The inside story of New York City’s 34-year-old social network, ECHO
Stacy Horn set out to create something new and very New York. She didn’t expect it to last so long.
The inside story of New York City’s 34-year-old social network, ECHO Read MoreTag: History – Computing
Shift happens: Writing about the history of keyboards
After discovering that a history of keyboards— from typewriters to iPhones—had yet to be written, designer and typographer Marcin Wichary got to work.
Shift happens: Writing about the history of keyboards Read More
The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits’ Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime
A real-life technological thriller about a band of eccentric misfits taking on the biggest cybersecurity threats of our time.
The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits’ Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime Read More
How YouTube Created the Attention Economy
“Like, Comment, Subscribe,” a new history of the platform by Mark Bergen, makes the case that YouTube cracked the code for turning the desire to watch and be watched into money.
How YouTube Created the Attention Economy Read More
The metaverse is a new word for an old idea
To understand what we are—and should be—building, we need to look beyond Snow Crash.
The metaverse is a new word for an old idea Read More
A Biography of the Pixel
The pixel as the organizing principle of all pictures, from cave paintings to Toy Story.
A Biography of the Pixel Read More
Meet the Little-Known Genius Who Helped Make Pixar Possible
Alvy Ray Smith helped invent computer animation as we know it—then got royally shafted by Steve Jobs. Now he’s got a vision for where the pixel will take us next.
Meet the Little-Known Genius Who Helped Make Pixar Possible Read More
Knowledge Graphs
Tracking the historical events that lead to the interweaving of data and knowledge.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
—George Santayana
Steve Jobs
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. —Apple’s “Think Different” commercial, 1997.
Steve Jobs Read More
In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
“The most interesting book ever written about Google” (The Washington Post) delivers the inside story behind the most successful and admired technology company of our time, now updated with a new Afterword.
In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives Read More
Bounty Everything: Hackers and the Making of the Global Bug Marketplace
In Bounty Everything: Hackers and the Making of the Global Bug Marketplace, researchers Ryan Ellis and Yuan Stevens provide a window into the working lives of hackers who participate in “bug bounty” programs—programs that hire hackers to discover and report bugs or other vulnerabilities in their systems.
Bounty Everything: Hackers and the Making of the Global Bug Marketplace Read More
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
The computer and the Internet are among the most important inventions of our era, but few people know who created them. There were a lot of fascinating people involved, some ingenious and a few even geniuses. This is the story of these pioneers, hackers, inventors, and entrepreneurs—who they were, how their minds worked, and what made them so creative. It’s also a narrative of how they collaborated and why their ability to work as teams made them even more creative.
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution Read More
A New History of Modern Computing
How the computer became universal.
A New History of Modern Computing Read More
Where computing might go next
The future of computing depends in part on how we reckon with its past.
Where computing might go next Read More
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
Levy profiles the imaginative brainiacs who found clever and unorthodox solutions to computer engineering problems. They had a shared sense of values, known as “the hacker ethic,” that still thrives today.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution Read More
When Hackers Were Heroes
What was exceptional about MIT was not that it had a computer or that unkempt programmers were devising impressive tricks. It was that MIT had enough computers that a couple of surplus machines could be left out for members of the community to play with.
When Hackers Were Heroes Read More
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge
A generation ago, a tool unleashed the power of business modeling—and created an entrepreneurial boom.
A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge Read More
Electronic Life: How to Think About Computers
Electronic Life was created as a layman’s guide to computers. It explained simply, concisely and without jargon what computers really are, how to choose them, how to use them, how to think about them, how to live with them, how to get them to help you, how to keep them in their place, how to enjoy them. It described step-by-step instructions on what to do when you first approach a new computer to sound advice on how to stop your computer from causing trouble in the family. His message: Don’t be afraid of them, they’re only machines, they’re here to make your life easier, and, what’s more, they can be a lot of fun.
Electronic Life: How to Think About Computers Read More
The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America
The true, behind-the-scenes history of the people who built Silicon Valley and shaped Big Tech in America.
The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America Read More