MetaFilter posts tagged with retro and computers

Take Those Damned Goggles Off

The Whelk — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:37:39 -0800

Television Without Pity re-capper Jacob Clifton has written a short steampunk story for Tor.com. “There’s a level on which the story is an indictment of using steampunk as a fashion or trend. It came about because I wanted to see what would happen if you substituted Jane Austen for Jules Verne in the steampunk equation...” The Commonplace Book

Whiz Kids

zarq — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:25:35 -0800

In the early 80’s, personal computers were a new innovation. Films like WarGames made it seem as if a kid with a keyboard could hack into anything: a school or corporate mainframe, NORAD, the US nuclear arsenal or your neighborhood bank. Hoping to capitalize on this, in 1983 CBS premiered a show which could have been considered WarGames’ intellectual successor. It featured a group of resourceful kids who solved crimes by hacking and cracking, led by Matthew Laborteaux, child star of Little House on the Prairie, and advised by a Gavilan SC-toting, mustachioed reporter played by Max Gail, formerly of the show Barney Miller. Whiz Kids lasted only a single season: 18 episodes, but all of them live on in cyberspace, on YouTube. Complete episode links contained within. Wikipedia: ”Activities included things like war dialing (one kid even mentions WarGames), editing hexadecimal machine code in a hex editor, brute force password cracking, denial-of-service attacks, emulation, facial recognition, speech recognition and speech synthesis, image enhancement, social engineering, and even computer dating. In almost every episode, the kids (sometimes at the instigation of Farley) perform what would be considered serious criminal acts within a few years of the show airing (if not during its airing); the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was first passed in 1984."
Unfortunately, the quality of the episodes isn't perfect. They were obviously transferred to digital format from a tape recording. Episode 1: "Programmed for Murder" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 2: "Fatal Error" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 3: "Deadly Access" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 4: "Candidate for Murder" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 5: "A Chip off the Old Block" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 6: "Airwave Anarchy" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 7: "Return of the Big Rocker" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 8: "The Wrong Mr. Wright" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 9: "Red Star Rising" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 10: "The Network" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 11: "Watch Out!" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 12: "Amen to Amen-Re" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 13: "Maid in the USA" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 14: "The Lollypop Gang Strikes Back" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 15: "The Sufi Project" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 16: "Father's Day" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 17: "Altaira" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Episode 18: "May I Take Your Order Please?" Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 There were also two crossovers with the show Simon and Simon, one on each show. Here's a video of the full Simon and Simon episode, at Hulu.

“We try and illustrate a “universe-next-door” where the new product is the only novelty. Where there is still tea, and the traffic is still miserable.”

The Whelk — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:24:51 -0800

Future Drama is a tumblr devoted to that particular kind of futurism - corporate prediction demos of how their products will change the world - See The Mother Of All Demos from 1968 introducing the mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing, hypertext, word processing - Apple in 1987 - Philco-Ford The Future Now!

The Osbornes

Joe Beese — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:01:00 -0800

The Osborne 1 was the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, released in April 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighed 23.5 pounds, cost $1,795, and ran the then-popular CP/M 2.2 operating system. The computer shipped with a large bundle of software that was almost equivalent in value to the machine itself. Adam Osborne (with John C. Dvorak) later wrote Hypergrowth: The rise and fall of Osborne Computers Corporation.

You mean it forgets some things, and remembers others?

Crane Shot — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:38:09 -0800

TVOntario's Bits and Bytes: the world of personal computers explained in 1983 by Billy Van and Luba Goy. Among the topics covered: Loading programs into memory, ROM vs RAM, the difference between Apple II and TRS-80, home accounting and the computer's speed.

Imagine turning on your home computer to read the newspaper!

empath — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:55:03 -0800

Newspapers rush to deliver news online. A look at the future from 1981.

The TV Typewriter

braun_richard — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 19:45:06 -0800

Typing...on a screen! Text (and cover image) of a 1973 issue of Radio-Electronics mag, showing a new fangled way of typing with a TV screen. I like how the mag is billed as "for MEN with ideas in electronics." Heh...

Adventure games!

owillis — Thu, 31 May 2001 21:29:20 -0800

Adventure games! They seem to be "old school" in this world of Quake shooters and real time strategy but does anyone remember the halcyon days of King's Quest, Maniac Mansion, and even ... Leisure Suit Larry?