Category Archives: Memory
Edward Tufte Reviews Pocket Calculators
In 1975, just before the birth of the PC industry, Edward Tufte wrote a review of pocket calculators for the American Journal of Political Science. He summarized the rate of advance of the computer technology of the day (citing Rein … Continue reading
Posted in Caclulators, Computer history, Memory
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Magnetic Core Memory Patented
Today in 1956, Jay Forrester of MIT was awarded a patent for his magnetic core memory. It became the standard for computer memory until it was supplanted by solid state RAM in the mid-seventies. It has continued to be used, … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, Memory, This day in information
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Our Flexible Memories: Forgetting the Useless And Remembering Other People’s Experiences
“…selective forgetting of the useless is as important as selective remembering of the useful. And much of this winnowing takes place during sleep, as two papers in this week’s Nature Neuroscience observe… the process of sleep acts as a form … Continue reading
Posted in Information Overload, Memory, Quotes
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50 Years of Memory Management
50 years ago today, one of the first software patent applications is filed by the British Petroleum Company. It proposes to “solve automatically a linear programming problem by means of an iterative algorithm whereby it (a) transfers data representations from the … Continue reading
Magnetic Core Memory Patented
Today in 1956, Jay Forrester of MIT was awarded a patent for his magnetic core memory. It became the standard for computer memory until it was supplanted by solid state RAM in the mid-seventies. It has continued to be used, … Continue reading
We Are What We Remember
“Memory is the power to revive again in our minds those ideas which after imprinting have disappeared, or have been laid aside out of sight”–John Locke “Memory is a process by which what is learned persists across time”–Larry Squire and … Continue reading
Posted in Memory, Quotes
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Spinning Disks
Fifty-five years ago today, IBM introduced the disk drive. In 1953, Arthur J. Critchlow, a young member of IBM’s advanced technologies research lab in San Jose, California, was assigned the task of finding a better information storage medium than punch-cards. … Continue reading
On Memory
“Memory is the finest index”–Menahem Zulay (quoted in Adina Hoffman & Peter Cole, Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza)
Posted in Lost and Found, Memory, Quotes
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