The advent of microcomputers in the 1970s has dramatically changed our society. Since then, microprocessors have been made almost exclusively from silicon, but the ever-increasing demand for higher ...

Guest author Ken Shirriff is a Silicon Valley-based computer enthusiast who enjoys reverse-engineering old chips and restoring classic equipment such as the Xerox Alto. Shirriff wrote the Arduino ...

There’s no shortage of ways to perform calculations without a standard electronic computer. But the latest in a long line of weird computers runs calculations on nothing more than air. The complicated ...

The big picture: Intel forever changed the trajectory of computing - and really, human history - with the introduction of the first commercially available microprocessor. The Intel 4004 launched 50 ...