I love tech history. I enjoy how we evolved from computers that fill a room to computers we wear on our bodies. I have put a full archive of tech history together at Wikazine. You can also talk history at Google +. I am also a podcaster and V-caster at Geekazine and a Podcast Coach at How to Record Podcasts. You can also sign up for a Helpout
1979 – Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston incorporate Software Arts to publish their program called “VisiCalc” – an early spreadsheet program. It was geared for the Apple II computer line. This was the first real business application – sometimes called the “Killer App”.The company was later renamed to VisiCorp
1983 – It was an order by the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense, Richard DeLauer. The ARPANET was to have finished a conversion from the Network Control Protocol it was on, to Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. Otherwise known as TCP/IP.The transistion went smooth, and everyone got a button for their hard work stating “I survived the TCP/IP transition”.
Friend Andy Marken asked to post this great article on Atari with the Tramiels. It was a great insight into Jack Tramiel and family’s life. Of course, if you were a kid growing up in the Atari days (like me), you were always hoping for the new game or program that would keep you fixated on a computer screen for hours.
Andy was Atari’s PR those six years. He started in 1986, then was fired and came back for another two. After a second firing, he was then brought back for the final two. His account is much first-hand.
So here is Andy’s telling of the golden age of Atari.
Atari with Tramiels – Six Years of Loving Battles
Not sure why, but I was recently asked to shed some light on the real gaming era … when Atari reemerged under JT (Jack Tramiel). You know, the period where game developers slept under their desks, survived on Twinkies and HoHos, wrote elegantly tight code and had to figure out which platform to develop for.
Jack Tramiel and his sons Sam, Leonard and Gary bought Atari from Warner Bros. Jack focused on two things there – his family and winning in business. He enjoyed them both with relish.
During this eight years, Atari put out the Atari 7800, Atari ST, Atari Portfolio, Atari Lynx and almost the Jaguar. I still have a virgin (still in the box) 7600, two Portfolios and two Lynx systems, plus a lot of game cartridges and accessories.
Jack Tramiel and Sons
Tramiel and Sons – Tough SOBs.
I’ve heard a lot of stories about what an SOB Jack was but that was never my experience with him or the family. Tough? Yes! Determined? Yeah! Opinionated? Darn right, and you always hated to admit it but he was usually right.
Jack had no love for the company he founded and then resigned from because of a “disagreement” with the board at Commodore. He wasn’t too happy about the brash young kid who started that company called “Apple” either … something about him just ticked JT off.
Jobs wanted products for “the rest of us” and Jack wanted products for “the masses.”
The truth is, Jack Tramiel just plain loved to win in business – as long it was ethical. Also, as long as you didn’t lie to him, stretch the truth, take credit for something you hadn’t done, worked your butt to the bone and delivered … things were good.
Seeing him walking toward you in one of the Atari halls did get the adrenaline going because he just looked meaner than a junkyard dog. In the darkest reaches of your mind, you wondered what you had screwed up.
Tramiel was Sales-Driven
At the time, Atari wasn’t really a marketing company, just one that focused on the bottom line that allocated 10 percent for advertising, PR and whatever would get them over that hump. Jack and Sam Tramiel (Sam was the CEO) hired the most brilliant marketing guys!
Then, about six months later, there would be a new “most brilliant marketing guy”.
One occasion I sat in the new Bosses office as he outlined new strategies. I asked him if he had run the plans by Jack and Sam yet, which he responded he didn’t have to – he was given “full reign”. My response was something to the effect of “Yeah, but final decisions are made by the two corner offices – opposite sides of the building – and Friday night over family dinner.”
Jack Tramiel relished helping the new guy by bringing him into his office, reaching down his throat, tearing up his ideas, ripping them up with logic, ramming them back down the throat and saying he was glad they had the little talk. At least that’s the way one of the marketing types we got to know better than most (and who lasted longer) described the weekly results meetings.
For Jack it was all about sales – not elaborate strategies or plans. Fortunately, I spent most of my time with Sam, Gary and the rest of the team.
Atari 7800
Atari 7800 Missed the Mark
My first shot in the golden age of video gaming was with the introduction of the Atari 7800. True, it looked a whole lot like the Atari 2600. There was some innovative hardware in that machine to push gaming forward. The two responsible for the 7800 were Leonard Tramiel – who was an astrophysicist by education and computer designer by love – and Antonio Salerno, VP of apps.
The 7800 was a great game system and might have been more if General Computer Corp – the outside company that conceived the 7800 and made all the game cartridges – didn’t hold it up.
Of course, with NES just putting out their system and taking 90% of the market, the generally sluggish sales of game machines made it a failure. In gaming, you need titles to sell systems – but you need to sell systems to attract title developers.
Some things will never change.
Atari ST
Atari ST
While the 7800 did O.K., the Tramiel team focused on something they really knew/loved … computers for the masses and Commodore. The Atari ST was a home computer that got computer scientists, engineers, musicians excited simply because of the powerful Motorola MC68000 processor, Graphical User Interface, MIDI port and ROM – based TOS that was remarkably bug-free. The Atari ST was the “go-to” system for any CAD and desktop publisher, along with professional musicians.
Sam Tramiel headed the team. Atari ST introduced me to folks like Fleetwood Mac, Mike Oldfield, Jean-Michel Jarré, Fatboy Slim and even Madonna. Not to mention all the lost artist names today’s smartphone game players might have to search Wikipedia to learn about.
When it came to real-time 3D role-playing computer games, the ST and its advanced graphics opened up new vistas. There are still some that think the ST is a “helluva’ system!”
Atari Portfolio
Atari Portfolio – the first Sub-notebook?
The Atari Portfolio was a sub-notebook even before there was a category. To get people to understand it, we created a new category called “palmtop”.
Most just called it the Portfolio.
Powered by three AA batteries (AC adapter optional), it was an Intel 80C88-based system running the DIP OS with a whopping 128KB RAM and 256KB ROM. The Portfolio had an expansion port for parallel, serial, modem or MIDI expansion slots.
If you were lazy, forgetful or a show-off, you could put the speaker to a phone and automatically dial a phone number … cool.
The eight-line, 40-character screen was about as easy to read as emails on my smartphone today. The Portfolio was originally developed by DIP Research in England.
What more did you need in the 80s? Everything in one compact unit that could fit in your back pocket. With the shrunken QWERTY keyboard we saw any number of people typing at 20-30 wpm and were sure they were going to throw their thumb joints out. Reporters at the time even found it a great system for taking notes and tracking stuff.
Long-time friend Dick DeBartolo, better known as the Giz Wiz and writer at Mad Magazine, still tells us how much he liked the Portfolio.
In fact, there are a lot of folks who still do. It had all the features, capabilities you needed without all the frufru.
Atari Lynx
Atari Lynx
This was the portable game system to have (and I was/am a lousy gamer)! Sure, the dumb little Nintendo GameBoy had 80 percent of the market, but Jack Tramiel wouldn’t shy away from a good fight.
Developed by Epyx, Atari unveiled the Lynx at the Summer CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Chicago. It had brilliant color, supurb graphics, an ambidextrous layout and a decent selection of games.
I flew with Sam Tramiel to Chicago with the media ready to see what we were going to introduce. It didn’t really matter that the deal between the two firms was still a work-in-progress.
The night before the big unveil, I took a cab to O’Hare airport and picked up what we hoped would be the final manufacturing/marketing contract. I then delivered it to Sam’s room – at 5 in the morning. Wanting to sleep, I asked Sam if we were ready to go. He answered that he’d let me know at 7:45 (Press conference at 8).
He said if the contract was okay, everything would be great. If it wasn’t, it was going to be one of the shortest press conferences in history and I’d look like a damn fool. Just the kind of pep talk I needed!
Sam signed the contract, we had a fantastic press conference and reviewers were begging to get on the first look list. The only problem was it was priced at $179 against the anemic GameBoy’s $75-$90 price. The LCD manufacturer wouldn’t help lower their prices so we could match the NES system. This was something were Jack Tramiel – who wasn’t a lawsuit kind of guy – took the company to court – and won.
While this was going on Sam, Gary, Leonard and the team were busy developing a second-generation, more cost-effective Lynx. Just before the following Thanksgiving, we introduced the Lynx II that had a better feel, way of handling cartridges, battery life and a lower price.
We showed it off at the Marriot Marques in NYC overlooking the Times Square digital sign we rented for the occasion.While a young lady on our team trudged through the slush delivering seed review systems to radio, TV and print folks; Sam, other team members and I had back-to-back interviews. Most reviewers wouldn’t let the new Lynx go, so Sam was happy to offer them a special editorial discount and have the unit overnighted to them.
Suffice to say, everyone was happy – except the gal with the wet, cold feet.
The Lynx only had two shortcomings – a lack of widespread retail distribution and an unlimited selection of games. Before the evolution of online sales, not having product in every outlet hurt big time. So it didn’t matter the catalog, people couldn’t get their hands on a Lynx and the system failed.
The Lynx was so good, the company was recognized for pioneering the development of handheld games at the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards a few years ago. In spite of that, sales didn’t take off and we were fired … again. That is, until Sam was ready to kick-off the Jaguar…
This time, we added a one-year, no-cut contract. Tramiel, of course, didn’t accept it. Just as well – as much as we respected Jack and liked Sam, Gary, Leonard, trying to build excitement for the Jaguar as the Lynx would have been tougher than Sisyphus with two broken legs.
Still might have been fun to try. After all, I love a good battle!
It was Aug 10th, 2009 when the show went from weekly tech history to a daily show. 4 years later on Sept 17th, 2013, the 1,500 episode will air.
The Day in Tech History has been podcasting daily – 365 days a year (including leap year days) non-stop. It is only one of two podcasts that do that. The other is 365 Days of Astronomy.
Day in Tech History is on the March for Episode 2,000 which will hit on January 30, 2015.
If you want to know what happened on this day in tech history, then check out the Day in Tech History Podcast!
I am happy to announce that Day in Tech History is now available to download from the Amazon web store. The Day in Tech History mobile app includes 365 days worth of tech history content with more extras coming in the months ahead.
With the app, you will get the podcast early. Turn on push notifications to let you know when the next episode posts. Of course, Day in Tech History podcast posts EVERY DAY – 365 DAYS a Year since Aug 2009.
In the coming days, Day in Tech History will also be available for iOS devices. In the meantime, come to www.dayintechhistory.comfor your daily fix of tech history.
I got to walk around the Henry Ford Museum the other week before heading to the North American International Auto Show. Of course I was there earlier in the year and created the post – Visiting the Henry Ford Museum.
Here are some additional photos from the museum. Some parts have been added since I was last there. Enjoy!
radiopropeller henry ford museumportable TVplane henry ford museumphonespanorama phones exhibitfokker exhibit henry ford museumfoto fun stripshome-henry ford museumKennedy Car Henry Ford MuseumOutdoor Theaterpanorama 1930semergency radio henry ford museumcars of henry ford museumcarriage henry ford museumcarphone henry ford museumartillary henry ford museumAirplane – Henry Ford Museum8-track player50s jukebox henry ford museumrecord hifiwright brothers plane henry ford museumTVs at henry ford museumtrain henry ford museumTheater entrancesugar substitutestreamline railwaysteam trains henry ford museumsnoopy phonesilent filmssheer hair removalrecords at henry ford museum
Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s Day in Tech History annual year in review post. Just like last year we take a look at what happened the last 365 days. Of course all content will be added to the Wikazine page (www.wikazine.com) so you can enjoy the podcast episodes for 2013.
Apple’s long – drawn out lawsuit with Samsung over patents within their mobile products
February 1 – Facebook files papers for an initial public offering
February 2 – 15 year old Cim Stordal finds a cross-site scripting bug to Apple.
Apple loses a preliminary ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1, and Nexus for patent infringement
February 7 – Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock announced he will step down
February 11 – Apple requested a ban on sales in the US of Samsung made Galaxy Nexus citing patent violation
February 13 – Google gets final EU approval to purchase Motorola – a $12.5 billion dollar deal
February 20 – Samsung announces they will split off the LCD unit to Samsung Display Company. This is so the main unit can focus on their OLED technologies.
Google acquired Cuil’s final patents.
February 23 – Apple acquires Chomp, an app search and discovery service.
February 24 – Google sells of their stake in Clearwire, $47 million dollars worth.
Google improved their voice service by adding Google+ circles.
Tumblr announced within the next week, they will be implementing new policies banning any blog that promotes self-harm. Topics like anorexia, bulimia, purging, and suicide will be removed.
Entrepreneur Kevin Rose joins Google – Photo by Brian Solis
March 1 – Microsoft hired FTC attorney Randall Long – who led investigations of DoubleClick and AdMob
March 5 – Judge orders Google, Motorola to and Android data to Apple in regards to the $12.5 billion dollar acquisition of Motorola Mobility
March 7 – Google released a search app for Windows Phone
Apple announced the 3rd Generation iPad, with retina display (2048×1536), increased internal memory to 1 GB, and 4G models available from AT&T and Verizon. Apple also announced an updated Apple TV, and iLife, which programs like iMovie and Garage Band will be available with iOS 5.1 update
May 25 – A Judge rules that the girlfriend is not responsible for an accident the boyfriend got into when he was texting and driving. The accident involved a husband and wife, who were riding on their motorcycle, when they were hit by the boyfriend. The husband and wife both lost a leg in the accident.
May 26 – RIM announces it will be laying off 2,000 employees come June 1
May 27 – Arizona Man sues Google to take the trademark off the name. Says the name is too synonymous to search.
Apple announces Mountain Lion, iOS6 and debuts the Macbook Pro with Retina Display
June 1 – Google+ Local launched
June 8 – the Internet Society coordinates the World IPv6 Day, a day where internet service providers switch from the IPv4 protocol to IPv6. The switch keeps the internet from running out of internet addresses.
June 11 – Apple announced a new line of Macbook Pro computers, including the Macbook Pro with Retina Display. Also announced was iOS6 with new features including integrated Facebook and Apple Maps – along with guided access for those with visual disabilities, OS X Mountain Lion, and Airplay – being able to push video from one device to another. Mountain Lion upgrade will cost $19.99
June 15 – Microsoft wraps up the AOL patent deal, announced in April
June 18 – Yahoo! hires Michael Barrett as Revenue Chief. He was formerly at Google after a company acquisition.
Microsoft announces Surface Tablet – A tablet running Windows 8, in two processor configurations. ARM and Core i5. No prices were given, ARM Surface will come out with the release of Windows 8, with the i5 version coming out a couple months later.
June 19 – iPad app Flipboard announced they will have Google+ integration.
June 20 – All Googlemail in Germany will finally become Gmail after a long holdout from a german company with the gmail trademark.
James Holmes walks into an Aurora CO movie theater and opens fire.
July 3 Google announced they will be shutting down iGoogle, Google Video, Chatback, Google Mini and Symbian search.
A lost interview of Steve Jobs surfaces. It was put up on iTunes.
July 6 – Yahoo calls off patent battle with Facebook. They agree on partnership terms.
July 9 – The Web Apocolypse – A malicious code was found that will disable their computers on this day, due to the removal of key servers.
MegaUpload’s Kim DotCom extradition hearing was postponed until 2013 as search warrants were declared invalid.
July 11 – Russian parliment enact a Web blacklist for illegal websites.
July 12 – Yahoo! announces their was a major password leak as hacker D33Ds posted 450,000 log-ins obtained from the Yahoo! Contributor network.
July 15 – NBC purchases Microsoft’s side of MSNBC.com to officially split the venture. The site officially changed their logo to read NBCNews.com
South Korean musician PSY releases “Gangnam Style” – a popular song that becomes the first to hit 1 billion views on YouTube.
July 16 – Marissa Mayer is appointed new CEO of Yahoo! Mayer was an Exec over at Google. On that same day Mayer announced she was pregnant
July 20 – At the Premier of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, CO. James Holmes opened fire on one of the theaters, killing 20 and injuring many.
July 24 – Twitter announced they will release a tweet export tool. Users will be allowed to download all tweets they posted.
July 26 – Google launches their first fiber city in Kansas City, KS. Google also shows off Google Fiber TV service.
July 30 – Guy Adams had his personal Twitter account shut down because he tweeted NBC’s top Olympic exec’s email address. Guy worked for the Independent.
July 31 Twitter introduces ticker symbols for finance searches. Entering $Goog would get you Google’s stock price, for example.
A Facebook post of “Where are they now” re-opened a 25 year old murder case where two brothers (Higher Brothers) were found innocent because one person (who thought they were innocent) went looking for clues and found them.
Hotmail announced a revamp of their mail system. Hotmail is now Outlook and includes Facebook, Twitter links.
Google Surpasses Apple as top global leader – Apple starts pulling Google from iOS
August 1 – Mozilla releases Firefox 3.5
August 2 – Google surpasses Apple as ‘top global brand,’ according to analytics company General Sentiment. Google led with $756 million in brand value, as oppose to Apple’s $594 million.
August 6 – Apple announced they have removed YouTube from the native iOS. Google begins work on a standalone app
August 7 – Craigslist asks search engines to stop indexing their posts. This follows a lawsuit where websites 3tap and PadMapper were harvesting rental listings to increase traffic on their sites.
August 10 – FTC settles a Facebook privacy complaint. FTC says that Facebook must submit to privacy audits and obtain the users consent before sharing
August 13 – Google cuts 4,000 jobs at Motorola Mobility
August 15 – Google Maps charts 1 million public transit stops. They revamped the Android app to add them.
August 27 – Yahoo hires Kathy Savitt as CMO. She was CEO at Lockerz – a photo-sharing website.
August 30 – Google shuts down TV advertising sales platform
Mark Zuckerberg’s first Interview after Facebook IPO
September 5 – Google wins the patent for “Login to a computing devices based on facial recognition”.
September 10 – Google removes all autocomplete searches of Pirate Bay from their search engine
September 11 – Mark Zuckerberg talks at TechCrunch for the first time after the Facebook IPO. He talks about mobile devices and getting into the search business.
September 12 – Apple unveils the iPhone5 with new A6 processor and a smaller, yet wider screen. Apple also introduced iOS6 and announced a new version of iTunes.
September 13 – Nintendo announces the WiiU and TVii – available in November. The white “Basic” bundle is $300 and comes with a GamePad and Wii U with 8 GB of memory. The black “Deluxe” for $350 includes a 32 GB Wii U system, charger, stand and Nintendo Land.
October 2 – Using social networking, the NYPD brings down two New York gangs using evidence from Facebook.
Opera releases 12.1, including Retina and SPDY support
October 3 – The FTC announced a crackdown on international computer tech support scam. The scam involved a cold call to the home saying they were from Google and noticed the home PC had a virus on it. They would then take control of the PC and charged the users up to $450 to remove it.
October 10 – online auction retailer eBay launched a redesign of their site. Many say it looks a lot like Pinterest.
October 23 – Apple announces the iPad Mini for $329 Apple also announced the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display for $1699 and iBooks 3 with iCloud support
October 24 – Zynga loses %52.7 million in Q3. They announce a stock buyback to get the company under control.
October 26 – Paul Ceglia was arrested for a multi-billion dollar fraud against Facebook. He was the man who claimed he should own half of the social network.
Microsoft launches Surface RT – in ARM processor format. $499 for Surface with 32GB storage. Surface touch cover for $119.99 and tactile feel keyboard cover for $129.99
Microsoft launches Windows 8 OS with changes to the start menu into an animated tile screen. #39.99 upgrade via download or $79.99 for the DVD
October 29 – Microsoft releases Windows Phone 8 – codename “Apollo”.
Hurricane Sandy hits New York, New Jersey area. It flooded streets and subways and cut power to a lot of residents. Estimated damage was as $63 billion.
October 30 – Google announced new hardware via blog post due to Hurricane Sandy. The Nexus 4 smartphone ($299), Nexus 7 (starting at $199) and Nexus 10 tablet ($399).
Google announced they have tied Apple with over 700,000 Android apps in their app store.
Disney announced that it had purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion
Apple maps project manager Scott Forstall was fired.
John McAfee goes into hiding after his neighbor is killed
November 6 – FCC announced it had reached a $700,000 settlement with AT&T who allegedly overcharged wireless data customers.
Google rolls out newer page look. They move the navigation bar to the side.
Mozilla settled with the IRS for $1.5 million after a 2008 inquiry when Mozilla partnered with Google. November 7 – Microsoft released SkyDrive app for windows phone 8 devices. November 12 – Google was hit with a $208,000 fine by an Australian man because a 2004 shooting prompted Google to reference his name with organized crime.
John McAfee goes into hiding because his neighbor (Gregory Faull) was killed. McAfee stated he had to go into hiding because Belize police were out to get him.
November 19 – Facebook publicly denies a search alliance with Yahoo after reports from the Sunday Telegraph say other.
November 20 – Intel CEO Paul Otellini announces he will be retiring in May 2013
November 24 – The entire Beatles catalog was remastered on LP
November 26 – A fake press release on PRWeb announced Google purchased Wi-Fi provider ICOA for $400 million. The stock was frozen as the press release was found to be perpetrated by someone in Aruba.
Federal officials took down 132 websites that allegedly sold counterfeit merchandise during Cyber Monday.
November 29 – Apple launches iTunes 11 with a new redesigned interface and playback features.
Syrian IP address were unreachable. This made the country removed from the internet. The blackout comes from the intense fighting in Damascus. Syria has shut down the internet but only for a brief while. The Internet will go back online December 3.
December 10 – GMail goes down briefly due to a coding error
Facebook puts out a poll telling users to vote to keep a policy to veto policy changes. 300 million people need to veto this by Monday, which did not happen.
After a series of motorists were mis-guided by Apple Maps to Mildura, Apple raced to fix this major issue. The map led drivers miles away from the actual destination.
December 11 – Google announces they are looking for a buyer to their Motorola home set-top box division.
Nolan Daniels was quick to capitalize on the $550 million dollar powerball drawing. He fixed a ticket, then posted on Facebook to like the picture and he would give $1 million to a random name from the likes.
December 14 – Adam Peter Lanza shoots 24 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT.
December 15 – ESPN announces they will start embedding instant-reply into tweets.
December 17 – Hacker Christopher Chaney was sentenced to 10 years in prison for hacking into celebrities email accounts and posting private information online. Scarlett Johansson was the best known victim but it also included Mila Kunis, Christina Aguelera and many others.
Facebook re-writes Instagram’s privacy policy. This allowed “Affiliates” to gain access to pictures created by the mobile app.
December 19 – After a gun was successfully fabricated by a 3D printer and shot 3 rounds (December 4), Makerbot purges gun parts from Thingaverse.
December 20 – Facebook rolls out new privacy settings including the ability to send an email to someone not in your friends list for $1 a person.
December 21 – We faced the Apocalypse and survived.
Facebook reverts Instagram back to it’s old privacy policy after outcry on December 17
Starting Monday, December 3rd, the Day in Tech History podcast will release episodes at 6:30 am every day. The show will continue to be produced 365 days a year. The show will be available on the East Coast for morning consumption by 7 am EST.
If you would like to preview the show early, check out the Day in Tech History Wiki. Once the shows are uploaded, they will be available on their respected days on the list.
The Day in Tech History is a podcast and blog produced every day. It is a full rundown of technology history. You can check it out on iTunes, Stitcher or just add the RSS to your reader.
If you would like to know more, please contact Jeffrey Powers from the Geekazine contact page.
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