On November 1, 2012, a panel of Sun Micro luminaries discussed how the company "bet the ranch" on the SPARC microprocessor at an early and critical stage of the company's development.   The panel was expertly moderated by my Northeastern University MSEE classmate Dave House. CHM CEO/Prez John Hollar did a great job introducing and closing the program.  

After a three-year restoration project at The National Museum of Computing, the Harwell Dekatron (aka WITCH) computer was rebooted on 20 November 2012 to become the world's oldest original working digital computer. Now in its seventh decade and in its fifth home, the computer with its flashing lights and clattering printers and readers provides an awe-inspiring display for visiting school groups and the general public keen to learn about our rich computer heritage.

Several very provocative doomsday scenarios were discussed, but then refuted by subject matter experts called up to the stage to engage in conversation with the program hosts.  For each scenario top scientists were called on stage to discuss and refute several spectacular predictions about the end of the world as well as scientific theories about how it might end. This was a live taping of a "to be edited" future radio show.

The doomsday scenarios included: Mayan calendar ending 12/21/12, asteroids, global warming/ climate change, world-wide pandemics, etc...

A handful of former Shockley Semiconductor Labs employees recently got together at the Computer History Museum in Mt View, CA to tour a semiconductor exhibit on silicon.  

http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1956-Silicon.html

1. Here's the reunion story from today's San Jose Mercury:

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mike-cassidy/ci_21854588/cassidy-shockley-semiconductor-alumni-remember-where-silicon-valley

2. Oral history is at:  http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102658033

On October 16th, Rick Rashid, Microsoft Research's first employee and now its Chief Research Officer, engaged in a spirited conversation with NY Times science & technology journalist John Markoff at the Computer History (CHM) museum in Mt View, CA.  The discussion was part of the museum’s “Revolutionaries” series, which is not to be confused with the "Revolutions exhibit."  The  former is a luminary lecture series sponsored by Intel.  The latter is the museum's marque exhibit, which cost millions of dollars to develop and several years to put together.  

1.  The venerable Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mt View, CA recently launched a multimedia blog, with contributors from their seasoned staff of curators and subject matter experts.  

CHM Prez John Hollar told me,  "This has been one of the most important initiatives CHM has taken in the area of digital content and distribution.  It is and will continue to be a window into the museum's work by publishing different types of content on a variety of interesting topics."

@CHM is the blog name.  Check it our here:  http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/

A Sell Out/SRO crowd of over  400 people attended an outstanding Computer History Museum (CHM) talk by Ken Segall, author of the book, Insanely Simple:  The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success.   Mr. Segall was interviewed by Harry McCracken of Time magazine about his  his experiences with Steve Jobs and other executivess at Apple.  Mr.

Back in a previous century — when I was a doctoral student and aspiring academic — I met some interesting researchers who were then trying to contradict (or at least temper) some of the wild claims made about the first mover advantage. Anyone knows the computer industry knows that IBM didn’t invent the mainframe, Sun the workstation or Apple† the PC, but all nonetheless became market leaders.

I listened to a radio program on the subject of trap streets. Fictitious streets, towns and other pieces of geography added to a map made copying detectable, since if the other map had been independently created it could not contain these inventions, a trap. This phenomenon has come into sharp relief because of the rise of computer map systems, either on the web or through satellite based navigation systems (GPS) that have put the details of maps under more scrutiny and daily use.

The Computer History Museum rececntly hosted a forum with John Gertner, the author of a new book about Bell Labs. Here is the link.

Gertner discusses the many world-changing inventions and innovations that came out of the Labs, especially during its peak years of innovation from the late 1920s through the 1980s.