Decoding Tech

How did Taiwan ascend to such great heights in high-tech manufacturing? Honghong Tinn, author of Island Tinkerers, shares the fascinating history of how hobbyists and enthusiasts in Taiwan helped transform the country through innovative and creative computer use. CHM Curator Hansen Hsu moderates.This conversation was recorded on November 4, 2025, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

How could a machine that transformed the way people interact with computers also be a commercial flop? On January 31, 2023, CHM gathered key insiders to celebrate the Apple Lisa’s innovations, explore its ongoing impact, and learn lessons from its failure. The Program was divided into three segments:"Birth" with original Lisa Team members Bruce Daniels, Wayne Rosing and John Couch (via recording)"This is Your Life, Lisa" with Graphic Designer Annette Wagner, Developer Bill Atkinson (via recording), and CHM's then President and CEO, Dan'l Lewin, who was the Lisa's Market Development Manager."Death and Afterlife" with Steven Levy, Journalist and Wired Editor-at-LargeThe program was moderated by New York Times contributor and author Katie Hafner.This conversation was recorded at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, which includes a recorded Lisa demo and short film from The Verge, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

Despite the hype, AI is far from an overnight success. The story of AI is full of both booms and busts stretching back many decades. Jerry Kaplan, cofounder of Teknowledge, Adam Cheyer, cofounder of Siri, and Daniela Rus, cofounder of Liquid AI came together for a conversation about AI's evolution that was moderated by CHM's Director and Curator of the Internet History Program, Marc Weber.This CHM Live event was made possible by the generous support of Mark and Mary Stevens. It was recorded at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California on October 7, 2025.To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

Did you know that Bulgaria became an electronics powerhouse during the Cold War? In an illuminating lecture for CHM Live, historian Victor Petrov shared insights from his new book, Balkan Cyberia, a CHM Book Prize winner.This conversation was recorded on September 18, 2025 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. To watch a video of this program, including the visuals shown in the presentation, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

With the latest iPhone recently announced, we're sharing this conversation from 2017 about how the first iPhone came to be. In this episode, John Markoff interviews original iPhone Software Team Leader Scott Forstall.The previous episode was Part 1 of this conversation and featured members of the original iPhone Engineering team.This conversation was recorded on June 20, 2017 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

With the latest iPhone soon to be announced, we're sharingthis conversation from 2017 about how the first iPhone came to be. In this episode, John Markoff interviews original iPhone Engineers Nitin Ganatra, Scott Herz, and Hugo Fiennes.Part 2 of the conversation, featuring original iPhone Software Team Leader Scott Forstall will be released in 2 weeks.This conversation was recorded on June 20, 2017 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

Long before online forums and communities like Reddit and Discord, and even before the World Wide Web, bulletin board systems (BBSs) reigned supreme. In the 1980s and '90s, millions of people participated in more than 100,000 BBSs.Kevin Driscoll, author of the award-winning book The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media, and technology and society expert danah boyd joined CHM’s Marc Weber on stage to discuss the innovative world of BBSs and how they shaped today's digital world.This conversation was recorded on April 25, 2024 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

With sales close to 17 million units, The Commodore 64 is the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. On December 7, 2007, John Markoff, tech reporter for The New York Times, moderated a panel at CHM to celebrate the Commodore's 25th anniversary.First, John chats with Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International, before being joined by former IBM exec William Lowe, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and Adam Chowaniac who developed the Amiga.Note: there are few brief periods of Mic troubles that are quickly resolved. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

Recorded only a few months after Steve Jobs passed away, his award-winning biographer, Walter Isaacson, joined CHM's CEO at the time, John Hollar, to discuss one of the most celebrated figures in computer history.This conversation was recorded on December 13, 2011 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the Revolutionaries series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

On the 50th anniversary of the Alto, many of its creators and some of today’s leading inventors gathered at CHM to share the Alto’s legacy and discuss what we can expect for the future of computing research—centered today on artificial intelligence (AI).The program included two panels:In the first, CHM Trustee John Shoch, who worked at PARC as a graduate student, moderated a discussion with two of Alto’s designers, Butler Lampson and Charles Simonyi. Alan Kay participated via video.The second panel focused on artificial intelligence, arguably the most revolutionary sector in today's computing landscape. CHM Trustee Diane Souvaine led the discussion with two computer scientists from pioneering research labs: Ilya Sutskever,who was then cofounder and chief scientist of Open AI, and Microsoft Chief Scientific Officer Eric Horvitz.This conversation was recorded on April 26, 2023 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org