Vintage Technology Collector

The dot-com boom-and-bust is often compared to the 1849 Gold Rush, and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos offers historical evidence showing how similar they were: from the riches made by pioneers to the media hype that attracted luckless speculators. But a better analogy can be found in the early days of the electric industry, he shows us. His conclusion in 2003: "I believe there's more innovation ahead of us than behind us." Filmed Feb 2003

UNIVAC is one of the earliest commercial computers and was easily the most famous computer of the 1950s. This film, produced between 1950 and 1952, shows how the UNIVAC computer was used in business, defense and by the census. The film shows several of the important portions of the UNIVAC system at work, including the high-speed printer, the UNISERVO tape drive, the UNITYPER, card readers and the mercury delay line tanks that served as main memory. The programming process is fully discussed and a business problem is demonstrated. These films served a promotional film as well as a way to demystify computers to the average person.

TechRepublic reports: "For many of us, the first computer we can remember having was the Commodore 64. For me the Commodore 64 replaced an Intellivision console and I was intrigued by the ability to not only play games but to also connect to an online community via a 300 baud modem. The Commodore 64 was extremely powerful in its day and we can still marvel at the beauty of its simple design in this TechRepublic Cracking Open." If you have never seen inside a Commodore 64 then, the article provides a fairly closeup view of the devices inner-workings.

TechRepublic reports: "For many of us in the baby-boom generation, the first computer we can remember having in our homes was the famous Commodore 64. In the early 1980s, this was a very successful home personal computer. It was the first computer I had that not only played games but also had word processing and a modem for downloading free and shareware applications. In many ways, the Commodore 64 was the pioneer of everything we take for granted in a personal computer world today. After soaking in some nostalgia, we plan to Crack Open this C64 to see what makes it tick." Here is another golden oldie from the 80's.

TechRepublic reports: "Before Microsoft and Bill Gates took control of the personal computer market, personal computers such as the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (aka CoCo) were all the rage. The Model 3134 TRS-80 shown in this TechRepublic Photo Gallery, came with a whopping 16K or RAM memory. Our TRS-80 CoCo is slated for a Cracking Open Gallery in the near future." Meet the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (aka CoCo). I still remember when Radio Shack was selling these in their stores.

Game Valhalla reports: "Peter Hirschberg has just finished his stunning retro-gaming heaven, a Valhalla for the best arcade video games ever. His Luna City Arcade has 57 fully-restored arcade classics, which span from Asteroids to Zaxxon, plus a whole load of pinballs. Amazingly enough, he does all this on his own dime, for the love of it. This personal museum is open now to the public by invitation only, and the best thing: entrance and quarters are completely free for his guests. Check the video, huge gallery and the interview with Peter after the jump." Very impressive collection of video games...

See the TV model trends of the last century. It has a pretty interesting evolutionary path.