Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Cool Stuff

Where Does The Term Computer Bug Come From?

Have you ever heard the term ‘there’s a bug in the software?’ or ‘this software needs debugging?’.

In September 9, 1945, Harvard, computer computer geeks found moth trapped in the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator that they had been working on. Those geeks took the moth and taped it to a computer log, which you can see in the image. After that incident, word got out someone had ‘debugged’ the system, and so the popular term, 'debugging' was popularized.

There are people who state that the word ‘bug’ is actually much older, and being used by Thomas Edison. That may or may not be true, but we can state with certainty that actual popularization occurred back in 1945.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Cool Stuff First Mouse



What the heck is this crazy cool stuff in that picture? It looks more like a chopping board not a gadget, but this little wooden block was at the forefront of technology in the sixties. It was invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1964 at Stanford Research Institute. Beautifully shellacked, square and cumbersome this puppy ushered in a new age in technological sophistication






Unlike the mouse we use today, that uses either a ball or light to move your screen pointer, this mouse had two wheels perpendicular to angle that allowed the mouse to move up or down on the screen. So now you know my little techno-noobs, you'll get more cool stuff later.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Remember the Sony Walkman?


Remember the original Sony Walkman TPS-L2? No? Go ask your older brother or sister, they probably had one. That old clunker was made by the Sony Corporation in 1979, and it ushered in a new age for music. Man, being able to carry your music with you, anywhere, that was priceless. Oh, yeah, you're probably thinking, "What about the Ghetto Blaster?, that was portable". I say get real dude, the Ghetto blaster was too 'in your face' and unsophisticated. You couldn't get away with it if you were high-broughing it with high society and all that.

The idea behind the Sony Walkman was simple, ‘Shrink tape player, add headphones, make lotsa dolla’. Music was now in the domain of the individual and not the group, it was a private thing, your thing, no one could guess that even though you looked like a gorilla, you were listening to Beethoven 9th in B flat-ulence. Walkman users and abusers could go everywhere, tuning it all in and tuning the world out.

Oh yeah, the Walkman was also a great way to meet chicks. Basically, the girls knew that you had two things going for you, one, you had the music and two, you had the money. Not just any Joe Shmoe could afford the hefty price, don't ask me what the price was cause I forget things, but it was up there with up-town hookers and the clap. What I really liked about the Walkman, you ask? 'Public singing'... which was often the domain of crazy people now a non-exclusive club for all. Gotta love those good old days, man good times bubba, gooooood times.....

Friday, November 21, 2008

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