Do You Remember Computer Shopper?

I wrote the Rants & Raves column in Computer Shopper from its very first issue. I also wrote lots of reviews, opinion and programming columns. Then, after a few years a rival magazine, PC Plus poached me and I then wrote the Rants & Raves column for that magazine – as well, as recording videos for their cover CD/DVD.

But let me get back to the very beginning…

Computer Shopper launched in March 1988. I was editing a magazine at that time called The PC Buyers’ Guide, produced by Dennis Publishing. The owner of the company, Felix Dennis, had recently been to America and seen a magazine called Computer Shopper. He liked it so much that he decided to launch a UK version. I was asked to write a column. The brief was “make it a general rant”. I wrote that column, called it (uninventively) “A General Rant”, a subeditor changed the title to “Rants and Raves” and it stuck.

Anyway, here is a video I made all about that first edition of Computer Shopper…

Why is Norton's "Inside The IBM PC" So Important?

My copy of Peter Norton's famous book dates from 1983. PCs have changed hugely since then. So why is this book still so famous and influential? I posted a short video about this last week and already it has had over 22,000 views and 165 comments. I'm clearly not the only person who thinks this is an essential book. Watch the video and make up your own mind.

Byte Magazine: The Smalltalk Issue

 There was a time, back in the 1980s, where "Byte" magazine was absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the development of computers. Of all the Byte issues, the one that really stands out is Byte from August 1981. That issue foretold the future of desktop computing - and hardly anyone realised it. In this video, I explain why this was one of the greatest magazine issues ever published.