The Gadgets Page

This series is an excellent documentation of the history of computers. With video clips about everything from ENIAC to the Internet, it’s interesting to see the way the computers have been viewed. It includes audio and video clips from 1957 to 1996.

• Computer Invasion: A History of Automation in Canada – Science and Technology – CBC Archives

I love to see how a new technology is described from the perspective of years later. Seeing this archive reminds me of how new computers are. Only as far back as 1993, emoticons were a new thing and talking to people via mailing lists was something interesting enough for the CBC to report on it. I can’t wait to see the news reports about “blogs” in ten or fifteen years. They will be even more hilarious than they are now.

Via: kottke.org

I found a bunch of old Atari 2600 commercials on YouTube the other day. I especially liked this one:

I love the words to the song:

Way down deep inside of every man,
There’s a little boy: an Atari fan.
And without any doubt,
That boy will Breakout
When he plays a game from Atari.
Have you played Atari today?

It seems like they were advertising Atari to adults as well as children. I know my mom loved to play Breakout with us, but the more complicated games like Adventure and Pitfall were just too much for her.

Just watching these commercials makes me want to load up my Atari Anthology on Xbox and play some of the old school games. It has been awhile.

The Internet is all a-buzz about a new iPod or maybe an ultraportable from Mac. There have been patents registered that people have been speculating about for so long that they have imagined what I hoped from the very first, the return of the Apple Newton.

• AppleInsider | Apple seen delivering “ultra-portable” at Macworld

• The Browser: Apple may prep new iPod, ultraportable Mac

• GigaOM : » A Non Touch iPod Coming?

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he immediately closed down the Newton division. What had looked like something that would be good for me if only they could get the form factor into a size that would fit into my purse, suddenly was snatched away from me. If Apple resurrected the Newton, I might actually be convinced to abandon my Treo in favor of it.

Can I have my Newton back, please?

Via: videoblogging : Message: iPod rumors

PC World has compiled a list of the 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time. Like all “25 this” or “100 that” lists, it’s highly subjective, and the selections are somewhat random, but it’s still amusing. They boldly gave the #1 position to AOL, but many of the other selections are products that are now just unpleasant memories. Here’s a sampling of my favorites:

• #4, Windows Millenium, is called “the worst version of Windows ever released.” Come on, it wasn’t half as bad as Windows 3.1.
• #7, Microsoft Bob. What was Microsoft thinking.
• #12, PointCast Network. This seems a bit unfair. PointCast was an application that let me quickly access a wide variety of news sources, updated whenever there was news. It bears a striking similarity to what I now use BlogLines for. Released in 1996, PointCast was just ahead of its time… and a bit ahead of the technology of the day.
• #15, Iomega Zip Drive. This device singlehandedly destroyed more of my valuable data than any other. I curse its vile memory.
• #20, CueCat. “Typing URLs in from magazines is so hard! If only people could hook a bulky device up to their serial port, install some drivers, and then scan a barcode instead! That would save so much time.”

[Read the entire list at PC World]

William McKeen brags about his luddite ways and threatens that the Internet is going to ruin serendipity.

• Perspective: The endangered joy of serendipity

I realized half-way through reading his article that this fellow doesn’t use the Internet. Sure, he has logged on to CNN.com and probably gets his stock quotes online, but other than that, he hasn’t spent much time online.

He has never known the seredipitous joy of reading a weblog and finding a link to something totally weird and useful. He hasn’t even listened to the boring overplaylists that the radio has been cranking out lately. He hasn’t searched for interesting music online or known the joy of finding a good band via Pandora or iTunes. I was about to smack this luddite down until I realized that Steven Berlin Johnson had done it for me.

• stevenberlinjohnson.com: Can We Please Kill This Meme Now

Every time I see someone waxing poetic about how much better reading a newspaper was, or going to a library was, or listening to the radio was, I KNOW for a fact that said person has not learned how to use the Internet properly. Get past the “I Suck At This” phase before you go reminiscing about how much better the past was.

There are rumors flying around about a new widescreen video iPod with touchscreen controls. Here are a couple links to the rumors:

• More New iPod Video Pictures – The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

• Apple still at work on true video iPod? – Engadget

• Gear Live | Widescreen iPod Video Mock Up

I am hoping that Apple has raised their sites a little higher than just a larger screen for media playback. With a touchscreen, this new device could be the resurrection of the Newton Message Pad. When I first saw the Newton, it was at Comdex in the form of a plastic mockup under plexiglass while Douglas Adams talked on the big screen about writing everywhere. The next year, they had Newtons for us to play with. Chuck bought a Newton that year and chose his coats based on whether the Newton would fit in the inside breast pocket.

Today, Apple has the capability to bring back the Newton and wipe Palm and Windows Mobile off the face of the planet. It’s the only PDA that I would conceive of purchasing to replace my Treo. Apple has been very tightlipped about their “Tablet” patents. The widescreen video iPod could be so much more than merely a media playback device. If they add the capability of schedule, memos, book reader, and a to-do list, this device could be the return of the Apple Newton.

I eagerly await to see what will develop.

All this writing about CES is exciting. Being there reminded me of being at Comdex. I found these old photos of Comdex 2000 and I thought I’d share them for fun.

This picture of Mike with the Ask Jeeves butler makes me smile. I am surprised that Ask Jeeves is still around today. It has been quietly tailing behind Google since that juggernaut took over the scene.

I have no idea who this crayon was trying to promote. The company is probably out of business by now. So many companies were massacred by the Dot Bomb, even if they had nothing to do with the Internet.

Netgear are still around. Obviously this huge inflatable ode to Netgear was more interesting to us than the routers they were promoting back then.

I don’t know if you remember when Microsoft added their “friendly” paper clip to the Office Suite, but I do. Everytime I would start a sentence with the word “To,” it would pop up and tell me that if I’m writing a letter, it could help me. I have NEVER started a letter with the word “To.” I wanted to personally beat up the Paperclip, but they only allowed their Help Genie beat him up. We didn’t need a better animated help feature. We needed to learn how to turn the stupid paperclip off.

This was the year I learned about Linux. Mike knew all about it, but I had never heard of it and the concept of Open Source was even more confusing to me. I found it strangely scary that so many companies were promoting something that was available for free on the Internet. Mike had a copy that he had been playing with, but all I saw were penguins.

Not only did those companies survive the Dot Bomb, they are still working on Linux solutions to this day. Here is a picture of Mike with the Penguin Computing penguin. I remember people standing in line to get Linux Penguin tatoos. I still have a hundred of them in a box downstairs from this show. I also have some bumper stickers that say, “Open Source Is Not A Crime.” I didn’t understand them back then. Now, Open Source makes more sense to me than other software programming models and I’m amazed at how short-sighted I was.

This watch (Casio – LA11WB1A) was around when I worked at K-Mart in the late Eighties. I remember selling one to a nurse who wanted a practical watch that would do everything she needed during her busy day. This one more than filled her bill. All she really needed was the seconds displayed. Casio is still making it in three designs: black (pictured), silver and gold. It’s nearly the perfect digital watch.

Features:

• Time and seconds displayed
• Date
• Stopwatch
• Alarm
• Pre-set countdown timers (1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 minute timers)
• Hourly chime

Tragically Missing Features:

• Light
• Date displayed on different screen instead of with the time
• Cleaner face design (remove the black and writing, leaving more room for the digital screen and maybe a date)

This would be my watch of choice if it had a light. I could overlook the pre-set timers and the lack of the date displayed with the time, but I need to be able to see what time it is when it’s dark. I actually owned the gold version when I was in high school. I broke two bands before I finally lost it to the third band (fell off my arm unnoticed and lost forever).

In my search for the perfect digital women’s watch, Casio has come out ahead of all the other brands. This watch has been gracing the arms of women all over the nation for twenty years. What do they expect us to do at night?