Hidden Heroes is a collection of stories about the people behind modern software and design. Now available on your favorite podcast streaming platform.
At Netguru, we truly believe that software can change the world. We strive to support visionaries and innovators on their journeys to deliver revolutionary digital products. But their and our work would not be possible if not for the engineers and designers who over the past decades have made seemingly small discoveries that are now omnipresent in our everyday life.
Hidden Heroes is a tribute to innovators who set the foundations on which we build vital solutions for the modern world. Their inventions make the world run, but their stories remain hidden. Until now. Hidden Heroes uncovers unexpected connections between great human stories and technologies and ideas that are widespread public phenomena today.
Read more: hiddenheroes.netguru.com.
S01E10: Dream Machine: How Alan Kay envisioned the future of modern laptops, tablet computers, and e-books
Alan Kay is one of the most widely lauded of the early digital pioneers and the inventor of Dynabook, the direct predecessor of modern laptops, tablet computers, and e-books.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/alan-kay (https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/alan-kay)
19 Apr 2023
S01E09: How Grace Hopper made computers more human
Grace Hopper programmed one of the very first computers ever made and helped design one of the first programming languages. But more than anything else, Grace Hopper’s legacy lies in the fact that she made these remarkable new machines more human.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/grace-hopper (https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/grace-hopper)
23 Dec 2022
S01E08: The multitouch: How a mix of new ideas shaped the way we communicate with computers
When Apple unveiled the multitouch Interface with the iPhone launch in 2007, it seemed as though computing had been reinvented overnight. But in reality, it was an innovation three decades in the making.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/hurst-han-kocienda
23 Dec 2022
S01E07: The image society: How Nasir Ahmed shaped image-based life
Fifty years ago, the computer scientist Nasir Ahmed came up with a brilliant idea for compressing data, laying the groundwork for Zoom, YouTube, Instagram, and all the other cornerstones of today's image-based online life.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/nasir-ahmed
20 Dec 2022
S01E06: The Pathfinder: How Gladys West shaped the Earth for modern GPS
As a young African American girl living on a farm during the Great Depression, Gladys West discovered she had a gift for math. Forty years later, she mapped the shape of Earth and helped invent GPS.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/gladys-west
15 Dec 2022
S01E05: The Crypto Wars: How Philip Zimmermann fought for our right to privacy
Three decades ago, Phil Zimmermann almost went to jail so that you could send an email without worrying that your personal data would be stolen.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/philip-zimmermann (https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/philip-zimmermann)
26 Oct 2022
S01E04: A Machine for Thinking: How Douglas Engelbart predicted the future of computing
More than 50 years ago, Douglas Engelbart gave the “mother of all demos” that transformed software forever. The computer world has been catching up with his vision ever since.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/douglas-engelbart (https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/douglas-engelbart)
21 Oct 2022
S01E03: The Magic Cookie: How Lou Montulli Cured the Web’s Amnesia
More than two decades ago, Web pioneer Lou Montulli invented browser software cookies with the goal of preserving user privacy online. But then things took an unexpected turn.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/lou-montulli (https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/lou-montulli)
13 Oct 2022
S01E02: The Magic Box and the Spanning Tree: How Radia Perlman made the Internet work
We take it for granted that decentralized networks like the Internet “just work.” But decades ago, pioneering computer scientist Radia Perlman solved a crucial problem that made those networks possible.
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/radia-perlman (https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/radia-perlman)
6 Oct 2022
S01E01: Intelligent Agent. How Pattie Maes Almost Invented Social Media
Belgian-born computer scientist Pattie Maes was inventing the core principles behind the social media age when Mark Zuckerberg was still in kindergarten. Why have her contributions been neglected?
Read the story on: https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/pattie-maes (https://hiddenheroes.netguru.com/pattie-maes)
3 Oct 2022
S01E00: Intro Episode - Paying the Tribute to People Who Built Tech
Hidden Heroes publishing is the initiative by Netguru that aims to pay tribute to people who built foundations of modern technology. Together with Steven Johnson, the author of all the stories we set out on the mission to uncover the real roots of innovation and the history of technology.
Because the world of innovation has generated such vast fortunes for a select few set of people, when we think about where progress comes from or where important world changing ideas come from, our attention gets naturally drawn towards the charismatic entrepreneurs, CEOs and business leaders.
We want to steer our attention away from those familiar stories of the heroic tech billionaire founders and to say that there is another history there – uncelebrated, unknown. We hope that Hidden Heroes will help people better understand our society and connect the past with the future to inspire future generations of innovators, developers, and software engineers. We want to give people who created crucial solutions we take for granted today credit they truly deserve.
Each story is available for you to read on a dedicated page hiddenheroes.netguru.com but now you can also listen to them through your favorite streaming platform. I hope you will enjoy uncovering the true foundations that shaped the world we live in today. Subscribe to our podcast to stay up to date with the latest stories!
Read more: hiddenheroes.netguru.com
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