Category: history

a homemade toaster on the shelf next to consumer toasters

How To Build A Toaster In Under Six Months

This is the incredible tale of how one man built a toaster, from all-natural materials, in just six months If humanity stopped, and you were one of the last people on earth, could you rebuild society? Despite all of the technology that we’ve developed throughout history, no individuals possess enough knowledge to rebuild things like radios, and computers, and even toasters from nature, if...

Rocketbook e-reader 1999

Historical Perspective: How Far We’ve Come in 15 Years

Can you remember life 15 years ago? Odds are, if you’ve been alive that long, you remember life to be not much different than it is today. The two time periods may seem similar, but consider just how much technology has changed your life since 1999. Consider the impact of Wikipedia, and e-books, and the rest of the web on your access to information,...

The Macintosh Is 30. Just how far have we come? (stat comparison)

Happy Birthday Mac! You’ve gotten old, but you look great. I’m normally not so candid with the elderly on their birthday, but I’d just like to reflect on how far you’ve come. By your first birthday, yes you were beautiful, but you were still very immature. Seeing you 30 years later, you’ve really grown. Let’s take a look at exactly how much you’ve changed,...

the many colors of mac, ipod, and iPhone, and Steve Jobs's color strategy

How Apple Uses Color

Apple’s history with color is pretty black and white. First they release a product in black, or white. Next, they release a version in the color not previously released. Lastly, they release a variety of colors, and laud their brilliant (emphasis: mine) new colors. It’s really pretty predictable. The good news of course is that Apple is sticking to the pattern – indicating a...

ibm computers black and white room

Watch the 1968 Invention of the Computer Mouse… And the internet

I try to highlight innovation, and that usually involves recent things like this bookprinting machine, and Google Glass, and even Bitcoin , but I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring you this, one of the most important tech demos of all time. The year was 1968. Martin Luther king was still alive and preaching his message of peace, the Vietnam war was in full swing,...