Decoding Tech

Will AI finally fix healthcare, or create a whole new set of problems? Dr. Robert Wachter , chair of the Department of Medicine at UCSF, joined us to discuss his new book, A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future . Katie Hafner , host and executive producer of the Lost Women of Science podcast, moderated the conversation. This conversation was recorded on...

How did the early internet help shape today's transgender identity and activism? Scholar and CHM Book Prize winner Avery Dame‑Griff joined us to discuss his book, The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet, and explore the digital origins of a movement that began long before today’s social platforms existed. The conversation was moderated by Joshua K. Reason , Assistant Profess...

Most people know about Steve Jobs' amazing work at Apple, but what about his "wilderness years" when he created NeXT? Learn about this period from Geoffrey Cain , author of Steve Jobs in Exile: The Untold Story of NeXT and the Remaking of an American Visionary, along with key figures from NeXT’s history, including: Dan’l Lewin, Cofounder and VP of Sales and Marketing, NeXT Rich Page,...

What happens when you let artificial intelligence run your life? Joanna Stern, Emmy Award–winning tech journalist, asks this question in her new book, I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything . She sat down with Nilay Patel, cofounder and editor-in-chief of The Verge, to share what actually worked, what didn’t, and what her experience reveals about where AI is headed. This conv...

Are you part of the 92 percent? That’s how many people around the world use emojis every day. Today's conversation explores how something as small as an emoji can have a big impact on inclusion and representation. Journalist, film producer, and emoji activist Jennifer 8. Lee joined acclaimed artist Yiying Lu , alongside Rayouf Alhumedhi —named one of Time magazine’s most influential teens—for...

What if the most important innovation in technology isn’t what companies build but how they build it? In this episode, New York Times bestselling author Andrew McAfee explores The Geek Way , a radical approach to corporate culture that’s fast-moving, egalitarian, and relentlessly evidence-driven. Carl Bass , Former President and CEO, Autodesk, Moderates the conversation. This conversation was reco...

On April 1, 1976, Apple Computer was founded with a radical idea: that powerful computing should be personal. Fifty years later, Apple stands as one of the most influential tech companies in history. To celebrate this anniversary, David Pogue , legendary journalist and author of the new book  Apple: The First 50 Years , hosted an event featuring: Chris Espinosa, Senior Apple Employee John Sculley,...

The iPod and the iPhone transformed entertainment, communications, and computing in less than a decade. Tony Fadell joins John Markoff on stage to explore his time designing these amazing products as well as his founding of Nest. This conversation was recorded on May 10, 2017, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer H...

The tiny pixel is the “big idea” that ties all digital imaging together. In this episode, computing‑graphics pioneer and Pixar cofounder Alvy Ray Smith shares insights from his book A Biography of the Pixel , on how this humble building block reshaped art, entertainment, and our digital world. Barbara Robertson , former Senior Editor of Computer Graphics World, moderated the conversation. This CHM...

What happens when the quest for love gets outsourced to computers? Just in time for Valentine's Day, we're exploring how technology has changed the ways we live and love today and what changes might be coming tomorrow. Featuring: Jeffrey Tarr , Cofounder, Operation Match Gary Kremen , Entrepreneur & Founder of Match.com Steve Dean , Online Dating Consultant at Dateworking Moderator: Ha...

How can you truly grasp what is happening in computing? One powerful answer has endured: “Read a book!” In this conversation with historian W. Patrick McCray, we learn how the most influential books in computing didn’t just explain technology but also ignited the computer revolution. CHM curator, David C. Brock, moderates. This conversation was recorded on January 20, 2026, at the Computer History...

Today, autonomous vehicles are no longer a futuristic dream. But in 2019, industry leaders and researchers were still figuring how they work, the challenge of teaching AI to make life-and-death decisions, and the profound changes this technology could bring to our lives. This special panel from our archives featured Dmitri Dolgov from Waymo, Chris Gerdes from Stanford University, Jesse Levinson fr...

Humanoid robots are stepping out of science fiction and into our daily lives. But what does that mean for us? Chaoyi Li from Booster Robotics, Victor Suen from Fourier, and Niv Sundaram from Machani joined us for a conversation on how these machines are reshaping our expectations of technology, companionship, and what a healthy relationship with this technology might look like. CHM's Director...

What happens when two tech visionaries sit down to talk? In this remarkable 2007 conversation, Dr. Morris Chang, the pioneering founder of TSMC, joins NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang to reflect on how his revolutionary silicon foundry model reshaped the semiconductor industry and powered the digital age. This conversation was recorded on October 17, 2007, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, C...

In November 1995, Steve Jobs pitched Wall Street on a company with no revenues and an unproven film. That company was Pixar, and against all odds, Toy Story became a smash hit, the stock soared, and the deal rewrote the rules for tech investing while cementing Jobs as a visionary. Hear the untold stories behind one of Silicon Valley's most improbable successes from Lawrence Levy (Former Pixar...

How did Taiwan ascend to such great heights in high-tech manufacturing? Honghong Tinn, author of Island Tinkerers, shares the fascinating history of how hobbyists and enthusiasts in Taiwan helped transform the country through innovative and creative computer use. CHM Curator Hansen Hsu moderates. This conversation was recorded on November 4, 2025, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, C...

How could a machine that transformed the way people interact with computers also be a commercial flop? On January 31, 2023, CHM gathered key insiders to celebrate the Apple Lisa’s innovations, explore its ongoing impact, and learn lessons from its failure. The Program was divided into three segments: "Birth" with original Lisa Team members Bruce Daniels, Wayne Rosing and John Couch (via...

Despite the hype, AI is far from an overnight success. The story of AI is full of both booms and busts stretching back many decades. Jerry Kaplan, cofounder of Teknowledge, Adam Cheyer, cofounder of Siri, and Daniela Rus, cofounder of Liquid AI came together for a conversation about AI's evolution that was moderated by CHM's Director and Curator of the Internet History Program, Marc Weber....

Did you know that Bulgaria became an electronics powerhouse during the Cold War? In an illuminating lecture for CHM Live, historian Victor Petrov shared insights from his new book, Balkan Cyberia , a CHM Book Prize winner. This conversation was recorded on September 18, 2025 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. To watch a video of this program, including the visuals shown i...

With the latest iPhone recently announced, we're sharing this conversation from 2017 about how the first iPhone came to be. In this episode, John Markoff interviews original iPhone Software Team Leader Scott Forstall. The previous episode was Part 1 of this conversation and featured members of the original iPhone Engineering team. This conversation was recorded on June 20, 2017 at the Computer...

With the latest iPhone soon to be announced, we're sharingthis conversation from 2017 about how the first iPhone came to be. In this episode, John Markoff interviews original iPhone Engineers Nitin Ganatra, Scott Herz, and Hugo Fiennes. Part 2 of the conversation, featuring original iPhone Software Team Leader Scott Forstall will be released in 2 weeks. This conversation was recorded on June 2...

Long before online forums and communities like Reddit and Discord, and even before the World Wide Web, bulletin board systems (BBSs) reigned supreme. In the 1980s and '90s, millions of people participated in more than 100,000 BBSs. Kevin Driscoll, author of the award-winning book  The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media , and technology and society expert danah boyd joined CHM’s Marc Web...

With sales close to 17 million units, The Commodore 64 is the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. On December 7, 2007, John Markoff, tech reporter for The New York Times , moderated a panel at CHM to celebrate the Commodore's 25th anniversary. First, John chats with Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International, before being joined by former IBM exec William Lowe, Apple...

Recorded only a few months after Steve Jobs passed away, his award-winning biographer, Walter Isaacson, joined CHM's CEO at the time, John Hollar, to discuss one of the most celebrated figures in computer history. This conversation was recorded on December 13, 2011 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the Revolutionaries series. To watch a video of this program...

On the 50th anniversary of the Alto, many of its creators and some of today’s leading inventors gathered at CHM to share the Alto’s legacy and discuss what we can expect for the future of computing research—centered today on artificial intelligence (AI). The program included two panels: In the first, CHM Trustee John Shoch, who worked at PARC as a graduate student, moderated a discussion with two...