"We have approximately 3 million bytes of memory just used to store an image..."

August 30, 2009 8:47 PM

The Computer Chronicles.
posted by Mr. Anthropomorphism (12 comments total)

I remember growing up with this show back in the early-to-mid-90s, when PCs were still expensive, big, and relatively niche items. A great show, but I understand why they cancelled it. (I mean, getting information about computers from your television? That's why Al Gore invented the Internet, duh.)
posted by armage at 9:17 PM on August 30

That's why Al Gore Bill Atkinson invented the Internet HyperCard.
posted by mazola at 9:21 PM on August 30 [3 favorites]

Related. (multiple videos)
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:25 PM on August 30

I'm surprised it lasted until '02. I remember seeing older episodes about the Amiga when it came out...
posted by mrbill at 9:40 PM on August 30

Tangentially related Wall*e case mod.
posted by stavrogin at 9:56 PM on August 30

Oh, the old RISC-CISC war. That was always a hot topic for debate in BBSes in the late 80s/early 90s.
posted by Rhomboid at 11:49 PM on August 30

Hey, I digitized a few of those episodes. Great stuff.
posted by NoMich at 5:27 AM on August 31

Thanks for this.
posted by mistersquid at 6:26 AM on August 31

I remember watching that fairly religiously, especially at their awards show and the East v. West quiz show. The latter was, needless to say, rather ungangsta.
posted by spamguy at 7:16 AM on August 31

Hey, I was on that show once or twice.

Stewart Cheifet is now collections director for archive.org, often better known as the Wayback Machine.
posted by lothar at 8:06 AM on August 31

Lothar, I think I speak for us all when I say links please!
posted by Mr. Anthropomorphism at 8:29 AM on August 31

One thing they did well was to bring computing, which was much more difficult for the uninitiated then, down to the average person. There was only one program that did that more. Any canucks old enough to remember 'Bits and Bytes?' There's a show that pretty much held your hand as you typed.

The Chronicles had its moments, but I thought many of the segments showing the new products smacked of puffball journalism with no real analysis. It felt like product placement rather than journalism. They also focused too much (I thought) on games. Sadly those trends have continued and increased.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:32 AM on August 31