History of the Media Lab

This page will contain an interesting collaborative history of the MIT Media Lab.

Walter's reunion talk provides a terse history of the Lab.

=== Pre-history (before 1983) ===

=== Lab formation (1983-1986) ===

=== The 1980s ===

=== The 1990s ===

=== The 2000s ===

=== The future ===

Media Lab startups One mechanism for getting ideas out into the world is to create a company. There have been numerous startups by Media Lab alumni over the years (please add missing entires):


 * 3001 (Natasha Tsarkova)
 * Acme Holograpny (Betsy Connors)
 * Advanced Diamond Solutions (Mike Sung)
 * Agents, Inc/formerly Firefly Network, Inc. (Pattie Maes, Max Metral, Yezdi Lashkari)
 * Alchemy 3d (Ali Azarbayejani)
 * Alias/WaveFront (Ali Azarbayejani, Sandy Pentland)
 * Ambient (Ben Resner)
 * aQuery (Timothy Chtzlovski)
 * Art Technology Group, Inc. (Joe Chung)
 * Automated Holographics
 * Aware Technologies (Rich Devaul, Sandy Pentland)
 * BCT Partners (Randall Pinkett)
 * BuildingBlocks Interactive (Shawn Becker)
 * Caveo Technology (George McNulty)
 * Cambridge Stereographics Group (Benton)
 * Charmed Technology (Sandy Pentland)
 * Creative Good (Mark Hurst)
 * Coral Software (Henry Lieberman, 1988- acquired by Apple Inc.)
 * Diffraction, Ltd. (Bill Parker, Julie Walker)
 * Dimagi (Vikram Kumar)
 * Ear Studio (Ben Rubin)
 * E-Ink (Joseph Jacobson)
 * Elance Inc. (Beerud Sheth)
 * Ember Corporation (Rob Poor)
 * engeneOS (Joe Jacobson)
 * Facio Reco (Alex Pentland)
 * FashionTechnology (Michelle McDonald)
 * Firefly Networks (Pattie Maes, Max Mertal, Yezdi Lasjkari, acquired by Microsoft)
 * Firetide (Tareq Hoque)
 * First Mile Solutions (Fletcher, Omojola)
 * Flat Black Films (Bob Sabiston)
 * Frictionless Commerce (Rob Guttman)
 * FutureTense, Inc.(BC Krishna)
 * GenArts (Karl Sims)
 * Groundhog Technolgies (David Chiou)
 * Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. (Alex Rigopoulos, Eran Egozy)
 * Harmony Line (Tod Machover, Mary Farbood, Jennings Rigopulos, Eran Equzy)
 * Holosonic (Joe Pompeii)
 * HomePortfolio (Shawn Becker)
 * Human Logic (Karen Donoghue)
 * International Fashion Machines (Maggie Orth, Joanna Brezowska)
 * Interplay Media Consulting (Kevin McGee)
 * InTouch (Chris Schmandt)
 * Kovio (Joe Jacobson students)
 * Light Intertainment, Inc. (Brent Britton)
 * Liti Holographics (Paul Christie)
 * Logo Computer Systems (Seymour Papert)
 * Lobby7 (Levis Leiboh, acquired by ScanSoft Inc.)
 * LTU Technologies (Chahab Nastar, acquired by Jastec)
 * MaMaMedia, Inc. (Idit Harel)
 * Medical Media Systems (Mike McKenna, David Chen, Steve Pieper)
 * Message Machines (Pascal Chesnais, Chris Herot, sold)
 * Method Software, Inc. (Steve Strassmann)
 * Metrospark (Nathan Eagle, Sandy Pentland)
 * MicroDisplays Corporation (Mary Lou Jepsen)
 * Nearlife (Tinsley Galyean)
 * Netmosphere, Inc. (Ly)
 * Network Sound & Light, Inc. (Karen Donoghue, Gant, Halliday)
 * Newton Research Labs (Randy Sargent)
 * nTag (Rich Borovoy)
 * Open Ratings, Inc./formerly Fairnetworks (Pattie Maes, Giorgos Zacharia,
 * David Wang)
 * Perspecta (Earl Rennison, St-Arnaud, Lisa Strausfeld)
 * Persistent Vision (Kim Foley)
 * Playful Invention Company (Resnick, Robbie Berg)
 * Pocketscience (Irene Shen)
 * Powerscout (Louie Weitzman, 1998-2000, folded)
 * Presto Technologies (Mike Hawley, Henry Holtzman, Andy Lippman)
 * Razorfish, Inc. (Craig Kanarick)
 * Rifts (Jim McBride)
 * Runaway Technology (Rob Silvers)
 * Salient Stills (Laura Teodosio, Mike Massey)
 * Saybot (Pengkai Pan)
 * Sensing Places (Flavia Sparcino)
 * Small Design Firm (David Small)
 * Snif (Jon Gips)
 * Survey Equipment (Trevor Darrell, Sandy Pentland)
 * Swim Interaction Design Studio, LLC (Gitta Salomon)
 * Thing Magic (Ravi Pappu)
 * Thinking Pictures (Stephan Fitch)
 * Tramline (Kim Foley)
 * Triplecode (David Young)
 * Veltinet (Mixalis Bletsas)
 * Velti (Alex Moukas)
 * Virage (Bradley Horowitz, merged Autonomy)
 * Viisage (Sandy Pentlend)
 * Vitality (Josh Wachman)
 * WatchPoint Media (Jon Dakss, Josh Wachman, Mike Bove)
 * WaveArts (Bill Gardner)
 * Way Systems (Damien Balsen)
 * Wider Reach (Kamal Quadir, Sandy Pentland)
 * XS Labs (Joanna Brezowska, active)
 * Zebra Imaging, Inc. (Mike Klug, March Holzbach, Alex Ferdman)