Monday, April 23, 2012

Happy birthday speccy


For anyone under 45 this probably looks like a cross between a TV remote control for giants and a speak and spell, but 30 years ago today this little black hunk of plastic represented the cutting edge of consumer computing. The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is 30 today and on the Google home page (in the UK) you will see a tiny bit of pixel art with a dragon on it which also acknowledges another far less important anniversary here, St. Georges day. Celebrating the speccy anniversary will be easy, you can download an emulator that runs on PC's and simulates the machine perfectly, including the crappy graphics and clunky sound. I'll be running through a few levels of Jet Set Willy at lunch time and recalling fondly those pioneering days. As for the other thing, to be honest I was never quite sure what you're supposed to do to celebrate St. Georges day, slay something perhaps?

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