WHUT-TV,  PBS station in Washington DC is airing our 5-part series with Silicon Valley pioneers Andy Hertzfeld and Bill Atkinson. You can watch the series in July on Wednesday nights 8.30 pm EST. 

Here is the schedule:

• Wednesday, July 3, 2019 – Bill Atkinson Part-1
• Wednesday, July 10, 2019 – Bill Atkinson Part-2
• Wednesday, July 17, 2019 – Andy Hertzfeld Part-1
• Wednesday, July 24, 2019 – Andy Hertzfeld Part-2
• Wednesday, July 31, 2019 – Bill Atkinson & Andy Hertzfeld

The 5-part series consists of a wide-ranging conversation with Atkinson and Hertzfeld on how they developed an interest in computers, what they were studying in graduate school when they decided to drop out and join a young startup in Cupertino called Apple Computers. And why did Steve Jobs spend an entire day wooing Atkinson to join Apple Computers?  Hertzfeld finished his masters at Berkeley and Atkinson dropped out of his PhD program in neuroscience at the University of Washington. 

Atkinson and Hertzfeld made significant contributions at Apple and were members of the original Macintosh team. They left Apple and went on to co-found General Magic in 1990 along with Marc Porat. General Magic was a hot new startup and their vision was to create a device for the post-PC generation. General Magic’s device failed to gain traction and eventually they had to shut down the company. But, General Magic’s DNA continues to live in smart devices like the iPad, iPhone and Android phones.We talk to Hertzfeld and Atkinson about how their time at General Magic and how it impacted them.

The story of General Magic is captured in a documentary by the same name and gives you a picture of how and why the startup failed.

This series is sponsored by Zoho.