Podcast Episodes

Creeping Towards Viruses

Episode 14

Computer viruses today pose a very real threat. However, it turns out that their origins are actually very non-threatening. Today, we are going to look at some of the first viruses. We will see how t…

Published on 6 years, 2 months ago

Minitel Research Lab Interview, with Julien Mailland and Kevin Driscoll

Today I am joined by Julien Mailland and Kevon Driscoll, co-authors of Minitel: Welcome to the Internet and proprietors of the Minitel Research Lab(minitel.us). We talk about their book, how they fir…

Published on 6 years, 2 months ago

Minitel, the French Network Connection

Episode 13

Today we are dipping back into the deep and complex history of the proto-internet. We are going to be looking at Minitel, a France-Wide-Web that was built in the 1980s as a way to help the country st…

Published on 6 years, 3 months ago

Journey to Altair

Episode 12

Today we are going to be traveling back to the late 1970s to take a look at the early days of the home computer. And specifically how Microsoft found a foothold at just the right time and place. And …

Published on 6 years, 3 months ago

Spacewar! (the Game)

Episode 11

It really seems like in the last decade video games have gone from a somewhat niche hobby to a widespread part of our culture. Nowadays, there are a multitude of ways to get out gaming fix. Consoles,…

Published on 6 years, 4 months ago

The Jargon File

In this mini-episode we look at the Jargon File, an early primary source about hacker culture.

The most recent version of the file lives here: http://catb.org/jargon/html/

If you want more of my voic…

Published on 6 years, 4 months ago

Networking for a Nuclear War, the Americans

Episode 10

In this episode we are going to explore the ARPANET. This is a companion to the last episode, which covered contemporary Soviet attempts to create an early internet.

Like with last time, today we are…

Published on 6 years, 4 months ago

Networking for a Nuclear War, the Soviets

Episode 9

Often times people assume the US is the homeland of the internet. Funded by the US Department of Defence, the first attempts at a large-scale network were started during the height of the Cold War, a…

Published on 6 years, 5 months ago

Acorn and the BBC

Episode 8

The Raspberry Pi had been a huge success at its stated goals, and continues to be. But, this isn't the first time a British company would design and develop a computer as an accessible platform for l…

Published on 6 years, 5 months ago

Attack of the PC Clones

Episode 7

Today, I want to share with you the story of the first PC clones and how they cemented the rise of the x86 chipset.

Most of this story takes place between 1981 and 1984, but I think it's fair to sa…

Published on 6 years, 5 months ago