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tunes

First Recording of Computer Music Found. Verdict: Catchy, But You Can't Dance to It

A recent dig around in the BBC's archives has resulted in an unexpected find: recordings made in 1951 of a Ferranti Mark 1 computer playing tunes. Predating what was thought previously to be the first (on a Bell Labs IBM mainframe in 1957) the tapes were made during a recording of Children's Hour in Manchester University. The Ferranti was the first commercially available general purpose computer, and can be heard beeping through God Save the King, Baa Baa Black Sheep and In the Mood... slowly, and a bit scratchily since the recordings are 57 years old. Interestingly, the software was written by a chap called Christopher Strachey, a friend of Alan Turing. Click on to the BBC link to hear this bit of History in action, and marvel how far we've come since. [BBC via The Inquirer]

6:21 AM on Wed Jun 18 2008
By Kit Eaton
4,431 views, 19 comments

Latest by Macobyte: Any Tim and Eric fans in here? "Son you know those MIDI files aren't sorted..." more »

gadgets

World's First OLED Lamp

We're not sure why someone would want to make an OLED desk lamp at this point in time, what with the technology being relatively new and somewhat expensive right now, but OSRAM Opto Semiconductors and designer Ingo Maurer have done just that. This lamp, called "Early Future", is made up of ten distinct OLED tiles measuring 132 x 33 mm each. There's no price on this as far as we can see, but it's going to be a while until people will actually be buying these OLED lamps anyway. For now we'll stick to illuminating our offices with the soft glow of four LCD monitors. [OSRAM via OLED Info]

3:45 PM on Mon Apr 7 2008
By Jason Chen
5,378 views, 21 comments

Latest by erik1974: Although OLEDs used in lighting applications are not expected to become popular in the next few years and will initially more »

nouveau riche

FIRST! D-Link Goes All 802.11n Draft 2.0

The Wi-Fi Alliance has passed their first two draft 2.0 applicants in the never-ending race to full 802.11n certification. The D-Link Xtreme N Router and Xtreme N Notebook Adapter both passed the Alliance's testing, and now tower over their wireless kingdom, mocking all of the 1.0-certified brethren with full 2.0 certification. And 2.0 matters to you because it's guaranteed compatible with the final draft. More »

3:45 PM on Fri Jun 29 2007
By Mark Wilson
1,919 views, 6 comments

Latest by Adam: @davekaybsc: I hope that was an invader zim reference. more »

robots

FIRST Robotics Competition: Like Battlebots with Fewer Saws

This weekend was the FIRST robotics competition at the Javits Center here in NYC, an event where groups of students compete to see who built the best robot in the six-week competition window. How it works:
The core of the high school–level FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the design and building of a robotic competitor. Each year in early January, FIRST unveils the competition or "game" at an annual kick-off event that is beamed by NASA satellite to auditoriums all over the world. This is the first glimpse students get of the game they will have to design their robot to play.
More »

2:15 PM on Mon Mar 19 2007
By Adam Frucci
390 views, 18 comments

Latest by dmphan: yeah, my team (928) from DC just was in the championship round. We managed to tie it up after the more »

home entertainment

Nintendo Wii First Startup + Surprise!

Here's what the Nintendo Wii looks like the first time you start it up. Enter in the time, date, name, and what language you speak (I had problems with that one). One cool detail is how the controller vibrates when you scrub over various clickable UI elements. More »

Feature

5:13 PM on Fri Nov 10 2006
By Jason Chen
2,903 views, 11 comments

Latest by moogle301: hehehe cool!! even this video is exciting also, he sounded a bit like Kermit ^_____^ more »