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: Fond memories of the Famicom
Tech Time Warp: Fond memories of the Famicom
Whether gamers or not, the NES, or Nintendo Entertainment System console, is ubiquitous with childhood for Americans who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. But casual observers may not know that before Nintendo brought the NES to the American...
Tech Time Warp: California adopts groundbreaking ergonomics standard
Tech Time Warp: California adopts groundbreaking ergonomics standard
Texting thumb. Mouse shoulder. Computer hunchback. In today’s always-on world, it’s far too easy to overdo your use of technology. You can effortlessly end up on the path toward a repetitive stress injury (RSI). In this edition of Tech Time...
Tech Time Warp: The curious history of QWERTY
Tech Time Warp: The curious history of QWERTY
From time to time, your inner Mavis Beacon might wonder about the seemingly nonsensical arrangement of your keyboard. What’s the story behind QWERTY? You’ll find out in this edition of Tech Time Warp! On June 23, 1868, Christopher Latham Sholes,...
Tech Time Warp: Far past time to move to AES encryption
Tech Time Warp: Far past time to move to AES encryption
In May 2024, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Partnership for Interoperable Communications (FPIC) released a whitepaper warning government agencies about the dangers of relying on the Data Encryption Standard (DES)—a nearly 50-year-old technology—for cybersecurity. Let’s get...
Tech Time Warp: ExploreZip offers yet another reminder to beware the unexpected attachment
Tech Time Warp: ExploreZip offers yet another reminder to beware the unexpected attachment
The timing of news that pirated versions of Microsoft Office software are spreading “malware cocktails” is interesting. After all, it was also in early June (back in 1999) that the ExploreZip virus destroyed Microsoft Office files the world over. Let’s...
Tech Time Warp: The staying power of COBOL
Tech Time Warp: The staying power of COBOL
In this edition of Tech Time Warp, we see how technology moves quickly. Each new iPhone renders the previous generation obsolete, with the earliest models now firmly in the quaint antique category. That’s why it’s so remarkable that COBOL, a...
Tech Time Warp: A look back at the “Woodstock of the Web”
Tech Time Warp: A look back at the “Woodstock of the Web”
“The feeling of delicious possibility was immense.” This evocative line comes from the founding curator of the Computer History Museum, Marc Weber. It sums up what it must have been like to attend the first web conference 30 years ago...
Tech Time Warp: A nostalgic look at Mattel’s Computer Warriors
Tech Time Warp: A nostalgic look at Mattel’s Computer Warriors
Children of the 1980s are familiar with Transformers and can likely still sing “More than meets the eye…” but how many of us remember Mattel’s Computer Warriors? Produced only in 1989 and 1990, the Computer Warriors were in some ways...
Tech Time Warp: Voyager’s nearly 47 years of technology brilliance
Tech Time Warp: Voyager’s nearly 47 years of technology brilliance
In this edition of Tech Time Warp, we take a look at how, for almost 47 years, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has transmitted the amazing secrets of the universe back to Earth. Along with that, the news that engineers had...
Tech Time Warp: Not a stretch about IBM supercomputer
Tech Time Warp: Not a stretch about IBM supercomputer
It’s ironic that a computer deemed “not good enough” could have reigned as the world’s fastest computer for three years and made a lasting impact on the tech industry. But that’s the story we dive into in this edition of...
