Channel Title: Computer History Museum Channel Description: Welcome to the Computer History Museum channel on YouTube. We're committed to preserving and presenting the history and stories of the Information Age. Here on YouTube we offer videos of the many lectures and events at the museum and also historic computer films. We also feature video from our well–known Revolutionaries television series. Be sure to check out the Computer History Museum website for even more information including online exhibits, upcoming events and our collection of computing artifacts: http://www.computerhistory.org. <video> Oral History of Steven Mayer Description: Interviewed by Dag Spicer on 2024-02-22 in Mountain View, CA © Computer History Museum Steven Mayer was born in St. Louis Missouri in 1944, and grew up in Chicago until age 9 and subsequently Redwood City, California. He became a ham radio operator in sixth grade. Mayer attended UC Berkeley studying Engineering Science beginning in 1962, gradually becoming more politically active in the fair housing movement and making documentaries about the anti-war movement for PBS radio, and subsequently dropped out to become a TV producer at the KCSM TV station in San Mateo, California. Mayer discovered he preferred to make tools for content creators rather than be one himself, and got a job at the analog video company Ampex in 1966 as a technician in the videofile R&D department, becoming project manager for a fingerprint retrieval database for law enforcement, working alongside Bob Miner, that became the basis for Oracle. It was at Ampex that Mayer met Nolan Bushnell, Ted Dabney, Al Alcorn, and Larry Emmons. Tiring of living in Silicon Valley, Mayer and Emmons decided to start Cyan Engineering in rural Grass Valley, California, in the Sierra foothills as an engineering consulting business, initially making video tape-based disc technology. Not finding huge success, Mayer and Emmons decided to merge Cyan into Bushnell’s fledgling company Atari, becoming its advanced R&D group. With Al Alcorn having already pushed Atari into consumer games with home Pong using custom chips, the idea for a microprocessor-based console with games programmed on ROMs led to the Atari VCS. Mayer and Ron Milner did the prototype design of VCS, and handed off the design to Joe Decuir and Jay Miner in Al Alcorn’s engineering team to develop to production. Mayer also designed many of the VCS’s first games, including Combat. The same team also developed the Atari 8-bit home computers, the 400 and 800, which began as evolutions of the VCS but became computers to compete with Apple. Mayer’s Grass Valley group also created the animatronics for Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theater. Mayer later started Warner Labs in New York as a central R&D group for all of Warner. When the video game crash hit, Mayer spun out Digital F/X out of Warner Labs to focus on creating desktop video production tools, which won an Emmy. * Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102809016 Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection. Catalog Number: 102809017 Acquisition Number: 2024.0069 </video> <video> Sketchpad Description: [Recorded in 1961 circa] This is a video showing Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad system. Running on Lincoln Lab's TX-2 (Transistor eXperiment-2), Dr. Sutherland demonstrates several of the abilities of his early Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system. The original film is silent with voice-over giving technical descriptions throughout. Catalog number: 102706673 </video> <video> Oral History of Wendell Sander Description: Interviewed by Dag Spicer on 2024-05-30 in Mountain View, CA © Computer History Museum Wendell Sander is an American electrical engineer and personal computing pioneer. In this oral history, Sander recounts his growing up in rural Iowa and attending Iowa State University to study electrical engineering. On graduation, he soon joined Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation in California and worked on the Symbol and Illiac IV memory (PEM) projects, the latter being the first large-scale use of semiconductor memory in a computer. Sander also developed several important memory products during his years at Fairchild. Sander then joined Apple Computer, Inc., then a two-man company based in Steve Jobs’ garage in Los Altos, California. While at Apple, Sander developed a host of commercially successful add-on cards for the Apple II computer and led design for the Apple III personal computer and many other key Apple products as well. Eventually leaving Apple, he founded The Engineering Company, a contract electrical engineering firm, then joined General Magic, ChipScale, Tropian and Amalfi, the latter two companies designing specialized radio frequency products. Sander also discusses working with his son Brian at Apple and elsewhere, an unusual lifelong partnership between father and son. * Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102792711 Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection. Catalog Number: 102809005 Acquisition Number: 2024.0060 </video> <video> Oral History of Butler Lampson Description: Interviewed by David C. Brock on 2023-12-06 in Cambridge, MA © Computer History Museum Butler Lampson is an American electrical engineer and computer systems designer. In this oral history, he discusses his early interest in mathematics and physics, which he pursued as an undergraduate at Harvard University. He describes the computing environment at universities at the time as being very rudimentary, with access to computing resources often precarious. Upon graduation in 1964 with an A.B. (magna cum laude) in physics, he moved to Berkeley, California to work on Project Genie (later Berkeley Computer Corporation (BCC)), whose goal was to build a multi-user timesharing system. The company got most of one system working but funding ran out. Lampson returned to university to pursue graduate studies at Berkeley and received his PhD in electrical engineering in 1967 under Lofti Zadeh. In 1971, Lampson became one of the founding members of Xerox PARC and several key BCC alumni joined him. There they developed multiple groundbreaking innovations including the revolutionary Xerox Alto personal workstation, laser printing, Ethernet, word processing, email, among others. Lampson left in 1983 to join Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)’s Systems Research Laboratory and in 1995 left for Microsoft Research as a Technical Fellow. * Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102808948 Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection. Acquisition number: 2023.0211 Collection number: 102808949 </video> <video> Oral History of Nolan Bushnell Description: Interviewed by Hansen Hsu on 2024-07-10 in Los Angeles, CA © Computer History Museum Nolan Bushnell was born February 5th, 1943, in Ogden, Utah. As a child, Bushnell was already interested in electronics, becoming a ham radio operator at age 10, and was also a burgeoning entrepreneur, selling strawberries and then starting a TV repair business. He attended Utah State for two years before transferring to the University of Utah to study engineering, where he worked with Dr. Dave Evans and met many of the pioneers of computer graphics, and was first introduced to the computer game, Spacewar!. Bushnell also worked at an amusement park during the summer, eventually becoming the manager of the midway and learning the economics of coin-operated games. After graduation, Bushnell worked at the Ampex, where he would meet Ted Dabney, Al Alcorn, Steve Mayer, Larry Emmons, and many others who would join him at Atari. After spending more time playing SpaceWar! at the Stanford AI Laboratory, Bushnell decided to make a commercial coin-operated version of it, Computer Space, in partnership with Nutting and Associates, and started his company, Syzygy, with Dabney to produce it, in 1970. Syzygy became Atari in 1972, after obtaining contracts to produce more games from Nutting and from Bally Midway. Bushnell hired Al Alcorn, and assigned him the task of producing a tennis game similar to one he had seen on the Magnavox Odyssey, purely as an exercise, but Alcorn’s improvements to the game made it so fun that Ted Dabney installed the first Pong machine in Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale. This prototype was a wild success, launching Atari’s business. Atari would go on to produce many more coin-operated arcade games, but also expanded into the home with consumer Pong, with the entire game implemented on a single chip. After producing a number of games with custom chips, Alcorn, Steve Mayer, and others realized it would be better to create a microprocessor-based console with games implemented in software on ROM cartridges. This led to the creation of the wildly successful Atari VCS, or Atari 2600. The VCS was designed by Mayer and others of Cyan Engineering, which had merged with Atari to become its Grass Valley R&D center. The capital needed to mass produce the VCS led to Atari’s sale to Warner Communications in 1976, after which Bushnell stepped away from managing the company. Bushnell shifted his focus to running Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theater, which he had started under Atari, but bought back from Warner. Bushnell formally resigned from Atari in 1979, and started a technology incubator, Catalyst Technologies, which invested in companies involved in automobile navigation, home robots, and computer animation. In recent years, Bushnell has been involved in companies that bring together gaming and education. * Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102809021 Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection. Acquisition number: 2024.0072 Collection number: 102809022 </video> <video> 2024 Fellow Awards Ceremony Description: [Recorded November 16, 2024] CHM is proud to honor the exceptional achievements of the 2024 Fellows, who have changed the world through their advancements in computing and evolution of the digital age: Allan Alcorn, Nolan Bushnell, and Steven Mayer for their pioneering role in the development of the video game and personal computing industries. Elizabeth “Jake” Feinler for inspiring and creative leadership of the Network Information Centers that helped shape today’s internet. Jensen Huang for visionary leadership in the advancement of devices and systems for computer graphics, accelerated computing, and artificial intelligence. During the Awards ceremony, attendees gained insights into the honorees' remarkable journeys through video stories showcasing their past accomplishments, heartfelt tributes acknowledging their impact on today, and remarks from the honorees about their visions for the future. Headline Sponsors: Oracle Fellow Sponsors: Accenture Nvidia Table Sponsors: TSMC Andrea Cunningham and Rand Siegfried Eileen Fagan Gardner C. Hendrie Stephen S. and Paula K. Smith Speakers: Dan'l Lewin, President & CEO, CHM Andrew Mendelsohn, Executive Vice President of Database Server Technologies Development, Oracle David Crane, Game Industry Pioneer Steve Crocker, Internet Pioneer and Computer Scientist Mark Stevens, S-Cubed Capital Emcee: Erin Teague, Chief Product Officer, Character.AI Catalog Number: 102809046 Acquisition Number: 2024.0205 </video> <video> Heroes Never Die: The Blizzard Saga Description: Join CHM to hear from New York Times bestselling author and Bloomberg News reporter Jason Schreier, author of Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment, a new book based on interviews with more than 300 current and former Blizzard employees. Schreier offers a deeper understanding of the company's culture and the lessons learned from its highs and lows, as well as broader implications for the video game industry and for Blizzard's future. The fireside chat is moderated by CHM curator and gamer Hansen Hsu. Featured Participants Speaker: Jason Schreier, Author, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment Moderator: Hansen Hsu, CHM Curator </video> <video> CHM Live | The Geography of Hope: Using GIS to Change the World Description: [Recorded October 8, 2024] From Prague to Berkeley to Nairobi to Kyiv, location data is being collected and analyzed through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to map a better future. It's a powerful tool that can be applied to environmental conservation, healthcare, law enforcement, and educational innovation. Join us as Pulitzer Prize-winning editor and former National Audubon Society CEO David Yarnold discusses his groundbreaking book, The Geography of Hope: Real-Life Stories of Optimists Mapping a Better World. Don't miss inspiring stories of individuals and organizations leveraging tech to create positive change. What You’ll Experience -A fireside chat with David Yarnold, exploring themes from his new book. -Real-life stories from around the world of people using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to improve their communities. -Plus, an opportunity for a Q&A with the author. Featured Participants Speaker David Yarnold Author, The Geography of Hope: Real-Life Stories of Optimists Mapping a Brighter Future David Yarnold is the author and primary photographer of The Geography of Hope: Real-Life Stories of Optimists Mapping a Brighter Future. He led the National Audubon Society, helped the Environmental Defense Fund teach China carbon trading, and was executive editor at the San Jose Mercury News. Yarnold is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor, a Pulitzer finalist for editorial writing, and an award-winning photojournalist and designer. Moderator Dawn Garcia Director, John S. Knight (JSK) Journalism Fellowships, Stanford University Dawn Garcia is director of the John S. Knight (JSK) Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University, a program that coaches and supports diverse journalists from around the world who are creating innovative solutions to journalism’s most urgent problems. A former JSK Fellow herself, Garcia began her career as a reporter and editor at West Coast newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle. She has served on a number of nonprofit journalism boards, including KQED Public Media, the Journalism and Women Symposium, and OpenNews. Catalog Number: 102809043 Acquisition Number: 2024.0171 </video> <video> Now Open: Chatbots Decoded at the Computer History Museum Description: On November 20, 2024, the Computer History Museum (CHM), the leading institution decoding technology—its computing past, digital present, and future impact on humanity—announces the opening of its latest exhibit, “Chatbots Decoded: Exploring AI.” This cutting-edge, immersive experience takes visitors through the history, current landscape, and future possibilities of chatbots and AI, offering insights into, potentially, one of the most transformative technologies of our time. Spanning 2,000 square feet, the exhibit explains the evolution of chatbots, from their early roots with innovators like Alan Turing to the rise of modern AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT. Designed for audiences high school-aged and above, “Chatbots Decoded” presents a dynamic and engaging exploration of AI’s impact on work, education, and society, addressing critical questions about trust, ethics, and the human connection with intelligent machines. </video> <video> Morris Worm Description: In 1988, a Cornell University graduate student accidentally “broke” the internet. Wanting to estimate its size, he released a worm that exploited vulnerabilities in Unix-based systems and unintentionally caused widespread disruption and system crashes across the network. 🪱🌐 Imagery credits: Bettmann/Corbis, Mark Richards, Syracuse Herald-Journal, New York Times #cybersecurity #computerhistory #breaktheinternet </video> <video> POV: Bank of America unveils ERMA Description: ERMA, the Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting, was a groundbreaking computer system introduced by Bank of America in the late 1950s. It revolutionized the banking industry by automating the processing of millions of checks and transactions and setting the foundation for modern electronic banking systems. Imagery credits: Aurora Tucker, Bank of America Corporate Archives #retrotech #oldtech #vintagetech </video> <video> Fei-Fei Li's AI Journey Description: Last week, we had the honor of hosting Stanford Professor Fei-Fei Li at the Museum. While artificial intelligence has been making headlines lately, Li has been at the forefront of the field for over two decades. She shared her thoughts on what brought us to today’s current revolution in AI, and where she thinks the future is headed. #CHM #tech #technology #ai </video> <video> Interview with Lee Felsenstein Description: Interviewed by John Markoff on 2024-10-03 in Mountain View, CA © Computer History Museum Lee Felsenstein joins award winning tech Journalist, John Markoff, at the Computer History Museum, to discuss his new book, Me and My Big Ideas – Counterculture, Social Media, and the Future. Felsenstein reflects on his transformative experiences as a participant in the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley in 1964. At just 19, Felsenstein began a career that included pioneering public-access social media and designing early personal computers, earning recognition as a Fellow of the Computer History Museum in 2016. The book intertwines autobiography with the exploration of key ideas he championed throughout his 50-year career. Felsenstein delves into the concept of the “agora”—the communal spaces vital for public discourse—and critiques today’s social media landscape, likening users to “livestock at information feedlots.” He concludes with insights for future designers, advocating for thoughtful innovation to foster community and meaningful exchanges in the digital age. Catalog Number: 102809044 Acquisition Number: 2024.0170 </video> <video> Oral History of Jim Keller Description: Interviewed by Douglas Fairbairn on 2024-07-08 in Mountain View, CA © Computer History Museum Jim Keller is a legendary computer architect. He has designed or impacted virtually every major computer architecture from the 1970’s through 2024. Jim was born in 1958 in Pennsylvania as the son of a mechanical engineer. He was dyslexic and didn’t learn to read until the end of the third grade, but later became a voracious reader. He went on to Penn State because a girl he liked was enrolled there and majored in EE with a minor in philosophy. Upon graduation he went to work at Harris Semiconductor in Florida, which seemed attractive in that he could live on the beach and surf. That job turned out to be a dead end, so he found an ad for a job at Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) and quickly found a far more interesting position. It was here that he got an introduction to computer architecture, working on the VAX 8800 along with Bob Stewart, a senior architect on several generations of DEC computers. Jim ended up staying at DEC for 15 years, working on mid-range systems, high end systems, DEC’s Western Research Labs, and eventually joining the semiconductor group where he worked on the Alpha chip. When his time played out at DEC, he moved to the west coast to work at AMD, on the K7 and K8 chips, both X86 compatible architectures competing with Intel. After three years at AMD, he spent a short time at a startup, but quickly moved on to SiByte, where an old colleague from DEC was CEO. The project there was to build a networking processor that attracted the interest of Broadcom, which later bought the company. After some time at Broadcom, he joined another startup to focus on the PowerPC architecture. That company, P.A. Semi, was in turn purchased by Apple. Jim spent four years at Apple before first returning to AMD, then on to Tesla, Intel and finally Tenstorrent. As of 2024, Jim was CEO of Tenstorrent, a company building a massively parallel compute chip aimed at the solving the AI computation bottleneck. * Note: Transcripts represent what was said in the interview. However, to enhance meaning or add clarification, interviewees have the opportunity to modify this text afterward. This may result in discrepancies between the transcript and the video. Please refer to the transcript for further information - https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102809019 Visit computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/ for more information about the Computer History Museum's Oral History Collection. Catalog Number: 102809020 Acquisition Number: 2024.0071 </video> <video> 1994 Trailer for the Internet 🎥 Description: It’s 1994 and you’re hearing about the internet for the first time ever. How has it changed since then? Imagery credits: Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) #blastfromthepast #nostalgia #90saesthetic </video>

Contacts and Links

Description

Welcome to the Computer History Museum channel on YouTube. We're committed to preserving and presenting the history and stories of the Information Age. Here on YouTube we offer videos of the many lectures and events at the museum and also historic computer films. We also feature video from our well–known Revolutionaries television series. Be sure to check out the Computer History Museum website for even more information including online exhibits, upcoming events and our collection of computing artifacts: http://www.computerhistory.org.

Videos from channel