Author: Alan Oppenheimer
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Bits Pretending to be Atoms
As our world becomes more digital, we are being surrounded by bits pretending to be atoms. That’s what the whole field of augmented reality (AR) is about. Through a headset or handheld device, the atoms of our “real” reality are augmented by images created from bits on the device. We then perceive our overall reality…
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From Bits to Life
Craig Venter took a page out of Lynn Conway‘s book and was able to convert bits to the ultimate form of atoms: life. Venter and his team were able to create a novel living bacterium whose DNA atoms (genome) were determined by bits representing that DNA. Venter’s bacterium wasn’t created solely from bits. In fact…
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Craig Venter 1946-2026
Craig Venter, leader of a commercial effort which paralleled the government’s Human Genome Project (HGP), has died. Venter passed away less than six months after his frequent rival James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and first director of the HGP. Whereas Watson had been working towards a human genome his whole career, Venter…
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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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So Far: Looking back 50 years ago from 40 years ago
In preparation for the 50th anniversary of Apple’s founding, which will be this Wednesday, April 1, we went into our personal archives to uncover a book Apple wrote 40 years ago to celebrate its 10th anniversary. “So Far: The First Ten Years of a Vision” was given out to Apple employees in 1987 to commemorate…
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Spring Forward
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, today is the first full day of Spring, with the earth’s tilt sideways to the sun, and day and night equal everywhere. Humanity has, for thousands of years, used calendars to keep track of the Past, Present, and Future. The basics of the world’s most popular calendar were laid down…
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