Rupert Goodwins | |
---|---|
Born | 23 May 1965 |
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Writer, Broadcaster and Technology journalist |
Rupert Goodwins (born 23 May 1965) is a British writer, broadcaster and technology journalist.
He began his career as a programmer for Sinclair Research in the early 1980s, working on the ZX Spectrum ROM. He moved to Amstrad after it bought the rights to the Sinclair name and range of products.
He was the Technical Editor of IT Week magazine [1] and has written for a number of other UK computer publications, including:
Rupert also wrote the 64-page novella accompanying the game Weird Dreams by Rainbird.
He was editor of ZDNet UK. His most notable contribution to the site was Rupert's Diary, which preceded the blogging phenomenon by some years. He occasionally appeared on CNet UK's technology podcast, Crave, and the Dialogue Box video series.
In addition to journalism, he also writes short stories, often with a technological theme to them. He is a regular contributor to radio and television news and current affairs programmes on business and technology issues.
Rupert is also a keen amateur radio operator with the call sign G6HVY.
The Sinclair QL is a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in 1984, as an upper-end counterpart to the ZX Spectrum.
The Sinclair ZX80 is a home computer launched on 29 January 1980 by Science of Cambridge Ltd.. It is notable for being one of the first computers available in the United Kingdom for less than a hundred pounds. It was available in kit form for £79.95, where purchasers had to assemble and solder it together, and as a ready-built version at £99.95.
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. Considered one of the most influential computers ever made, it is also one of the best-selling British computers ever, with over five million units sold. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and around the world in the following years, most notably in Europe, the United States, and Eastern Bloc countries.
The ZX81 is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-cost introduction to home computing for the general public. It was hugely successful; more than 1.5 million units were sold. In the United States it was initially sold as the ZX-81 under licence by Timex. Timex later produced its own versions of the ZX81: the Timex Sinclair 1000 and Timex Sinclair 1500. Unauthorized ZX81 clones were produced in several countries.
The Register is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee and John Lettice. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "Biting the hand that feeds IT." The publication's primary focus is information technology news and opinions.
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Sinclair Research Ltd was a British consumer electronics company founded by Clive Sinclair in Cambridge. It was originally incorporated in 1973 as Westminster Mail Order Ltd, renamed Sinclair Instrument Ltd, then Science of Cambridge Ltd, then Sinclair Computers Ltd, and finally Sinclair Research Ltd. It remained dormant until 1976, when it was activated with the intention of continuing Sinclair's commercial work from his earlier company Sinclair Radionics, and adopted the name Sinclair Research in 1981.
Popular Electronics was an American magazine published by John August Media, LLC, and hosted at TechnicaCuriosa.com. The magazine was started by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company in October 1954 for electronics hobbyists and experimenters. It soon became the "World's Largest-Selling Electronics Magazine". In April 1957, Ziff-Davis reported an average net paid circulation of 240,151 copies. Popular Electronics was published until October 1982 when, in November 1982, Ziff-Davis launched a successor magazine, Computers & Electronics. During its last year of publication by Ziff-Davis, Popular Electronics reported an average monthly circulation of 409,344 copies. The title was sold to Gernsback Publications, and their Hands-On Electronics magazine was renamed to Popular Electronics in February 1989, and published until December 1999. The Popular Electronics trademark was then acquired by John August Media, who revived the magazine, the digital edition of which is hosted at TechnicaCuriosa.com, along with sister titles, Mechanix Illustrated and Popular Astronomy.
Sinclair User was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum. Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was published in the UK between 1982 and 1993, and was the longest running Sinclair-based magazine. The magazine contained news, game reviews, previews, tips, help guides, columns, readers' letters, and cover-mounted game demos.
Crash, stylized as CRASH, is a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer, primarily focused on games. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress. It was relaunched as a quarterly A5 magazine in December 2020 with the backing of the original founders.
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Micronet 800 was an information provider (IP) on Prestel, aimed at the 1980s personal computer market. It was an online magazine that gave subscribers computer related news, reviews, general subject articles and downloadable telesoftware.
Computer Weekly is a digital magazine and website for IT professionals in the United Kingdom. It was formerly published as a weekly print magazine by Reed Business Information for over 50 years. Topics covered within the magazine include outsourcing, security, data centres, information management, cloud computing, and mobile computing to computer hacking and strategy for IT management.
The Alfa DiskFax was a communication device created by Alfa Systems of the United Kingdom. It was launched in 1990. The DiskFax was designed to allow the transfer of digital files over a conventional telephone line to a remote DiskFax machine. In operation users would insert an PC-compatible floppy disc into the unit, at which point the data would be transmitted automatically to a receiver, which would write an image of the data on a local floppy disc. There were two models, one equipped with 5¼-inch, and 3½-inch drives, and a second with an internal hard drive for storing incoming data.
Acorn Computers Ltd was a British computer company based in Nottingham, England in the United Kingdom between 2006 and 2009. It licensed, in early 2006, the dormant Acorn Computers trademark from French company Aristide & Co Antiquaire De Marques. This company sold IBM PC compatible computers and had no connection to ARM, a spin-off from the original Acorn Computers.
Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single, non-technical user. These computers were a distinct market segment that typically cost much less than business, scientific, or engineering-oriented computers of the time, such as those running CP/M or the IBM PC, and were generally less powerful in terms of memory and expandability. However, a home computer often had better graphics and sound than contemporary business computers. Their most common uses were word processing, playing video games, and programming.
Byte was a microcomputer magazine, influential in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s because of its wide-ranging editorial coverage.
Randy John Suess was the co-founder of the CBBS bulletin board, the first bulletin board system (BBS) ever brought online. Suess, along with partner Ward Christensen, whom he met when they were both members of the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists’ Exchange, or CACHE, started development of CBBS during a blizzard in Chicago, Illinois, and officially established it four weeks later, on February 16, 1978.