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100 years of computer developments: to infinity and beyond

Having spent all my life in computing, it’s interesting to look at the development of technology from where it came from to where it is going to. When joining the industry many years ago, we talked about the S/360 instruction set that was the basis of IBM’s systems; we talked about BASIC, Fortran, COBOL and…

The history of humanity in coins and notes

For those who read me regularly, you will know that I’m a bit of a numismatist. What’s that? A nerd. Well, no, not really. It’s someone who is really enthusiastic about studying, collecting and talking about money, coins, cash, medals and related items. That’s me. Sorry. I’m one of them. Weirdly, I’ve collected a lot…

Happy 50th Birthday Microsoft

I don’t know about you, but I remember getting my first computer back in the 1980s. It was OK, but quite difficult to use and pretty expensive. In around 1990, I got my first laptop and can remember it cost around £2,000. It wasn’t worth it. Ever since, like most people, I’ve probably changed computers…

How to kill a company doing a Musk

I’ve seen a number of companies die over they years. Sometimes it’s a statement from the CEO showing arrogance but, more often, from a mistake in strategy. After all, it’s easy to make a comment and miss the mark; it’s even easier to make a strategic movement and miss the mark. Therefore, the recent dumping…

Did John Pierpont Morgan sink the Titanic?

It’s Valentine’s Day. A day full of love. A day that makes me think of the film Titanic, which tells the love story of Jack and Rose and the greatest ship disaster in history. But then it also raises a question: was the iceberg the issue? Just for Valentine’s Day, here is a different version…

The forgotten story of Clarence Saunders vs Wall Street

I just watched Dumb Money, the true story of Gamestop where a wild band of small investors led by Roaring Kitty attacked the big Wall Street short sellers by banging the buck. The more small investors invested, via Robin Hood, the more short sellers lost as the stock rose instead of falling. It’s a good…

The best way to destroy capitalism is to destroy money

I’ve said for a long time that we have these figments of our imaginations particularly countries, borders, time and money. Humans have made all of these up and it is our world order today. Go out to tribes in the Amazon or Papua New Guinea who are untouched by such modern life, and these things…

The Power of Zero

Why do we count to ten? Because we have ten fingers*. That’s one of the things I learned recently which, when someone said it, made absolute sense. That’s why we have ten times table, and everything is broken down this way today … apart from binary 1’s and 0’s, which is probably because technologists only…

Gladiator III: I won’t fight if you can’t pay me

With the launch of Gladiator II this week (one of my fave films of all time was the first one), did the Roman Empire end because of the failure of the economy and, specifically, the monetary supply? Some would say yes. In fact, some would say the fall of the Roman Empire was due to…

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