#technology history

[thoughtportal]

He didn’t invent anything

[dinosaurspen]

TXE1 telephone exchange test console

[unbfacts]

Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder, didn’t contribute to programming or hardware design. Steve Wozniak, the technical mind behind Apple’s early products, and other employees recognized Wozniak as the inventor and Jobs as the marketing strategist.

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Hybrid-weapon system: US-supplied flatbed HMMWV in Ukrainian service, modified to carry a RAK-SA-12 12 tube 128mm rocket launcher, Ukraine, January 11, 2025. Source: OSINTtechnical

Ukrainian crews reportedly use the lighter systems to perform quick shoot-and-scoot fire missions.

[x-heesy]

Couple riding battery-powered scooters, 1918

#history #historyofart #historycal #historyfacts #historylovers #historyinpictures #historymade #historygeek #historyera #historyphoto #historyclass #historychannel #historylesson #historygram #historynerd #historytour #historyofphotography #historyplace #historylover #historyphotographed #historymatters #historyoffashion #historyiscool #arthistory #historical #historicalplaces #historicalpix #historicalclothing #historicalphotos #historicalromance #historicalmonument #historicalfacts #historicalart #historicalsnapshots #historicalphotography #historicalphoto #historicalpictures #historicalhome #historicalcenter #historicaldesign #historicalfantasy #historicalusociety

Memories by Waldeck 🎧

[indelibleevidence]

Brace yourself - I'm going to make an 'old person' post. 😁

When I was a toddler, back in the mists of time (a.k.a. the mid-to-late '80s), my dad was a TV technichian. Part of his job was to deliver people's new TVs, sit in their living room, hook them up to the power, then tune in the channels for them.

What this involved was getting your TV guide magazine, then sitting in front of the TV and doing a weird kind of manual search through the static, like tuning in a radio with a dial, but you needed a clear sound AND picture. None of the channels were visually labelled, so you had to get a good reception, then try to figure out what channel it was based on what your TV guide said was airing at the time. And then you'd allocate the signal you were receiving to correspond to one of the numbered buttons on your remote, so you could just skip straight there with one button press next time.

Luckily, the UK only had 4 channels at the time (it went up to 5 in the early 90s, and that was a Big Deal because we got a whole new soap opera), so it would only take about 15 minutes to figure out. This was pre-satellite/cable channels, so your choice of what to watch was very limited. And you could do it yourself - you didn't need a technician - but it could be a bit of a chore, and it was a service the store offered, so people paid for it.

I have no idea where I was going with this post (something, something, 'wow, technology really has evolved!') but there you go. That's the work that put food in my mouth as a kid.

[millionmovieproject]

X

[cmdrjanus-2]

Konrad Zuse: German inventor and computer pioneer

[makereadgrow]

We wouldn't have tech without textiles

So the other night during D&D, I had the sudden thoughts that:

1) Binary files are 1s and 0s

2) Knitting has knit stitches and purl stitches

You could represent binary data in knitting, as a pattern of knits and purls…

You can knit Doom.

However, after crunching some more numbers:

The compressed Doom installer binary is 2.93 MB. Assuming you are using sock weight yarn, with 7 stitches per inch, results in knitted doom being…

3322 square feet

Factoring it out…302 people, each knitting a relatively reasonable 11 square feet, could knit Doom.

[thoughtportal]

During the Second World War, six talented mathematicians were brought together to make history. These women had one mission: to program the world’s first and only supercomputer. Speaking with Rachel Dinning, Kathy Kleiman explores the vital but overlooked role the “Eniac 6” played in the history of computing during and after the Second World War.

[dinosaurspen]

MANIAC I with operators, 1952. Note the horseshoe on the right pillar, hung for good luck.

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Railway bridge and Zemgales bridge across Daugava seen from above, Riga, Latvia, 1938. Source:  Latvian Railway History Museum

During World War II, the Zemgales bridge was blown up in battle on June 29, 1941, and again in October 1944. It was never rebuilt..

[ancientbreadandbones]

This is why history and archaeology are complementary sciences. It turns out that the famous complaint tablets sent to Ea-Nasir have a lot to do with the geopolitics of his time, the economy, and the technology available. History is written in this holistic way, from the more broad to the more specific and (or) vice versa.

What's the first question that really pops into peoples' minds about Ea-Nasir? I'm trying to write this history down, but I'm struggling.

[ronk]

The Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera Mechanism has captured the imagination of archaeologists, mathematicians, and scientists

A hundred and twenty years ago, divers discovered a shipwreck off the island of Antikythera in Greece. What they found changed our understanding of human history. The mysterious Antikythera Mechanism has captured the imagination of archaeologists, mathematicians, and scientists ever since. It even inspired the plot for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny! Using the latest 3D x-ray and…

[realityfragments]

Writing Software Nostalgia.

It wasn’t long ago I mentioned that I had picked up Scrivener, and I’m enjoying it. It’s very much becoming a valuable tool for me as I plod away. I make my writing mistakes much more quickly now, and I can correct them much more quickly mainly because of the research capacity of the software. I’m not easily impressed. It’s pretty cool, though not as cool as Stephen King balancing a typewriter…