Results for: tech time warp
Tech Time Warp: The First Case of Ransomware
The WannaCry ransomware attack once again brings the need for backup and security solutions into focus, but ransomware is nothing new. The first case of ransomware, chock-full of “truth is stranger than fiction” details, occurred in 1989. The PC Cyborg...
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...
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...
Pioneers in Tech: Dennis Ritchie left us many tech riches, including the C language and UNIX
The October 2011 passing of Dennis Ritchie—creator of the C programming language and co-creator of the UNIX operating system—was largely overshadowed by Steve Jobs’ death the week prior. Yet Ritchie’s quiet genius laid the foundation for much of modern computing....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Pioneers in Tech: Margaret Hamilton sends man to the moon
The photo is iconic: A young woman stands next to almost 20 bound books, the stack of books nearly as tall as her (though she appears to have a slight heel in the shoes complementing her very 1960s shift dress)....
