“…standard 1/4″ tape on a self-threading 2.2″ spool.”

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever installed a backup tape drive on your PC? Tell us about it.

Have you played all 45 games seen here?

Scott Adams adventure games are nigh-but-legendary in the history of computer gaming. Mr. Adams’ company, Adventure International, published dozens of interactive fiction titles (some with graphics) between 1978 and 1985. They were available on just about every computer platform of the 1980s, so it’s likely you’ve encountered at least one of them if you owned a computer at that time.

Early Adventure International games sported a relatively simple input parser (usually two words, a verb and a keyword) compared to Infocom fare, but that didn’t stop Adams’ captivating games from spreading far and wide — both legally and via piracy — across the personal computing universe.

Regarding the two men pictured in the ad above: I’m guessing they’re Scott and Alexis Adams, the two men behind Adventure International. Turns out Alexis is a woman (see comments), so it’s unlikely one of them is her unless she was fond of wearing drag.

…Oh, and I know Jason Scott will say something if I don’t mention Get Lamp, his new documentary on text adventure games. I haven’t seen it yet, but I hear it’s great.

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite interactive fiction (aka “text adventure”) game of all time?

“Introducing the Percom Alternative to Atari Disk Storage.”

I have a set of these Percom drives for the Atari 800, and I have to say they work very well. The only drawback? Don’t drop them on your toe, as the sharp metal case edges tend to have a guillotine effect at high speeds…

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever been physically injured by a computer or video game system? Tell us about it.

Lovers or Strangers: A relationship compatibility program for the Apple II.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever played a romantic or risque computer game? Tell us about it (anonymously if you have to).

In Memoriam: Ken Olsen (1926-2011), co-founder and ex-CEO of DEC.

You can now buy a $5 pregnancy test that casually wields more CPU power than an Apple II. The Xbox S controller — by itself — packs more raw processing muscle than a SNES.

Those are merely two of the fascinating things you’ll learn if you check out my latest feature for PCmag.com, “The Secret World of Embedded Computers.” It’s a dee-luxe slideshow that reveals computers at the heart of surprising consumer gadgets.

There are also a couple shout-outs for vintage technology in there (not quite as surprising), so the slideshow is at least somewhat VC&G-relevant. Hope you enjoy it.

A Cybiko ad spoofing stereotypical Japanese zaniness.

The Cybiko was a bizarre handheld device of mixed lineage: I’d call it 1/3 game console and 2/3 handheld PC. It sought to be a PDA for kids, so it incorporated both gaming and organizer software. It also included a very novel feature at the time: wireless connectivity. Cybiko units could send each other text-based messages, share software, and play games via a built-in radio transmitter.

Owners could hook up the Cybiko to their PC to download new software from the Internet. Cybiko, Inc. encouraged homebrew development for the machine in either C or CyBasic (a BASIC variant), which helped maintain popular interest in Cybiko for a few years longer than it would have otherwise.

Despite those efforts, Cybiko was never particularly successful. The company tried again with the Cybiko Xtreme in 2001. No such luck there either.

A Handful of Drawbacks

I picked up one of the original “Classic” models on clearance back in the day. Its biggest drawbacks were the dreadfully sluggish speed of the software interface, the heavily-ghosting greyscale LCD screen, and the bizarre layout of the buttons and directional pad on the unit. Oddly, the Cybiko included a pull-out stylus to help you press its tiny QWERTY keyboard buttons. Also, I remember it being very tricky to hook the Cybiko to your PC to get new software.

I later picked up a revision 2 Cybiko Classic with the MP3 Player add-on at a Hamfest. I never did much with the gadgets, though. Cybikos included a rechargable battery — I remember seeing one leaking already a few years ago. So if you have one, take out the battery before it ruins your unit.

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever owned or used a Cybiko? What did you think about it?

Last night, PC World posted my latest history-flavored slideshow on their site. It’s a visual survey of dial-up modem history that they titled “Modems: 60 Years of Hooking Up.”

I wanted to go into more detail, but it was hard to find good quality pictures of old modems. That’s unsurprising because modems not devices that folks celebrate as often as, say, computers themselves. My personal book collection on modems came in handy, but the muddy black and white photos printed there are as clear as molasses.

(By the way, if anyone out there has photos of a Racal-Vadic VA3400 or a Bell 212A data set, please let me know. Those would come in handy for a more complete history of modems in the future.)

I didn’t go into more detail about non-dial-up modems (i.e. ISDN, DSL, Cable, wireless, or satellite) because you could fill a whole slideshow on the history of each of those separately, and I was already running a bit behind from trying to find photos of dial-up modems. But hey, the result should still be entertaining and informative.

I hope you enjoy it.

I Am Not Luke Skywalker

Back in the mid-1990s, Mark Hamill hosted a show called “.com” on CNBC. Few people remember it. I don’t think I’d heard of it until I stumbled across the ad scanned above a few months ago.

You may be able to eke out a few more details by digging through the show’s official website on the Internet Archive. That’s where I found this bio of Mark Hamill himself:

Mark Hamill is the host of the “.com” television series.

He also stars as Col. Christopher Blair in ORIGIN System’s award-winning interactive computer action series Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom. Mark is best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in one of the most popular and successful movie trilogy of all time, the Star Wars saga. Most recently, Hamill has been heard as the voice of the Joker in both the Batman animated television series and the theatrical animated feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.

The Internet Archive is also where I found this photo of Mark Hamill hosting a show called “My Kids,” which was produced by the same company. I honestly don’t know any more than that.

This looks like a good job for the VC&G reader-sleuths to put together a more complete history of this long-forgotten TV show. Anyone up for the task?

Discussion Topic of the Week: Did you ever see the “.com” TV show while it was on the air? Tell us your memories of it.

25 years ago this month, Apple introduced the Macintosh Plus — a computer many consider to be the first truly usable Macintosh model. In honor of the anniversary, I asked myself to write a short article about it for Macworld. To my surprise, I complied with the request and the result is now up at Macworld.com. I hope I enjoy it.*

* Inside joke.