I would imagine when most people think of “computer music” these days they still think of the beeps, boops, and blips of the Atari and early computer systems of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Even by 1983, however, music from computers had come quite a long way, and we were just on the verge […]
Building your own computer is considered pretty much the standard these days in most computer enthusiast circles – dare to mention you use a store-bought desktop and even if you have done some damn fine upgrades, odds are someone is going to find some issue with it and try to give you hell for simply […]
It’s tax season, in case you didn’t know. Today, most people do their taxes online, via some preparation software or via a third-party service that invariably uses custom software, or some electronic filing system down the line. to get the actual data to the IRS. 30 years ago, however, it was a different story. Electronic […]
A decade after it’s release, the Apple II, one of the “holy trinity” of affordable microcomputers released in 1977, was still going strong. Constant updates and improvements kept these machines in use far beyond their original designed life, and beyond the life of 8-bit computers on a whole: I dare say in the early 90’s […]
In this very early episode of the Computer Chronicles, we take a look at computer chip technology in 1983. 34 years ago 8 and 16 bit CPU’s were dominant, RAM was measured still in the Kilobytes, sometimes megabytes for larger systems, and CMOS was an “emerging technology.” Thousands of transistors on a chip the size […]
Back in 1987, computer processors were going through somewhat of a major evolution. While software was still stuck in the land of 16-bit, the Intel x86 series processors were reaching 32bit performance. In the case of the Intel 386, there wasn’t even any software for it – the raw speed alone was enough for people […]
In this 1995 episode of The Computer Chronicles, Stuart Cheifet takes a look at the cutting-edge in gaming entertainment in the mid 90’s. This was quite an interesting time for home gaming, as 3D graphics rendering was reaching a point where decent quality images could be generated in real time. Windows 95 brought DirectX technology, […]
Ah, the 90’s. 1990, in this case. The Nintendo Entertainment System was still the champ, but the Sega Genesis was nipping at its heels. These were the days I started my love of gaming in, and it’s fascinating to watch videos like this from that time period that show when these consoles were new and […]
Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve shared a Computer Chronicles episode! In this particular episode we have an assortment of “online tips,” such as internet etiquette (netiquitte, a concept which never seems to have taken off), keeping kids safe online with blocking software (software which seems to always be easily circumvented) and the introduction […]
These days, if you want to watch a TV show, or a movie, or heck, even play a game, you can pretty much do it on any device you wish. Your computer, game console, phone, and even sometimes directly your TV itself can access YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and other services for immediate streaming of videos. […]
Ah, the year 2000, a time when the Dreamcast was showing us what the next generation would bring, the Playstation 2 was the hot new thing, the Xbox was still in development, and online gaming was in its infancy. Things have come a long way in the past 16 years, but at the same time, […]
Before E3, there was (and still is) a tech industry event known as the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES. This show is exactly what it sounds like, a trade exposition where new consumer technology is shown off, much of the time in some active state, be it simply a demo version, beta software, or just […]
These days, the computers we buy and use just work. Granted, they may not work well all the time, but they really do, on a whole, exactly what we want them to do, and without much issue. For those of us who do upgrade our machines, the process is mostly trivial – we just shove […]
I love watching old TV programs and the like related to computer technology. They are amazing time capsules, preserving the thoughts and opinions people had on then-current technology. It’s strange to see something that you know failed in the market be touted as something that will “revolutionize the future” or to see someone tout how […]