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Category Archives: Tech History
Flashback 1948: Ampex Unveils First Magnetic Tape Recorder
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.
Posted in Tech History
Tagged Adolph Hitler, Ampex, audio tape, Bing Crosby, Jack Mullin, Magnetophon, Ray Dolby, RCA, Sound & Vision, stereo, tape recording
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Hedy Lamarr Finally Gets Her Spread Spectrum Due in ‘Bombshell’
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.
Posted in cell/smartphones, CES, Digital Tech Consulting, Tech History
Tagged frequency hopping, Hedy Lamarr, spread spectrum
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Happy 161st Birthday, Nikola Tesla
My greetings to Nikola Tesla, with some additional museum and movie news, on Huffington Post.
My Original iPhone Reviews, 2007
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
Posted in Apple, cell/smartphones, Consumers Digest, DVICE, Laptop Magazine, Tech History
Tagged Apple, iPhone
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CES at 50: Lessons Still Not Learned
CES at 50: Lessons Still Not Learned
50th Anniversary of CES
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
Posted in CES, Digital Tech Consulting, Huffington Post, Tech History, TWICE
Tagged Admiral, CES, Grateful Dead, Hitachi, Jack Wayman, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Monterey Pop Festival, Panasonic, Philco, Philco-Ford, RCA, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Sharp, Sony, The Beatles, The Who, Toshiba, Wink Martindale, Zenith
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Where Old TVs Go to Live
Here’s my story on Huff Post all about my visit to the Early TV Museum in Hilliard, OH.
Posted in Tech History, TV/4K/UHD/8K
Tagged Admiral, Charles Francis Jenkins, CRT, David Sarnoff, DuMont, Early TV Museum, GE, John Logie Baird, Milton Berle, Philco, Philo T. Farnsworth, Red Skelton, TV, Zenith
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The Day Radio Died
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
The Technology Forest: Don’t Get Lost in the Woods
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
Top 10 Gadgets of the Last 50 Years
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
Posted in Apple, CES, Huffington Post, Tech History
Tagged 8-track, Apple, Beatles, CES, Diamond Rio, GPS, iPhone, iPod, Magellan, Magnavox, MITS Altair 8800, Motorola, Odyssey, Panasonic, plasma, RCA, SelectaVision, Sony, TiVo, VCR, VHS, Walkman
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