Month: April 2026
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From Bits to Chips
The silicon-based integrated circuit, a.k.a. IC or chip, was productized in the early 1960s, giving rise to not just the name of a San Francisco Bay Area valley, but an entire industry. Like other similar technologies, chip design and manufacturing initially required the resources of large organizations. Today it’s another example of how much easier…
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From Bits to Atoms
The previous post talked about how technology has moved the world from physical (atoms) to digital (bits), as epitomized by Alan’s bookshelf. But technology has moved the world the other direction too. Back in 1986, Apple Computer spent $15 million for a Cray X-MP, then one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. They used…
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From Atoms to Bits
In 1995, MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte authored Being Digital. The insightful book presented a history of digital technologies to date, followed by generally accurate predictions of how those technologies would advance and affect society. A central conceit of the book is how the world is moving from “atoms” to “bits.” Atoms being a…
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A bit more on Apple’s 50th
Not surprisingly, there’s been more than a bit of coverage on Apple’s 50th anniversary. There would have been even without Apple’s special 24-hour-only video on apple.com And even without Apple’s employee-only Paul McCartney concert on the Apple Park (spaceship) campus. Perhaps the most interesting coverage from Alan and Priscilla’s point of view was a New…
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Distributing the Future for Half a Century
The tagline for our blog is “Distributing the Future since 1983.” The Future we have helped to distribute would have been quite different had Apple not started on that distribution even before we did. On April 1, 1976. Fifty years ago today. No fooling. Founded as the Apple Computer Company, then Apple Computer, and now…
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