Every Audio Essays

Jack Tramiel, a Holocaust survivor-turned-tech titan, revolutionized computing by making it accessible to everyday families. His ruthless business tactics and vertical integration strategy at Commodore created the Commodore 64, the home computer that launched the next generation of tech careers and shaped our digital present. 

This piece, published first on Every and now adapted for audio, is the latest in a series by writer Gareth Edwards on the history of the personal computer—and the individuals responsible for bringing it to everyday consumers.

If you found this essay interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out our weekly podcast series, AI & I, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Reid Hoffman, Tyler Cowen, and Steven Johnson.

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From IBM’s backwater offices in Boca Raton, Florida, Don Estridge ushered in the era of personal home computers. He was a corporate misfit who broke all of the company’s rules in order to change the world.

This piece, published first on Every and now adapted for audio, is the latest in a series by the writer Gareth Edwards on the history of the personal computer—and the individuals responsible for bringing it to everyday consumers. 

If you found this essay interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out our weekly podcast series, AI and I, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Reid Hoffman, Tyler Cowenl, and Steven Johnson.

And sign up for Every to get our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT.

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Don Estridge, a mid-level IBM executive, was instrumental in the creation of the IBM PC, a project that senior management initially dismissed. Tasked with developing a personal computer, Estridge assembled a team of unconventional thinkers who rapidly designed and launched the IBM PC in 1981. This breakthrough product went on to dominate the personal computer market, revolutionizing the industry.

In this essay, published first on Every and now adapted for audio, writer Gareth Edwards explores how Estridge's leadership and innovative team brought about a computing revolution, highlighting his critical yet often overlooked role in shaping the personal computer era.

If you found this essay interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out our weekly podcast series, How Do You Use ChatGPT?, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Tyler Cowen, David Perell, and Sahil Lavingia.

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ChatGPT is changing what it means to feel uniquely human. Large language models have the ability to mimic human creativity and spout human knowledge at record speeds—and they’re getting more powerful by the day. But while this technology might seem scary, it doesn’t need to be.

Every CEO Dan Shipper puts it this way: “ChatGPT doesn’t replace me. It just changes what it is that I do.” In this essay, Dan makes a case for a new understanding of human intellect, drawing on examples from medicine, psychology, and philosophy.

If you found this essay interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out our weekly podcast series, How Do You Use ChatGPT?, where Dan interviews luminaries and experts like Reid Hoffman, Tyler Cowen, and David Perell.

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Lore Harp McGovern was one of the most influential women in the history of computing, but her story, and her company, haven’t been given their due. Harp McGovern spurned the life of a housewife and built a multimillion-dollar personal computer company, called Vector Graphic, from scratch. 

In this essay, published first on Every and now adapted for audio, writer Gareth Edwards tells the story of Harp McGovern, who took Silicon Valley by storm in the 1970s, and makes a convincing case for why she should be remembered as a founding mother of the computer age t

If you found this essay interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out our weekly podcast series, How Do You Use ChatGPT?, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Tyler Cowen, David Perell, and Sahil Lavingia.

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Ads subsidize our entire information ecosystem, keeping content free and accessible for everyone. AI may change all that by reducing both the amount of ads being served and the amount of time that people spend browsing—a one-two punch that will be devastating for the revenue of internet-reliant businesses. 

In this essay, Every lead writer Evan Armstrong argues that the result will be an entirely new techno-economic paradigm for the internet. 

If you found this essay interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out our weekly podcast series, How Do You Use ChatGPT?, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Tyler Cowen, David Perell, and Sahil Lavingia.

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In the early 1980s, two rivals waged a public war for the soul of home computing: Adam Osborne and Steve Jobs. Yet only Steve Jobs is remembered today. This is the forgotten story of the Osborne 1, the world's first mass-market portable computer, and of its charismatic and visionary creator, Adam Osborne. Osborne’s computer company seemed set to rival Apple itself—until a spectacular collapse into bankruptcy in 1984.

In this essay, first published by Every and now adapted by its author, historian and digital strategist Gareth Edwards walks us through the secret history of the first PC revolution. It’s vital context for our present moment, as AI promises to revolutionize technology just like the PC and the internet did before. In order to understand what’s ahead, we need to reckon with how we got here in the first place.

Let us know what you think.

If you found this essay interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out our weekly podcast series, How Do You Use ChatGPT?, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Tyler Cowen, David Perell, and Sahil Lavingia.

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Reddit is a special place on the internet that happens to be a mediocre business. However, its recent S-1 document revealed something interesting: It could potentially build a business licensing user data to AI companies. Is this the future, or a fiction? Listen to this essay by Every lead writer Evan Armstrong to learn about this new potential revenue stream for companies.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out Dan’s weekly podcast series, How Do You Use ChatGPT?, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Tyler Cowen, David Perell, and Sahil Lavingia.
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Everyone is hunting for the killer app—software so good that it justifies the purchase of new hardware. But the new tech platforms of AI and virtual reality may not even need a killer app. This isn’t a matter of semantics: Whoever gains power in the platforms of the future will garner more power than we’ve ever dreamed. Read this for an in-depth analysis of what kind of companies are best positioned to win. 
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out Dan’s weekly podcast series, How Do You Use ChatGPT?, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Tyler Cowen, David Perell, and Sahil Lavingia.
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Last weekend, a crowd of revelers in San Francisco’s Chinatown burned an autonomous vehicle from Waymo down to its frame. Tech is now the fifth least-trusted industry in America, having experienced a rapid loss in confidence by the American public after years of having been among the most admired. How did it come to this? 

Evan argues that these incidents signal that tech needs to get realistic and optimistic by embracing risk—but doing so in a way that brings the American public along with it. 

If you found this essay interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share. If you want more from Every on cutting-edge technology, check out our weekly podcast series, How Do You Use ChatGPT?, where host Dan Shipper interviews luminaries and experts like Tyler Cowen, David Perell, and Sahil Lavingia.

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