Category Archives: Computer history
The 3 Eras of IT: Computing, Communications, Communities
A number of this week’s milestones in the history of technology trace the shift in the focus of the “computer industry” from computing to communications to communities and the shifting fortunes of key players such as IBM, Apple, and Google. … Continue reading
Posted in Community, Computer history, IT history
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The Undaunted Ambition of American Entrepreneurs and Inventors and the Incredible Hype They Generate
A number of this week’s [February 12, 2018] milestones in the history of technology link the rise of IBM, the introduction of the ENIAC, and the renewed fascination with so-called artificial intelligence. On February 14, 1924, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, IBM
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How Steve Jobs and Thomas Watson Sr. Sold AI to the Public
A number of this week’s milestones in the history of technology showcase two prominent computer industry showmen, Steve Jobs and Thomas Watson Sr., their respective companies, Apple and IBM, and how they sold smart machines to the general public. On … Continue reading
Posted in Apple, Computer history, IBM
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The Knowledge Navigator
Two of this week’s milestones in the history of technology—the development of the first transistor at Bell Labs and the development of the Alto PC at Xerox PARC—connect to this year’s 30th anniversary of the Knowledge Navigator, a concept video … Continue reading
Posted in Apple, Computer history
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Computer Networking: The Technology Trend Driving the Success of Apple, Microsoft and Google
This week’s milestones in the history of technology reveal the most important—and quite neglected—technology trend contributing to the success of Apple, Google, and Microsoft, ultimately making them today’s three most valuable US companies. Apple and Microsoft are considered the premier—and … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, Computer Networks
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The Turing Test and the Turing Machine
This week’s milestones in the history of technology include Microsoft unleashing MS-DOS and Windows, the first Turing Test and the introduction of the Turing Machine, and IBM launching a breakthrough in computer storage technology. Read the article on Forbes.com
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Peter Drucker on Managing Moron Computers and the Information Utility (1967)
The IBM 360 Model 75 computer at the Rutherford Laboratory, 1967 Peter F. Drucker, “The Manager and the Moron,” McKinsey Quarterly, December 1967 One of the most potentially earthshaking forces in our economy is the technology of information. I don’t … Continue reading
The Web Goes Public, First Email From Space, Grace Murray Hopper and COBOL
August 1, 1967 The US Navy recalls Grace Murray Hopper to active duty. From 1967 to 1977, Hopper served as the director of the Navy Programming Languages Group in the Navy’s Office of Information Systems Planning and was promoted to … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, email, IBM, Programming, World Wide Web
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The Eighth Wonder of the World
July 27, 1866 The Atlantic Cable is successfully completed. The first working cable, completed in 1858, failed within a few weeks. Before it did, however, it prompted the biggest parade New York had ever seen and accolades that described the … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, Social Impact, Television, Wireless
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The Story of Information 