The best Technology History newsletters

Long-form essays on the economics of AI and technological change, combining historical narrative with reviews of empirical labor market evidence. Readers get a careful, sourced treatment of questions like AI's labor market impact and the plausibility of double-digit growth forecasts.

Long-form retrospectives on productivity software from the 8/16-bit era, such as Lotus Improv, AppleWorks and Visual Basic, placed in their historical and cultural context. Each issue examines how the software was actually used and why it succeeded or failed.

Essays on technology investing that use historical patterns, such as computer leasing, the DC-3 and open-source strategy, to analyze the AI buildout and technology cycles. Readers get an investor's framework for how demand for a technology can persist while the capital financing it fails.

A podcast-style transcript and blog-style issue notes that revisit episodes of the PBS series Computer Chronicles, covering companies like Brøderbund and Gavilan and products from the 1980s. Readers get historical context on early personal computing, product failures, and the technology trends that shaped them.

Seth Juarez's blog-style newsletter explains how language models work and how software can be built around them, from next-token prediction to agentic systems. Recent issues mix accessible tutorials on tokens and agency with historical essays linking the Luddite era to today's generative AI debates.

A personal blog with long-form pieces on tech history, startup founder experiences and curated timelines. Readers get researched narrative analysis, such as Steve Jobs's 1997 return to Apple, and practical first-person guidance, such as obtaining an O-1 visa.

Alara writes a personal blog mixing nostalgic reflections on early Mac OS X and her dream of owning a White MacBook with essays on AI, including how AI memory and journaling tools shape personal relationships and the ethics and economic impact of AI training on creative workers. Readers get a mix of personal anecdotes and opinionated commentary on AI from an indie developer working on AI memory tools.

Elliott King, a digital entrepreneur and AI visibility strategist, revisits his own past talks on the dot com boom and early voice and AI search, annotating what he got right and wrong with timestamped transcript links. The newsletter offers a reflective, first-person look at how search and human-machine interaction have evolved since 2016.

A personal-essay newsletter reflecting on geek culture across generations, from the space race and Star Trek to the rise of personal computers and modern hardware tinkering. It mixes memoir with observations on topics like Mac mini storage upgrades and the repair community.

A personal history-of-technology newsletter exploring how buttons, from cameras and doorbells to radios and digital interfaces, changed daily life. It is being revived after a long hiatus as the groundwork for a book, mixing narrative history with reflections on technology and human language.

A weekly companion to the Asianometry YouTube channel, featuring video scripts, year-end reflections and interviews on Asian technology, semiconductors, economic history and development. Issues also cover channel updates and the author's research process.