Monday 26 January 2026
The Best Tech Presenters of all time a legend and the Myth
TBH, I'm at a loss for words. When scrolling through BlueSky, I suddenly learned that the host of The Computer Chronicles, Stewart Cheifet, had passed away on December 28, 2025, in Philadelphia, PA, at the age of 87.
Before Linus Tech Tips and the other big tech YouTubers from the 2008's, and even before the late 90s through mid 2005 Tech TV's tech gurus Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton. Stewart Cheifet was the first television host to talk about computers. The show ran from 1984 to 2002. He also started a side show called NetCafe, discussing the latest trends on the internet.
Interesting Facts
During the 1996 episode on NetCafe about Online gaming, it was the first episode or place where someone coined the term Terminally Online, "meaning they are always online in their avatar playing an online game. Pretty cool, right?
When starting the show, he needed sponsors, so he asked Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs at the time in 1983, was a character, whether you liked it or not. And so instead of giving that money to the Computer Chronicles, he just made that famous ad for the Super Bowl.
We take things for granted these days, lol.
From the internet, To even streaming on the net, MP3 players, Editing Videos from the Amiga and this one, to even Discord chats, etc., all thanks to the coverage of the Chronicles and how computers evolved from the late 80s through the 21st century.
If you have seen Stewart Cheifet interviews from 2007 or around 2017 or so, he mostly says that doing a pre-tape show is very, very difficult. It costs a lot of money and time. I would agree about that since in the 90s, Public Tv shows hosted by teens and such were just expensive to save it on a VHS tape.
Nowadays, tech tubers have all the time they need to show off tech in 10 or so minutes.
To close off this tribute, I became obsessed with watching The Computer Chronicles in 2016, which made me more appreciative of technology and the things I have in life. The show is full of history, and you know so much of it is great and awesome.
Don't forget the Computer Chronicles and Net Cafe are on the Internet Archive