Actually, I did see it yesterday, because my two year old was trying to play it! No kidding. I think this was my older brother’s first electronic game, along with the baseball version. He would play them for hours, never giving me a turn.

Somehow, it ended up in my house, and the crazy thing still works! (I can’t get a cordless phone that will keep a charge for more than 30 minutes, but this thing is still going strong!) I have a feeling kids today would laugh us out of the room if we tried to convince them that moving a few red dots around on a teeny-tiny screen could entertain them for hours. And we thought it was high-tech!

Ahhh…the simpler times.

Post from: The 80s Club

Thus, by 1985, Internet was already well established as a technology supporting a broad community of researchers and developers, and was beginning to be used by other communities for daily computer communications. Electronic mail was being used broadly across several communities, often with different systems, but interconnection between different mail systems was demonstrating the utility of broad based electronic communications between people.

and:

In 1983, when Barry Leiner took over management of the Internet research program at DARPA, he and Clark recognized that the continuing growth of the Internet community demanded a restructuring of the coordination mechanisms.

also:

Starting in the early 1980’s and continuing to this day, the Internet grew beyond its primarily research roots to include both a broad user community and increased commercial activity. Increased attention was paid to making the process open and fair.

and lastly:

In 1987 it became clear that a protocol was needed that would permit the elements of the network, such as the routers, to be remotely managed in a uniform way. Several protocols for this purpose were proposed, including Simple Network Management Protocol or SNMP (designed, as its name would suggest, for simplicity, and derived from an earlier proposal called SGMP) , HEMS (a more complex design from the research community) and CMIP (from the OSI community).

For a great read, take a few minutes or ten, and read A Brief History of the Internet.

If you prefer to watch a film instead, check out

Post from: The 80s Club

You can read more about the history of cell phones here: The History of .Net.

Today not only are cell phones much, much smaller, they are multi taskers. Most can play the radio and/or an mp3, connect to the Internet, and offer video games for you when you’re bored.

Thank goodness cell phones have come a long way. Of course, if they hadn’t, I sure would have some nice biceps from lugging around my old cell phone!

Post from: The 80s Club

The U.S. Human Genome Project, coordinated by DOE and NIH, is a multi-year effort to find all the genes on every chromosome in the human body and to determine their biochemical nature.

You can read more on the HGP website; and for a look at genetics explained in more average-person-friendly terms, stop by Genetics and Health written by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei.

Post from: The 80s Club

This is a movie I, being a typical girl, did not see during the 80s. Thanks to my husband (who says this movie is what the Matrix wanted to be) I am ignorant no longer. This movie is all about being sucked into the Mainframe, and life and death are on the line. If you like sci-fi and love suspense and adventure, this movie is for you. Don’t expect the sort of graphics we are spoiled with now, but do keep in mind that for its time, TRON was cutting edge. This movie is definitely one to watch, if you want to hold any sort of claim to being an Old School Geek. In fact, The Husband says this movie is absolutely required.

You may remember the old TRON arcade game, or computer game(s?). Armagetron Advanced: a TRON clone in 3D may be just the thing you need to download- whether to relive your TRON fantasies, or just to pass some time. You’ll need access to a Geek or be a bit of a geek yourself to navigate the download and install process. Enjoy!

Post from: The 80s Club

Of course, now I’m very grateful that I did what my mother told me to do, because as a writer, I spend a huge amount of time doing exactly what I thought I’d never do – tap away on a key board all day.

This is a tribute then to the old typewriter and today’s notebook or laptop computers. (Pictured below is a Dell notebook very similar to one I own). Since I was an English major, my parents gave me an electric typewriter as a graduation present when I got my AA degree. My roommates were so impressed when I moved into the dorm with this high-tech piece of equipment. They begged me to allow them to use it on occassion for reports and such.

Years later, now as a returning college student, it amazes me at how many kids (hey, I’m like 20 years old than them so I can call them kids) have their own laptop computers. You see them all over campus, in the coffee shop, bookstore, and library.

Post from: The 80s Club