Tales of Our Technologies

Continuing on the history tip, yesterday I stumbled across a fascinating Web site detailing the history of a number of tools, technologies, and products. The History of... You Name It compiles more than 50 articles detailing the past and development of items such as cell phones, credit cards, fax machines, photocopiers, and voicemail. If you're curious about the background of any of the tools we use almost every day -- and most likely take for granted -- this might be a good place to start.

Then you might be interested in exploring HowStuffWorks, a site that gets inside some of those very tools. Curious how a CD burner works? How PDAs work? How UPC bar codes work? Start here.