111 Items Tagged

Computers

Endicott, New York

Endicott History and Heritage Center

A collection of artifacts from two worldwide industries that called Endicott, NY home.

A more flattened teapot became the standard.

objects of intrigue

Why a Computer History Museum Owns a Legendary Teapot

For computer-graphics researchers, it's both a tool and a meme.

Anne Ewbank June 19, 2019

The site in 2017.

Mountain View, California

The Real Birthplace of Silicon Valley-The Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory

The first high-tech company in the valley that actually worked with silicon devices.

Searching for Genesis StoryTime, a Lost Canadian Cable Channel

It used a technology known as videotex to distribute children’s books over television screens.

Andrew Egan May 24, 2018

The Cap'n Crunch Bo'sun Whistle, in all its glory.

objects of intrigue

Early Hackers Used Whistles From Cap’n Crunch Cereal Boxes

You can draw a line from the tiny toys to Apple Inc.

Anne Ewbank May 18, 2018

Meyrin, Switzerland

Birthplace of the Web

The World Wide Web was created in this nondescript corridor at CERN.

Obsolescence looms over the digital age.

The Quest for a Universal Translator for Old, Obsolete Computer Files

To preserve bygone software, files, and more, researchers are working to emulate decades-old technology in the cloud.

Jessica Leigh Hester March 8, 2018

When numbers get large, math gets trippy.

Found: A Special, Mind-Bogglingly Large Prime Number

It's more than 23 million digits long, if you're counting.

Jessica Leigh Hester January 5, 2018

Alan Turing in 1930, long before computer music was even imaginable.

Listen to the First Computer-Generated Christmas Carols, From Alan Turing's Lab

"Jingle Bells" and "Good King Wenceslas" haven't sounded like this in a long time.

Natasha Frost December 20, 2017

Keyboard Monument.

Yekaterinburg, Russia

Keyboard Monument

Russia's giant concrete QWERTY keyboard is likely the largest in the world.

Well, that's one way to write poetry.

The Robots Are Here to Write Poetry

But how are we going to teach them to do it well if no one can agree on what makes good verse?

Jessica Leigh Hester December 12, 2017

The Gibberish That Sparked One of the Internet's Oldest Unsolved Mysteries

More than 20 years later, the true meaning of the Markovian Parallax Denigrate remains elusive.

Eric Grundhauser November 10, 2017

Sonoma, California

Location of the Microsoft Windows XP Default Wallpaper

The unedited photograph called "Bliss" has graced the screens of over a billion computers.

Saison is a pale ale, usually cloudy gold in color, with fruity, spicy flavors.

Enjoy a Tall, Frosty Beverage Named by a Neural Network

"The Fine Stranger" sounds good. "Snot Beard," less so.

Natasha Frost October 9, 2017

Front of the old Tabulating Machine Co. building on 31st Street.

Washington, D.C.

The Tabulating Machine Co.

The early data processor factory founded in Washington for the 1890 U.S. Census went on to become IBM.

The problem may not be intrinsically challenging by nature, but increasing the size of the board pushes it from complex to nigh impossible.

Can You Solve the Million-Dollar, Unsolvable Chess Problem?

The queen of all puzzles.

Natasha Frost September 1, 2017

Alan Turing wasn't America's biggest fan (sculpture at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park).

Alan Turing in a Newly Discovered Letter: 'I Detest America'

The father of modern computing had no intention of attending a conference in the United States.

Eric Grundhauser August 25, 2017

PEEK&POKE, a computer club in Croatia.

Rijeka, Croatia

PEEK&POKE Computer Museum

This Croatian computer club features such gaming relics as the infamous Virtual Boy and an 8-bit Pacman machine.