The History of Computing Project is a collaborative effort to record and publish the history of the computer and its roots. The site includes a chronological timeline, biographies of computing pioneers, a look at computing hardware through the years, as well as software and games.
posted on May 9, 2008 - View this thread

I was a Teenage Wares Freak? San Diego Republican Party chairman Tony Krvaric may have been Strider, co-founder of Fairlight. via Slashdot
posted on May 6, 2008 - View this thread

101 Great Mostly Pretty Good and Hopefully Correctly Attributed Quotes About Computers and Programming. But Wait There's More! Yep, 101 More Quotes plus an extra extra added bonus for a limited time, the second list as originally published in Spanish, because it's fun to read Isaac Asimov and Emo Philips in another language, and Lou Dobbs will get so pissed off.
posted on Apr 18, 2008 - View this thread

Having trouble connecting to a site? It may be you and many others got too close to a network event horizon and the packets ...disappeared.... The internets has black holes, too. via
posted on Apr 8, 2008 - View this thread

Three columns on technology and eduction by Robert Cringely: the clash between those who grew up with computers and those who didn't in War of the Worlds, Amish Paradise looks for learning models in unexpected places and Ozzy knows best talks about how important digital games, not video games, could be to education.
posted on Apr 4, 2008 - View this thread

H.P. Papercraft (SLYT) "I knew putting internet in the basement was a bad idea!"
posted on Apr 4, 2008 - View this thread

"Once you've constructed your Hexapawn opponent, it's time to start playing against it... If you play this game repeatedly ... you'll quickly notice that your matchbox opponent plays better and better until it is unbeatable!" Martin Gardner created a game called Hexapawn, and also devised an artificially intelligent opponent you can build yourself out of matchboxes and colored beads. Bonus link: An interview with Martin Gardner.
posted on Apr 1, 2008 - View this thread

40 Years in the Future - Another "what will life look like in the future" article. This one from Mechanix Illustrated, 1968. (via Boing Boing)
posted on Mar 24, 2008 - View this thread

During a January blizzard thirty years ago in Chicago, Ward Christensen and Randy Seuss came up with the idea for a computerized bulletin board system. One month later on February 16, 1978, the first public online community was officially established, and it was named CBBS.
posted on Feb 16, 2008 - View this thread

The Anonymity Experiment. Is it possible to hide in plain sight? Privacy-minded people have long warned of a world in which an individual’s every action leaves a trace, in which corporations and governments can peer at will into your life with a few keystrokes on a computer. Now one of the people in charge of information-gathering for the U.S. government says, essentially, that such a world has arrived.
posted on Feb 16, 2008 - View this thread

Ubuntu has quickly become the number one Linux distro for the desktop. Not only is it free, but it has also made Linux easier to use than ever. Now, Wubi enables Windows users to install Ubuntu just like any other application, so you no longer have to mess around with partitions, burning CDs, etc.
posted on Jan 21, 2008 - View this thread

The Algorithm: Idiom of Modern Science - an allegory told with iPods as Universal Machines.
posted on Jan 19, 2008 - View this thread

Can your computer run a particular game? System Requirements Lab has the answer!
posted on Jan 13, 2008 - View this thread

Photographer Mark Richard's very cool pictures of computing equipment: A visual survey of vintage computers. [via]
posted on Jan 13, 2008 - View this thread

The Commodore 64, many geek's first love, is turning 25. You can relive the glory, and still find a lot of the old software. Even more surprising is how much is still being done with it. Someone ported vi to it (obviously not EMACS). Somone else wrote a browser. For the ultimate, a souped up motherboard merges the C64 with contemporary peripherals.
posted on Dec 7, 2007 - View this thread

Triumph of the Nerds is a 1996 three-part documentary recounting the rise of the personal computer, including interviews with Gates, Wozniak and Jobs, among others. It was originally produced for British television, and aired on PBS in the USA. Part One: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Part Two: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Part Three: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Transcripts here. After you watch, you can play the "Guess the Computer" game.
posted on Sep 29, 2007 - View this thread

The Seven Wonders of the IT World. Thrill at the camera closest to the North Pole! Consider the computer farthest from Earth! Goggle at the secret Google computing center! Tremble at the world's most powerful computer! Also, be slightly interested in large grid computers, Linux, and the OQO portable computer.
posted on Sep 12, 2007 - View this thread

"How I Became A Programmer" veers between linear biography and brain dump. The piece meanders through its theme, stopping along the way to flirt with word origins, family politics, the senior prom, Japan, airlines and military recruitment. Reading it, I felt trapped inside inside an extremely quirky -- yet recognizable (in a too-close-for-comfort way) -- mind. About half the time I yearned to tell him that he needs an editor; the other half, I was grateful that he didn't have one. Mostly, I'm amazed he HAD a date to the senior prom!
posted on Aug 18, 2007 - View this thread

How to Read 600 RSS Feeds a Day for Pleasure and Profit. Video of Robert Scoble showing how he culls 600 RSS feeds a day for his weblog, Scobleizer, using Google Reader.
posted on Jul 17, 2007 - View this thread

The How-To Geek provides hints and tips for a variety of operating systems and popular pieces of software. The how-tos cover a pleasing range of head-slapping I-should-have-known-thats to relatively advanced techniques. Follow the latest page to read the site in blog form.
posted on Jul 8, 2007 - View this thread

Using a computer set to auto-screencast, The Consumerist catches a Geek Squad technician copying porn from a client's computer to a thumbdrive, and they've got video and logfiles (CSV) to prove it. Also, the Geek Squad CEO responds, and an anonymous Geek Squad tech confesses that this is not an uncommon practice: "stealing customers' nudie pics was an easter egg hunt." Consumerist users suggest that this practice might not be limited to Geek Squad. Via.
posted on Jul 6, 2007 - View this thread

Is the next President of the United States running Linux? The Democrats love open source and the Republicans love Microsoft.
posted on Jul 5, 2007 - View this thread

The top 10 dead (or dying) computer skills. "Obsolescence is a relative -- not absolute -- term in the world of technology."
posted on Jun 25, 2007 - View this thread

We've all seen the multitouch interfaces of Jeff Han, Apple, Tactiva, and Microsoft. Now, fellow mefite you brings us the ultimate guerrilla hack - the $2 multitouch pad. [via mefi projects]
posted on Jun 13, 2007 - View this thread

1986 Mac Plus vs. 2007 AMD Dual Core "When we compare strictly common, everyday, basic user tasks between the Mac Plus and the AMD we find remarkable similarities in overall speed, thus it can be stated that for the majority of simple office uses, the massive advances in technology in the past two decades have brought zero advance in productivity." Factor in the internet, and the technological advances have brought me negative productivity.
posted on May 31, 2007 - View this thread

Victim of the Brain A 'docudrama' about Godel, Escher and Bach author, Douglas Hofstadter, and philosopher Dan Dennett produced in 1988. I'm not sure how to describe it, other than incredibly strange and fascinating.
posted on Apr 11, 2007 - View this thread

Before RSS and personalized aggregators such as Personalized Google and NetVibes, there was CRAYON, a service that allowed you to "CReAte Your Own Newspaper" by providing a page with links to chosen sources. [mi]
posted on Mar 28, 2007 - View this thread

VIRTUAL REALITY Hi-tech Being Embraced by Manufacturers & Therapists
Long a darling of the military, aviation and video-game industries, virtual reality is being embraced by more businesses as the falling cost of computer power makes it more affordable. Manufacturers of farm equipment, car seats, mufflers and other products have joined automakers and aircraft manufacturers in using the technology to speed up and improve product design, train workers and configure factories and stores.
THERAPY: Overcoming trauma through virtual reality
posted on Jan 14, 2007 - View this thread

The Red Hill Guide is an amazingly detailed and well-written compendium of desktop hardware old and new, with a focus on PC and x86 compatibles. Look for your first CPU, hard drive or mainboard.
posted on Jan 6, 2007 - View this thread

Interviews with some early computer people at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
posted on Jan 1, 2007 - View this thread

Blogs by Phone - for when your family and friends have trouble keeping up with your blog posts. (YouTube video from SixApart)
posted on Dec 22, 2006 - View this thread

Circuit bending a personal computer. (Server slow? Mirror 1 Mirror 2) (more inside)
posted on Nov 8, 2006 - View this thread

PLOrk is the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, a group of students each wielding a laptop synthesizing multiple instruments. PLOrk makes recording of concerts and on-air performances available online.
posted on Sep 16, 2006 - View this thread

Meet George -- 39, single, quirky sense of humour, looking for friends to chat with online. Last year, he won the Loebner Prize, to bots who can most successfully pass the Turing Test. More here from BBC. How long before we have our own Mefibots?
posted on Sep 16, 2006 - View this thread

Mainframe - The Art of the Sale. Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3. Brought to you by 360comedy. It helps to know what a mainframe is, but is not absolutely essential. Enjoy! (Post contains YouTube links)
posted on Sep 11, 2006 - View this thread

They'll never piggyback on your wireless again Your router makes the computer look funny. (via MeTa)
posted on Aug 10, 2006 - View this thread

Don't worry. The painting understands. :)
posted on Aug 5, 2006 - View this thread

FlexGo™. Microsoft targets emerging markets with pay as you go and subscription models.
posted on Jun 29, 2006 - View this thread

BumpTop is based on the long standing idea of piles as a desktop use metaphor, this seems to bring it to life at last. Will this sort out your desktop?
posted on Jun 21, 2006 - View this thread

Apple Computer 1984 Newsweek Advertising Insert :: a complete scan of Apple's 16-page advertising insert in Newsweek magazine, introducing the new and revolutionary Macintosh computer.
posted on Apr 26, 2006 - View this thread

Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing (Google video) A fascinating 30 minute documentary about ARPAnet - the precursor to today's Internet. (Can you spot the real ubernerd mover and shaker at BBN? Hint: He wears no tie!) (via: all over the place)
posted on Mar 19, 2006 - View this thread

The Intel-Fender Concept Telecaster Guitar, or Intelecaster, is exactly what you think.
posted on Mar 3, 2006 - View this thread

Seen anyone on Google Earth lately?
posted on Feb 17, 2006 - View this thread

Multiple-contact sensitive touchscreen doing neat things [Quicktime video]
posted on Feb 8, 2006 - View this thread

NSA,FISA, and Privacy It is of course the president who finally approves of actions that may or may not be deemed legal but before 9/11, this is what he had been advised to consider "The largest U.S. spy agency warned the incoming Bush administration in its "Transition 2001" report that the Information Age required rethinking the policies and authorities that kept the National Security Agency in compliance with the Constitution's 4th Amendment prohibition on "unreasonable searches and seizures" without warrant and "probable cause," according to an updated briefing book of declassified NSA documents posted today on the World Wide Web. If this is the sort of reading you enjoy, then by all means dig about here: But then Windows allowed NSA to have a sure access to your machine . And by now we all know that Google will fight the government on making its search data base available in order to protect your privacy.(Reality: to protect Google stuff). And if you worry about search engines tracking you and making data available, then here is a workaround
posted on Jan 20, 2006 - View this thread

Dell to partner with AMD.
posted on Jan 10, 2006 - View this thread

Sodaconstructor. "Looking at the fluid, lifelike way these creatures walk and roll and slink across the screen you might think that there must be some very complicated stuff going on behind the scenes. well fear not, it's actually very simple. it only looks complicated because lots of simple bits are working together." Be sure to stop at the sodazoo to see others' creations.
posted on Jan 9, 2006 - View this thread

Computerized physician system linked with increase in child mortality In an effort to reduce medical errors and mortality a children's hospital implemented a commercial physician order entry (CPOE) system.
After the system had gone live, analysis over an 18-month period revealed an unexpected increase in mortality from 2.80% to 6.57% (about one extra death per month)
It seems the big mistake was Changing the Systems of Work to suit the computer system, rather than fixing the technology to meet the needs of a specialist work area (intensive care).
posted on Dec 20, 2005 - View this thread

The first Transhuman Conference On the Law of Transhuman Persons: Whether or not you believe humans are set to evolve into gods, or AI is destined to achieve self-awareness the idea of the Transhuman is a thought provoking concept. Philosophers have debated the nature of the self, of the human for millennia. Is it time to start drafting new laws to govern all possible sentient beings on this planet? or is it all just a science of fiction? a comfortable humanist illusion?
posted on Dec 13, 2005 - View this thread

The servers are alive with the sound of music. Wolfram Tones takes patterns found out in the computer universe and converts them to completely original musical scores (which still may sound familiar, weirdly enough). Visitors to the site can then tweak styles, instrumentation and pitch (Phyrigian hexatonic, anyone?). Compositions can be saved, e-mailed or downloaded to your cellphone. Via.
posted on Dec 9, 2005 - View this thread