Author: Alan Oppenheimer
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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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Behind the Future: Bell Labs
A recent article in the New York Times, Inside the Birthplace of Your Favorite Technology, provides an overview of some of the major contributions to the Future that AT&T’s Bell Labs research facility has made over the past century. Not given as much credit as Apple, Xerox, and others for its Future contributions, New Jersey…
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Left Behind on Purpose: The Light Bulb?
More surprising than the planned obsolescence of analog TV was the planned obsolescence of the light bulb. The light bulb? Yes, the incandescent light bulb. Invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, light bulb technology remained essentially unchanged for over a century. Fluorescent lighting became popular in businesses, but households continued to use Edison’s technology well…
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Left Behind on Purpose: TV
Many technologies are left behind as an accidental side-effect of the adoption of newer technologies. For instance the decline of the post office. Or “video killed the radio star.“ But some technologies are left behind intentionally, often with a very complex planning cycle to do so. In the 1990s it became clear that there was…
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Left Behind in the Future
At the end of our last post, we asked “What’s next?” as far as potential Future obsoleted technologies. Why not ask one of those potential Future obsoleted technologies that question. “List the items in the graphic” Produce? ChatGPT: “Let me clarify what I meant… Bananas aren’t obsolete. But driving somewhere weekly to buy bananas might…
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