An Alternative Universe

Within the past decade, the cell phone has spread around the world. The iPod is a permanent appendage to teen-agers, while the Blackberry plays the same role for "grown-ups." All these, of course, are based on the microprocessor, whose architecture in turn is based on computer designs that go back at least to the 1960s. The almost universal adoption of...

Introduction

At first I assumed that everyone out there knows who I am, but perhaps I had better introduce myself. I am Paul Ceruzzi, Curator of Aerospace Computing and Electronics at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum , in Washington, D.C. My interests in the history of computing go back to my graduate school days at the University of Kansas,...

What's a Blog?

A couple of months ago, when I was asked to become a contributor to this blog, my first reaction was, "Right. What's a Blog?" For many years I had been following the writings and software ideas of Dave Winer , who I believe was the "inventor" of the blog. I remember, years ago, when he first described the idea (he...

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