Posts tagged Retro at Switched

Posts with tag retro

Inventor of First Business Computer Dies

by Will Safer, posted Jun 30th 2008 at 3:55PM

What if the latest technology news came not out of Microsoft or Apple but instead from McDonald's or Pizza Hut? It would be surprising news, to say the least. Even so, it turns out that one of the biggest advances in computer tech for business was developed by an English food company back in 1951, and its principal designer, David Caminer, died on June 15 at the age of 92.

Caminer is credited by Guinness World Records with creating the world's first business computer on behalf of his employer, J. Lyons & Co, which operated a chain of bakeries and food shops. While other companies, such as IBM, soon overtook the British firm (due to what Caminer said was arrogance and a failure to appreciate the rapid pace of technology by his employer), it is Caminer who gets the credit for devising the business machine. Its first task was to calculate costs, prices and margins of that week's baked output.

Caminer's goal was to speed up the logistics and payroll process for Lyons, which besides running stores also served events at Wimbledon and Windsor Castle. While it took an accountant eight minutes to calculate an employee's pay, the computer, called LEO (short for Lyons Electronic Office), needed only 1.5 seconds. Although the LEO 1 has less than 100,000th the power of a current desktop personal computer it did have all those cool vacuum tubes. They hummed.

What was one thing Caminer did have in common with other great technology inventors? No college degree. (But to all you kids out there, Switched says "Be cool. Stay in school.")

The real innovation of Caminer's machine was that it could be loaded with different programs to work on different tasks. And thus modern business computing was born. [Source: The Seattle Times]

Gallery: A History of Computer Firsts

World's First 'Modern' Computer Turns 60

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 21st 2008 at 1:09PM

It was 60 years ago that the first modern computer -- at least according to some -- was born in a lab in Manchester, England. The Small Scale Experimental Machine, or Baby, as it was affectionately known, was the first truly reprogrammable computer that had an analog for RAM. Unlike its predecessors, the ENIAC and Colossus, Baby could accomplish a variety of tasks by inputting different instructions "right out of the box," so to speak (ENIAC and Colossus could theoretically serve multiple uses, but only after several days or weeks of complex rewiring). Baby was the first general purpose computer as we've come to understand the term.

It first successfully completed a set on instructions on June 21, 1948, calculating the highest factor of a prime number, which would be 1.

By todays standards, Baby was absurdly primitive, its CRT memory unit could store a total of 1024 bits of information, with less power than a modern pocket calculator (it could take around an hour to do simple tasks). By contrast even bargain basement PCs today come with 1 gigabyte of memory, or 8 billion bits.

Baby was the immediate precursor of the Manchester Mark I and the Ferranti Mark I, the first commercially available computer. A working replica of Baby is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. [Source: BBC]

Oldest Recording of Computer Music Uncovered

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 18th 2008 at 3:03PM

Oldest Recording of Music Performed by a Computer Uncovered

Computer-based music had its humble beginnings, it turns out, as a rather tuneless scratchy recording of a melody featuring 'God Save the King,' 'Baa Baa Black Sheep,' and 'In the Mood' performed by a Ferranti Mark 1, the first commercially available general purpose computer. The performance was recorded in 1951, six years earlier than the previous oldest recording of computer music, performed by an IBM mainframe.

The recording was by the BBC for a show called 'Children's Hour' after it had discovered that programmers had coaxed computers to play music. The performance doesn't sound much better than a 6-year-old kid blowing into a bass kazoo, but it's nonetheless historic as it is currently the oldest recording of its type.

Still, the BBC tune is by no means the oldest instance of computer-based music. That honor goes to the CSIRAC, a Australian computer, which was the first computer to play music, beating the Ferranti by no more than a few months, but no recording of its performance has yet been unearthed.

The Ferranti Mark 1 is a direct descendant of Baby, the forefather of all modern computers, which the BBC is celebrating this month in honor of its 60th anniversary. [Source: BBC]

Yes, Vinyl is Back! (Again)

by Christine Whitney, posted Jun 14th 2008 at 2:30PM

Hooray! As we reported last year, vinyl, our favorite music format, is rumored to be making a comeback. A recent CNN article asserts that from 2006 to 2007, manufacturers' shipments of LPs increased by 36%, while shipments of CDs dropped over 17%. In your face, CDs and MP3s!

Hard-core music aficionados laud the analog sound delivered by records as more continuous and superior to digital recordings like those found on CDs. And LPs are so much more handsome and charming! Case in point: Our first LP was Iggy Pop's 'New Values' but our first CD was Ace of Base.

With the advent of MP3s, we've trashed most of our CDs [full disclosure: we held onto 'The Sign'] but the LPs remain. DJs and other eccentrics like ourselves have long been faithful to the LP format, but lately it's starting to make an incursion into the mainstream, as many mega music retailers such as Amazon.com and Best Buy have started offering LPs.

Mega-chains are not expected to cause competition for indie record stores, as their clientele and musical persuasions are dramatically different. Top sellers from the corporate end include Madonna's latest 'Hard Candy,' and everybody's parents' favorite standby, The Beatles' 'Abbey Road,' which you'd be loathe to find at the neighborhood record exchange. [Source: CNN]

Antiquated Hardware Used to Masterfully Remix Radiohead's Nude

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 7th 2008 at 12:16PM

It takes some serious game to rise above the legions of mediocre DIYers out there and stand tall as a true legend. Judging by the video posted up after the cut, James Houston can now consider himself one of the elite.

Somehow, this cat managed to tackle the nearly impossible task of remixing Radiohead's Nude without defacing it entirely (read: merging bits and pieces of the tune into a 4/4 arrangement and calling it a day). Instead, he utilized a host of aging hardware (Sinclar ZX Spectrum, Epson LX-81 dot matrix printer, HP Scanjet 3c, etc.) to create a rendition that even Yorke could admire.

For fans of In Rainbows and mesmerizing music videos alike, there's a must-see waiting just below.

[Via Hack-A-Day, thanks Eliot]

Continue reading Antiquated Hardware Used to Masterfully Remix Radiohead's Nude

World's Oldest Photograph Found?

by Will Safer, posted May 7th 2008 at 1:40PM

It's time for a high tech time warp.

Set your clocks for the last years of the 18th-century, because that's when the newly identified earliest example of a photograph was taken.

The picture is of a leaf and the photographer was likely one Thomas Wedgwood of Bristol, England, who lived from 1771 to 1805. Until now, the leaf photograph was thought to have been the work of Henry Fox Talbot, who is credited with taking the world's first photographs in the 1830s.

Early photos were produced on paper treated with silver nitrate to make it light-sensitive. The image was created by laying a leaf on the light-sensitive paper and exposing it to the sun. The exposed areas of the paper darkened, leaving a silhouette.

Wedgwood and other early photographers were not able to solve the problem of over exposure, so most of their early shots were destroyed.

Most of today's digital still cameras use charge coupled devices – or CCDs – to capture images. These chips sense the light and color that comes in through a camera's lens groups and converts it into data, ultimately producing digital images. Automatic settings help us prevent our shots from being over exposed.

An art historian who was asked to assess the photograph before the auction raised the possibility of the picture being even older than originally thought.

Sotheby's was set to auction the photo, which was expected to pull in between £50-£70,000 (about $100-135,000). It's holding off on the auction until the age of the paper can be precisely determined. The auction price then is expected to skyrocket. [Source: Daily Mail]

The iMac Turns 10, But Are Its Days Numbered?

by Tim Stevens, posted May 7th 2008 at 8:55AM

In early May of 1998, Apple launched a computer that was said to "deliver the things consumers care about most - the excitement of the Internet and the simplicity of the Mac." That computer was, of course, the iMac, a fruity-colored all-in-one machine that was advertised as being ridiculously easy to set up, use, and take online with (still a somewhat tricky process back in the late 90s). Now, 10 years on, Ars Technica takes a look back at the evolution of the iMac, and makes a few predictions about the machine's future.

Since then, the machine has shrunk considerably, ditching the giant old CRT monitor in favor of slim and bright LCD displays. Despite its size-shrink, it has also grown in performance in huge leaps and bounds. The first machine had a 233 megahertz CPU and just 32-megabytes of memory, while the latest model can be equipped with a 3.06 gigahertz CPU and two-gigabytes of memory. There's still no floppy disc on offer, though.

The iMac has continued to be quite popular, but Ars predicts its days are numbered. With two-thirds of all Macs being sold today going in laptop form, and that number doing nothing but increasing as people embrace mobile computing, the belief is that the iMac will go the way of the Macintosh Classic II, lost to the annals of history. [Source: Ars Technica]

'Duck Hunt' Lamp Sure to Make Retro Gamers Swoon

by Tim Stevens, posted May 6th 2008 at 6:17PM

'Duck Hunt' Lamp Makes Keeps Monsters Away for Retro Gamers

For young kids, whimsical bed-stand lamps are vital survival tools, necessary for keeping the monsters that dwell in dark corners at bay. That seems to be the purpose of this lamp we found over at Apartment Therapy Unplugged. It's made up of an old 'Duck Hunt' cartridge combined with a genuine Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Zapper. The lamp is topped with a suitably pixelated shade featuring your faithful dog from the game.

We hope that those old enough to remember 'Duck Hunt' are also old enough to not be afraid of the dark anymore, but regardless, it's enough to make any retro-loving gamer swoon -- assuming they haven't grown up to join PETA, of course. [Source: Unplggd]

Val Kilmer to Voice K.I.T.T. In New 'Knight Rider' TV Show

by Ian Rowan, posted Feb 8th 2008 at 1:27PM

For fans of the short lived Arrested Development , it will come as a shock and quite a blow that Will Arnett, who plays J.O.B. in the Fox show, has had to bow out of providing the voice for the smarter-than-thou K.I.T.T. car in the upcoming 'Knight Rider' TV show remake on NBC.

Turns out that there was a conflict of interest since his gravely voice had been used by GMC to grace its truck commercials and the 'Knight Rider' show is co-branded with Ford. D'oh.

So, a last minute replacement has been announced in the form of none other than Iceman, a.k.a. Val Kilmer.
Val's probably in the sound booth right now channeling the Shelby Mustang GT500KR, since the show is set to air in little less than two weeks...

Knight Rider is set to premiere on NBC on the 17th at 9pm EST.

From Knight Rider Online

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The Future According to 1967

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Sep 10th 2007 at 1:23PM

Its always fun to look back on what we thought the future would be like. Creepily enough this short film by Philco-Ford from 1967 is pretty spot on. The gadgets may look like '60s stereo equipment, but somehow they all provide many of the tech conveniences we have come to know and love, including shopping at home via computer, e-mail (or 'electronic 'correspondence,' as it is called in the video), and online bill payment and records -- all glowingly presented in a 1960s-style suburban utopia setting.

As fun as it is to watch the dated visions of a computer run future, some of the sexist overtone make for uncomfortable viewing -- "What the wife selects on her console, will be payed for by the husband at his counterpart console."

Also, don't miss the segment -- starring the same idealized 1960s family unit -- about the kitchen of the future. According to 1960s futurists, all homes would have hand-and-face dryers in the washrooms to replace towels. They also predicted that all food would be frozen and automatically inventoried and moved to ovens and such by a computer. Guess they didn't consider today's backlash against processed foods and the move towards organic and sustainable ingredients.

We're wondering, though, why there was no place for the ridiculous LG HDTV refrigerator?

From Retro Thing

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Original Atari TV Ad Unearthed

by Tom Conlon, posted Jul 10th 2007 at 5:19PM

The big E3 video game conference kicks off tonight in Santa Monica, California, which had us hankering for Retro Thing's recent compilation of of excellent game console ads from the '80s. A George Plimpton Intellevision classic is included, along with a Colecovision ad and a 'Legend of Zelda' commercial that defies explanation. Then, of course, there's the Atari spot above in which an entire family seems to be high on goofballs. Enjoy!

From Retro Thing

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Inventor of First Business Computer Dies

Gallery: A History of Computer Firsts

World's First 'Modern' Computer Turns 60

Oldest Recording of Computer Music Uncovered

Yes, Vinyl is Back! (Again)

Antiquated Hardware Used to Masterfully Remix Radiohead's Nude

World's Oldest Photograph Found?

The iMac Turns 10, But Are Its Days Numbered?

'Duck Hunt' Lamp Sure to Make Retro Gamers Swoon

Val Kilmer to Voice K.I.T.T. In New 'Knight Rider' TV Show

The Future According to 1967

Original Atari TV Ad Unearthed

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