Tag: RETROTECH

There is no denying that the '80s were the hey day of educational video games. We can't even count the number of hours we spent sitting in front of our IBM PCs, Apple IIs, and TRS-80s playing 'Oregon Trail,' 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego,' and 'Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.' The Educational Games Research Blog has compiled a list of its top 10 educational games from the '80s, and we're ...

Have you ever wondered what royalty eats? We have. We also sometimes think about what rich people eat... We bet its really, really yummy. Sigh... Jan Wilkinson, the director of the University of Manchester's John Rylands Library, has plans to put the cookbook created by the chefs of King Henry II online. The 14th-century book is one of 40 rare manuscripts photographed and placed online by the ...

Eastman Kodak Co. may be ceasing production of its pioneering color film Kodachrome, devotees worriedly told the AP. For decades, Kodachrome's uniquely vibrant colors made it the favorite medium of multitudinous still and video photographers, including amateur snapshot takers and National Geographic contributors alike. Since the '80s, the film's popularity has taken severe hits, one with the ...

It's always fun to look back to see the "cutting edge" of technology from eras past. If you're in London, you'll have to stop by the British Library Business and Intellectual Property Centre, where a collection of Victorian era gadgets has gone on display. Some of the gadgets are terribly unsophisticated precursors to modern must-haves, such as the wrist-watch-styled GPS ancestor with scrolling ...

One music retailer in California has cornered the music cassette sales market. Big deal, you say? Well, it is when you consider that, in jail, digital music players are useless and CDs are dangerous contraband. But, for some reason, cassette tapes and players are allowed, which means that millions of people in this country are forced to use an outdated method of music distribution that many ...

Oh, gross! This story sounds like it came from The Onion, but be afraid: The UK Guardian's Observer newspaper said it, and so it must be true. Turns out a devastating virus, or "Tape Mould" as the Brits are calling it, is ravaging VHS tapes from the '80s and '90s all over the United Kingdom. ('Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'! 'Desperately Seeking Susan'! 'Degrassi Jr. High'! -- all gone!) More ...

Researchers have uncovered an old recording of the human voice. Not impressed? You should be. The recording predates Thomas Edison's 1877 recording of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" by nearly two decades. The 10-second clip of a unknown person singing the folk song "Au Clair de la Lune" was recorded by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville in 1860. According to an article in today's New York Times, ...

In a bit of major interstellar concurrence, New York-based Web developer Dan Budiac just paid $2,600 on eBay to buy the same model Apple II he grew up with two decades ago. Which, oddly enough, is about $200 less than he'd pay for a brand new MacPro that came out less than two months ago. The Apple IIc was still in the original packaging and had never been opened. "When this auction came ...