Buy a piece of home computing history
The collection dates fromt he period between 1981 and 1983 and includes, "2,000 items of widely varying sizes and formats, including manuscript memorandum, internal specification guidelines, original sketches, blue lines, mechanicals, proofs, color separations (including acetates), and screen diagrams"
The whole lot is expected to bring between $150k and $200k US, a sum which represents pure fantasy for most mere mortals. Still, the very idea of owning a piece of that golden period in computing brings a flutter to the heart of many a life-long geek which cut their teeth on Atari's greatest hits and were sucked into a life of code as a result.
For a far less expensive but still incredibly fun trip down memory lane, check out our write-up on the TV commercials of computing's past.
[via Boing Boing]
The earliest "home computers required skills far beyond what today's most hands-on computer enthusiasts need to master. The earliest promise of computing at home came from an obscure company called MITS, in the form of the Altair. A DIY, soldering iron and lots of patience required, read output off the LEDs on the front panel, hope you took computer science classes kind of hobby machine, we owe the Altair one major thing; Microsoft. Founded around the BASIC language interpreter Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote for the fledgling machine, "Micro-Soft" wouldn't be the company we know today without the Altair 8800. 
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
