Digital Identity: The Battle Beyond Passwords
Exploring the evolution of digital identity from passwords to passkeys, biometrics, and beyond. Discover how modern security methods impact our online presence and trust in an interconnected world.
Digital Culture
Welcome to Netscrape News
Netscrape News delivers a daily dose of tech nostalgia, cultural fluency, and historical hooks for the Gen-X soul. Join Sophie Calder for a blend of today’s headlines with a backward glance at tech’s rebellious past.
From WarGames to WhatsApp: The 80s Films That Dreamt Our Digital Future
Explore the digital future envisioned by 80s films in this captivating article, from WarGames to WhatsApp, revealing what came true and what we’re still waiting for.
Digital Afterlife: Why Perfect Memory Is the Wrong Kind of Immortality
From warped VHS to chatty AI avatars, the Digital Afterlife promises comfort without decay. This feature asks whether perfect memory helps us heal or keeps us from letting go, and argues for consent, clear disclosure, and designed imperfection. Sometimes the kindest archive is the one that fades.
Control Codes & Cursor Keys: A Shootout of 1980s Home Word Processors
From the clatter of ZX Spectrums to the disciplined prose of the Amstrad CPC, this shootout dives deep into the best word processors of the 1980s. We compare Tasword, Protext, Brunword and more to reveal how they shaped a generation’s writing habits—escape codes and all.
Letters from the Lounge: When Word Processing Came Home
From family newsletters to home businesses, word processors quietly reshaped British homes in the 1980s. Sophie Calder explores how everyday users—especially women and older adults—turned front rooms into offices, and technology into empowerment. This forgotten tech chapter deserves its place in our digital heritage.
Part 7: Czech Bytes – How 8-Bit Survived the Iron Curtain
In 1980s Czechoslovakia, computing wasn’t just a hobby — it was defiance in code. While Western kids played on Spectrums, Czech teens built their own machines from scratch. From the PMD 85 to the Didaktik Gama, this is the untold story of how 8-bit survived behind the Iron Curtain — and how its legacy echoes in indie games today.
Part 6: Clones, Codes, and Comebacks – Brazil’s 8-Bit Parallel Universe
In 1980s Brazil, import bans sparked a revolution of cloned micros, bootleg games, and BASIC code on cassette. This is the untold story of how Brazil created its own 8-bit world — and how it helped preserve the soul of the ZX Spectrum.
Tech Turning Points: Starting Up the Future – Windows 95 and the Birth of Modern Computing
Windows 95 wasn’t just a software release — it was a cultural event. In Preston and beyond, we queued in the rain for a cardboard box that changed how we compute. From Plug and Play to that Eno chime, this retrospective captures the start of a digital era.
Part 5: Hack the Dictator – Spain’s Wild 8-Bit Golden Age
In 1980s Spain, kids didn’t just play games — they copied them, hacked them, and built a golden age of bedroom-born code. This is the punk history of Spain’s homegrown 8-bit rebellion.