After building and designing personal computers throughout the '70s, Xerox had a breakthrough in 1981 when it unveiled Star, the first system that integrated desktop computing with various technologies that are now commonplace: a bitmapped display, a GUI (graphical user interface), icons, folders, a mouse, Ethernet networking, file servers, print servers and e-mail.
Star was ahead of its time and not commercially successful, but it was incredibly influential, setting the standard for GUIs to come from Microsoft, Apple and Sun, among others.
Portable digital music players have evolved through the years, from hulking $800 devices to tiny $60 iPod Shuffles. Here's a look at how MP3 players have changed over the past decade.
Over the years, people have tried to transfer information from one computer to another in a dizzying number of ways. Here's a look at some of the best, along with others that time forgot.
The Computer History Museum's new 25,000 square-foot exhibit entitled "Computer History: The First 2,000 Years" includes media and artifact-rich galleries with an in-depth focus on more than 20 major areas of computer history. Here are some highlights.
From blinking lights and punch cards to LCDs and 3D flat panels, we trace the 70-year history of the tech that users rely on to see what a computer is doing.
From the first prototype portable computer in 1968 to the OLPC XO (an inspiration for netbooks) to the CrunchPad Web tablet of the near future, these 16 notebooks mark important stages in the progress of laptops.
The origins of iconic tech products. High-tech hotels. The top 10 cities for tech workers. The silliest BlackBerry accessories. Get it all right here and much, much more.
