Internet History Podcast

Steven Sasson, the inventor of the world’s first digital camera at Kodak, shares his groundbreaking journey in digital photography. He dives into the skunkworks project that birthed the camera and reflects on Kodak's struggle with technological disruption. Sasson discusses the skepticism surrounding digital imaging back in the 70s and how internal conflicts hindered Kodak’s transition to digital. He also highlights how smartphones have democratized photography, making it an essential part of our daily lives and creativity.

Quick, special announcement of a book, based on the podcast, coming from Liveright (W.W. Norton) in 2018. Regular episode to come next monday... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SummaryJeff Wilkins was the co-founder and first CEO of CompuServe, perhaps the original consumer online service. Jeff recounts for us CompuServe's founding in 1970, the launch of it's consumer-facing service in 1980, and all of the innovations that CompuServe brought to life: the first commercial email product; the first newspapers online; the first airline listings; and most interestingly, CB Simulator, the grandaddy of all chat apps in the world. We even revisit the famous AOL CD carpet-bombing campaign from a new angle, and Jeff shares his insights about how and why AOL was able to become the dominant online service of the 90s. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special Note: We’re testing something new this week. You can read a full transcription of this episode here.Everyone’s favorite, friendly neighborhood Venture Capitalist, Hunter Walk, discusses four amazing segments of his career: Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Second Life, Google Adsense and YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SummaryKen and Roberta Williams were the founders of the legendary PC gaming company Sierra Online. Assistant Professor of Digital Media in the School of Literature, Media and Communication at Georgia Tech, Laine Nooney, joins the show to discuss the history and legacy of Sierra Online. You can find out more about Laine's work at her website, LaineNooney.com and by following her on Twitter at Sierra_OffLine.Pictures of Ken and Roberta Williams: Picture 1 Picture 2 A screencap from King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne A screencap from Kings Quest V A screencap from Leisure Suit Larry Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Selcow and Matt Glickman were the founders of BabyCenter.com. The story of BabyCenter is a combination of several themes we've discussed on this show: creating community as a strategy for building a sustainable audience, attempting e-commerce in the 1990s, and, most interestingly, we get into an in-depth discussion of their experiences of the DotCom bubble. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SummaryLarry Kramer was the founder of MarketWatch.com. He’s also been the President and Publisher of USA Today and he’s currently interim CEO of TheStreet.com. We talk to him about creating a brand like MarketWatch in a space dominated by powerful incumbents like The Wall Street Journal, CNBC and others. But we also hear what it was like to work in the legendary Washington Post newsroom in the 1970s and 80s, as well as what it takes to bring success to modern media properties like USA Today in the digital era. If you want a first hand primer of when digital and old-world media collided, you couldn’t do better than to listen to the career path of Larry Kramer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SummaryMarc Tarpenning, along with Martin Eberhard, was the cofounder of Tesla Motors back in 2003. But before that, Tarpenning and Eberhard were also the cofounders of NuvoMedia, which produced one of the world's first ebook devices, the rocket eBook. So, for the first part of the episode, Mark recounts the story of NuvoMedia and then about 25 minutes in we begin the founding of Tesla, in my opinion, perhaps the most amazing startup story of the last 20 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SummaryTom Rielly was the founder of PlanetOut, the largest LGBT website and community of the 1990s. Tom recounts the unique impact the web and online technology had on the LGBT community and, prior to that, remembers the early days of the Mac industry. But of course, Tom is best known today for his work at TED, where he is director of Community as well as the TED Fellows program. So we get some interesting TED history as well, especially how posting TED Talks online has transformed the organization. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SummaryWhat more do I need to say? Joey and Carl are back for round two.You can visit the Suck archives here.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.