Articles about Tech History

As you've probably learned elsewhere already, Queen Elizabeth II died yesterday at the age of 96 after an extraordinarily long reign.

For anyone under the age of 70 she has been the constant center of life in the UK, a relic of an earlier era, perhaps, but she's also lived through an age of huge and rapid technological advances.

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The 1990s were great -- multiplayer shooters like Doom and Quake were revolutionizing gaming, Friends and ER were on the TV, and we were all enjoying a new, fledgling technology called the World Wide Web.

Before Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter came along, there was GeoCities, a web hosting service eventually acquired by Yahoo, that allowed users to place their websites in virtual 'cities'. But if there was one thing that most people remember about GeoCities, it was the animated GIFs.

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I wouldn’t normally be writing a column early on a Saturday but I just read that John Ellenby died and I think that’s really worth mentioning because Ellenby changed all our lives and especially mine.

If you don’t recognize his name, John Ellenby was a British computer engineer who came to Xerox PARC in the 1970s to manufacture the Xerox Alto, the first graphical workstation. He left Xerox in the late 1980s to found Grid Systems, makers of the Compass -- the first full-service laptop computer. In the 1990s he founded Agilis, which made arguably the first handheld mobile phone that wasn’t the size of a brick. Finally he set up a company in both New Zealand and San Francisco to do geographical mapping data before most of us even knew we needed it. The man pioneered four technology industry segments, putting him on the same level as Steve Jobs.

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We tend to think of computers as a relatively modern innovation, but some of the concepts behind them, the binary system for example, go back as far as the 18th century.

The Computer Science Zone careers advice website has produced an infographic looking at the evolution of computing from the punch card controlled weaving loom to the latest nanotechnology.

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The inventor of email, Ray Tomlinson, has passed away at the age of 74. Yes, the man who changed the way we communicate, is no longer with us. His invention was revolutionary, essentially killing the written letter and causing heartache to the United States Postal Service.

As great as his invention was, and continues to be, it is starting to get long in the tooth. In other words, alternative communication services, like text messaging, iMessage, Slack, Telegram, and more, could possibly lead to the death of email. Will email soon leave our lives?

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Here’s something to make you feel really, really old. The first commercially available microprocessor chip was created in January 1986 -- exactly 30 years ago.

Back then, a team of Stanford University researchers and Silicon Valley veterans joined forces and created something that completely changed the way we see computers today. If it weren’t for these guys, who knows what modern computers would have looked like today.

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I’m looking forward to next year when, hopefully, I’ll finally be able to get my hands on the Oculus Rift which is expected to start shipping to consumers in Q1 2016. Pre-orders were supposed to start this year, but that’s clearly not going to happen now. Still I’ve waited long enough to get my VR fix, what’s a few more weeks/months?

While I didn’t get a Rift to play with this year, plenty of new technology did make its way through my hands and into my life. Here are some of the standout pieces of tech I'd definitely recommend you check out.

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It's been another long year, with technology products appearing at a seemingly accelerated rate. It all began back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, a spectacle that is now right around the corner once again.

With 2016 looming it is a time for some introspection -- what products made your year special? For me there were a few that I really enjoyed. It was typical year filled with a few good items and some worth forgetting.

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Even though the 2015 NFL season is entering week 4, it feels like it is just beginning. Why? Many people, myself included, associate football with the fall season. The cool crisp air conjures pigskin memories.

As wonderful as watching NFL football is, many people are doing it wrong. If you are just casually spectating on an old television set, you are missing out. Here is some tech you should own to properly watch the games.

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Windows 10 is just around the corner, with Microsoft confirming a 29 July release date for its new operating system.

The general opinion appears to be positive for Windows 10, with 73 percent of IT pros saying they will deploy it within the first two years, despite there still being a few kinks to sort out.

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On April 4, 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft. The small firm used to develop and sell BASIC interpreters. Little did they know that in the next 40 years, their company will become the biggest software firm in the world, and also bag the title for one of the most valuable companies.

Today, there is a little bit of Microsoft in everybody’s life. Whether it is the desktop computer where Microsoft’s Windows has about 90 percent market share or the company’s Office which is unarguably the best productivity suite available. Maybe you are into gaming and own an Xbox One, or your company relies on Azure cloud services.

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With Radio Shack having declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with hundreds of stores closing and others possibly becoming Sprint locations, let’s take a moment to look back at the important contributions the company made in the early days of personal computing.

Charles Tandy started the Tandy Leather Company which opened hundreds of little shops in the 1950s selling kits for consumers to make their own tooled leather belts, for example. I made one in 1959, burning my name into the belt with a soldering iron. As leather craft faded as a hobby and electronics boomed many of those Tandy Leather stores became Radio Shacks (but not all -- a few leather stores survive even today). Radio Shack stores always had the advantage of proximity balanced by higher prices. If you needed a part or two you drove down to Radio Shack but if you had a bunch of electronic parts to buy there was generally some cheaper store across town.

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Transport for London (TfL) has announced that a new contactless payment system is in operation across all London transport services, allowing customers to pay their fare with bank cards, smartphones, or even wearable technology.

While some commuters may be concerned that the news marks the beginning of the end for the Oyster card, transport in the capital has never stood still when it comes to technological improvements.

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It’s always nice to take the occasional stroll down memory lane, reminiscing over past experiences and the things you used to like or grew up with.

Our first computers, or game consoles, are usually something of an important milestone in our lives as we discover the possibilities they offer. I had my first computer at the very start of the 1980s, and even to this day I share a slight bond with other users of the same system, due to that shared experience.

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Did you ever see the 1991 Albert Brooks movie Defending Your Life? A movie that clearly could not be made today because it includes neither super heroes nor special effects and isn’t a sequel, it’s about a schmo (Brooks) who dies only to find heaven has an entrance exam of sorts in which you literally defend your life. Well the other day I watched a very good TED talk by my friend Bob Litan in which he defended his entire profession -- economics. I know no braver man.

Few of us would defend our professions. I’m a journalist -- what is there to say about that except that being a Congressman is worse? Yet Bob Litan volunteered for this gig, which he does with remarkable energy for a guy the size of a meerkat.

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