Gizmodo 79

Software

Bill Gates, Guest Writer, Reflects On Microsoft 1979

7:20AM July 24, 2009 | Bill Gates

Our Gizmodo ’79 celebration may have ended last week, but there’s room for a final post, written by famed retiree and mosquito wrangler Bill Gates. It’s no joke: Gates read the series then sent this in: More »


1979: The Golden Age Of Lego

1:30PM July 20, 2009 | Jesus Diaz

1979 was the beginning of Lego as we know it today, the year when they took over the world, the year of the Galaxy Explorer. I photographed all the classic models in my Lego trip. Here’s the never-released gallery. More »


Gadgets

Yes, Good Old Retro 1979 Seemed Fun (But It Really Sucked!)

2:15AM July 20, 2009 | Brian Lam

Writing about technology as it was thirty years ago, I realised that 1979 was perhaps the last year before a digital tsunami hit, sweeping clean the analogue era that had persisted for decades. More »


’79 Rumour: Leaked Docs Of “Compact Disc” Audio Format Using LASERS

11:00PM July 19, 2009 | Brian Lam

From 1979: A source “close to the matter” claims this document outlines a future Audio format that would utilise a tapeless design, and *snort* use lasers as some sort of record needle. Sounds like Bullshit to me. More »


Software

Then And Now: Microsoft

9:00PM July 19, 2009 | John Herrman

Computing

Cray-1: The Super Computer

6:00PM July 19, 2009 | Wilson Rothman

Seymour Cray’s big super computer was crazy. It’s signals between components had to be timed by trimming long cables up to 1/16th of an inch at a time by hand and was basically interwoven with a giant refrigeration system. More »


Gadgets

The Network Before The Internet

6:00AM July 19, 2009 | Brian Lam

The network started to breathe in the 70′s. Above, the first ethernet cable, found in PARC’s labs by Boing Boing Gadgets. Dag Spicer, numero uno Curator at the Computer History Museum, tells us more: More »


Cars

The Supersonic Concorde Jet: Can We Go Back To 1979?

4:30AM July 19, 2009 | Dan Nosowitz

Many of our Gizmodo ’79 posts have illustrated just how far we’ve come in the past three decades, but in one important tech example, 1979 kicks 2009′s ass: The Concorde Jet. More »


Computing

Tandy TRS-80: The Budget Computer

2:30AM July 19, 2009 | Wilson Rothman

Even back then, there were computers for people who couldn’t afford the more expensive stuff. Take this Tandy, which costs little more than a upgraded Netbook today. From Core Memory, photographed by Mark Richards and written by John Alderman. More »


Gadgets

Then And Now: Apple Computers

1:00AM July 19, 2009 | John Herrman