Computer Thread

neosapien

Well-Known Member
I miss radio shack. Probably more than any other one of those stores.
We had several home improvement type general stores around here called Trader Horn. They were much more than that though. Best fucking store ever. Always had that weird thing you were looking for or never knew you needed. Their slogan was "Your favorite store". And it was. Then the Lowes came and gutted them. That's my most missed store. Sad.
 

DarkWeb

Well-Known Member
We had several home improvement type general stores around here called Trader Horn. They were much more than that though. Best fucking store ever. Always had that weird thing you were looking for or never knew you needed. Their slogan was "Your favorite store". And it was. Then the Lowes came and gutted them. That's my most missed store. Sad.
We had one store like that. It was great. Then Sears hardware bought it and it was still really good.....more modern but not the same.
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
In the fledgling days of the internet, before I just blindly trusted putting my credit card on the internet, I did just about all my shopping at this place called Circuit City. It was like a more ghetto Best Buy. I actually preferred it to Best Buy. Because I myself am ghetto lol. One of the main reasons though is cuz right when widescreen LCD monitors came out I went to buy a huge 22" (lol) and it rang up incorrectly like $300 less. I looked at the teenager behind the counter, who was oblivious as to why I was looking at him, he said the total again and then I had a momentary crisis of conscience and then just said fuck it and gave him my card. Walked out the doors the whole time thinking don't beep dont beep. Got a 500 monitor for like 100 and change. I still have that monitor and it still works to this day. Acer.
I remember when Circuit City went out of business. They had one of those store closing clearance sales. I went to take a look and it was a mob. I looked around and noticed that many of the prices had actually been marked up. I walked out shaking my head. People thought they were getting a deal. because there was a big "Clearance Everything Goes" sign out front.


I feel like with the advent of Raspberry Pis and Arduinos etc, Radio Shack's demise was a little premature now. If only they could have held on like 5 years longer lol.
Last time I was in a Radio Shack before they closed it looked like they had already switched completely over to just selling cell phones. I was in there looking for electronic components and when I asked if they still carried any they pointed me to this small cabinet that was basically empty. I remember when they had a huge supply of parts for the electronics hobbyist. I had several of those kits that let you build all kinds of circuits and stuff when I was a kid and then moved up from those. I doubt they would have been able to transition back to an actual electronics parts store.
 

DarkWeb

Well-Known Member
I remember when Circuit City went out of business. They had one of those store closing clearance sales. I went to take a look and it was a mob. I looked around and noticed that many of the prices had actually been marked up. I walked out shaking my head. People thought they were getting a deal. because there was a big "Clearance Everything Goes" sign out front.




Last time I was in a Radio Shack before they closed it looked like they had already switched completely over to just selling cell phones. I was in there looking for electronic components and when I asked if they still carried any they pointed me to this small cabinet that was basically empty. I remember when they had a huge supply of parts for the electronics hobbyist. I had several of those kits that let you build all kinds of circuits and stuff when I was a kid and then moved up from those. I doubt they would have been able to transition back to an actual electronics parts store.
Last thing I bought from them was a cheap cellphone for my wife. Phone broke a few days before a road trip she had to take so I got a cheap cellphone and put in her sim.

I remember I put led tail lights on my one of the rock buggies I built. When I hit the turn signal all 4 would go on. Went to radio shack and got a few parts...soldered them in and street legal again :blsmoke:
 

neosapien

Well-Known Member
I remember when Circuit City went out of business. They had one of those store closing clearance sales. I went to take a look and it was a mob. I looked around and noticed that many of the prices had actually been marked up. I walked out shaking my head. People thought they were getting a deal. because there was a big "Clearance Everything Goes" sign out front.
No doubt. One of the oldest tricks in the retail book. Amazon does that too around the holidays.
 

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
I remember when Circuit City went out of business. They had one of those store closing clearance sales. I went to take a look and it was a mob. I looked around and noticed that many of the prices had actually been marked up. I walked out shaking my head. People thought they were getting a deal. because there was a big "Clearance Everything Goes" sign out front.




Last time I was in a Radio Shack before they closed it looked like they had already switched completely over to just selling cell phones. I was in there looking for electronic components and when I asked if they still carried any they pointed me to this small cabinet that was basically empty. I remember when they had a huge supply of parts for the electronics hobbyist. I had several of those kits that let you build all kinds of circuits and stuff when I was a kid and then moved up from those. I doubt they would have been able to transition back to an actual electronics parts store.
Heathkit, lots of budding engineers began there.
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Off the subject a tad but the one store I miss here in town is the GENUINE independent hardware store with it's own unique smell, creaking wood floors, little dusty cabinets filled with all sorts of screws, bolts and connector minutia and the really ancient little gentleman who knew exactly what you needed even if you didn't.

 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
I don't. They had a ridiculously draconian return policy.
Plus they sold items that had been previously returned to the manufacturer as new. I think some of the stuff they were selling they bought at auction. I bought a motherboard there one time and when I opened the box there was an RMA form in it. I took it back and like you said had to deal with their crappy return policy. I got my money though as I started talking loud about how they were selling repaired merchandise as new. I've been know to make a scene.
 

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
Plus they sold items that had been previously returned to the manufacturer as new. I think some of the stuff they were selling they bought at auction. I bought a motherboard there one time and when I opened the box there was an RMA form in it. I took it back and like you said had to deal with their crappy return policy. I got my money though as I started talking loud about how they were selling repaired merchandise as new. I've been know to make a scene.
Good!
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
1648809781964.png

Founders Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne created Apple Computer Co. on April 1, 1976, to market Wozniak's Apple I desktop computer, and Jobs and Wozniak incorporated the company on January 3, 1977, in Cupertino, California.

For more than three decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a manufacturer of personal computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines, but it faced rocky sales and low market share during the 1990s. Jobs, who had been ousted from the company in 1985, returned to Apple in 1997 after his company NeXT was bought by Apple. The following year he became the company's interim CEO, which later became permanent. Jobs subsequently instilled a new corporate philosophy of recognizable products and simple design, starting with the original iMac in 1998.

With the introduction of the successful iPod music player in 2001 and iTunes Music Store in 2003, Apple established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics and media sales industries, leading it to drop "Computer" from the company's name in 2007. The company is now also known for its iOS range of smart phone, media player, and tablet computer products that began with the iPhone, followed by the iPod Touch and then iPad. As of June 30, 2015, Apple was the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of US$1 trillion as of August 2, 2018. Apple's worldwide annual revenue in 2010 totaled US$65 billion, growing to US$127.8 billion in 2011 and $156 billion in 2012.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – April 1, 2004 UTC Amidst rampant media speculation, Google Inc. today announced it is testing a preview release of Gmail – a free search-based webmail service with a storage capacity of up to eight billion bits of information, the equivalent of 500,000 pages of email. Per user.

The inspiration for Gmail came from a Google user complaining about the poor quality of existing email services, recalled Larry Page, Google co-founder and president, Products. "She kvetched about spending all her time filing messages or trying to find them," Page said. "And when she’s not doing that, she has to delete email like crazy to stay under the obligatory four megabyte limit. So she asked, ‘Can’t you people fix this?’"

The idea that there could be a better way to handle email caught the attention of a Google engineer who thought it might be a good "20 percent time" project. (Google requires engineers to spend a day a week on projects that interest them, unrelated to their day jobs). Millions of M&Ms later, Gmail was born.
 
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BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
"On April 16, 1977, the first annual West Coast Computer Faire kicked off in San Francisco. At that event, which was attended by 12,750 people, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak unveiled the Apple II personal computer. It’s not hyperbole to say that the world has never been the same."

 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
"Americans who are paid through a digital payment service such as PayPal, Venmo, Zelle and Cash App, the next tax year could come with even more complications. Under a new law buried in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, digital payment services, or Third-Party Settlement Organizations (TPSOs), will now be required to notify federal tax collectors of payments amounting to more than $600 (used to be $20K) in total during the course of the year."

 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Internez History:
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On April 30, 1993, four years after publishing a proposal for “an idea of linked information systems,” computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee released the source code for the world’s first web browser and editor. Originally called Mesh, the browser that he dubbed WorldWideWeb became the first royalty-free, easy-to-use means of browsing the emerging information network that developed into the internet as we know it today.

Berners-Lee was a fellow at CERN, the research organization headquartered in Switzerland. Other research institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University had developed complex systems for internally sharing information, and Berners-Lee sought a means of connecting CERN’s system to others. He outlined a plan for such a network in 1989 and developed it over the following years. The computer he used, a NeXT desktop, became the world’s first internet server. Berners-Lee wrote and published the first web page, a simplistic outline of the WorldWideWeb project, in 1991.

CERN began sharing access with other institutions, and soon opened it up to the general public. In releasing the source code for the project to the public domain two years later, Berners-Lee essentially opened up access to the project to anyone in the world, making it free and (relatively) easy to explore the nascent internet.

Simple Web browsers like Mosaic appeared a short time later, and before long the Web had become by far the most popular system of its kind. Within a matter of years, Berners-Lee’s invention had revolutionized information-sharing and, in doing so, had dramatically altered the way that human beings communicated. The creation and globalization of the web is widely considered one of the most transformational events in human history. 4.39 billion people, including you, are now estimated to use the internet, accounting for over half the global population. The average American now spends 24 hours a week online. The internet’s rise has been the greatest expansion in information access in human history, has led to the exponential growth in the total amount of data in the world, and has facilitated a spread of knowledge, ideas and social movements that was unthinkable as recently as the 1990s.

 

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
Today in Internez History:

On April 30, 1993, four years after publishing a proposal for “an idea of linked information systems,” computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee released the source code for the world’s first web browser and editor. Originally called Mesh, the browser that he dubbed WorldWideWeb became the first royalty-free, easy-to-use means of browsing the emerging information network that developed into the internet as we know it today.

Berners-Lee was a fellow at CERN, the research organization headquartered in Switzerland. Other research institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University had developed complex systems for internally sharing information, and Berners-Lee sought a means of connecting CERN’s system to others. He outlined a plan for such a network in 1989 and developed it over the following years. The computer he used, a NeXT desktop, became the world’s first internet server. Berners-Lee wrote and published the first web page, a simplistic outline of the WorldWideWeb project, in 1991.

CERN began sharing access with other institutions, and soon opened it up to the general public. In releasing the source code for the project to the public domain two years later, Berners-Lee essentially opened up access to the project to anyone in the world, making it free and (relatively) easy to explore the nascent internet.

Simple Web browsers like Mosaic appeared a short time later, and before long the Web had become by far the most popular system of its kind. Within a matter of years, Berners-Lee’s invention had revolutionized information-sharing and, in doing so, had dramatically altered the way that human beings communicated. The creation and globalization of the web is widely considered one of the most transformational events in human history. 4.39 billion people, including you, are now estimated to use the internet, accounting for over half the global population. The average American now spends 24 hours a week online. The internet’s rise has been the greatest expansion in information access in human history, has led to the exponential growth in the total amount of data in the world, and has facilitated a spread of knowledge, ideas and social movements that was unthinkable as recently as the 1990s.

Lynx was the browser i used in the 90's when i first started playing with linux.
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
 
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