IBM is
currently putting together database and barcode tracking to allow farmers and grocers in China to track your porkchop, from the pig to the plate. Using supply chain tracking (similar to what is done already in other industries), the goal is to limit and hopefully prevent disease outbreaks by tracking the health of the animal, including which other animals it has come into contact with. So the next time you sit down for some nice ham, you might be able to scan the barcode (or RFID tag) to see whom else on your block shares your own porcine six degrees of separation.
[more inside]
posted by Old'n'Busted
on Dec 19, 2011 -
21 comments
"
IBM is proud to announce a product
you may have a personal interest in. It's a tool that could soon be on your desk, in your home or in your child's schoolroom. It can make a surprising difference in the way you work, learn or otherwise approach the complexities (and some of the the simple pleasures) of living."
[more inside]
posted by Ahab
on Aug 12, 2011 -
83 comments
"The story begins unambiguously. A group of IBMers, working on a secret project to build a personal computer, flew to Seattle in August, 1980, to see if [Bill] Gates could supply them with an operating system. He couldn't -- and referred them to [Gary] Kildall [of Digital Research Inc.] When they showed up at DRI's offices the next day ... the company's business manager ... refused to sign their nondisclosure agreement.... [IBM] did get together with Kildall ... a short time later, but they couldn't reach an agreement. At around the same time, [IBM] saw Gates again. [IBM] and Gates both knew of the operating system [Tim] Paterson had built at Seattle Computer Co.... "Gates said: 'Do you want to get [QDOS], or do you want me to?' [IBM] said: 'By all means, you get it."' Gates bought Paterson's program, called QDOS, for $50,000, renamed it DOS, improved it, and licensed it to IBM for a low per-copy royalty fee."
Tim Paterson, the man who created DOS, the operating system that dominated the computer industry between 1981 and 2000, has an occasional
blog that provides a fascinating history of the microcomputer industry:
Is DOS a Rip-Off of CP/M?;
The Contributions of CP/M;
Design of DOS;
The First DOS Machine;
IBM PC Design Antics; and
All Those Floppy Disk Formats…
posted by Jasper Friendly Bear
on Jul 9, 2011 -
77 comments
They Were There is a 30 min video from IBM, who is turning 100 this year. "
told by first-hand witnesses—current and retired employees and clients—who were there when IBM helped to change the way world works."
posted by finite
on Jan 22, 2011 -
52 comments
Paul Rand was one of the great graphic designers of modern times, designing among other things, logos for Westinghouse, ABC, IBM and UPS. The website has
galleries of
book design,
posters,
logos, and much more (open images in new tab or window to see the full-sized image, some books have image galleries, look for a "see inside" button). You can also read his
thoughts on design,
watch interviews and videos about him, and follow the
many links to interesting online Randiana.
posted by Kattullus
on Aug 9, 2010 -
24 comments
50 years ago today, IBM announced the
1401 Data Processing System.
Originally designed as a spooling system for the larger machines, the 1401 became very popular as a mainframe in its own right, eventually being called 'The Model T of Computers'. By the end of 1961, the number of 1401s installed in the United States alone had reached 2,000 - representing about one fourth of all computers installed by all manufacturers at that time. 15- 20,000 were eventually built.
The
Computer History Museum in Mountain View is having a
50th anniversary celebration on November 10th.
Here's what $125,600 (or $2500/month rent) would get you:
[more inside]
posted by MtDewd
on Oct 4, 2009 -
52 comments
As it
builds a presence and
invests in virtual worlds, IBM is hoping to avoid potentially embarrassing incidents
by establishing official guidelines for its more than 5,000 employees who inhabit "
Second Life,"
Entropia Universe," "
Forterra," "
There" and other virtual worlds. "IBM, whose 20th century employees were parodied as corporate cogs in matching navy suits, doesn't have an avatar dress code. But guidelines suggest being 'especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona's appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business.'" Other directives: "Don't discuss intellectual property with unauthorized people." "Don't discriminate or harass" and by all means, "Be a good 3D Netizen."
posted by ericb
on Jul 26, 2007 -
9 comments
"The church of global free trade, which rules American politics with infallible pretensions, may have finally met its Martin Luther." A thorough summary in The Nation of the brilliant but ignored
Global Trade and Conflicting National Interests by
Ralph Gomory, former IBM Senior Vice President for Science and winner of the National Medal of Science. His heresy? Arguing, with supporting technical and economic data, that multinational corporations and their home countries have divergent interests in shipping skilled labor and advanced technologies overseas, and that this "divergence" is a net negative for the American economy and the American public. Globalization, he argues, has its losers, the United States paramount among them.
posted by Pastabagel
on Apr 20, 2007 -
76 comments
"In 1964, a computer - the IBM 1401 Data Processing System - arrived in Iceland, one of the very first computers to be imported into the country… The chief maintenance engineer for this machine was Jóhann Gunnarsson, my father. A keen musician, he learned of an obscure method of making music on this computer - a purpose for which this business machine was not at all designed… When the IBM 1401 was taken out of service in 1971, it wasn't simply thrown away like an old refrigerator, but was given a little farewell ceremony, almost a funeral, when its melodies were played for one last time. This "performance" was documented on tape along with recordings of the sound of the machine in operation." The whole story with samples, pictures and video at
Jóhann Jóhannsson's site.
[via]
posted by tellurian
on Feb 26, 2007 -
15 comments
Ballmer: Linux Users Owe Microsoft. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle yesterday, that Linux infringes upon his company's intellectual property. Does this signal preparations for all out war against the
open source community? Microsoft's recent
acquisition of Novell was seen as an ominous sign. Or perhaps it's a sign that user friendly versions of linux such as
Ubuntu threaten sales of Microsoft's
problematic new VISTA OS, scheduled for release Nov. 30th for businesses and Jan. 30, 2007 for consumers?
posted by Skygazer
on Nov 17, 2006 -
79 comments
Ponder This. 'You are cordially invited to match wits with some of the best minds in IBM Research.' Monthly puzzles, with solutions, going back to 1998.
posted by plep
on Mar 7, 2005 -
12 comments
&logopath=%2flogos%2fSCOX.GIF&market=NASDAQ-CM&pageName=Company%20News&mode=&kind=&timeframe=&intraday=&charttype=&splits=&earnings=&movingaverage=&lowerstudy=&comparison=&index=&formtype=&mkttype=&pathname=&page=companynews){kind=link}