Gary E. Knell of Sesame Street looks at the influence of media past, present, and future.

During the 1984 Super Bowl a commercial made an impact on the American perception of personal computers. Apple’s commercial “1984” promoting the, then new, Macintosh computer, played off George Orwell’s classic novel. The spot showed a woman breaking through the ranks of followers of a Big Brother figure presiding over them and proceeds to hurl a hammer at the figure on the screen, setting off an explosion of light onto the followers. A voice over then announced, “On January 24^th, Apple Computer will introduce the Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like “1984.” (more…)