Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Free: 137 Years Of Popular Science
By James Grahame
Mike Haener writes, "Here's a link to the entire 137 year history of PopSci magazine for free browsing. What a great archive of historic articles and period advertising.
I spent many a night lying in bed reading these articles as a kid and dreaming about what the future might bring. Amazing just how inaccurate they were! (ie. we were all supposed to be flying around in jet packs by now!)"
It's stunning to recall what a huge impact Popular Science had in the pre-internet days. I remember pouring over the "What's New" section in each new issue in my grade school library when I was only 10 or 11. The weird little ads at the back were the most fun -- a never ending parade of BB guns, hovercraft plans, windmills, canoe kits, small engine repair courses and even the occasional computer kit.
Incidentally, ninety years of Popular Science are in the public domain -- the publishers neglected to renew copyright through 1963.
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