Vintage Technology Collector

Network World reports: "Nov. 21 marks the 42nd anniversary of the first permanent Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) link between UCLA's Interface Message Processor (IMP) and the IMP at the Stanford Research Institute. By Dec. 5, 1969, the original four-node ARPANET environment was set up. History notes this network as the world's first operational packet switching network and the core of what is today’s Internet. UCLA recently opened the Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site and Archive in honor of the ARPANET project’s overseer Professor Leonard Kleinrock, to preserve and celebrate the birthplace of the Internet. The first message between the nodes had been sent by Kleinrock on Oct. 29, 1969. " (See the slideshow )

An original Apple 1 Computer from 1976 is now available on eBay for with a starting bid: US $175,000 .00, the auction ends at Dec 20, 2011 11:23:22 PST . The description states: "Original Apple 1 Computer made and purchased in 1976. A keyboard that was used with it will be included. Also a copy of the owners manual signed by Woz. Special courier delivery and payment arrangements- contact by email through ebay. No shipping fee.Will provide additional photos upon request."

Technology's come so far, but we still crave cool retro gadgets to remind us all of our childhoods! Tom runs down the Top 5 most wanted retro tech according to GDGT.

Part 1 In their rare joint appearance at All Things Digital 5, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates discuss their contributions to the technology industry, the qualities they most respect in one another. D/All Things Digital text. Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

This is a rare treat to see an APPLE-1 (clone) in action. It gives you a greater appreciation for how good we have it now (at least from a computing standpoint).

View the evolution of Apple products in photos from CBS News, from the Apple 1 to the iPhone 4.

Steve Jobs died today and to his family and friends I offer my condolences. In honor of his achievements as the CEO of Apple, I have included a video that offers a brief overview of Apple's history and accomplishments. In my not so humble opinion, Steve Jobs was the most charismatic CEO of any company, and had the ability to influence people with the company's products. Apple has never really been that innovative from a technology perspective. Although their user interfaces and product designs have always been considered the best, and their marketing campaigns were genius. Under Steve Jobs they were able to create products that popularized technologies. For example there were several other MP3 players years before the iPod, there were also several other smartphones years before the iPhone.  

This is pretty cool, its two 3.5 floppy drives playing Imperial march. Also, if you like this video check out:  Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix

eWeek.com reports: "Few would disagree Google is the premier Web services company, offering the world's most popular search engine, the world's leading video Website in YouTube, a successful Webmail product in Gmail, and even a fledgling social network in Google . Perhaps no effort cemented Google's presence as a Web giant than the Chrome Web browser, which the company launched Sept. 1, 2008. Just three years in, Chrome has 15.5 percent market share, according to Net Applications, and over 120 million users worldwide, according to Google's last count in May. The company's speedy V8 JavaScript parsing engine, paired with sandboxed tabs that limit crashes to one tab per failure and a user-friendly interface, have contributed to Chrome's rise. Google is also trying to move the needle forward for HTML5, the Web language standard that the search giant, Facebook and other native Web development companies are embracing to propel their applications forward." (...

ExtremeTech reports: "Throughout the history of computers, one aspect has plagued and restricted its growth more than any other: permanent storage. From the very first computers that used punched cards and tape for input and storage to the refrigerator-sized hard drive (pictured right), the tale of non-volatile memory lays the foundations for today’s ubiquitously digital world. At the same time, however, computer storage is strangely disassociated from the breakneck advances in silicon transistor fabrication, and so it offers an interesting counterpoint to the Megahertz War, Moore’s Law, and today’s surge towards low-power system-on-chip computing." (read the rest of the article )

eWEEK reports: "Aug. 12 marked the 30th anniversary of the introduction of IBM’s 5150 personal computer. Recently, IBM executive Mark Dean, one of the engineers of the original IBM PC, said the post-PC era is here, and that it's not the devices, but the social interaction they enable, which now is driving innovation."  (Read the rest of the article )

PC Pro reports: "A single photograph, scraps of circuit diagrams drawn from memory and a pile of disused components – it isn’t much to go on, but from such meagre beginnings, engineers rebuilt one of the precursors to the modern computer. The Tunny decryption machine – on display at The Museum of National Computing at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire – was a feat of engineering both during World War II when it was created, and over the past five years when it was rebuilt. This is the story of how a team of volunteers turned scraps of information into a fully functioning replica of a machine that helped to win the war." (read the rest of the article )

The Kenbak-1 is regarded by the Computer History Museum of America as the worlds first personal computer. Robert Nielsen owned one of these machines since 1971 and in this video he shows you the inside of it. A rate KENBAK-1 computer is for sale on eBay.com right now.

The New Yorker reports: "ANNALS OF BUSINESS about Xerox PARC, Apple, and the creation of the personal computer. Describes a visit by Steve Jobs to Xerox PARC in 1979. Xerox PARC was the innovation arm of the Xerox Corporation. In 1970, Xerox had assembled the world’s greatest computer engineers and programmers, and for the next ten years they had an unparalleled run of innovation and invention. By 1979, Apple was already one of the hottest tech firms in the country. So Jobs proposed a deal: he would allow Xerox to buy a hundred thousand shares of his company for a million dollars—its highly anticipated I.P.O. was just a year away—if PARC would “open its kimono.”" This is probably the best article on the subject I have seen. Note: To read the full article requires a subscription.

Molly gives us some video game history, telling the tale of the Great Video Game Crash of '83.

On eBay is a Popular Electronics Magazine from January 1975, which has a famous article about the Altair 8800 in it. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia (whole article ): "A cover story on Popular Electronics could launch a new product or company. The most famous issue, January 1975, had the Altair 8800 computer on the cover and this ignited the home computer revolution. Paul Allen showed that issue to Bill Gates. They wrote a BASIC interpreter for the Altair computer and started Microsoft."

Watch a full upgrade of the OS from MS-DOS 5 to Windows 7.

[ITEM DESCRIPTION] TITLE :RARE PIPIN ATMARK BOXED GAMES CONSOLE GENRE :GAMES SYSTEM WHOLE STATE :USED You don't see many of these on eBay. Its one of those failed product re-banded by Apple that no one talks about. For more information, check out the following Wikipedia article .

The evolution of hard drives | Storage - InfoWorld : "The history of the hard drive, from monsters that required teams of technicians to operate to coin-sized flash drives"