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Using the Internet Like It’s 1999

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The article argues that the modern internet, dominated by social media algorithms and AI-generated content, has become a less authentic, attention-extracting environment, causing users to lose true engagement and agency. It advocates for returning to an internet usage style reminiscent of 1999, focusing on protocols like RSS, IRC, and email to regain control over content consumption, prioritize real human interaction, and reduce reliance on manipulative platforms. This approach aims to revive a more genuine and sovereign internet experience, countering the current trend of distraction and artificiality.

https://joshblais.com/blog/using-the-internet-like-its-1999/

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Why Zip Drives Dominated the 90s, Then Vanished Almost Overnight

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Zip drives revolutionized portable storage in the 1990s by offering significantly higher capacity (starting at 100MB) and faster speeds than traditional floppy disks, becoming popular with users and PC manufacturers like Dell and Apple. However, reliability issues known as the “click of death,” combined with the rise of cheaper and more versatile formats like CDs and USB flash drives, led to the rapid decline and eventual disappearance of Zip drives from the market by the early 2000s.

https://www.xda-developers.com/zip-drives-dominated-90s-vanished-almost-overnight/

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Franklin’s Bad Ads for Apple ][ Clones and the Beloved Impersonator They Relied On

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Franklin Computer Corporation built Apple ][ clones in the early 1980s, notably the ACE 100 series, which closely copied Apple’s designs including BIOS code, leading to legal battles. Their marketing featured the beloved Benjamin Franklin impersonator Ralph Archbold, whose image became closely tied to Franklin’s trademark despite the company’s controversial cloning practices. Though Franklin’s products were popular for their affordability and durability, the company eventually shifted away from desktop computers to handheld devices by the late 1980s.

https://buttondown.com/suchbadtechads/archive/franklin-ace-1000/

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Original Apollo 11 Code Open-Sourced by NASA — Original Command Module and Lunar Module Code Repos Are Now Public Domain Resources

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The article reports that NASA has made the original Apollo 11 guidance computer software publicly available, including separate codebases for the Command Module and Lunar Module. The release allows people to study and run the historic assembly-language programs that helped guide the first Moon landing under extremely limited computing resources. The main point is that opening this code preserves an important part of computing history and highlights the efficiency and engineering required for early space missions.

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/original-apollo-11-code-open-sourced-by-nasa-original-command-module-and-lunar-module-code-repos-are-now-public-domain-resources

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Every GPU That Mattered

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The article presents a comprehensive timeline and comparison of 49 significant consumer GPUs launched over 30 years, from 1996 to 2025, highlighting key technical specifications, defining games, and market impacts of each generation. It showcases the evolution of GPU technology from the pioneering 3D accelerators like the 3dfx Voodoo Graphics to modern high-performance models such as NVIDIA’s RTX 5090, revealing trends in transistor count, memory, power consumption, and pricing, while also reflecting on user adoption through Steam Hardware Survey data.

https://sheets.works/data-viz/every-gpu

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After Fighting Malware for Decades, This Cybersecurity Veteran Is Now Hacking Drones

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Mikko Hyppönen, a renowned cybersecurity expert with over 35 years of experience fighting malware, has shifted his focus to defending against drones, particularly in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine where unmanned aerial attacks have become deadly. Now serving as chief research officer at Sensofusion, a Finnish company developing anti-drone systems, Hyppönen applies his expertise in malware detection to identify and counter drone threats by analyzing their communication protocols and disrupting their controls.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/04/after-fighting-malware-for-decades-this-cybersecurity-veteran-is-now-hacking-drones/

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The Mad Dash to Build the Future of Multimedia

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In 1989, Apple engineers developed QuickTime, a revolutionary software-based multimedia platform that enabled Macs to play and edit video and audio without specialized hardware, changing the future of digital media. Despite initial skepticism and limited resources, the team’s innovative approach to software codecs and media synchronization resulted in a 1991 launch that opened up creative possibilities and set a standard for multimedia on computers.

https://www.theverge.com/tech/902721/quicktime-history-apple?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6IkcybHEzWGhZTVciLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvOTAyNzIxL3F1aWNrdGltZS1oaXN0b3J5LWFwcGxlIiwiZXhwIjoxNzc1NTkyNzA0LCJpYXQiOjE3NzUxNjA3MDR9.p4nbje9XKl05Ybv3q31CyAQULuqAB-H9b8qfftSz12k

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Another Life Changed by the Mac

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Shelly Brisbin recounts how discovering the Macintosh and its desktop publishing capabilities in the mid-1980s transformed her career path, enabling her to overcome challenges related to her low vision and a difficult job market. By learning to use a Mac Plus with PageMaker, she launched a freelance publishing business and eventually secured a professional editing and layout job, with the skills gained continuing to benefit her throughout her career.

https://sixcolors.com/post/2026/04/another-life-changed-by-the-mac/

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This Machine Changed My Life

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In 1988, Antony Johnston’s introduction to the Macintosh Plus at his high school profoundly impacted his life by exposing him to a visual computer interface that made intuitive sense, unlike command-line systems. This experience led him to develop graphic design skills, ultimately shaping his career path into design and later professional writing, illustrating the transformative influence of early Mac computers.

https://sixcolors.com/post/2026/03/this-machine-changed-my-life/

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