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Ben Zotto

@bzotto.bsky.social
124 followers 112 following 290 posts

Forensicphile

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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 26m
The header photo is not in the actual book, but it’s kind of fun and I’m glad I found a way to use it.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 32m
My thanks to the @computerhistory.bsky.social for publishing this book excerpt on the blog. Couldn‘t have written such a detailed book without the CHM. computerhistory.org/blog/sphere-...
computerhistory.org
Sphere: A Pioneering Early Microcomputer, Rediscovered
A new book made possible by CHM research reveals the untold story of Utah’s Sphere Corporation, makers of one of the original desktop all-in-one PCs. IT WAS DECEMBER 1975, and the future was being man...
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Erica Fischer @enf.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
OK, I think it's close enough! I'm calling it "Hit Parade." Go title some songs! github.com/e-n-f/hit-pa...
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
1208 Fell St at Divisadero in SF, 1950s and today.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Right on
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Steve Mullis @stevemullis.net · 05/10/2026
[car dealership waiting room] Me: [chanting] knobs, knobs- Other car buyers: knobs, KNOBS Car salesman: [pounding desk] KNOBS, KNOBS, KNOBS!
forbes.com
Knobs Returning To Some Automakers’ Vehicles, To The Relief Of Many
Auto companies are listening to the complaints of consumers, who want their knobs and buttons back.
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Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Everybody complains about how the writers are out of control now and that's reasonable but in 1989 they had the Giants play the A's in the World Series and there was an earthquake
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Erica Fischer @enf.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The 1951 California report that established the lower case of the Standard Alphabets for Highway Signs standardalphabet.com/standard-alp... cc @aresluna.org @bzotto.bsky.social
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A nice piece on Bonnie Bridges, the local architect responsible for the design of like fully half of all the cafés, restaurants, and shops that have defined "San Francisco cool" ever since I moved to the city. @cydhayes.bsky.social
sf.gazetteer.co
It’s Studio BBA’s city, we just live in it
Whether you’ve dined at Mister Jiu’s, caffeinated at Tartine, or worked 9-9-6 from an industrial-chic AI office, you’ve probably spent time in the handsome world created by this little-known architect...
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Kenny Logins @kennylogins.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
shanley tucci
@markpopham.bsky.social
boy the words "Mannheim Steamroller" really do not prepare you at all for the music you are about to hear. if you asked someone who hadn't heard Mannheim Steamroller to describe what kind of music it would be they would never get it right in a million years
December 19, 2023 at 9:18 PM
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Another banger from @righto.com. Computing history, math tricks, and a sprinkle of avionics in here
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This is so fun, I spent a long time looking at your library here. Your commentary on it made me think of this great little quotable
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
In conversation with classic Olivetti!
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Mike Scollins @mikescollins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
just found out this also works with gin and tonics
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Todd Vaziri @tvaziri.com · 08/09/2026
"Rear Window" miniatures by davidminiatures on IG, 1:87 scale www.instagram.com/p/Dcy6jvQCb...
1:87 scale miniature of the courtyard in the movie Rear Window
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
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Glenn Fleishman @glennf.com · 06/09/2026
Here is your lovely story of the day. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/06/s...
nytimes.com
The 92-Year-Old Mathematician and the Teenage Apprentice (Gift Article)
Joan Birman thought her major discoveries were behind her. Then came an email from a young neighbor — a girl who knew little but wanted to learn.
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Joe Eskenazi @esksf.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The real question: Will they replace the missing "U"?
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
If you haven't seen, this piece from 2019 calls this fact the "bitter lesson". Ie, after a lot of effort, the ultimate reality is that "teach it how to do like humans do for X" turns out to never do as well as just "throw compute at it". It is bitter! www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/Bit...
incompleteideas.net
The Bitter Lesson
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This great quickie by @tvaziri answers it question definitively, but I think raises a new one: for an idea the filmmakers make a point to hit on repeatedly, why do so many people miss it? What does that tell us about filmmaking? www.youtube.com/watch?v=E866...
youtube.com
Easter Egg or Thing in the Movie: Lone Pine Mall from “Back to the Future”
YouTube video by Todd Vaziri
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Wrote a big essay w/ @matteowong.bsky.social trying to put a finger on this moment in AI right now. The AI agent hacks, lack of control, the weirdening & slopping of culture. The feeling that the industry is speeding toward something it can’t even decide is good and lecturing that it is inevitable.
theatlantic.com
The Singularity Is Not What It Seems
Whatever the AI future is, we’re in it right now.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Redford and Dunaway in 1975 were electric. Should see it again soon.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This is your favorite film?! Amazing choice.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Lfg!!
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Rachel Cole @rmartincole.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Cover of "Memoria de labores," with red background and geometric type design reading "Memoria 1,968 - Caminos - Ministerio comunicaciones y obras publicas, Guatemala CA"
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Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥 @lainenooney.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Because it seems I don't know how to write a book without public accountability: Day 1: 50 minutes, 1863 words. I've reconceived the Sierra book so much since publishing the Apple II Age: Chap 2 is now Chap 1, & parts of that are getting stripped out into an intro. This is fun! (no it's not)
static.klipy.com
Elmo Shakes Head 'No'
ALT: Elmo Shakes Head 'No'
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Thanks for this! It does achieve a certain pure Englishish readability when it gets high level enough— perhaps more so than a C function with the equivalent game loop parts in it
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Spent some time really trying to learn FORTH on Sphere. What a fascinating, infuriating programming language!
sphere.computer
Sphere News: So On and So FORTH
Adventures in the infuriating elegance of the FORTH programming language on Sphere, the challenge of reimplementing Snake with it, and the SLURP that could have been.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Spent some time really trying to learn FORTH on Sphere. What a fascinating, infuriating programming language!
sphere.computer
Sphere News: So On and So FORTH
Adventures in the infuriating elegance of the FORTH programming language on Sphere, the challenge of reimplementing Snake with it, and the SLURP that could have been.
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Burrito Justice @burritojustice.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
what tape
an empty row of “invisible tape@ at target
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
all gas no brakes skynet
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Remarkable building and photo
sfmemory.org
SFMemory.org: Castro & Market
Wulzen Drug Store on the southwest corner of Castro, 17th & Market (Market Street ended here at the time) [SF-2-88.1 - Wulzen Drug Store; W end Market St at Castro/17th, 6/15/1899 - 6:00]
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
From 2023 bzotto.medium.com/its-time-for...
bzotto.medium.com
It’s Time for the Internet Archive to Grow Up
Poor usability and careless downtime are hampering one of the internet’s most important resources.
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Westerns & the Old West @davidlambertart.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Happy Birthday to the late Robert Culp, born 96 years ago today
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Absolute s-tier city motto. So good the state should probably have eminent domained it to use for all of California, but I’m glad they didn’t.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
👨‍🎤
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Marcin Wichary @aresluna.org · 11/08/2026
I was hoping for your help with something. (Please RT for reach.) Is there a particular font that’s instantly recognizable to someone who lives where you do, and appreciated/recognized/hated there, but completely unknown elsewhere? Road signs, street names, transit, infrastructure, stuff like that?
An old dot-matrix display at the platform of Bay Area Rapid Transit near San FranciscoA license plate in TaiwanA house number in San FranciscoAn old street sign in Szczecin, set in a distinctive typeface
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Marcin Wichary @aresluna.org · 10/08/2026
@bzotto.bsky.social Do you happen to know what this font is called? I vaguely remember reading about it long ago, but I can’t find it now.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Hah! I would have gone hunting for this same article. I love those numbers
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
☺️👋
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Harry McCracken @harrymccracken.com · 01/08/2026
Ben Zotto at VCF with his working Sphere computer. He’s autographing his excellent book about it!
Two men examine a vintage Sphere Corporation computer system at a retro computing expo, with a program list card nearby.
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videogame history @vghistory.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
t-shirt, advertised in creative computing magazine (1979) archive.org/details/crea...
the t-shirt print reads: i'd rather be playing spacewar!
it shows images of spacecraft from star trek, star wars and battlestar galactica (and a small explosion).
smaller text font toward the lower right hand corner: creative computing software
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Play intelligence games, win intelligence prizes
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
SF’s @letterformarchive.org annual Type West type design program is gearing up for applications for 2027. A wonderful program to kick start your font design (a)vocation. if you’ve ever wanted to do this kind of thing, this is a fantastic way to get into it docs.google.com/forms/d/1HqL...
docs.google.com
I would like more information about Type West
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
love that orange
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Hah, no, it really does not.
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Ben Zotto @bzotto.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
The victorious vicissitudes of Viccessories!
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