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Posts with tag history

History of the Cell Phone, In One Minute (Video)


We've covered cell phone histories before. But while the the previous cell phone retrospectives were photographs, the one above is full of morphing handsets put to the sounds of Zongamin's 'Bongo Song.' Even better still, this overview of mobile handsets occasionally pauses to present you with tidbits of information, 'Pop-Up Video' style, so you're not just looking at pretty pictures, you're also learning about some major milestones in an industry that blossomed at an incredible rate. [Source: LiveLeak]

Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Now Online and Interactive



USAToday reports that The National Archives and Records Administration and Footnote.com have teamed up and launched an online, searchable version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

"We know that there are many untold experiences represented on that Wall, and we hope that this interactive version of the memorial helps those affected by the war by sharing their stories," said Footnote.com CEO Russell Wilding, on the National Archives and Records Administration Web site.

Essentially an enormous, five-gigapixel image of the Vietnam Memorial built using over 6,000 photographs, the site is completely searchable by name, date of birth, date of death -- even rank, grade and specialty. Users can over each of the 58,320 names and add stories, tributes and photographs after registering with the site.

We checked it out and unfortunately the site is running a little slow -- due, no doubt, to an influx of traffic -- but we hope it'll speed up soon once the initial interest slows down.

From USAToday

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A Photo History of Cell Phones

The history of cell phones is a big and clunky one, as witnessed in a historical slideshow featured on MSN Tech & Gadgets (via PC World). From landmark dialers like the two-pound Motorola DynaTAC 8000X all the way up through to the iPhone, the list is a fun and sometimes embarrassing skip down memory lane. In addition to predecessors of great things to come, like the first Treo or BlackBerry, the list also includes famous flops, such as the N-Gage and Motorola ROKR.

Enjoy the many, many "I can't believe I actually owned one of those" moments.

From MSN Tech and Gadgets

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Is Dell as Important as Macintosh?


Dell is officially history. No, no, no... the Texas-based computer manufacturer hasn't declared bankruptcy -- it's been inducted into the Smithsonian. Michael Dell has donated a small collection of items to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, including his employee badge, a current model PC and one of the first computers he ever sold in 1985 under the brand name PC Limited.

This puts Dell in an elite category, since the only other computers at the Smithsonian are an Altair Computer, an original IBM PC and the first Macintosh. According to the museum, Dell was inducted because of its success in the business world. After all, the now global powerhouse's meager beginnings can be traced back to Michael Dell's dorm room and just $1,000 of 'capital.' "When you think about it," said museum director Brent Glass, "American history and its economic history are synonymous."

The Dell pieces will be temporarily on display in the 'Treasures of American History' exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum until the American History Museum re-opens next summer following renovations.

From USA Today

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Google Gets to Know You Better

Google Web History

Today Google turned a slightly scarier shade of Big Brother with its announcement of Web History, a new feature for the widely used Google Toolbar plug-in for Web browsers.

Similar to the history feature already a part of most browsers, Google's new tool indexes every single page you visit online for easy retrieval later should you want to view those pages again.

"Imagine being able to search over the full text of pages you've visited online and finding that one particular quote you remember reading somewhere months ago," Google's Payam Shodjai wrote today on the company's official blog. "Imagine always knowing exactly where you saw something online [...] Better yet, imagine having this wealth of information work for you to make searching for new information easier and faster."

Sounds great, but why all the fuss?

First of all, unlike your browser's history, which is stored on and accessible only from your PC, your Google Web History is stored on Google's servers. The advantage is that you can now access these pages from any PC in the world, but it also means that Google has 24/7 access to this same information, so you'd better hope you didn't accidentally land on some crazy website of ill-repute, or Big Brother may some day come knocking on your door.

Google already targets ads at Gmail users by scanning keywords within your Gmail e-mails. It won't be long before those ads are also following the trail of breadcrumbs we all leave behind each day as we traverse the Internet.

That said, don't get us wrong. We think Web History is a great idea that will prove incredibly useful to many people. We're just happy that it's something you must opt into, as opposed to it being turned on by default when you install Google Toolbar.

From The Official Google Blog


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