Is there a more misunderstood technology company than Matrox? Let’s ponder the second life of the graphics card maker, long considered a 3D graphics also-ran. | Continue reading
The benefits of digital television conversion were clear, but convincing everyone to upgrade their sets? For the U.S. government, that was the hard part. | Continue reading
The weird places that Windows 3.1 showed up throughout the ’90s, including a hated CD-i competitor and an unusual update of the Commodore 64. | Continue reading
Guitars, bass, piano, and drums aren't the only way to make a tune. Check out the story of these unusual musical instruments—and the folks who played them. | Continue reading
Pondering the unusual association serious electronic composers had with children’s music in the 1960s—especially Raymond Scott. | Continue reading
The MSX computer standard was big in both Japan and Brazil. But despite a sizable cult, it may be the most obscure part of Microsoft’s history. Here’s why. | Continue reading
A look back at the department store guitar and its impact on modern music. Sears' retail Harmony meant way more to our culture than some giant big-box stores. | Continue reading
The concept of "DXing"—basically, trying to capture TV or radio signals from far away—is nearly as old as the antenna. It's a great rabbit hole. | Continue reading
What a blogger learned from a year of traveling to restaurants that used to be part of much larger chains before being forced to fend for themselves. | Continue reading
Why the processor socket, an important part of most desktop computers, lost its upgrade path as computers became smaller and more integrated. | Continue reading
The surprising modern status of the vacuum tube, a vintage technology that continues to maintain its value and use case in a world full of transistors. | Continue reading
The evolution of the robotic arm, a product invented in the U.S. that came to define modern factories around the world. It wasn't an easy sell in America. | Continue reading
Sears and Roebuck—a firm that has seen better days—helped sell the public on computers, video games, and online services. (They made great catalogs, too.) | Continue reading
Clip art gets a bad rap as an artform, in part because it’s everywhere. Let’s give it some grudging respect by filling in some historic gaps. | Continue reading
The rise of the ad-sponsored dial-up ISP offers some useful lessons on promising too much in the age of MoviePass. Good luck getting rid of that ad. | Continue reading
How cheap ballpoint pens, which are easy to lose and easy to make, changed the world due to their sheer disposability. They're really freaking cheap. | Continue reading
How music from the 8-bit video game era has inspired an entire generation of modern musicians and created new musical genres. | Continue reading
The famed mechanical keyboard switch manufacturer Cherry has been around since the 1950s—but it's only been defined by keyboard switches in the past decade. | Continue reading
Adobe was already a big company when it first made Photoshop, but its biggest competitor, Paint Shop Pro, was built by an airline pilot in his free time. | Continue reading
The story of Columbus, Ohio’s own QUBE Interactive Television, which—beyond breaking ground for cable TV—was social media for the ’70s, for good and bad. | Continue reading
Four decades ago, the Speak & Spell came about, and the result was Texas Instruments’ greatest gadget and a pop-culture icon. | Continue reading
The British company Codemasters, best known for the Game Genie, didn’t let a pesky lack of license get in the way of creating some of the NES’ best games. | Continue reading
Alexa’s Interface is treated as revolutionary, but you might be surprised to learn of your favorite opinionated cylinder’s predecessors from the mid-1980s. | Continue reading
Like spam messages, robocalls aim for the broadest possible audience in an effort to get someone, anyone, with its scam. And both are annoying as heck, too. | Continue reading
The Kindle and the Nook have defined the eBook, but there are literally decades of prior art for this device—an idea many readers still haven’t warmed to. | Continue reading