Category Archives: Uncategorized

IBM has always loved selling stuff to banks… and banks have sometimes loved to buy that stuff. In my opinion IBMs most iconic banking machines were their cheque sorters. For many years processing cheques was the time consuming bane of … Continue reading →

About two years ago I was searching for Creative Commons (CC4) images to add to Wikipedia pages, when I came across a dump of old IBM marketing images hosted by a Norwegian technical museum – and yes this is what I … Continue reading →

In 1981 IBM Office Products Division (popularly known as OPD) made one of the most spectacularly bad deals in IBM history. A deal that spawned a product that IBM could barely sell and was forced to withdrew in less than … Continue reading →

Hey kids, did you to go trick or treating this Halloween? Yes? No? Ok… how about we visit a spooky graveyard scattered with the bones of products long since dead? Thats right kids… its time to visit an IBM Graveyard. … Continue reading →

I recently stumbled across this fascinating study about what happens if an LTO tape drive is mounted vertically. So rather than mounting it horizontally in a rack like this: They tried mounting it vertically like this: Now if they had … Continue reading →

I love the idea of biomimicry: the art of solving engineering problems by observing nature. If you have ever used a piece of velcro, then you have used something invented through biomimicry. Japanese bullet trains (or Shinkansen) are also famous … Continue reading →

This story starts with a scene straight out of a spy movie and I swear nearly every word is true. In the mid 1950s, a CIA spook comes to IBM with a request: “Hey Blue suited dudes, make us a … Continue reading →