I was going through my copy of Stewart Brand's 1974 book, II Cybernetic Frontiers (1974) when I came across this sketch by computer scientist Alan Kay, who conceived of a tablet computer in 1972 called the Dynabook. Although it used a stylus and a keyboard, his 43-year-old sketch of two kids sitting in the grass playing video games on their Dynabooks looks like kids today playing games on their iPads.
• You’ll never guess how much the computer originally cost.
In this episode of the 8-Bit Guy, David does a video survey of 108 types of storage media that we modern humans have used to store information. He divides the media into three categories: mechanical media, magnetic media, and optical media. He starts at the Edison Wax Cylinder and ends up at Bubble Memory. This […]
“Insert Coin” is a new documentary about Midway, the Chicago-based videogame developer that transformed the industry with Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and other coin-op classics. Director Joshua Tsui funded the film via this Kickstarter and will premiere at the SXSW Film Festival later this month. From the film description: Eugene Jarvis, […]
The world is holding its collective breath. As states begin cautiously reopening, no one is sure exactly what to expect. But one thing is clear: most Americans are worried about their bank accounts. By the end of March, the average American household was spending 40 percent less on their credit cards than they were one […]
Over 25 years, eBay has carved out its space as the commerce hub of choice online. With 182 million users worldwide, that works out to about 35 percent of all US mobile users who shop those eBay storefronts. But did you know there are usually around 1.3 billion — with a B — active for-sale […]
Software apps are a dime a dozen. Well, if you’re going by their actual monetary cost, maybe not really. But considering how useless some poorly conceived, poorly executed apps are at doing the job you actually downloaded them to accomplish, it isn’t a stretch to think that many apps aren’t even worth a free download. […]