As far as punctuation goes, the exclamation mark is perhaps the most eye-catching of the bunch. That’s why [Conrad Farnsworth] thought this form would be perfect for his Home Assistant notifier build. The key to this build is the large bi-color printed housing in the shape of an exclamation mark. It makes for an attractive […]
You may not remember [Mr. Wizard], but he was a staple of nerd kids over a few decades, teaching science to kids via the magic of television. The Computer History Archives Project has a partially restored film of [Mr. Wizard] showing off sounds and noise on a state-of-the-art (for 1963) Tektronix 504 oscilloscope. He talks […]
Although much diminished now, the public switched telephone network was one of the largest machines ever constructed. To make good on its promise of instant communication across town or around the world, the network had to reach into every home and business, snake along poles to thousands of central offices, and hum through the ether […]
Telephone systems predate the use of cheap computers and electronic switches. Yesterday’s phone system used lots of stepping relays in a box known as a “selector.” If you worked for the phone company around 1951, you might have seen the Bell System training film shown below that covers 197 selectors. The relays are not all […]