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: The Speak & Spell, far more than a toy
Tech Time Warp: The Speak & Spell, far more than a toy
Readers of a certain age will recall the Speak & Spell, a Texas Instruments toy that would impress no child of today, but has earned its rightful place in history as the first consumer product to use digital signal processing...
Tech Time Warp: The Pikachu virus is not your friend
Tech Time Warp: The Pikachu virus is not your friend
It sounds so innocent: An email appears in your inbox, subject line “Pikachu Pokemon.” The message speaks of friendship and invites you to visit Pikachu on his website. And the attachment (warning bells going off yet?) features an animation of...
Tech Time Warp: Stuxnet takes malware to the next level
Tech Time Warp: Stuxnet takes malware to the next level
Today’s action movies and thrillers routinely feature some hacker-type who—armed with a laptop in a chunky military-grade case—can infiltrate the most impenetrable of digital fortresses in a few furious keystrokes. But in the real-life case of Stuxnet, first detected in...
Tech Time Warp: ExploreZip worm cleans out Microsoft Office files
Tech Time Warp: ExploreZip worm cleans out Microsoft Office files
Just a few months after the Melissa virus attacked computers, wreaking an estimated $80 million in damage, the ExploreZip worm began zipping through computers across the globe, destroying any Microsoft Office files in its path. First detected in June 1999,...
Tech Time Warp: A short history of the GIF that keeps on giving
Tech Time Warp: A short history of the GIF that keeps on giving
We may be entering some sort of post-GIF age, given that Gen Z has declared GIF reactions “cheugy” along with skinny jeans, side parts and laugh emojis. But millennial influencers, Gen X Slack-ers (pun intended), and even Baby Boomers have...
Tech Time Warp: Looking back at the evolution of ransomware
Tech Time Warp: Looking back at the evolution of ransomware
The havoc wreaked by the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack—which caused a gas shortage in the southeastern United States and cost the company a reported $850,000 to resolve—highlights the immense risk ransomware poses to companies and national security.
Tech Time Warp: The colorful history of the iMac
Tech Time Warp: The colorful history of the iMac
In April, Apple launched preorders for a new collection of new iMacs, available in seven bright colors with accessories to match. It’s a homage to the first iMac, which Steve Jobs introduced to the world May 6, 1998. The iMac...
Tech Time Warp: The “Model K” lays groundwork for digital computing
Tech Time Warp: The “Model K” lays groundwork for digital computing
If you need inspiration for using your free time wisely, look no further than Bell Labs computer pioneer George Stibitz. One weekend during fall 1937, Stibitz (who was born April 30, 1904) sat at his kitchen table and used a...
Tech Time Warp: Introducing the Concept of a macro virus
Tech Time Warp: Introducing the Concept of a macro virus
As computer users learned from the Melissa virus, malware often arrives as a wolf in sheep’s clothing: a commonplace file such as a Word doc or Excel spreadsheet. But Melissa—the scourge of spring 1999—was not the first such “macro virus”...
Tech Time Warp: Tech begins moving toward accessibility
Tech Time Warp: Tech begins moving toward accessibility
Accessibility is a top priority of developers today, and with good reason. As Tim Berners-Lee, W3C director and inventor of the World Wide Web, has said: “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of...
