Category Archives: Tech History

Flashback 1948: Ampex Unveils First Magnetic Tape Recorder

Posted on 5 April 2018 by Stewart Wolpin

Our modern AV world arguably all stems from a single product: the Ampex 200A, the first successful commercial magnetic audiotape recorder, which debuted 70 years ago this month. Read the rest of this post on Sound & Vision here.

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Hedy Lamarr Finally Gets Her Spread Spectrum Due in ‘Bombshell’

Posted on 6 January 2018 by Stewart Wolpin

A review of a new documentary on Hedy Lamarr, movie star and inventor of frequency hopping, aka spread spectrum, the technology that makes all wireless communication possible.

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Happy 161st Birthday, Nikola Tesla

Posted on 6 July 2017 by Stewart Wolpin

My greetings to Nikola Tesla, with some additional museum and movie news, on Huffington Post.

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My Original iPhone Reviews, 2007

Posted on 29 June 2017 by Stewart Wolpin

Me and my still-working original iPhone from 2007 Today is the 10th anniversary of Apple’s iPhone going on sale. Back in June/July 2007, I waited online overnight at the Fifth Avenue Apple store in Manhattan for my original iPhone, then … Continue reading →

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CES at 50: Lessons Still Not Learned

Posted on 26 June 2017 by Stewart Wolpin

CES at 50: Lessons Still Not Learned

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50th Anniversary of CES

Posted on 23 June 2017 by Stewart Wolpin

The first CES took place June 25-28, 1967, and I wrote numerous (admittedly similar) pieces about it for: TWICE – CES Turns 50 Sound & Vision – CES at 50: From Humble Origins to Global Showcase Dealerscope – CES: The Summer … Continue reading →

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Where Old TVs Go to Live

Posted on 15 May 2017 by Stewart Wolpin

Here’s my story on Huff Post all about my visit to the Early TV Museum in Hilliard, OH.

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The Day Radio Died

Posted on 6 April 2017 by Stewart Wolpin

The day the U.S. entered World War I a century ago, April 6, 1917, Woodrow Wilson also ended all amateur radio broadcasting in America for more than two years. I told this story on the CTA i3 Blog, which you … Continue reading →

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The Technology Forest: Don’t Get Lost in the Woods

Posted on 25 March 2017 by Stewart Wolpin

The Technology Forest: Don’t Get Lost in the Woods Believe it or not, there is a somewhat timely pattern to the historical disruption caused by technology advances. Let’s call the individual technology advances the trees, and the profound business and … Continue reading →

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Top 10 Gadgets of the Last 50 Years

Posted on 1 January 2017 by Stewart Wolpin

  As part of the CES 50th anniversary commemoration, in my role as newly-minted historian for the Consumer Technology Association (CTA, the industry and lobbying group who produce CES), I helped collect around three dozen historically significant gadgets for display. … Continue reading →

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