Archive - Byte-Sized History

Achieving Liftoff: How the Wright Brothers Jumpstarted the 20th Century

How the invention of flight symbolized and energized innovation at the turn of the century

Jun 10 •

J. Michael Wahlen

May 2025

The Fishy Origins of Venture Capital

A Whale of a Story

May 15 •

J. Michael Wahlen

March 2025

Is Technological Innovation Random?

Revisiting QWERTY in 2025

Mar 30 •

J. Michael Wahlen

Coming Out of Hibernation

A quick update on my plans for Byte-Sized History in 2025

Mar 24 •

J. Michael Wahlen

October 2024

WWII and the Trajectory of Technology

WWII's dramatic effect on innovation

Oct 20, 2024 •

J. Michael Wahlen

September 2024

TSMC: The Quiet Titan

How Taiwan's Semiconductor Giant Shapes the Global Technology Landscape

Sep 15, 2024 •

J. Michael Wahlen

August 2024

Back When Europe Innovated

A Road Trip Down Memory Lane with The Race to the Future

Aug 18, 2024 •

J. Michael Wahlen

July 2024

The Age of Unprecedented Rivalry

How the 20th Century's Rise in Competition Shapes Our Lives and Careers

Jul 21, 2024 •

J. Michael Wahlen

The World’s Greatest Graph

A picture worth 2,000 years

Jul 5, 2024 •

J. Michael Wahlen

June 2024

What Video Games Can Tell Us About the Limits of AI

Are we all doomed to be NPCs?

Jun 10, 2024 •

J. Michael Wahlen

May 2024

How Did Taiwan Become So Important to Semiconductors?

The story of the technology that started Silicon Valley growing up and moving out

May 23, 2024 •

J. Michael Wahlen

How Will GenAI Affect Writing?

What painters can tell us from their experience with photography

May 5, 2024 •

J. Michael Wahlen

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