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: Two decades of Cybersecurity Awareness Month—but there’s still work to do
Tech Time Warp: Two decades of Cybersecurity Awareness Month—but there’s still work to do
If you’re reading this blog, you probably observe cybersecurity awareness year-round, not just during the annual observance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month each October. But, as a managed service provider (MSP), you also likely appreciate any opportunity to draw attention to...
Tech Time Warp: Debugging a technology origin story
Tech Time Warp: Debugging a technology origin story
We’ve all been there: Our computer crashes, and we say there are “gremlins inside,” that the machine “geeked out,” or that it must have been “a bug.” And, often, simply rebooting solves the problem. But where the term “computer bug”...
Tech Time Warp: Meet ERMA, the machine that automated check processing
Tech Time Warp: Meet ERMA, the machine that automated check processing
When did you last write a check? In July 2024, Target became the latest retailer to stop accepting checks, citing “extremely low volumes” of customers paying by check. Use of checks — already declining before the COVID-19 pandemic — took...
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...
