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.
-
Exponential Center
Day of the Dead: Exploring Failure with Silicon Valley Veterans Kim Polese, Bill Reichert, and Justin Kan
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Work in Silicon Valley long enough, and you’ll end up with your own private collection of startup paraphernalia: T-shirts, tchotchkes, branded office supplies, and other relics of companies failed but not forgotten. At the “Day of the Dead” event on October 28, co-hosted by Exponential Center and the NextGen Board, att
-
Guest Blog
50th Anniversary of the HP 2116 Minicomputer
Monday, November 7, 2016
Amidst a sea of computer vendors, the 1966 Fall Joint Computer Conference booth for an obscure instrument manufacturer, Hewlett-Packard, was insignificant. Their lone product, the HP 2116, said “Computer” on the front panel, but the company called it an “Instrumentation Controller.” Founder David Packard was clear: “We
-
From the Collection, Guest Blog
Personal Computing 1984: PC Pragmatists, Macintosh Visionaries & the Future of Portability
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
This is the fourth of five video releases of Boston Computer Society (BCS) General Meetings, by the Computer History Museum
-
Behind the Scenes
A Haunted Tour of Silicon Valley
Monday, October 31, 2016
Silicon Valley is known for its cutting-edge technology, creative innovation, and forward-looking frame of mind. But the Valley also has a lesser-known side—a spookier side.
-
Behind the Scenes
The Digital Repository at CHM
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
If you’ve heard about digital preservation in the news, chances are it was a story about loss or potential loss. For almost 20 years now, we’ve been warned that we could be facing a “digital dark age,” meaning that very little of what we create using computers will be preserved for future generations.1 The challenges f
-
CHM Live, Exponential Center
Pioneers of the Possible: A Conversation with Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Heidi Roizen and Michelle Zatlyn
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Silicon Valley is home to pioneers of the possible. From Bill Hewlett and David Packard to Mark Zuckerberg, history, media, and pop culture frequently showcase the stories of Silicon Valley’s male founders. What about women?
-
Curatorial Insights, From the Collection, Software History Center
Slide Logic: The Emergence of Presentation Software and the Prehistory of PowerPoint
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
In many parts of our world today, group communication centers on visual materials built with “presentation software,” often crafted by a speaker him or herself. As a result, meetings now generally depend on the use of personal computers, presentation software in the guises of product or service and display by digital p
-
Curatorial Insights
A Walk through the 2016 Vintage Computer Festival
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
The 2016 Vintage Computer Festival (VCF), an amazing grass-roots showcase of historical computers, was held at the Computer History Museum recently. VCF has a rich history and is a favorite event among computer enthusiasts everywhere with new standout exhibits each year.
-
Curatorial Insights, Internet History Program
A Tale of Deleted Cities
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
In the very, very, beginning, the World Wide Web was meant to be a two-way medium. You could post and edit your own pages as easily as you could browse those created by others. But the browsers that made the web popular left out editing features.
-
Exponential Center, Remarkable People
Silicon Valley: A Century of Entrepreneurial Innovation
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
The entrepreneurial, technology-driven roots of today’s Silicon Valley sprouted long before Google’s algorithms, Apple’s two Steves, Fairchild’s chipmeisters, or the egalitarian management innovations of Hewlett and Packard. Eager emissaries from less prosperous regions of the nation and foreign governments striving to