Decoding Tech

In November 1995, Steve Jobs pitched Wall Street on a company with no revenues and an unproven film. That company was Pixar, and against all odds, Toy Story became a smash hit, the stock soared, and the deal rewrote the rules for tech investing while cementing Jobs as a visionary. Hear the untold stories behind one of Silicon Valley's most improbable successes from Lawrence Levy (Former Pixar CFO), Mike McCaffery (Former Robertson Stephens CEO), and Cristina Morgan (Former Head of Technology Investment Banking for Hambrecht & Quist). This program was coproduced by Paul Noglows, formerly with Hambrecht & Quist, and JP Mark, formerly with Robertson Stephens. Both are coauthors of an upcoming book on these firms, and Paul moderated the discussion.It was made possible by the generous support of J.P. Morgan.This conversation was recorded on November 20, 2025 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

How could a machine that transformed the way people interact with computers also be a commercial flop? On January 31, 2023, CHM gathered key insiders to celebrate the Apple Lisa’s innovations, explore its ongoing impact, and learn lessons from its failure. The Program was divided into three segments:"Birth" with original Lisa Team members Bruce Daniels, Wayne Rosing and John Couch (via recording)"This is Your Life, Lisa" with Graphic Designer Annette Wagner, Developer Bill Atkinson (via recording), and CHM's then President and CEO, Dan'l Lewin, who was the Lisa's Market Development Manager."Death and Afterlife" with Steven Levy, Journalist and Wired Editor-at-LargeThe program was moderated by New York Times contributor and author Katie Hafner.This conversation was recorded at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, which includes a recorded Lisa demo and short film from The Verge, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

Did you know that Bulgaria became an electronics powerhouse during the Cold War? In an illuminating lecture for CHM Live, historian Victor Petrov shared insights from his new book, Balkan Cyberia, a CHM Book Prize winner.This conversation was recorded on September 18, 2025 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. To watch a video of this program, including the visuals shown in the presentation, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

With the latest iPhone soon to be announced, we're sharingthis conversation from 2017 about how the first iPhone came to be. In this episode, John Markoff interviews original iPhone Engineers Nitin Ganatra, Scott Herz, and Hugo Fiennes.Part 2 of the conversation, featuring original iPhone Software Team Leader Scott Forstall will be released in 2 weeks.This conversation was recorded on June 20, 2017 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

With sales close to 17 million units, The Commodore 64 is the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. On December 7, 2007, John Markoff, tech reporter for The New York Times, moderated a panel at CHM to celebrate the Commodore's 25th anniversary.First, John chats with Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International, before being joined by former IBM exec William Lowe, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and Adam Chowaniac who developed the Amiga.Note: there are few brief periods of Mic troubles that are quickly resolved. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

On the 50th anniversary of the Alto, many of its creators and some of today’s leading inventors gathered at CHM to share the Alto’s legacy and discuss what we can expect for the future of computing research—centered today on artificial intelligence (AI).The program included two panels:In the first, CHM Trustee John Shoch, who worked at PARC as a graduate student, moderated a discussion with two of Alto’s designers, Butler Lampson and Charles Simonyi. Alan Kay participated via video.The second panel focused on artificial intelligence, arguably the most revolutionary sector in today's computing landscape. CHM Trustee Diane Souvaine led the discussion with two computer scientists from pioneering research labs: Ilya Sutskever,who was then cofounder and chief scientist of Open AI, and Microsoft Chief Scientific Officer Eric Horvitz.This conversation was recorded on April 26, 2023 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org

Do you know who has your personal data? Experts featured in NOVA’s documentary, Secrets In Your Data, explored this question and more on stage at CHM.The Panel included Eva Galperin from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Patrick Jackson of Disconnect, and Brewster Kahle from the Internet Archive Physician Alok Patel, who also hosted the NOVA episode, moderated.This conversation was recorded on May 16, 2024, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, as a part of the CHM Live series. To watch a video of this program, please visit the Computer History Museum's YouTube channel.To learn more about the Computer History Museum and our upcoming CHM Live events, visit our website at www.computerhistory.org