CHM Blog
The CHM blog showcases ideas and insights from our vibrant community in Silicon Valley and around the world. We take you behind the scenes of our programming, collections, and exhibits. Connecting the past to the present and into the future, we decode technology for everyone.
-
Curatorial Insights
The Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop and the Billion Dollar Toilet Seat
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
A microprocessor-embedded Lucite toilet seat and colorful handheld sun umbrellas featured in a group photograph of attendees at the 44th Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop (AMW44) in April 2018 represent the irreverent sense of humor combined with the pursuit of cutting-edge technology and an unrelenting hacker ethic tha
-
CHM Live, Exponential Center
Invested in China: Venture Capitalists on Growing Chinese Tech Companies
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Remember when “Made in China” was synonymous with a cheap toy or electronic knockoff? Those days are long over. Chinese tech firms, once seen as quaint or copycats, can now count Alibaba, Tencent, and Ant Financial in the world’s top 10 most valuable internet companies, alongside Alphabet, Facebook, and Amazon. And the
-
Education
#CHMTeenTakeover Recap
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
After months of planning, organizing, and sending many, many emails, the Teen Engagement Council hosted “Power Up the Future” on June 22, 2018, bringing approximately 500 people to the Museum for the first of an annual event series dedicated to promoting teens’ interest in technology.
-
CHM Live
Dissecting Medicine in the Digital Age with UCSF’s Dr. Atul Butte
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Today, sequencing our genetic code or doing a DNA test is affordable, fast, and can even connect people with long lost relatives. Additionally, these genetic databases are producing real-world applications—including creating targeted drug therapies to treat certain cancers, narrowing down suspects in criminal investiga
-
CHM Live, Exponential Center
Task Rabbits and Thunder Lizards: A Founder and Funder Story
Friday, June 1, 2018
When a founder’s vision sparks a funder’s interest, an idea can become an enterprise with the potential to reimagine the whole idea of community. That’s what happened when TaskRabbit founder Leah Busque and Floodgate venture capitalist Ann Miura-Ko joined forces. The two discussed their partnership growing one of the e
-
From the Collection
The Eudora™ Email Client Source Code
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Electronic mail is one of “killer apps” of networked computing. The ability to quickly send and receive messages without having to be online at the same time created a new form of human communication. By now billions of people have used email.
-
From the Collection
Museum’s Oral Histories Tell Story of Japanese Hard Disk Drive Industry
Thursday, May 17, 2018
The Computer History Museum (CHM) recently released six video-recorded oral histories of key engineers and scientists from Japan who made seminal contributions to the magnetic recording technologies used in hard disk drives.
-
Museum News
2018 CHM Fellow Awards
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
On Saturday, April 28, 2018, the Computer History Museum (CHM), proudly inducted three extraordinary Fellows to its elite Hall of Fellows: Dov Frohman-Bentchkowsky, Dame Stephanie Shirley CH, and Guido van Rossum.
-
Remarkable People
Building the Cathedral of Technology: 2018 Fellow Awards
Friday, April 27, 2018
“How can you not be romantic about baseball?” Brad Pitt, playing longtime Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, asks that at the end of Moneyball—and I have a mentor who likes to remind me of it. In fact, most any problem I have, moments of self doubt, questions about strategy or direction, etc. are usually answered
-
Remarkable People, Software History Center
2018 Museum Fellow Dov Frohman-Bentchkowsky: Silicon, Science, Memory & Survival
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
For the invention of the first commercial erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), which enabled rapid development of microprocessor-based