Tech Time Warp is a weekly feature that looks back at interesting moments and milestones in tech history.
Tag: Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Star Trek was not the final frontier for many tech ideas
Tech Time Warp: Star Trek was not the final frontier for many tech ideas
As ubiquitous as Star Trek is—spawning so many spin-offs and movies that only a true Trekkie could list them all off the top of their head—it’s a fun bit of trivia that the original series (known as “TOS” to fans)...
Tech Time Warp: The lovable and luggable Compaq Portable
Tech Time Warp: The lovable and luggable Compaq Portable
August 27 marked the 32nd anniversary of the release of the Compaq Presario. This was a family of PCs that included a monitor, a modem, and, for many, their first America Online CD-ROM. Learn more in this edition of Tech...
Tech Time Warp: The history of the Computer History Museum
Tech Time Warp: The history of the Computer History Museum
It might seem a bit meta (not Meta!) for a technology history blog series to cover the history of the Computer History Museum, but the Silicon Valley institution is the mothership, and we certainly rely on its incredible web presence....
Tech Time Warp: Welchia—when the remedy was as bad as the malady
Tech Time Warp: Welchia—when the remedy was as bad as the malady
August 2003 was already challenging for network administrators. They were busy fending off the Blaster worm, whose payload caused computers to reboot every 60 seconds, so initially they may have reacted positively to news of the Welkin worm. Welkin was...
Tech Time Warp: The TRS-80 makes its debut
Tech Time Warp: The TRS-80 makes its debut
It sounds like a joke today: A major retailer, concerned about waning interest in CB radio, decides to offer a new product line. But the retailer isn’t sure this new product line will have any staying power. Would the market...
Tech Time Warp: Slicing into the history of CT scans
Tech Time Warp: Slicing into the history of CT scans
A CT scan is so commonplace no one thinks twice about it anymore—but, as with all things technology, we really should. Take a look at the history behind CT scans in this edition of Tech Time Warp. Forty-two years ago,...
Tech Time Warp: The slide rule becomes obsolete
Tech Time Warp: The slide rule becomes obsolete
“150 Extra Engineers.” This 1952 IBM advertisement for the IBM Electronic Calculator is not dissimilar from today’s marketing for the latest artificial intelligence (AI) innovations: “An IBM Electronic Calculator speeds through thousands of intricate computations so quickly that on many...
Tech Time Warp: A eulogy for the Blue Screen of Death
Tech Time Warp: A eulogy for the Blue Screen of Death
The news that Microsoft will soon retire the infamous “Blue Screen of Death,” aka BSOD, in favor of an all-black “simplified UI for unexpected restarts” has inspired a wave of nostalgia for the screen every Windows user has learned to...
Tech Time Warp: 25 years of exploiting poor Pikachu
Tech Time Warp: 25 years of exploiting poor Pikachu
One of the first pieces of malware designed to target children turns 25 this month. Take a look back in this edition of Tech Time Warp. First detected in June 2000, the Pikachu Pokémon or “Pokey” virus played on a...
Tech Time Warp: The secrets to the Apple II’s success
Tech Time Warp: The secrets to the Apple II’s success
The Apple II, designed by Steve Wozniak in 1977, was a groundbreaking self-contained machine, with screen, keyboard, power supply, and electronics all in a single plastic unit. The first Apple IIs were shipped on June 10, 1977, and cost $1,298....
