Stories by Benj Edwards

In Pictures: The 11 most influential online worlds of all time

From MUD to Minecraft, these digital universes have shaped massively multiplayer games and kids' toys.

The history of Atari computers

Atari hasn't always been all about gaming. From the late '70s to the early '90s, the company produced a series of interesting and unusual desktops and laptops, including one that had a starring role in 'Terminator 2.'

A brief history of computer displays

From blinking lights and punch cards to LCDs and 3D flat panels, we trace the 70-year history of the tech that users rely on to see what a computer is doing.

Finding stuff online: 20 years of innovative search engines

Twenty years ago today, a student at McGill University and some friends launched what many people consider to be the world's first Internet search engine: Archie.

The world's worst game controller fails

When it comes to game controllers, there’s a fine line between clever and stupid. For every good step forward in controller design, there are a dozen dead ends. Some devices may work very well, but are destined for the dustbin anyway. This slideshow is dedicated to those oddball controllers that set out earn our amazement but only aroused our amusement, instead.

Inside the Amiga 1000

In July 1985, Commodore released an impressive new multimedia PC called the Amiga.

History of Video Calls: From Fantasy to Flops to Facetime

A visual history of the science and sci-fi of phone calls you can see. (And, no, it didn't start with The Jetsons.)

The evolution of video game media

From jumper cards to hard disks, these are the cards, cartridges, and drives that have shaped the world of gaming.

From paper tape to data sticks: The evolution of removable storage

Over the years, people have tried to transfer information from one computer to another in a dizzying number of ways. Here's a look at some of the best, along with others that time forgot.

From Paper Tape to Data Sticks: The Evolution of Removable Storage

Brave users of history's earliest computers programmed those massive electronic beasts through jumper wires plugged into arrays of sockets.

In Pictures: 3 decades of hand-held game systems

Three decades after the debut of Milton Bradley's Microvision, here's a look at how handheld video game systems evolved, from early flops like the Atari Lynx to the gaming innovations of the iPhone.

Inside the Atari 800

It's the 30th anniversary of this 8-bit PC classic. We celebrate the occasion as we always do, by tearing the product apart and showing you the pieces.

The 10 worst video game systems of all time

Since the appearance of the first video game console--the Magnavox Odyssey--in 1972, dozens of companies have tried their hands at crafting successful and lucrative game platforms. Each new machine brought with it the promise of a compelling, novel gaming experience, but the vast majority failed miserably to deliver.

The world's weirdest mice

A mouse is such a simple device that not even the worst inventor could screw it up, right? Wrong! We'll give you 13 examples.

Inside the Commodore 64

This pioneering PC made instant geeks out of millions of people back in the '80s. But what lies within the Commodore 64's fetching brown shell?