Computer History Museum (Part 4) - Mountain View, CA

On 1 April, 2023, my dad and I went to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. The address of the museum is at 1401 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94043. I had a great time geeking out on old technology. While most of the things I saw were way before my time (such as punch card programing), I had a great time seeing all of the Commodore computers, Apple computers, and the historic game consoles. I'm a total computer geek. 😂 It has been a decade since I went to this museum and I have been wanting to go again. I took cellphone photos at the museum, and the photos are split into 4 parts. I took way too many photos on this trip. I hope you enjoy viewing my photos.

Museum Tip: If you are a Bank of America customer and cardholder, you can visit many museums for free on the first full weekend of each month. You can find more information about the program here.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

This is part 4 of my cellphone photos from the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

I actually have a lot more commentary in this blog post than my previous 3 because this part of the Computer History Museum starts getting into things that was pertinent in the era I grew up in.

Google "Noogler" Propeller Hat (2000s)

My dad works at Google, and had one of these Google "Noogler" propeller hats. He gave it to our family friend's daughter a few years ago. Interesting to see one at the museum.

Telegraph Sender/Receiver (1840s) & Morse Code Chart

While telegraphs are way before my time, I am an amateur radio operator. It reminds me of the Morse Code I hear getting transmitted over the air.

Western Union Telegraph Company Universal 3-A Stock Ticker (1875)

This was probably the first time I have seen one of these telegraph linked stock tickers in real life. I've only seen them on The Simpsons, in Mr. Burn's office, on the "The Old Man and the Lisa" episode.

Anderson Jacobson ADC300 Dial Up Modem (1968)

This was the first time I have seen an acoustic coupler dial up modem in real life. I have seen these a few times on YouTube watching videos about computer history.

Apple USB Dial Up Modem (2005)

I had no idea Apple made USB dial up modems. At first glance, I was wondering why they put an USB ethernet adapter inside the display. The last time I used dial up at home, I was still a child in China. I think the modem was built into the IBM PC. After coming to the US, I did use dial up a few times at different friend's homes, but I never got to take a look at the modem hooked up to their computers. After coming to the US, our home always had DSL, so I never used dial up again at home.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 Browser for Windows 95 (1995)

I think during my childhood, I had my fair share of time using Internet Explorer. Remember the days of toolbars, and toolbars that offered special cursors for your computer? Also remember how "tabs" weren't a thing yet, and every page you wanted to open, opened in a new window? That is the era I am from. 😂 I feel by the time I became a teenager, most of my friends and I switched over to using Firefox. The modern day joke is "The only thing Microsoft Edge is good for is for downloading Google Chrome". I feel the joke back then was "The only thing Internet Explorer is good for is downloading Firefox". I can't remember when "tabs" became a thing, but it was revolutionary. I feel "tabs" first became a thing on Firefox, but I could be wrong. I remember Firefox memory leaking like crazy, eventually crashing the browser, and having to restart it.

Butler Mascot for Ask Jeeves search engine (1999)

I can't remember using Ask Jeeves all that much during my childhood. I think in grade school, our teachers were teaching us how to use Yahooligans and InfoPlease. Then Google came along and took over the search engine market.

Adobe Photoshop 1.0 for Apple Macintosh (1990)

Being a photographer, I felt compelled to get a photo of the Adobe Photoshop 1.0 disk and box. 😁

Motorola Analog Cellphone (early 1990s)

I wonder how cancerous these early Motorola cellphones were. 😂

Nokia 2110 NHE-4NX GSM Cellphone (1994)

Motorola Digital Phone (early 1990s)(left), Handspring Treo Smartphone Prototype (2002)(center), T-Mobile myTouch 875T (2010)(right)

I guess this display is to show the evolution of the smartphone.

Sony Walkman (1970s)(left) & Portable RCA RP-2365RC CD Player (2000)

I think when I was a child, CDs and cassette tapes were still in, but I was too young back then to know very much. Also, China was a little bit behind in technology back in the day. By the time I became a teenager, most of us were using iPods. I had an iPod Nano I used when I was a teen.

Audible Music Player (1997)(left) & Rio Riot PMP300 Player (top)

I do know a little bit about the Audible Music Player, after watching a YouTube video a while back. They were their own company back then (before they got bought out by Amazon), and they had their own audiobook playback device.

Google Earth Explorer

Google Earth Explorer

Google Earth Explorer

Fun Fact: The "Google Earth Explorer" used to be in a Google lobby for employees. My dad works at Google, and I still remember when I'd go to this machine every time I visited Google campus just to play with Google Earth. There was also a fully functional "giant Android phone" in that same lobby that you can play with. My dad said he hasn't seen the "Google Earth Explorer" in the Google lobby for a few years now and he always wondered where it went. I guess we know now. 😂

Share Your Thoughts Whiteboard

I thought the feedback was kind of funny. 😅 I wonder if the museum brings in local middle school and high school students on field trips. 😂

Share Your Thoughts Whiteboard

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Computer History Museum (Part 3) - Mountain View, CA

On 1 April, 2023, my dad and I went to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. The address of the museum is at 1401 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94043. I had a great time geeking out on old technology. While most of the things I saw were way before my time (such as punch card programing), I had a great time seeing all of the Commodore computers, Apple computers, and the historic game consoles. I'm a total computer geek. 😂 It has been a decade since I went to this museum and I have been wanting to go again. I took cellphone photos at the museum, and the photos are split into 4 parts. I took way too many photos on this trip. I hope you enjoy viewing my photos.

Museum Tip: If you are a Bank of America customer and cardholder, you can visit many museums for free on the first full weekend of each month. You can find more information about the program here.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

This is part 3 of my cellphone photos from the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

This blog post starts off with photos of vintage video game consoles and video game cartridges.

Atari Pong Prototype (1972)

Atari Super Pong Game (1976)(left) & Coleco Telstar Alpha (1977)(right)

Atari 2600 Game Console with "Combat" Game Cartridge (1978)

Atari 5200 Game Console

Atari Game Cartridges: Breakout (1978), Missile Command (1980), Defender (1982), Video Pinball (1980)

Coleco Namco Pac-Man Tabletop Game (1985)

Nintendo Game Boy (1989)(center left), Nintendo Entertainment System (center), NES Metroid Game Cartridge (1987)(top left), NES Tetris Game Cartridge (top right)

IBM PC/MS-DOS Interactive Fiction Games: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (left) & Leather Goddesses of Phobos (right)

Atari Namco Pac-Man Game Cartridge (1982)

NES Game Cartridges (top to bottom): Pinball (1985), Super Mario Bros & Duck Hunt (1985), Dr. Mario (1990), Metroid (1987)

NES Game Cartridges (top to bottom): Wheel of Fortune Family Edition (1988), The Legend of Zelda (1988), Millipede (1988), Tetris (1985)

Doom II for IBM PC/MS-DOS (1994)

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)(top) & Sega Dreamcast (1998)(bottom)

Sega Saturn Game Console (1994)(left) & Nintendo 64 Game Console (1996)(right)

Microsoft XBOX Game Console (2001)

I'm somewhat of a vintage game nerd too, so I had a great time seeing the vintage game consoles at the museum as well.

IBM ThinkPad 701 Laptop with Butterfly Keyboard (1995)

Apple Powerbook 140 Laptop (1991)

Apple iPhone (2007)

Motorola Bluetooth Headset (2005)

I feel kind of old now seeing the original iPhone and a Motorola Bluetooth headset in a museum. 😂 While I have never used an iPhone (and I'm not planning on getting one), I did use those Motorola Bluetooth headsets growing up. In fact there is one from the year 2007-2008 on my desk right now. I plan to continue using it again. I found it in the backyard several months ago.

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Windows XP "Bliss" Autumn Edition - Sonoma, CA

On 27 November 2022, my parents and I took a trip to Sonoma County, CA to see Windows XP's "Bliss Hill" and later we went to Napa Valley, CA to see autumn foliage. I took photos and video with my phone, and photos on my mirrorless camera. I hope you enjoy viewing my photos!

High Resolution Photos: If you want to see high resolution photos of any of the photos you see here, use the following links. If you wish to purchase prints of any of the photos, please contact me here. To see all of my photos from this trip, use this link.

Parts: Cellphone Photos | Mirrorless Photos

These photos were shot on my mirrorless camera at Windows XP's "Bliss Hill" in Sonoma County, CA. I also want to thank my photography friend Guido Bibra (his website) for helping me come up with a title for this blog post. It was his idea to call it the "Autumn Edition". 

Our first stop on the day trip was Windows XP's "Bliss Hill". This was the location where the most famous photograph in the world was captured. The default Window's XP wallpaper called "Bliss" was taken by Charles O'Rear in 1996 on the side of Fremont Drive in Sonoma, CA. The photo's original name was "Bucolic Green Hills" but was renamed "Bliss" after Microsoft purchased the rights to it. Since I already wrote a lengthy blog post on the default Windows XP wallpaper here, I'm going to keep it short in this blog post.

The approximate GPS coordinates (type into Google) of the photos in this blog post are 38° 14' 57 N, 122° 24' 37" W.

A scenery photo of a vineyard and autumn foliage shot on the side of Fremont Drive in Sonoma, CA. The photo was shot close to the location of the world famous default Windows XP wallpaper "Bliss".

A scenery photo of a vineyard and autumn foliage shot on the side of Fremont Drive in Sonoma, CA. The photo was shot close to the location of the world famous default Windows XP wallpaper "Bliss".

Black and white process of the photo above.

After "Bliss Hill" in Sonoma, CA, we headed to Napa Valley, CA to see more autumn foliage. I think we were approximately 2 weeks too late so we didn't see anything particularly pretty or interesting. I was mostly in bed for a bit over a week due to nerve pain and migraines unfortunately. I only shot cellphone photos past this point on our day trip.

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Parts: Cellphone Photos | Mirrorless Photos

Windows XP "Bliss" & Napa Valley Autumn Foliage (Cellphone Photos)

On 27 November 2022, my parents and I took a trip to Sonoma County, CA to see Windows XP's "Bliss Hill" and later we went to Napa Valley, CA to see autumn foliage. I took photos and video with my phone, and photos on my mirrorless camera. I hope you enjoy viewing my photos! 

Parts: Cellphone Photos | Mirrorless Photos

These photos were all shot on my cellphone. I took most of my photos on my cellphone yesterday as I didn't see anything that was particularly pretty or interesting.

Our first stop was Windows XP's "Bliss Hill". This was the location where the most famous photograph in the world was captured. The default Window's XP wallpaper called "Bliss" was taken by Charles O'Rear in 1996 on the side of Fremont Drive in Sonoma, CA. The photo's original name was "Bucolic Green Hills" but was renamed "Bliss" after Microsoft purchased the rights to it. Since I already wrote a lengthy blog post on the default Windows XP wallpaper here, I'm going to keep it short in this blog post.

A scenery photo of a vineyard and autumn foliage shot on the side of Fremont Drive in Sonoma, CA. The photo was shot close to the location of the world famous default Windows XP wallpaper "Bliss". The approximate coordinates of this location is (type into Google) 38° 14' 56.6" N 122° 24' 37.3" W.

After "Bliss Hill" in Sonoma, CA, we headed to Napa Valley, CA to see more autumn foliage. I think we were approximately 2 weeks too late so we didn't see anything particularly pretty or interesting. I was mostly in bed for a bit over a week due to nerve pain and migraines unfortunately.

Our first stop in Napa Valley was Yountville, CA.

A scenery photo of a vineyard and autumn foliage shot on State Lane in Yountville, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 25' 21.6" N 122° 20' 50.5" W

A scenery photo of a vineyard and autumn foliage shot on Yountville Cross Road in Yountville, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 25' 22.3" N 122° 20' 48.1" W

A scenery photo of a vineyard and autumn foliage shot on Silverado Trail in Yountville, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 25' 26.0" N 122° 20' 15.4" W

A scenery photo of a vineyard and autumn foliage shot on Silverado Trail in Yountville, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 25' 26.3" N 122° 20' 15.3" W

A scenery photo of a vineyard and autumn foliage shot on Silverado Trail in Yountville, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 25' 26.9" N 122° 20' 15.9" W

Up next, we arrived in St. Helena, CA.

A scenery photo of 2 vineyards and autumn foliage shot on Wheeler Lane in St. Helena, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 29' 02.0" N 122° 26' 04.6" W

We spent some time exploring Downtown St. Helena next.

A scenery photo of a historic building in Downtown St. Helena. The photo was shot on Main St. in St. Helena, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 30' 17.1" N 122° 28' 09.4" W

A scenery photo of a historic building and a wine barrel Christmas tree (since wine is what Napa Valley is known for) in Downtown St. Helena.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 30' 16.0" N 122° 28' 07.6" W

A scenery photo of a wine barrel Christmas tree (since wine is what Napa Valley is known for) in Downtown St. Helena.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 30' 16.0" N 122° 28' 07.6" W

A scenery photo of a historic building in Downtown St. Helena. The photo was shot on Main St. in St. Helena, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 30' 17.9" N 122° 28' 11.3" W

After we were finished with St. Helena, we drove back to Napa, CA for dinner, however the restaurant (Yak and Yeti Restaurant) I had planned for us to eat at didn't open until 5 PM, so we exhausted some time at a local park called Trancas Crossing Park. This gave me an opportunity to test my new radios/walkie talkies, the Motorola T100 Talkabout Radio (Product Link - Affiliate Link).

A sunset scenery photo from Trancas Crossing Park in Napa, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 19' 43.8" N 122° 17' 07.8" W

A sunset scenery photo from Trancas Crossing Park in Napa, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 19' 48.6" N 122° 17' 03.1" W

A sunset scenery photo of autumn foliage from Trancas Crossing Park in Napa, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 19' 48.6" N 122° 17' 03.1" W

A sunset scenery photo from Trancas Crossing Park in Napa, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 19' 50.0" N 122° 16' 59.4" W

A sunset scenery photo from Trancas Crossing Park in Napa, CA.

Approximate GPS location (type into Google): 38° 19' 39.8" N 122° 16' 59.9" W

My mom and I tested the Motorola T100 Talkabout Radio (Product Link - Affiliate Link) with her in the car. The maximum distance between her and I in the park was around 0.4 mile. The radio/walkie talkie worked flawlessly in our limited test. I used AmazonBasics 800 mAh Rechargeable AAA Batteries (Product Link - Affliliate Link) in the radios.

After taking a walk at Trancas Crossing Park in Napa, we went to Yak and Yeti Restaurant (3150 B Jefferson St, Napa, CA 94559) for dinner. This is an Indian and Nepalese food restaurant located in a random strip mall in Napa. They had great vegetarian food for me, and non-vegetarian dishes for my parents. The servings were a bit small but the food wasn't expensive either. Note that mild means not spicy at all, which we didn't know. If you like spicy, go for at least a medium. If you're in Napa, I highly recommend you give this restaurant a try. After dinner, we went home.

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Parts: Cellphone Photos | Mirrorless Photos