Category Archives: Business history
This Week in Tech History: The Internet is 46 years old and Internet Advertising is 21
October 27, 2010 World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is celebrated or the first time, to “raise general awareness of the need for urgent measures to be taken and to acknowledge the importance of audiovisual documents as an integral part of … Continue reading
Posted in Advertising, Business history, Internet, IT history, Network Effect, News
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Robotics and the Birth of Silicon Valley
“The life of William Shockley—Nobel Prize winner, inventor of the junction transistor, and founder of the seminal silicon electronics laboratory—has been well chronicled. But recently, while digging through the Shockley archives at Stanford University, researcher David C. Brock made a … Continue reading
Posted in Automation, Business history, Computer history, Robots, Social Impact
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They Saw It as Destiny
Louis H. Sullivan, the father of the modern skyscraper, said this about Chicago in 1875, as it emerged from the Great Fire of 1871 and the Economic Panic of 1873: As everybody said: “Chicago has risen phoenix-like from its ashes.” … Continue reading
Posted in Business history
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The IBM Idea Launched, Defying Management Gurus for 102 Years
Today in 1911, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was incorporated. It changed its name to IBM in 1924. Many commentators on IBM’s centenary two years ago attributed its longevity to the power of idea or ideas. In “Ideas make IBM 100 years … Continue reading
The Dvorak Keyboard: Network Effect or Market Efficiency?
Today in 1936, U.S. patent No. 2,040,248 was issued to August Dvorak and William Dealey for their keyboard layout design, later to be commonly known as the Dvorak keyboard. Wikipedia: “A discussion of the Dvorak layout is sometimes used as an … Continue reading
Big Data in the Age of the Telegraph
Caitlin Rosenthal writes in “Big Data in the Age of the Telegraph,” McKinsey Quarterly, March 2013: “In 1854, Daniel McCallum took charge of the operations of the New York and Erie Railroad. With nearly 500 miles of track, it was one of … Continue reading
The Story of Information 