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history lesson
The Internet according to "Vanity Fair" -- the 100-word version
In a nine-chapter opus, Vanity Fair clean-up hitter Keenan "Coverline" Mayo and Peter Newcomb pitch the inevitable book deal for an oral history of the Internet. In it are all sorts of unchallenged assertions by various leading lights, from early stories of the Arpanet to Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams complaining about getting friend invites from "Pounce" when he's not taking undue credit for building the first social network. (Six Degrees, anyone?) But what stood out to me were two anecdotes that illustrate the plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose nature of business in America. Namely, the cycle of monopolies which the Internet has done little to stop and will probably spin Google's way next. After the jump, 100 words that changed the world — without the pleasantly distracting Angelina Jolie pop-up ads spewed by the Vanity Fair website. More »
history lesson
Interview with Konrad Zuse, inventor of first functional computer
In the 1930s, Konrad Zuse, a German scientist, invented the first functional computing device, an electromechanical beast that used relays as logic gates. In this interview from The Machine That Changed the World, a 1992 documentary digitized and posted by Upcoming founder Andy Baio at Waxy.org, Zuse spoke about his role in history. More »
history lessons
How Mark Zuckerberg missed his meeting with Sequoia
Sequoia Capital never invested in Facebook. But Sequoia partner Mark Kvamme said at an ad conference today that the venture firm did take a meeting with founder Mark Zuckerberg early on. Problem was, according to Kvamme, Zuckerberg had forgotten about the appointment and woke up just before it started. So Zuck showed up at the meeting and made his pitch wearing pajamas. Sequoia passed — perhaps understandably, but definitely unfortunately, Kvamme told the crowd. "You kind of have to look past those things," he said. One could say the same about Kvamme's rewriting of history. We hear it's Facebook that passed on Sequoia — mostly due to a feud between the VC firm and Facebook backer Peter Thiel. (Photo by sunshinecity)
history
Wired editor believes magazine could have been Google
Kevin Kelly, Wired's past in-house futurist, has given an interview in which he makes the seemingly ludicrous claim that Wired could have been Google. The New York Observer has a giggle at Kelly's statement that "from the very beginning, Wired believed in 'search.'... I believe that had Wired not been divided and sold that we might have actually arrived at the same place that Google had." But was Kelly really that far off? Watch the whole video and see More »
geeks gone wild
Users of early online community The Well party like it's 1989
Computing pioneer and author Howard Rheingold has jumped on the buzzword bandwagon with a vlog, and the two most recent entries are a peek back into the pre-Web days when "geek" was still a term of scorn. Possibly because of some astounding fashion choices — Rheingold's taste in vibrant colors and eye-splitting patterns pictured here seem to have influenced Marissa Mayer's taste in couture. That said, as an early BBS dialer myself, I find this footage of a party at the Sausalito offices of The Well in 1989 fascinating. For a list of the people in the videos, the comment thread on BoingBoing's post gives the details. Watch and learn, you kids, after the jump. More »
history
Ada Lovelace portrait from 1820 found on eBay
U.S. Army Master Sergeant Robert McLaughlin's obsession with Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace paid off when he found an original watercolor of the young noble, daughter of the poet Lord Byron, for sale on eBay. Widely credited with having created the first computer program, a system of calculating Bernoulli numbers for Charles Babbage's steam-powered Analytical Engine, "The Enchantress of Number" is a dashingly romantic figure. She's made numerous appearances in novels, including steampunk ur-text The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. More »
history lesson
Larry and Lucy's wedding is going to be the bomb
Let's say that you're the billionaire founder of a massively successful Internet giant, and you've booked Richard Branson's exclusive Caribbean getaway, Necker Island, for your bride-to-be's dream wedding. What's the only conceivable way to ruin it? Why, to book it on December 7, a date which will live in infamy. For those of you in the Facebook generation, that's when Bill Gates declared, 12 years ago, that Microsoft was going to own the Internet.
acquisitions
Mediabistro sells to Jupitermedia
Jupitermedia (owners of photo provider Jupiterimages and a fleet of websites) just bought Mediabistro, a site for media professionals that includes specialized job ads, articles, and insider media news, for $23 million. Mediabistro's a small service —
flipmeat
Such, such were the joys
Google News is re-indexing some Fast Company articles from the turn of the century, so classic articles like "Built to Flip" have turned up in news alerts as if they came out this morning. Reading this stuff is like pawing through National Geographics from the 50s — the customs are strange, the references archaic, the topless shots of natives disappointing. For instance: More »
dogster
Bubble bubble: Hell, I refused $550 million twice before breakfast
Three of today's stories provide a perfect lesson in recognizing a bubble. The astute reader will recognize the common themes. More »
webcams
New York Post discovers webcams
Graphic designer?Lives around New York City?
Neuroses are charming from a distance?
Whoring himself online so millions of people tell him what to do? More »
to-do
To-do: B-listers need not apply
- Tonight: Schmooze with organizer Vincent Lauria and other dot-commers at the Silicon Valley New Technology May Meetup (Upcoming.org). E-mail Lauria if you didn't RSVP but are very important.
- Wednesday: Learn what "underage avatar sex" means in the discussion Virtual Worlds — The Rules of Engagement, at Mountain View's Computer History Museum.
- Wednesday: Shield your eyes for The GIF show, a celebration of the animated GIF opening Wednesday night at the Rx Gallery.
- Thursday: You are so not cool enough for this event (until you change the wiki). Only the 43 best bloggers (Upcoming) are allowed at an exclusive House of Shields meetup. (Oh hell, sneak in. What'll they do, take you off their blogrolls?)
meg hourihan
