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Rare Enigma machine sells for $233,000
An unnamed buyer has purchased an ultra-rare three-rotor German Enigma machine for the better part of $233,000. It was sold by an equally-secretive "European museum foundation" by the auctioneers Sotheby's in London for almost twice the expected price. During the Second World War, German troops were instructed to destroy their Enigma machines to prevent them falling into enemy hands, with only a handful surviving. While tainted as a piece of Nazi memorabilia, the item is also a valuable artifact in the history of modern computing. The Allied effort to break the code and Alan Turing's involvement would pave the way for the devices we use today and interest has been renewed since the release of The Imitation Game.
A digital globe and 200,000 years of human migration
The Ellis Island Immigration Museum suffered the devastation of Hurricane Sandy firsthand. Now, more than two years after the storm struck New York City (and many other places), the building is celebrating its comeback with a new name: Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. Under this rejuvenated image, the museum will tell the story of humans moving across the entire world, rather than focusing just on those that passed through its iconic halls. Three new exhibits are going to be inaugurated on May 20th, all delivering content based on the pre- and post-Ellis Island days. One of them is the World Migration Globe, a custom-made sphere that's powered by two HD projectors and delivers a nine-minute video presentation about the 200,000 years of human migration.
Interactive exhibit honors women in game development
There's a new interactive video game exhibit at The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE) in California, and it's not showing off just any game-related material. No, it's putting a spotlight on the accomplishments female game developers -- eight women who worked on influential titles, in particular. Those include Roberta Williams (King's Quest), Yoko Shimomura (Street Fighter III) and Kim Swift (Portal). According to the museum's announcement, the exhibit aims to raise awareness about women's contributions to the industry, as they can be easy to overlook in a male-dominated field. "Women are not some oddity in the video game industry," MADE founder Alex Handy told Kill Screen. "We hope this exhibit helps to highlight that fact for the next generation of game developers." The exhibit has been open since the 12th and will run throughout the summer.
Neil Armstrong kept the original moon landing camera in his closet
If you were the first to set foot on a celestial body, wouldn't you keep a few mementos from the trip? The great Neil Armstrong certainly did -- including one of the most important gadgets in recent history. The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum has revealed that the astronaut stored numerous items from the Apollo 11 moon landing in a closet at home, the highlight of which is undoubtedly the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera used to record the iconic moment he reached the lunar surface. Armstrong apparently held onto the camera and other "odds and ends" (as he told Mission Control) on the way back to Earth, and never mentioned them when he returned. Thankfully, you won't have much trouble seeing some of these artifacts in the near future. They're part of an exhibit at the museum, so you only have to book a trip to Washington, DC, by June 8th to see some of the technology that defined early space travel. [Image credit: Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution]
UK museums want copyright changes so they can display WWI documents
Thanks to overly severe copyright laws, museums, libraries and other UK institutions have been unable to show important historical documents to the public. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988 is currently stopping an estimated 1.74 million 'orphan works' from the Great War, such as diaries and letters, from being displayed until 2039. To mark the centenary of World War One, a group including the Imperial War Museums, National Library of Scotland and the Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance want the law rewritten to make these artefacts publicly accessible for the first time. Normally, the CDPA awards copyright protection for 70 years after the author's lifetime. However, unpublished works remain protected for 50 years after the 1989 Act, regardless of when they were written. The new campaign, centered around a Change.org petition, requests that the same rules be applied to both published and unpublished texts, ensuring that museums won't have to display blanks signs with "there would have been a letter from a First World War soldier in this display" inside their exhibits.
Nottingham's National Videogame Arcade could be the best museum ever
Nottingham's probably best known for its infamous sheriff, but next year it'll have another claim to fame when a museum dedicated to gaming opens in the city. The National Videogame Arcade, said to be "the world's first cultural centre for gaming," will become the new permanent home to over 12,000 pieces from the National Videogame Archive -- a collection of hardware, software and all manner of other gaming paraphernalia established by the Science Museum and Nottingham Trent University in 2007. Spread over five floors, the museum is being set up to "promote the cultural, economic, educational and social benefits of gaming" by GameCity, an organisation that runs an annual festival and other events that celebrate video games.
London Science Museum catalogs 200 years of communication tech
Her Majesty the Queen took to Twitter for the first time today, but not to complain about the amount of ice in her post-brunch frappé. Instead, Liz was announcing the opening of a new permanent gallery at London's Science Museum that takes visitors on a journey through more than two centuries of information and communication technologies. "Information Age: Six Networks That Changed Our World" delves into the history of electric telegraphy, telephone and broadcast networks, as well as exploring the later development of satellite communications, mobile networks and the web: all the technology we take for granted today. Among over 800 exhibits are gems including Sir Tim Berners-Lee's NeXT computer, which hosted the first web server, the BBC's first radio transmitter, a piece of the first transatlantic cable connecting the UK to the US, and a replica of the first computer mouse. Taking pride of place at the heart of the gallery is the Rugby Tuning Coil (pictured above), a vast contraption that, in its day, was the most powerful radio transmitter in the world.
The Daily Grind: Should museums preserve MMOs?
I may be in the vast minority here, but I am keenly interested in the attempt by the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment to resurrect (for however long) the incredibly ancient Habitat -- and to make it playable by folks today. Usually we consider dead MMOs as just that: dead. Yet we're starting to see more examples of strange resurrections and fan restorations that are reversing the decomposition process. The Habitat story got me thinking about how these games might be saved for the long-term, particularly through special institutions such as museums. Twenty years from now, would you like to see your favorite MMOs restored and run using free museum servers to honor their legacy and to provide a way to revisit old stomping grounds? Is this a pipe dream when we consider issues of rights and IPs and other legal entanglements? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Nikola Tesla Museum could have a brick with your name on it
After running a successful initial round of crowdfunding, The Oatmeal is now looking to put the finishing touches on its plans to build a Nikola Tesla Museum. To do so, it needs a bit more help from kind souls on the internet. Despite hitting the goal amount on Indiegogo a couple of years ago, and having since received an unexpected, hefty donation from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, additional money is needed to start the actual building process on the property, one that was bought with the $1.37 million originally raised. In an effort to make things interesting, this new campaign offers to give contributors engraved bricks in exchange for their hard-earned cash -- the more you donate, the bigger brick you're going to have at the museum. But hurry because, as The Oatmeal points out, the sooner you back the project, the better location your brick will get. Eventually, the idea is to build the Nikola Tesla Museum on the land where his final lab was located, in Shoreham, New York.
Museum hopes to resurrect Habitat, 'world's first MMO'
So here's a bizarre little piece of MMO news for your Friday morning: This weekend, with the help of Kixeye and Fujitsu, a volunteer-driven, public museum in Oakland, California, hopes to relaunch an antique Lucasfilm game called Habitat, which it's calling the world's first massively multiplayer online game (that part is probably debatable, but let's hear them out). "The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (The MADE) will be spending Sunday, September 28th, attempting to resurrect the world's first massively multiplayer online game, Habitat. The project seeks to relaunch the Habitat server on original Stratus Technologies hardware from 1989, and to allow users on the Internet to connect to the game server for free using a Commodore 64 emulator. The MADE is the first videogame museum to attempt such a relaunch. In fact, there has never been an attempt to relaunch a 28 year old, dead MMO before, primarily because MMO's are mostly a phenomenon that has existed only over the last 15 years." According to Wikipedia's curators, Habitat was created in 1985 as the "first attempt at a large-scale commercial virtual community that was graphically based" and is "considered a forerunner of the modern MMORPGs." MADE even claims the game invented the term "Avatar" for use in online games. The 1989-era server hardware it'll run on can today support 10,000 users, says the museum. Massively's very own Game Archaeologist, Justin Olivetti, investigated Habitat's history in a two-part series in 2012. The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 1 The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 2
The Videogame History Museum has found a home in Frisco, Texas
Making a pilgrimage to the Videogame History Museum has been tough so far; most of its collection is in storage, and what little you do see has been going on cross-country tours. Pretty soon, though, it will have a permanent public display. A Frisco, Texas community board has approved a deal to give the Museum a 10,400 square foot location inside the city's Discovery Center by this April. That's not gigantic -- a little larger than a baseball diamond -- but it means that you can easily revisit some of the consoles that defined your youth. This venue is just the start, for that matter. After launch, the founders hope to raise enough cash from corporate sponsors to get a far larger base of operations. While Frisco isn't the easiest place to reach unless you live in the Dallas area, it sure beats hoping that the existing nomadic exhibit will eventually reach your 'burg.
Elon Musk pledges $1 million to help build Nikola Tesla Museum
Nikola Tesla just scored a very generous birthday present. The "father of electricity" was born 158 years ago today, and several fans are trying to preserve his legacy with a museum, to be built on the site of his final laboratory in Shoreham, New York. A 2012 Indiegogo campaign helped raise more than enough to cover purchasing the land, but nowhere near the $8 million that's needed to refurbish the property and actually build a museum. Fortunately, Elon Musk, the father of the modern day Tesla, has pledged $1 million and has promised to install a supercharger in the parking lot. That's still not enough to complete the project, but you can help out by making your own contribution here. [Image credit: Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe]
A New York museum's interactive exhibit lets you redesign art pieces
Yes, the British Museum's interactive mummies exhibit sounds intriguing, but what if preserved corpses aren't your thing? If you're in New York, you can instead visit the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, which is slated to tie up an interactive system with their collection when it reopens in December. According to Wired, you'll be loaned an electronic pen when you visit, which you can then touch to the text plates next to the art pieces to "remember" them. Then, you can load all the objects you've saved onto one of the 15 interactive screens, not only to look at, but to draw over and digitally modify.
You can now tour baseball's hallowed halls through Google Street View
So far, you've had to swing by Cooperstown to pay homage at the National Baseball Hall of Fame -- not very practical if you're a West coast fan. Thankfully, you can honor those sports legends from home now that the Hall of Fame and its museum have landed in Google's Cultural Institute. The addition lets you browse through the museum's classic jerseys and other memorabilia in Street View. If you'd rather not do the virtual legwork, there are two photo galleries that show how baseball has evolved over the decades. It's doubtful that a virtual trip will evoke as much nostalgia as the real thing, but it's certainly easier than booking a flight.
Tesla Motors' Elon Musk will help fund a Nikola Tesla museum
You may recall The Oatmeal's (aka Matthew Inman's) fundraising campaign to save Nikola Tesla's former lab and get a museum built in the electrical pioneer's honor. Well, it only partly succeeded; while the money was enough to rescue the property, Inman realized that it would take at least $8 million to build and maintain an actual museum. Thankfully, a little serendipity is coming his way. Following a public plea from Inman, Tesla Motors chief Elon Musk now says that he'll be "happy to help" make the museum a reality and pay tribute to his company's namesake.
Samsung opens its own Innovation Museum, we take an early tour
Before arriving at the Samsung Innovation Museum, I had an idea of what to expect: the Korean company shoehorning itself into every technological milestone, whether it deserved to or not. Fortunately, that wasn't completely the case -- and there's even an Apple product inside. The five-story complex in Suwon's Digital City (that's the nerve center of Samsung Electronics) starts with the advent of electricity and goes from there. It's only when the museum touches on more modern times that it becomes apparent this is a Samsung thing. The museum opens to the public today, but we took an (admittedly on-the-rails) tour with other foreign media last week. Is it worth a trip to Korea? Maybe not, but if you're a tech obsessive already visiting Seoul, it could be worth the trip out to Samsung's Digital City. Be warned: it was mildly educational.
Broderbund founder donates company archives to National Museum of Play
Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? She's currently lurking at The Strong museum in Rochester, New York. Broderbund Software founder Doug Carlston has donated company records, design documents and games for permanent archival at the The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG). The Strong's Broderbund Software Collection includes material documenting the creation of Lode Runner, Prince of Persia, Myst, SimCity, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and other landmark PC releases. The collection spans Broderbund's founding in 1979 up until 1997, when the developer was acquired by The Learning Company. The new collection supplements a previous donation of archival materials from SimCity creator Will Wright. Featured material is available for research purposes on request. [Image: ICHEG]
PSA: New York Hall of Science's Nikola Tesla exhibit opens today
Nikola Tesla was born in the Austrian Empire, but the brilliant inventor has a connection to New York, having lived his final years in a midtown hotel that now bears a plaque in his honor. Starting today, the city's New York Hall of Science (at the World's Fair site in Queens) is offering up a new exhibition about his life, in honor of Nikola Tesla Day -- also, coincidentally, the man's birthday. Created in collaboration with Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Museum, the exhibit features working models of his inventions, photos and models of his labs. Tesla's Wonderful World of Electricity runs through October 20th and is free with admission to the museum.
Google celebrates the Manchester Baby and the birth of computer memory (video)
As part of its efforts to promote the unsung heroes of computing history, Google is celebrating the Manchester Baby's 65th birthday. Despite the cutesy nickname, the Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine was the first computer to use electronic memory rather than punchcards for programming, heralding the software revolution. The secret was in the Williams-Kilburn cathode-ray tube, which could store a (then) staggering 128 bytes worth of data. Of course, that's not much by modern standards, but given that the 5-meter machine weighed in at over a ton, we still think it could take your fancy laptop in a bar-room brawl. If you're curious to learn more and hear the immortal quips of Professor F.C. Williams, head on past the break for the video.
London's V&A Museum names Sophia George as first-ever Game Designer in Residence
Considering that video games are the focus of many an exhibit these days, the following news shouldn't be too shocking. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has appointed Swallowtail Games founder Sophia George as its first-ever Game Designer in Residence. George, who won a BAFTA for her iOS title Tick Tock Toys, will be tasked with creating an interactive game for museum visitors. The first six months of the residency will involve researching the V&A Museum's extensive collection of 16th- to 20th-century art, and game production will kick off in mid-2014 at Abertay University. You know it's only a matter of time before the Met commissions a digital interpretation of its own massive sculpture gallery. [Photo credit: Paul Farmer]
