Top all-time · #481
Harry McCracken
Personal blog · technologizer.comhardwareculture
Harry McCracken's personal blog at technologizer.com covers hardware and culture. Since 2008, 119 different Hacker News readers have linked it 928 times, most often “PC Magazine, PC World, and Macworld's Origins, as Told by David Bunnell”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-02-16, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 4 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Technologizer for tech history: Polaroid and Edwin Land, early video games like Computer Space, and Apple, Microsoft and Google business history.
- Recommended for · 4 comments
- Called excellent on Computer Space and Edwin Land's SX-70, riveting on Polaroid, and a fun take on Windows 7 numbers.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- PC Magazine, PC World, and Macworld's Origins, as Told by David Bunnell6 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2024-01-20
- The Tragic Death of Practically Everything5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2010-08-18
- The epic story of Polaroid's SX-70, possibly the greatest gadget ever.3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-06-08
- The Speculative Prehistory of the iPhone3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2009-12-28
- The secret origin of Windows, by the product manager who shipped Windows 1.03 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-03-09
- Fanboy: How the title of an obscure 1973 fanzine became tech's favorite insult.3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-05-17
- Where have you gone, Peter Norton? (2014)2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2019-11-07
- Apple-Barnes & Noble talks to lead to latest Apple non-merger or un-acquisition.2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-07-29
- The Secret Origin of Windows (2010)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-03-26
- I love Twitter, but it isn't a news source. Just ask Jeff Goldblum.2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2009-06-26
What Hacker News says?
We forget that there was at least a decade of several "Google killers" a year [1]. It's a graveyeard. That was 2009 too. The volume slowed down but people are still trying (and failing) [2]. Microsoft has of course tried but Bing is only really propped up by Microsoft's deep pockets. It's not a profitable enterprise (AFAIK). And this is with Microsoft using every trick they can to bypass EU and US consent decrees an…
Comment linking /2009/05/19/a-brief-history-of-google-killers/index.html
on “Google loses antitrust suit over search deals on phones”Submitted The raccoons who made computer magazine ads great as a story · 185 points
HN discussionThe only thing iOS had for me was reliability Android and Android apps are more reliable than iOS and iOS apps [1]. Depending on who you believe this has been the case for a long time [2][3] or is a recent trend [4]. As Android vs iOS is the mobile equivalent of vi vs emacs it is not easy to find objective reporting on the subject. [1] https://www.startpage.com/do/dsearch?query=android+ios+crash... [2] http://www.te…
Comment linking /2012/02/06/which-phone-os-crashes-more-its-not-android/
on “Try quickly typing 1+ 2 + 3 into the iOS 11 Calculator”Submitted Where have you gone, Peter Norton? as a story · 127 points
HN discussionFrank Shaw of Microsoft revealed that Google was invited to jointly bid Nortel’s Patent Portfolio but declined. http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/03/microsoft-just-kicked-googl... http://technologizer.com/2011/08/04/google-shows-how-not-to-... Take everything with at least a boulder of salt before turning to an emotional being.
Comment linking /2011/08/04/google-shows-how-not-to-complain-about-the-patent-mess/
on “Patent war goes nuclear: Microsoft, Apple-owned “Rockstar” sues Google”Submitted Where have you gone, Peter Norton? (2014) as a story · 115 points
HN discussionIf past is prelude, they'll try again, within about a decade. They first tried a retail store ~1999-2001, before even Apple, with at least one outlet being in San Francisco's downtown 'Metreon': https://www.technologizer.com/2009/10/20/1999-microsoft-stor... (By my recollection, it was somewhere within the 2nd-floor footprint of the Target that's there now... not far from the bowling alley/arcade.)
Comment linking /2009/10/20/1999-microsoft-store-vs-2009-microsoft-store/
on “Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores”Submitted The Tragic Death of Practically Everything as a story · 112 points
HN discussionIf anyone is curious, in 2009, I discovered that Jim Storer was the author of the first Lunar Lander game and interviewed him about it (and also chronicled the history of the game beyond that). He later provided the source code, which was awesome. https://technologizer.com/2009/07/19/lunar-lander/index.html My favorite part is this: “After leaving high school I never thought about the game again,” says Storer. “Unti…
Comment linking /2009/07/19/lunar-lander/index.html
on “I found a 55 year old bug in the first Lunar Lander game”Submitted Where Have You Gone, Peter Norton? (2014) as a story · 99 points
HN discussionYou can put a small ROM on your board with diodes, for example to store bitmaps, and for style points you can even arrange the diodes in the shape of your bitmaps: https://technologizer.com/2011/12/11/computer-space-and-the-...
Comment linking /2011/12/11/computer-space-and-the-dawn-of-the-arcade-video-game/2/
on “Things you can do with diodes”Submitted Let's just say it: 3D TV is a joke. as a story · 96 points
HN discussionSteve Jobs, in 2008, on why touchscreen iMacs are bad http://www.technologizer.com/2008/10/14/my-question-with-ste... Steve Jobs, in 2010, on why touchscreen laptops are bad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeNsqqKadQ4 Jonny Ive, last week, on why touchscreen laptops are bad https://www.cnet.com/special-reports/jony-ive-talks-about-pu...
Comment linking /2008/10/14/my-question-with-steve/
on “Nyancat on the touchbar”Submitted Apple bans an iPhone e-reader because it provides access to the Kama Sutra as a story · 82 points
HN discussionDid you notice this Ad they had for Osborne? Please scroll down to see the 'The Guy on the left doesn't stand a chance' Ad, on the 2nd page of the article ( http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/2/ ) It almost could have been an Ad for a 'Laptop' as we know it.
Comment linking /2011/04/01/osborne-computer/2/
on “Steve Jobs' Best Quotes”Submitted BYTE, the most beloved computer-magazine brand of all, is coming back. as a story · 80 points
HN discussionDid some digging about Adam Osborne. Made me quite sad for him... It seems he was a failed (relatively speaking) genius. He is credited with building the first computer for people. Also was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs: "on April 3rd, 1981 when a startup called Osborne Computer Corporation announced the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire at San Francisco’s Brooks Hall. It was th…
Comment linking /2011/04/01/osborne-computer/
on “Steve Jobs' Best Quotes”Submitted Rhapsody passes on Apple's "economically untenable" sub plans as a story · 72 points
HN discussionThere was an excellent article by Benj Edwards about Computer Space and Dabney's contribution to video game history, including the invention of the "slipping counter" circuit that moved onscren objects on this game and Pong: https://www.technologizer.com/2011/12/11/computer-space-and-... “Nolan came to me one time and he said, ‘On a TV set, when you turn the vertical hold on the TV, the picture will go up, and if yo…
Comment linking /2011/12/11/computer-space-and-the-dawn-of-the-arcade-video-game/
on “Ted Dabney, a Founder of Atari and a Creator of Pong, Has Died”Submitted Swoopo Quietly Files for Bankruptcy as a story · 68 points
HN discussionI setup my own geocities website in 1998, so they had to have had it then. According to the document here [1], AOL's web browser was introduced in 1995. [1] https://www.technologizer.com/2010/05/24/aol-anniversary/2/
Comment linking /2010/05/24/aol-anniversary/2/
on “Facebook Is the AOL of 2021”Submitted "Whatever happened to...?" The odd fates of 25 legendary tech products. as a story · 62 points
HN discussionThe modern products sold under the Norton brand are a slur on the name of Peter Norton, a real dude who made some excellent software products and wrote some important books back in the day. https://www.technologizer.com/2014/06/05/where-have-you-gone... I guess there's a lesson here: if you sell your name, eventually it will be used for something that will tarnish it.
Comment linking /2014/06/05/where-have-you-gone-peter-norton/
on “Mozilla and Opera remove Avast extensions from their add-on stores”Submitted Don't confuse it with Quickster, QuickStar, Quik-Star, Kwik Star, or Kwikster. as a story · 55 points
HN discussionMore relevant than ever ? https://technologizer.com/2012/01/23/why-history-needs-softw...
Comment linking /2012/01/23/why-history-needs-software-piracy/
on “How to become a pirate archivist (2022)”Submitted Bill Gates' masterpiece, DONKEY.BAS, finally available for iPhone as a story · 54 points
HN discussionThis change butts up against what I think is a fundamental, unsolved UI issue. Power users often don't realize how much if an issue "getting lost" is for novice users. Dave Worthington's Mom said[1] of the iPad: Well, it’s too touchy. Even though I’m better with it now… if you happen just to move your hand or something, you know, then all of a sudden you’re out of what you’re in. That’s bad I think. Notice she doesn…
Comment linking /2011/03/28/my-mom-reviews-the-ipad-her-first-computer/
on “Skype 5 for Mac”Submitted Where Have You Gone, Peter Norton? (2014) as a story · 50 points
HN discussionAnd many people were hoping for an Apple iPod/phone for quite a while; see, for example, http://technologizer.com/2009/12/28/iphone-rumors/ (the first list of collected iPhone rumors I found in a google search). This was published in 2009. Hackers and Painters came in 2004.
Comment linking /2009/12/28/iphone-rumors/
on “A prescient footnote”Submitted The Timeless Genius of Kodak’s George Eastman as a story · 43 points
HN discussion
