ENIAC

The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer

I’m amazed at the continuity of geek culture: how similar the early days of EDVAC and UNIVAC were to the the dot com culture of hyperkinetic geeks working around the clock and fluffing business plans right and left.

I loved the description of Eckert perched precariously on a chair back interviewing some fellow for seven hours, inspired by the candidate’s past projects to riff on about his own ideas. Eckert especially liked people with technical hobbies, since he supposed they would be most amenable to working on technical projects for his company around the clock.