Back to the Future - A short history of computers

A quick trip down memory lane just to see how far computers have come since I first used them....

If my memory is correct the first computer I actually used was at school and it was a "Research machines 380z" a true beast of a machine which when launched in 1977 ran at 4mhz and supported between 4 and 56k Ram. This advert details the monster spec you get for nearly £1800! which back in 1977 was a 'lot' of cash

Next our school got hold of the now infamous BBC Model A & B computers which ran at 1.8 MHz and had upto 64k Ram - I remember the sound capabilities were pretty advanced for the day

The first computer I remember using at home was the Apple IIe ('e' standing for enhanced). Ours came with 3 external 5 1/4 inch drives and I remember spending the entire summer programming in code for games that I got from a magazine. The Apple ran at 1.02 MHz and had upto 64k Ram so although essentially a business computer it had imilar processing power to the BBC Bringing things up to date, for just over £1000 the new iMac that we are using in our office at the moment is like something out of a sci-fi film in comparison - all this in 30 years

I wonder if the difference between the iMac of today and whats on offer in 30 years will be as marked?

Spaceman-technologies

Check this awesome site out Spaceman-technologies even 'sounds' cool!

Especially the ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND INTERFACES

"In 2003/2004 Spaceman Technologies developed quite a number of innovative sound synthesis and electronic music controllers, sequencers and interfaces. These efforts were mainly concentrated on developing tactile instruments, sequencers and mixing desks based around the Spaceman Technologies multi-object tracking and multi-touch sensor technologies, in collaboration with Novation EMS Ltd. In addition to these projects various DSP-based sound synthesis and spectrum analysis toys and gadgets were developed such as the SoundMouse and the OpticalMicrophone."

Virtual Headphones Offer Private Audio

More cool audio innovation - check the full story here

May 15, 2007
A new multiple speaker system recreates the headphone experience without the cord — or the headphones. The speakers focus sound to a small area around the user, yet just a few feet outside that zone, the sound is nearly inaudible. Such a system could work well for home media but could also go a long way to providing office workers hands-free communication without interrupting nearby colleagues.

"The guy who is 1.5 meters (5 feet) away cannot hear what you can hear," said Ivan Tashev, software architect in the speech technology group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Wash. What's more, he said, "We can adjust the listening zone electronically without doing any mechanical movement."

Turn any flat surface into a speaker

How cool is this? It was featured in a recent edition of Focus mag and wasn't even 'that' expensive...... What if you could turn any flat surface into a speaker? The "Nimzy Vibro Max" promises to do just that, by reproducing sound through vibrations spread across any flat platform made of a hard substance such as metal, plastic, wood or glass. The idea has been tried before, but GadgetCentre says the cube-shaped Vibro Max has an integrated amplifier that's more powerful than previous models.

Also worth a look is : The Soundbug
The Soundbug is a British designed innovation about the size of a computer mouse and turns any hard surface into a speaker! Simply plug it into your music device (MP3 Player, CD Player, FM Radio, etc...), stick it on a door, window or desk, hit play and prepare to be amazed when your surface of choice starts singing back at you!

Every geek on the planet will want one - including me

Ok. Not strictly music related but this is so cool I had to mention it on my blog!

Yesterday, Microsoft took the wraps off "Milan", five years in the making and the first in what the company hopes will be a long line of "surface computers". The Microsoft tabletop PC, called "Surface", for which Microsoft has created both the hardware and software, offers shades of the technology seen in the sci-fi thriller Minority Report. The whole unit is controlled entirely through touch — there's no mouse or keyboard.

To me it resembles the table top space invaders that used to inhabit pubs in the 80's but with technology light years ahead

Read about the announcement here or go to the Surface website