Ask HN: What should I (and other people) know about technology?

I'm currently teaching myself how to program. I also want to learn more about technology in general. Not being technical has held me back somewhat in my startup experience so far. I think I have a pretty good plan for learning to program that seems to be working (= just trying to build stuff and going over it with the developers I work with).

But I want to learn more about general technology too (e.g. how flash memory works). Even some history would be nice. Almost all of my friends who are non technical (and even some who are) would benefit from broader exposure to technology (I frequently get asked questions like "What's an API?").

I'm considering diving into this (in addition to programming) and posting what I learn on a blog, but it would need to be organized to be useful. I was thinking to (1) dive into the history of computing a bit (2) understand how hardware + software have evolved (3) learn about today's systems setups (4) learn about where top people think tech is going.

If you have any suggestions or advice or parts of tech you've found helpful knowing, any good books / resources or general thoughts, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.