for the slide rule, HP...
Tech Time Warp: Wishing the world a “Merry Christmas” via text for 33 years
This week’s Tech Time Warp goes back thirty-three years ago when a 22-year-old software engineer in the UK started what is now a modern holiday tradition: sending Christmas greetings via text. Neil Papworth sent the first SMS text message to...
Tech Time Warp: The transistor quietly slips on to the scene
Today it’s widely accepted one of the greatest — if not the greatest — inventions of the modern world is the transistor, and it’s well known that the defining demonstration of the transition took place Dec. 23, 1947. But this...
Pioneers in Tech: Happy birthday to the mayor of Silicon Valley
This week marks the 98th anniversary of the birth of Robert Noyce, often called the “Mayor of Silicon Valley.” He got the name from not only his tech innovations, but also his tech culture innovations. Interestingly, his career path could...
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...
