The internet as we know it today started began with ARPANET which was the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Forty years ago on the evening of October 29, 1969 the first data travelled between two nodes of this new computer network. The idea of two computer talking to each other was quite cutting edge in that era. This video shows an interview with Charley Kline and Bill Duvall who were just two young programmers playing with tech back in the day! Read more…
This beautiful video was done by the London office of Google — it does an amazing job of showing off the last 11 years of Google. Two things are striking to me about this video: First the quality of the animation is great, I don’t associate beautiful art direction with the stripped down geeky look of Google. Second it’s shocking to see that Google really has defined the net for the last few years, things they only introduced a few years ago like maps are found everywhere. Although you look at other aspects of the company like Blogger and see that they don’t always hit the mark over time. Read more…
First a disclaimer: My opinions do not represent 99% of computer users. Because of my career I’m part of that geeky 1% of computer users who by the nature of their job needs to download and try out new software on a regular basis. Most users really do live in the browser and MS Office, but I’m the guy who’s installed Tweetdeck, has all three major browers up and running and Xobni running inside of Outlook. Read more…
While looking at the coverage of the launch of Windows 7 in the Akihabara district of of Tokyo when I came across the coolest feature of the new operating system: The unofficial Windows 7 anime spokesmodel! This moe character design features a girl with dark blue hair who sports a clover symbol which is made up of the official Windows colors: Read more…
Some Stanford students have put together a autonomous running robot car by hacking an Audi TTS. The car was designed so it can race to the top of Pikes Peak in 2010, however the robot car reminded me a great deal of KITT from the 1982 TV series Knight Rider: Read more…
If you’re too poor to afford an internet toy like the Chumby (which still costs $200) the next best thing may be the Pet’z (PEZ) PET-6008-PK Sandra animated alarm clock which costs about $32 plus shipping from Japan. This toy pig does double duty by acting as an alarm clock and virtual pet (which will get angry if you don’t feed it). The pink critter has the ability to produce animal sounds and features nine types of animated facial expressions: Read more…
This is video footage from the CEATEC conference in Japan which ends today: The show has a focus on cutting edge digital and electronics work. Shown above is a very eerie looking cosplay attired robot which uses Vocaloid software. What’s odd about this robot is that she blinks her eyes; In fact when I first looked at this video below it took me a bit to figure out (out of context of course) that I wasn’t looking at an actual human doing cosplay at an anime con: Read more…
Eventually life imitates art, or is it the other way around? The first issue of Forgetless by Image Comics features Twittertweets on the first page intermixed with the rest of the action. This ties into the story which starts out at a nightclub in New York City and features a struggling model turned professional killer (although that sounds more like the type of stalker you’d meet on MySpace). Here’s the page from the issue: Read more…
I was lucky that my good friend Christian Liendo got quite a few photos of the Vintage Computer Festival East 6.0 which took place this past weekend. Shown above is a young lady trying out Guitar Hero on a Commodore 64! Below is a collection of just a few of the vintage computers and related paraphernalia that was on display: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 15, 2009 in Animation, Tech
The stop motion animated spots above and below are for Google Japan and I’m just blown away by the quality of craftsmanship and creativity shown here. The spots are explaining how Google street maps will help ensure privacy by blurring out people’s faces and the like. In my humble opinion Google should tap the creative team behind these ads to enliven their branding in the United States which is a tad too dull for such an innovative company. Read more…
Robert Scoble was in a perfect storm: He’s one of the most high profile tech bloggers who is using WordPress which is pretty much the most popular blogging platform right now. And what Robert recently discovered was the combo of these two pinnacles of popularity made him a target for hackers who infected his website, and destroyed some his content in the process. Sadly the first two things that Scoble didn’t pay attention to are common in the blogging world: He was using a previous install of WordPress (2.7x) and hadn’t backed up his blog. Now notice that I didn’t use the phrase “what Robert did wrong” because the fact of the matter was that I was guilty of the very same behavior, and I suspect many other bloggers are too. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 2, 2009 in Fandom, Tech
If you live in my neck of the woods you may want to think about attending the Vintage Computer Festival East this year: It’s running from September 12th until 13th at the InfoAge Science Center in Wall, New Jersey. Shown above is an amazing video from last year which shows an ancient PDP 8 computer running Space War. This year the fest will feature an 8-bit music concert, a by-the-pound book sale, a build-your-own PockeTerm workshop, and the BASIC Programming Challenge. The keynote speaker is Ted Hurewitz who worked on RCA computers in the 1950s. A single day is $10 and a weekend pass will cost you $15 (hell that’s coat check tip at one of those fancy web 3.0 conferences).
Is it me or do you get the feeling that the team that designed the RIBA Robotic Assistance Bear had the entire robot designed — but then only after the fact slapped a moe looking bear head on the poor creature just to get some press? And as much as I love bears from a marketing point of view I just don’t think of them as a nurses best friend! Read more…
This rather well produced 1984 commercial showcases the then new AT&T Merlin system — which finally was discontinued in 2006. Today this technology doesn’t look like much, but back then it was a breakthrough, in fact I remember being lectured once in the early 90s that what was on my desk “was not a phone, but a voice terminal!” What made the Merlin unique was that it had a central control unit, and also that a small business could now afford all those nifty features like conference calling and speed dialing. Read more…
Recently I’ve seen tech fanboys Jason Calacanis and Michael Arrington raging at Apple for having the nerve to not let Google put Google Voice into the Apple app store. Frankly not only should Apple have every right to do this — but they should be doing this. The reason? Not only is Google their direct competition, but the reality is that they’re the only company in this environment that you could call a true monopoly.Read more…
It was one of the low points of my life: After breaking my ass to build a business for about a dozen years I watched everything go down the drain in just a few short months during the dot.bomb crash of 2001 until 2003. My entire world fell apart on both a meta level (watching 9/11 and then seeing Silicon Alley 1.0 fade away) and on a personal level (seeing friends I worked with for years move on). But in the aftermath I vowed to rebuild, and along the way I learned a few valuable lessons. Read more…
Both of these spots come from a local TV station in Florida from 1988 — and they both share the theme of needing to know computer skills (or blue collar “technology” skills like in the spot below) to survive in the marketplace. Most people think of the 80s as a prosperous time but in fact even during the high points there were many layoffs due to mergers and acquisitions. In fact when these commercials were shot it was right after the stock market crash of 1987, so people would have had their eyes on keeping their jobs. Read more…
The Daruma doll (達磨) are a classic Japanese toy — you fill in one eye upon starting a quest, and then you color in the other eye once you finish. This cute digital variation of the doll actually stores 2 gigs of memory — which makes it the perfect companion for overachievers: Read more…
I’ve always hated Penn Station in New York City, but one of the few silver linings was a nameless magazine shop located on the LIRR level on the west side of the station. I’ve know this shop since the 80s so it’s fair to say that it is at least 25 years old, although I suspect that it’s much older than that. What made it unique was that it was the largest magazine shop in all of Penn Station. This made it a welcome oasis in the desert wasteland of commuting on the Long Island Rail Road. Read more…
This Panasonic VHS deck commercial from 1986 opens up with the Robert Palmer hit Addicted to Love from just a year before in 1985 — also the animated wiggles and zig zags are lifted from the Dire Straits video Money for Nothing (which was also produced in ’85 as well). Although what’s funny about video was that if you were well to do in the 80s you’d be watching MTV on cable which was still a slightly expensive treat back then. Although I would have my friends tape blocks of programming on VHS which I would then replay in my lower budget household. Read more…
Like chocolate and peanut butter — the two tastes of iPhones and Pocky go great together! This ever so cute Pocky iPhone Cozy was designed by Yummy Pocket of Montreal, Canada. Read more…
From the Netherlands comes Boardy — a clever origami USB stick that you create from recycled paper. This clever design has mostly been used for advertising campaigns, allowing for advertisers to include electronic info on the USB stick while being eco friendly with the packaging. Here’s how you fold one together: Read more…
Above: CompuServe hit their high point during the golden age of 300 baud modems. Photo by Guille Avalos.
Founded in 1969 CompuServe was an early powerhouse of connecting people online before the era of the web. And at the end of June AOL killed off CompuServe Classic which was the last surviving bit of that service, the only thing now left is a tombstone “web portal” and a low rent ISP service. It’s a sad ending, but once upon a time in the 80s and early 90s CompuServe was THE online service. Read more…
Having previously used several social media websites I faced a dilemma when I first started using Twitter: My problem was that several unique groups of people who had very different focuses were following me on Twitter. And Added to that is that I’m a linkaholic who loves to share breaking news and offbeat stories. Read more…
The internet as we know it today started began with ARPANET which was the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. Forty years ago on the evening of October 29, 1969 the first data travelled between two nodes of this new computer network. The idea of two computer talking to each other was quite cutting edge in that era. This video shows an interview with Charley Kline and Bill Duvall who were just two young programmers playing with tech back in the day! Read more… 
While looking at 
Eventually life imitates art, or is it the other way around? The first issue of Forgetless by Image Comics features Twitter 
The stop motion animated spots above and below are for Google Japan and I’m just blown away by the quality of craftsmanship and creativity shown here. The spots are explaining how Google street maps will 
