Podcasts about ibm pc

In 1982 Intel released the iAPX 286. It's was the first heir to the smash-hit 8086. But the 286 was developed before the IBM PC put an Intel chip on every desk. It's design isn't influence by the PC. Rather, it reaches further into the past. Today we are looking at the strange melding of old technology, new ideas, and compatibility that lead to the 286.

Stanley Trost, Electronic Arts Financial Cookbook    Stanley R. Trost wrote several books about early microcomputers, including Atari BASIC Programs in Minutes, Doing Business with VisiCalc, Multiplan on the Commodore 64, Useful Basic Programs the for IBM PC, VisiCalc for Science and Engineering, and others. He was also the creator of Financial Cookbook, which was published by Electronic Arts in 1984 (and one of only two "home management" titles released by EA, the other being Cut and Paste, "the Remarkably Simple Word Processor").   Financial Cookbook provided 32 financial calculators and decision-making tools, including understanding your marginal tax rate, living on your savings, how much life insurance you need, variable rate mortgages, and so on. Versions of the program were sold for Atari 8-bit and ST, Apple II, Commodore 64, Macintosh, and perhaps other platforms.   This interview took place on March 24, 2025.   Atari BASIC Programs in Minutes    Doing Business with VisiCalc    Financial Cookbook at AtariMania    Inverse ATASCII podcast about Financial Cookbook, including many screenshots    Video version of this interview    Support Kay's interviews on Patreon 

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on 1997's Interstate '76. We talk about physics again, mission design, input, and other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played:  Roughly six missions (B), technical difficulties (T) Issues covered: end of mission two sitting duck and acting, many controller bindings, driving an automatic, mapping onto the character's body instead of the car, the hardware abstraction layer and Direct X, enumerating devices and buttons, IBM PC light grey numpads, mechanical keyboards, the nostalgia of two hands on the keyboard, extra peripherals, simulating the character vs the car, the car as the crosshairs, getting stuff off the battlefield, upgrades, managing weight, racing missions, the potential of weight impacting the simulation, a game that's not well-preserved, weird configuration and axes, mission design, following the guy you're racing, broken physics world, compounded errors, blowing up the diner, 90s references, failing the mission multiple times, guiding the player back, being unable to save Skeeter, level of detail issues, sim mission design, cheating the sim, car condition, wanting to try the flight stick, the band, good looking cars, mayhem on the field, now available on YouTube. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Falcon, XvT, MechWarrior, Steel Battalion, Guitar Hero, Microsoft, Forza, TIE Fighter, Tipper Gore, Escape from New York, Third Eye Blind, fbrccn, MuzBoz, Twisted Metal Black, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.  Notes:  The more common and cheap keyboard type that Brett didn't know the name of is a "membrane" keyboard.  Next time: More I '76 Twitch: timlongojr Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

Behind the bets that shaped modern computing Microsoft's early deal with IBM to provide the operating system for the first IBM PC is noted as a pivotal moment in the history of personal computing. In this episode of Beyond the Blue Badge, co-hosts Larry Hryb and Becky Monk share stories from early Microsoft leaders Steve Ballmer, Bob O'Rear, Scott Oki and Bill Neukom of how the deal came together, the challenges Microsoft faced, the strategic moves made, and the ultimate “divorce” that established Microsoft's dominance in the software industry. 

In this episode of the Inner Edison Podcast, host Ed Parcaut welcomes Calvin Correli, a seasoned entrepreneur with a fascinating journey that started when he sold his first piece of software at just 12 years old. Calvin shares insights into his upbringing in Denmark, his early introduction to the world of software, and how his entrepreneurial spirit was nurtured from a young age. As the conversation unfolds, Calvin discusses key transformational moments in his life, such as his personal development phase and spiritual awakening, which led to the integration of spirituality with entrepreneurship—a unique path he has been paving for over 16 years. The discussion delves deep into Calvin's creation of Simplero, an all-in-one software solution designed to streamline operations for coaches and entrepreneurs by integrating billing, email marketing, website building, and more into a single platform. Calvin's story is a testament to the power of combining personal growth with professional endeavors, and how successfully navigating these areas can lead to innovative creations and impactful personal achievements. Ed and Calvin also explore broader themes such as the evolution of technology, overcoming personal challenges, and the importance of mindset in achieving entrepreneurial success. Calvin's journey emphasizes how every experience, whether a triumph or a trial, contributes significantly to personal and business development. This episode is particularly insightful for those interested in entrepreneurship, technology evolution, and the fusion of personal and professional growth. **Contact Ed Parcaut:** -

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Blake Patterson Topic: 1981 In 1981, we started communicating with AT commands and Kermit. Timex/Sinclair released the 1000/ZX-81. We got the BBC Micro and the ABC 800. IBM introduced the PC, for business, no fun allowed. And MS-DOS. And more. Topic/Feedback links: Retro Computing News: Vintage Computer(-related) commercials: … Continue reading RCR Episode 281: The IBM PC and its sticks of ennui →

On this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop interviews Tim Bajarin, Chairman of Creative Strategies, Inc., for a fascinating exploration of the evolution of technology. The conversation spans Tim's early career during the dawn of personal computing in the 1980s, historical reflections on pivotal inventions like Gutenberg's printing press, the legacy of Xerox PARC, and the rise of Apple's graphical interface and desktop publishing. They also discuss the human dynamics of innovation, from the tight-knit tech communities of Silicon Valley to parallels with historic institutions like the Royal Society. For more insights into Tim Bajarin's ongoing work, you can explore his articles on Forbes or visit Creative Strategies at creativestrategies.com.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversation!Timestamps00:00 Introduction and Guest Background00:54 Entering the PC Market in the 1980s05:39 Historical Context and Technological Evolution13:21 The Impact of Desktop Publishing24:54 The Role of Historical Knowledge in Technology38:12 The Influence of British Technological Advancements47:30 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsKey InsightsThe Historical Context of Innovation is Crucial for Understanding Technology's Future: Tim Bajarin emphasizes that to forecast the future of technology, one must understand its historical roots. His career as an analyst has been informed by studying transformative moments like Gutenberg's printing press and innovations in the 1800s, including the Royal Society's influence on science and technology. This perspective underscores how historical breakthroughs set the stage for modern advancements.The Birth of Personal Computing Was a Collaborative Effort: Bajarin's entry into the tech industry coincided with the IBM PC launch in 1981. He became one of the first PC analysts, working with companies like Compaq, Dell, and Apple. The development of personal computing was fueled by close-knit communities of engineers and innovators who shared ideas, much like the collaborative environment of historical groups like the Royal Society.Xerox PARC's Innovations Were the Bedrock for Modern Computing: The role of Xerox PARC in shaping today's computing landscape is highlighted as pivotal. Bajarin recounts their invention of the graphical user interface (GUI) and the mouse, which were foundational for Apple's Mac. Although Xerox didn't capitalize on these ideas, their contributions enabled Steve Jobs and others to build the computing paradigms we use today.Desktop Publishing Revolutionized Communication and Creativity: Bajarin predicted the desktop publishing boom, thanks to innovations like Apple's laser printer, PageMaker software, and PostScript technology. These advancements transformed the publishing industry, allowing individuals and small businesses to create professional-quality content, democratizing access to creative tools.Steve Jobs' Return to Apple Marked a Turning Point in Design and Vision: When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company was near bankruptcy. Bajarin describes how Jobs refocused Apple on its core customers, introduced innovative industrial design, and created products like the colorful iMac. This redefined how consumers viewed computers, blending functionality with aesthetic appeal and cementing Apple's market position.The Evolution of Technology is Driven by Both Process and Innovation: Bajarin explains how every major technological leap, from the printing press to the PC, has involved the convergence of innovative devices and refined processes. For instance, advancements in printing presses during the 1800s mirrored the systematic innovations in the tech industry during the 1980s and 1990s.The Role of Community and Networks in Driving Innovation: The episode draws a parallel between the 1980s tech clubs in Silicon Valley and earlier knowledge-sharing networks, such as the letter-writing analysts of Renaissance Italy or the Royal Society. Bajarin illustrates how communities of like-minded individuals, whether in tech or science, have always been instrumental in fostering innovation.

pWotD Episode 2751: Microsoft Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 537,399 views on Tuesday, 12 November 2024 our article of the day is Microsoft.Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity applications, the Azure cloud computing platform, and the Edge web browser. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface lineup of touchscreen personal computers. Microsoft ranked No. 14 in the 2022 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue; and it was the world's largest software maker by revenue in 2022 according to Forbes Global 2000. It is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet (parent company of Google), Amazon, Apple, and Meta (parent company of Facebook).Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Windows. The company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO) and subsequent rise in its share price created three billionaires and an estimated 12,000 millionaires among Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made several corporate acquisitions, the largest being the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in October 2023, followed by its acquisition of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in December 2016, Nuance Communications for $16 billion in March 2022, and Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in May 2011.As of 2015, Microsoft is market-dominant in the IBM PC compatible operating system market and the office software suite market, although it has lost the majority of the overall operating system market to Android. The company also produces a wide range of other consumer and enterprise software for desktops, laptops, tabs, gadgets, and servers, including Internet search (with Bing), the digital services market (through MSN), mixed reality (HoloLens), cloud computing (Azure), and software development (Visual Studio).Steve Ballmer replaced Gates as CEO in 2000 and later envisioned a "devices and services" strategy. This unfolded with Microsoft acquiring Danger, Inc. in 2008, entering the personal computer market for the first time in June 2012 with the launch of the Microsoft Surface, and later forming Microsoft Mobile through the acquisition of Nokia's devices and services division. Since Satya Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, the company has scaled back on hardware and instead focused on cloud computing, a move that helped the company's shares reach their highest value since December 1999. Under Nadella's direction, the company has also heavily expanded its gaming business to support the Xbox brand, establishing the Microsoft Gaming division in 2022, dedicated to operating Xbox in addition to its three subsidiaries (publishers). Microsoft Gaming is the third-largest gaming company in the world by revenue as of 2024.In 2018, Microsoft became the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, a position it has repeatedly traded with Apple in the years since. In April 2019, Microsoft reached a trillion-dollar market cap, becoming the third U. S. public company to be valued at over $1 trillion after Apple and Amazon, respectively. As of 2024, Microsoft has the third-highest global brand valuation.Microsoft has been criticized for its monopolistic practices and the company's software has been criticized for problems with ease of use, robustness, and security.Microsoft is one of only two U. S.-based companies that have a prime credit rating of AAA.Microsoft recognizes seven trade unions representing 1,750 workers in the United States at its video game subsidiaries Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax Media. U. S. workers have been vocal in opposing military and law-enforcement contracts with Microsoft. Bethesda Game Studios is unionized in Canada. Microsoft South Korea recognizes its union since 2017. German employees have elected works councils since 1998.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:34 UTC on Wednesday, 13 November 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Microsoft on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Olivia.

The Compaq Computer Company's early years of absolutely insane growth remain the stuff of legends. Founded in 1982. First year revenue? $111 million. 0 to $111 million. One year. IPO, December 1983. And year 2, 1984? $329 million revenue, 200% growth. Year 3, $504 million, 53% growth and the Fortune 500. Later, Compaq hit $1.2 billion in revenue for 1987, the fastest ever in history. Along the way, Compaq led an insurgency of IBM PC clone-makers against Big Blue, overwhelming the old lion and unlocking the PC standard for a new generation of PC-makers. That is when the problems began. The tragedy of Compaq is that they led the revolution. And then as it so often happens, the revolution turned on them. In this video, we take a look at the fall of Compaq.

The Compaq Computer Company's early years of absolutely insane growth remain the stuff of legends. Founded in 1982. First year revenue? $111 million. 0 to $111 million. One year. IPO, December 1983. And year 2, 1984? $329 million revenue, 200% growth. Year 3, $504 million, 53% growth and the Fortune 500. Later, Compaq hit $1.2 billion in revenue for 1987, the fastest ever in history. Along the way, Compaq led an insurgency of IBM PC clone-makers against Big Blue, overwhelming the old lion and unlocking the PC standard for a new generation of PC-makers. That is when the problems began. The tragedy of Compaq is that they led the revolution. And then as it so often happens, the revolution turned on them. In this video, we take a look at the fall of Compaq.

We like to throw around the word "revolution". But the birth and rise of the microcomputer really was a revolution. In 1981, IBM joined that revolution with the IBM PC, and it immediately took over the market. But the giant, for all of its vaunted power and resources, saw its leading place in the revolution slowly be taken away by the hoard. We all know how the story ends. But how did it unfold? And what can we learn from it? In this video, how IBM lost its grip on the PC revolution.

We like to throw around the word "revolution". But the birth and rise of the microcomputer really was a revolution. In 1981, IBM joined that revolution with the IBM PC, and it immediately took over the market. But the giant, for all of its vaunted power and resources, saw its leading place in the revolution slowly be taken away by the hoard. We all know how the story ends. But how did it unfold? And what can we learn from it? In this video, how IBM lost its grip on the PC revolution.

"Trade has become much more complex, and it's become more complex for both government regulatory reasons, but also for business reasons that companies want to save money and they want to not have surprises in their product." - Tom Gould, Industry Expert In this insightful episode, we sit down with Tom Gould, a renowned expert in the global trade industry. Tom shares his extensive career journey, from automating law firms in the early days of the IBM PC to becoming a leading consultant and advisor in the world of international trade. Main Topics and Takeaways: 1. The Timeless Nature of Global Trade - Tom Gould draws parallels between the trade practices of Christopher Columbus's era and the modern supply chain, highlighting the fundamental aspects of global trade that have remained unchanged over centuries. - "Trade is an ancient industry, right? You can go back to the days of Christopher Columbus or the Silk Road, and really what was happening then international trade. And if we look at what was happening back hundreds of years ago in the way of international trade, and we compare it to what's happening today. Over the last few hundreds of years, things have operated very similarly." 2. The Evolving Regulatory Landscape - Tom discusses the growing focus on supply chain traceability, driven by initiatives like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). - "If we look at some of the other initiatives that are out there that the governments are looking at, that the government agencies are looking at, whether it be a forced labor issue, free trade agreements, anti dumping, countervailing duties, or even things like environmental aspects." 3. Challenges in Sustainability and Recycling - Tom highlights the challenges companies face in ensuring the sustainability and ethical sourcing of their products, particularly in the apparel industry, where the recycling of materials has become increasingly difficult. - "The one that I, the one that I, I think about, is recycled. I don't know if you know, but clothing recycling no longer happens, or barely happens anymore. Why is that? Because the companies that bought the recycled material can no longer guarantee that no one fiber in their new in their product that was made with recycled material was made with forced labor." 4. Tom Gould's Expertise and Consulting Areas - Tom shares his top three areas of expertise: retail products, complex duties, and de minimis shipments, highlighting the depth of his knowledge and the value he brings to his clients. This episode provides a comprehensive look at the evolving landscape of global trade, with insights from an industry pioneer, Tom Gould. Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the historical context, regulatory challenges, and sustainability concerns that companies must navigate in the modern trade environment. Tom's expertise and practical advice offer valuable guidance for importers, exporters, and anyone involved in the complex world of international trade. Enjoy the show! Sign up for the upcoming Forced Labor training (Supply Chain Tracing) here: https://globaltrainingcenter.com/forced-labor-supply-chain-tracing/ Find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SimplyTradePod Host: Andy Shiles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyshiles/  Host/Producer: Lalo Solorzano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lalosolorzano/  Co-Producer: Mara Marquez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-marquez-a00a111a8/ Show references: Global Training Center - www.GlobalTrainingCenter.com Simply Trade Podcast - twitter.com/SimplyTradePod  Tom Gould - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomgouldcustoms/  Contact SimplyTrade@GlobalTrainingCenter.com or message @SimplyTradePod for: Advertising and sponsoring on Simply Trade Requests to be on the show as guest Suggest any topics you would like to hear about Simply Trade is not a law firm or an advisor. The topics and discussions conducted by Simply Trade hosts and guests should not be considered and is not intended to substitute legal advice. You should seek appropriate counsel for your own situation. These conversations and information are directed towards listeners in the United States for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only and should not be In substitute for legal advice. No listener or viewer of this podcast should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information on this podcast without first seeking legal advice from counsel. Information on this podcast may not be up to date depending on the time of publishing and the time of viewership. The content of this posting is provided as is, no representations are made that the content is error free. The views expressed in or through this podcast are those are the individual speakers not those of their respective employers or Global Training Center as a whole. All liability with respect to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this podcast are hereby expressly disclaimed.

Interview with Steve Leininger, Designer of the TRS-80- Model I Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics  Arcade Shopper   0                                 Floppy Days Tune 1 min 13 sec              Vintage Computer Ads 1 min 42 sec              Intro 9 min 03 sec             bumper - Peter Bartlett  9 min 11 sec              New Acquisitions 17 min 11 sec             bumper - Ian Mavric  17 min 19 sec            Upcoming Computer Shows 21 min 53 sec            bumper - Myles Wakeham 21 min 58 sec            Meet the Listeners 28 min 37 sec            Interview with Steve Leininger 1 hr 20 min 29 sec    Closing This particular episode has a special meaning for me, personally.  You see, as I've mentioned on earlier episodes, the TRS-80 Model I from Tandy/Radio Shack was my first home computer (even though my first programmable device was a TI58C calculator).  I recall the joy and wonder of playing with the machine (it wasn't called the Model I at that time; just the TRS-80; as it was the first of the line) in the local Radio Shack store in 1977 and 1978 and the incredible rush of owning one in 1979; after my wife purchased a Level I BASIC machine for me as a gift for college graduation.  That machine only had 4K of RAM and 4K of ROM (Tiny BASIC), as it was the entry-level machine, but it was a thing of beauty.  I felt like I could do anything with that machine, even though my justification to the wife was that we could track our checkbook and recipes on it.  I think she knew better, but went along with it anyway.  The computer came with everything you needed, including a tape drive and black-and-white monitor, which was good for a poor recent college graduate.  I quickly, as finances allowed with my new engineering job, upgraded the computer to 16K of RAM and Level II BASIC (a powerful Microsoft 12K ROM BASIC) and enjoyed the machine immensely, even using it in my job supporting the build-out of a new nuclear power plant back in those days. I eventually sold off the Model I, in favor of a computer that had color graphics and sound (the Atari 800), but have always continued to have a huge soft spot for that first computer. When I started the Floppy Days Podcast, one of the people that has always been on my bucket list to interview has been Steve Leininger, who, along with Don French while at Radio Shack designed the TRS-80 Model I, among other things.  A few years back, I had the opportunity to participate in an interview with Steve for the Trash Talk Podcast, when I was co-hosting that show, but an ill-timed trip to the hospital for my son meant that I was not able to participate.  While my son's health is of paramount importance, of course, I always wanted to get another chance to talk with Steve.  Not only was Steve the designer of one of my favorite home computers of all time, but he also was a fellow Purdue University Boilermaker, who graduated just a year before I started there.  The thought that I could have met Steve on campus if I'd been there just a year earlier was very intriguing to me, and fueled my desire to talk with Steve even more. In the last episode (#141 with Paul Terrell) I talked about VCF Southeast in Atlanta in July of 2024.  After I had made plans to attend that show, I was flabbergasted to find out that Earl Baugh, one of the show organizers, had somehow managed to contact Steve and get him to come to the show!  I have to thank Earl for the work he did to make that happen.  Here was my opportunity to certainly meet Steve, and perhaps even talk with him!  I prepped some questions, just in case I was able to get an interview. While at the show, I met Steve and asked him if he would be willing to do a short interview for Floppy Days while at the show.  Amazingly, he was very kind and agreed to do that.  We found a quiet room and I was able to talk with Steve for almost an hour.  This show contains that interview. Another note on this: as you'll hear in the interview, the connection to Steve is even stronger than I realized!  He not only went to my alma mater, but also grew up in some of the same towns that myself and my wife did.  We personally peripherally know some of his relatives.  Things like this really do make you think the world is small! One other, final, note: This interview even ties into the recent and continuing interviews I've been publishing with Paul Terrell.  As you'll hear in upcoming episodes with Paul, and in this interview with Steve, Steve actually worked at the Byte Shop before getting the first job with Tandy, and in fact his work at the Byte Shop directly led to him getting hired by Tandy to design the Model I. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I enjoyed getting it.  I am overjoyed I finally got the chance to talk to one of my vintage computer heroes, Steve Leininger! New Acquisitions C64 Sketch and Design by Tony Lavioe - sponsored link https://amzn.to/4dZGtt2  Compute's Mapping the IBM PC and PC Junior by Russ Davies - sponsored link https://amzn.to/3yQmrlP  The Best of SoftSide - Atari Edition - https://archive.org/details/ataribooks-best-of-softside-atari-edition  ZX81+38 - https://github.com/mahjongg2/ZX81plus38  magnifying glasses - sponsored link https://amzn.to/4cBQYla  Japanese power adapter - sponsored link https://amzn.to/3XjeUW5  Upcoming Shows VCF Midwest - September 7-8 - Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL - http://vcfmw.org/  VCF Europe - September 7-8 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/  World of Retrocomputing 2024 Expo - September 14-15 - Kitchener, ON, Canada - https://www.facebook.com/events/s/world-of-retro-computing-2024-/1493036588265072/  Teletext 50 - Sep 21-22 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, UK - https://www.teletext50.com/  Portland Retro Gaming Expo - September 27-29 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/  Tandy Assembly - September 27-29 - Courtyard by Marriott Springfield - Springfield, OH - http://www.tandyassembly.com/  AmiWest - October 25-27 - Sacramento, CA - https://amiwest.net/  Chicago TI International World Faire - October 26 - Evanston Public Library (Falcon Room, 303), Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/   Retro Computer Festival 2024 - November 9-10 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72253/Retro-Computer-Festival-2024-Saturday-9th-November/  Silly Venture WE (Winter Edition) - Dec. 5-8 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-we   Schedule Published on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub  Interview Steve's Workbench at radioshack.com (archived) - https://web.archive.org/web/19980528232503/http://www.radioshack.com/sw/swb/   Transcript of Interview-Only Randy Kindig: All right. I really appreciate your time today, Steve.  Steve Leininger: Thank you for having me, Randy.  Randy Kindig: So let's start out maybe just by talking about where You live today, and what you do? Steve Leininger: I live in Woodland Park, Colorado, which is 8, 500 feet, right out in front of we got Pike's Peak out our front window. Randy Kindig: Oh. Oh, that's nice.  Steve Leininger: Yeah we get snow up through about June, and then it starts again about September. But it's not as much snow as you would imagine.  Randy Kindig: I've got property in Montana, and I lived out there for a couple of years,  Steve Leininger: so there you go.  Randy Kindig: We probably got more snow up there.  Steve Leininger: Hey, you asked what I did.  I'm involved with Boy Scouts, a maker space with a church based ministry firewood ministry, actually. Some people call it a fire bank. So we provide firewood to people who can't afford that.  Randy Kindig: Oh.  Steve Leininger: So it's like a food bank, but with fire, firewood.  Randy Kindig: I've never heard of that. Steve Leininger: We source the firewood. We cut it down and we split it. Lots of volunteers involved; pretty big project.  Randy Kindig: Yeah. Okay, cool. I also wanted to mention, I'm a fellow Boilermaker.  Steve Leininger: There you go.  Randy Kindig: I know you went to Purdue, right?  Steve Leininger: I did go to Purdue.  Randy Kindig: Did you ever get back there?  Steve Leininger: Yeah, and in fact they've got a couple learning spaces named after us. Randy Kindig: Oh, okay.  Steve Leininger: We've been donating to our respective alma maters. My wife went to IU.  Randy Kindig: Oh, is that right? Oh my.  Steve Leininger: Yeah, oh my and me. Yeah, the fact that the family who's all IU, their family tolerated me was, quite a remarkable thing.  Randy Kindig: Okay.  I find it interesting because I think you graduated in 76, is that right? Steve Leininger: 74.  Randy Kindig: Oh, 74.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. Yeah. I was there from … Randy Kindig: Oh yeah, you actually were gone before I started.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. So I was there from 70 to 73. 70 to 70 four. When I graduated in four years, I got both my bachelor's and master's degree by going through the summer. I managed to pass out of the first year classes because of some of the high school stuff yeah.  Randy Kindig: Okay. I started in 75, so I guess we just missed each other.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. Yeah. You're the new kids coming in.  Randy Kindig: Yeah. . So I, I found that interesting and I wanted to say that. Do you keep up with their sports program or anything like that? Steve Leininger: Yeah, they play a pretty good game of basketball in fact, I ribbed my wife about it because she was from the earlier days, the Bobby Knight days at IU that were phenomenal.  Randy Kindig: Yeah, exactly. For those of you listening, I'm talking with Steve Leininger, who was the primary developer, if not the developer, of the TRS 80 Model I.. Steve Leininger: I did all the hardware and software for it. I'll give Don French credit for sticking to it and getting a project started. And for refining, refining our product definition a little bit to where it was better than it would have been if I would have stopped early.  Randy Kindig: Okay. And I have talked with Don before. I've interviewed him on the podcast, and I met him at Tandy Assembly. But I'm just curious, when you were hired into Tandy and you were told what you were going to do; exactly what were you told?  Steve Leininger: They had a 16 bit microprocessor board that another consultant had developed. And they were trying to make a personal computer out of this. It was the Pace microprocessor, which was not a spectacular success for National, but it was one of the first 16 bit processors. But they had basically an initial prototype, might have been even the second level of the thing. No real documentation, no software, ran on three different voltages and didn't have input or output. Other than that, it was fine. I was brought in because I was one of the product one of the engineers for the development boards, the development board series for the SCAMP, the S C M P, the National Semiconductor had a very low cost microprocessor that at one point in time, I benchmarked against the 8080 with positive benchmarks and ours was faster on the benchmarks I put together, but as I was later told there's lies, damn lies, and benchmarks. But so they said take a look at using that, their low cost microprocessor that you were working with. And it really wasn't the right answer for the job. Let's see, the Altair was already out. Okay. That was the first real personal computer. The Apple, the Apple 1 was out. Okay. But it was not a consumer computer. Okay. They, it was just, it was like a cookie sheet of parts, which was very similar to what was used in the Atari games at the commercial games. Okay. pong and that kind of stuff at that time. And I had been working, after Purdue, I went to National Semiconductor. There's a long story behind all that. But in the process, some of us engineers would go up to the Homebrew Computer Club that met monthly up at the Stanford Linear Accelerator. We're talking Wilbur and Orville Wright kinds of things going on. Yeah. Everyone who was in the pioneering version of computing had at one time been to that meeting. Randy Kindig: It's very famous. Yeah.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. And Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were basically a couple guys working out of their garage at the time. I was still working at National Semiconductor, but I also had a Moonlight job at Byte Shop number 2. The second computer store in all of California. Randy Kindig: And So you worked with Paul Terrell. Steve Leininger: I actually worked with one of, yeah, Paul, I actually worked for Paul's I don't know if it was a partner, Todd, I don't even remember the guy's name. But I just, it was.  Randy Kindig: I was curious because I'm talking to Paul right now and getting interviews. Steve Leininger: Yeah. I, I'm sure we met, but it wasn't anything horribly formal. Since it was the number two shop, it still wasn't the number one shop, which Paul worked out of. And so we had an Apple 1 there. I actually got the job because I when I When I went in there, they were trying to troubleshoot something with what looked like an oscilloscope that they pulled out of a tank, and so it had, audio level kind of bandwidth, but could not do a digital circuit. And I said what you really need is a, I told him, a good tectonic scope or something like that. He said do you want a job here? I ended up moonlighting there, which was, as fortune would have it, was a good deal when the folks from Radio Shack came down to visit. Because when they came down to visit the sales guy wasn't there. We'll let the engineer talk to them, they almost never let the engineers talk to them.  Randy Kindig: So you had to talk with them.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. It was John Roach, Don French, and it was probably Jack Sellers, okay and Don was probably the; he was the most on top of stuff electronically because he was a hobbyist of sorts. The other two guys: Mr. Sellers ran the engineering group. John Roach was the VP of manufacturing. And they were basically on a parts visit. They do it once a year, once, twice a year. And they also did it with Motorola and a couple other places. But I told him about this microprocessor and that I was writing a tiny BASIC for it. Okay. Tiny BASIC was a interpreted basic that a guy named Li-Chen Wang actually had the first thing in Dr. Dobbs, Dr. Dobbs magazine. We're talking about, we're talking about things that you don't realize are the shoulders of giants that turned out to be the shoulders of giants. And in fact, we reached out to Mr. Wang as we were working on it. We thought we had the software already taken care of because I'm jumping ahead in the story, but we were going to have Bob Uterich, and you'd have to chase that back. We had him signed up to write a BASIC interpreter for us, but because he'd already done one for the 6800, and it was included in Interface Age magazine. on a plastic record. You remember the old plastic records you could put in a magazine?  Randy Kindig: Yeah, I did see that.  Steve Leininger: Yeah, so this was called a floppy ROM when they did it. Yeah. So if you had the right software and everything you could download the software off of the floppy ROM and run it on 6800. I think he used the Southwest Technical Products thing. And so we'd signed him up to do the BASIC. This was independent of the hardware design I was doing. And he went into radio silence on us; couldn't find him. And so we get to, in parallel, I was using the Li-Chen Wang plan to do at least a demo version of BASIC that would run on the original computer. And when the demo went successfully on Groundhog Day in 1977. This is the time frame we're talking about. I I started work on July 5th, the year before it. With Tandy? Yeah. Okay. We rolled into town on the 3rd, and of course they're closed for the 4th. And on the 5th I started, and there was the wandering around in the desert at the beginning of that, and Don's probably talked about how I was moved from there to their audio factory and then to the old saddle factory. Tandy used to be primarily a leather company before they bought Radio Shack in 1966 or something like that. And anyway, when the software didn't come out, I ended up writing the software, too. So I designed all the hardware and all the software. I didn't do the power supply. Chris Klein did the power supply. And, a little bit of the analog video circuitry, but it was very little part of that. Because we were just making a video signal. I did all the digital stuff on that. Yeah.  Randy Kindig: So the software ended up being what was the level one ROM, right?  Steve Leininger: Yeah, the level one ROM started out as the Li-Chen Wang BASIC. But he had no I. O. in his software, so I was doing the keyboard scanning. I had to do the cassette record and playback. Had to implement data read and data write Peek and poke, which is pretty simple. Put in the graphic statements. Yeah, oh, and floating point. Now, floating point, luckily, Zilog had a library for that, but I had to basically, this was before APIs were a big deal, so I basically had to use their interface, To what I had written and had to allocate storage, correct? We're talking about 4K bytes of ROM. I know, yeah. Very tiny, and to put all the I. O. in there, and to make it so that you could be updating the screen, when you're doing the cassette I put two asterisks up there and blinked the second one on and off, you remember that?  Randy Kindig: Oh yeah. Steve Leininger: Sort of as a level set.  Randy Kindig: Yeah.  Steve Leininger: And someone said, oh, you should have patented that thing. And actually I have seven or eight patents, U. S. patents, on different parts of the computer architecture.  Randy Kindig: Oh, do you?  Steve Leininger: But not the blinking asterisk, which is probably a patentable feature.  Randy Kindig: Yeah, I wish I'd had that on other machines, that I ended up having. So that would have been nice, yeah. I liken what you've done with what Steve Wozniak did, for the Apple II. You're somebody I've always wanted to talk to because I felt like you were one of the important pioneers in their early years. What do you have to say about that? Do you feel like what you did was ... Steve Leininger: in retrospect, yes. And I have a greater appreciation for people like the Wright Brothers. If you think about the Wright Brothers they took all their stuff from their Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop down to Kill Devil Hills. We now know it as Kitty Hawk. But they would take the stuff down there by train, and then they would have to put it in horse driven wagons. Think about that. And people would ask them, what are you going to use the airplane for? It's what are you going to use a home computer for? Yeah, to maintain recipes and to play games.  Randy Kindig: Do your checkbook.  Steve Leininger: Do your check, home security. There's a whole lot of stuff that we talked about. And other giants entered the field: Multiplan, which became Lotus 1 2 3, which became Excel. Not the same company, but the idea, could you live without a spreadsheet today? Very difficult for some things, right?  Randy Kindig: Yeah. Yeah, it's ubiquitous.  People use it for everything. Yeah. Yeah. So you've been, I talked with David and Teresa Walsh. Or Welsh, I'm sorry, Welsh. Where they did the book Priming the Pump. Steve Leininger: That's very that's pretty close to the real thing.  Randy Kindig: Is it? Okay. They named their book after what you did and said; that you primed the pump for home computers. Can you expand on that and tell us exactly what you meant by that?  Steve Leininger: It again goes back to that shoulders of giants thing, and I forget who said that; it's actually a very old quote, I can see further because I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. And I think the thing that we brought to the table and Independently, Commodore and Apple did the same thing in 1977. There were three computers that came out inexpensive enough that you could use them in the home. They all came with ROM loaded BASIC. You didn't have to load anything else in. They all came with a video output. Some had displays. Some Commodore's was built in. One of ours was a Clip on and you had to go find one for the apple. For the Apple, yeah. Apple had a superior case. Apple and Radio Shack both had great keyboards. Randy Kindig: apple was expandable, with its... Steve Leininger: yeah, Apple Apple was internally expandable, yeah. And, but it cost $1,000. Without the cassette. Without the monitor. It wasn't the same type of device.  Randy Kindig: I was a college student. And, I looked at all three options. It was like the TRS-80; there are Radio Shacks everywhere.  You could go in and play with one; which was nice. And they were inexpensive enough that I could actually afford one. Steve Leininger: And, Radio Shack can't duck the, if you did something wrong, you had to fix it.  Randy Kindig: That's right. Let's see here. So initially the idea was to have a kit computer by Tandy? Steve Leininger: Yeah. I'm not sure whose idea that was. It made some kind of sense. Because that's the way the Altair was, and Radio Shack did sell a number of kits, but in the process of still kicking that around, saying it could be a possibility. I was one of the ones that said it could be a possibility. Within the same group that I did the design work from, they also would take kits in that people had built and troubleshoot the things if they didn't work. We had a couple engineers that would see if you connected something wrong or something.  If you didn't, sometimes it was a matter that the instructions weren't clear. If you tell someone to put an LED in, yeah. You specifically have to tell them which way to put it in. And might be an opportunity to tweak your timing. Yeah. Anyway, we get this clock in, and it was a digital clock. Seven segment LEDs probably cost 50 bucks or more. Which is crazy. But It says, put all the components in the board, turn the board over, and solder everything to the board. And, pretty simple instructions. This had a sheet of solder over the entire bottom of the board. Someone figured out how to put two pounds of solder on the back of this thing. And, as we all got a great chuckle out of that, You realize, oh, you don't want to have to deal with a computer like this. You really don't. And Lou Kornfeld, who was the president at the time, didn't really want the computer. But he said, it's not going to be a kit. All right. That, that, that took care of that. great idea. Great idea.  Randy Kindig: Were there any other times when you thought the computer might, or were there any times, when you thought the computer might not come to fruition? Any snags that you had that made you think that maybe this isn't going to work?  Steve Leininger: Not really. I was young and pretty well undaunted. Randy Kindig: Pretty sure you could,  Steve Leininger: yeah I, it wasn't any, it wasn't any different than building one at home. I'd been building kits since, night kits, heath kits, that kind of stuff, since I was a kid. And home brewed a couple things, including a hot dog cooker made from two nails and a couple wires that plugged into the wall. Don't try that at home.  Randy Kindig: No kidding.  Steve Leininger: But, it's funny if you If you look it up on, if you look that kind of project up on the internet, you can still find a project like that. It's like what's it called? Anvil tossing, where you put gunpowder under an anvil, shoot it up in the air. What could possibly go wrong? Don't,  Randy Kindig: It's very well documented in books like Priming the Pump, Stan Veit's book, which I assume you're familiar with, and Fire in the Valley, what your involvement was with the Model 1. But there was some mention of your involvement with the Expansion Interface and other TRS 80 projects. What else did you work on while you were there?  Steve Leininger: The Color Computer, the Expansion Interface. The model three to a little.  Randy Kindig: Okay.  Steve Leininger: Little bit. The model two was the big one. And point I just got tired of the management there.  Randy Kindig: Did you? Okay.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. I my mind was going faster than theirs, and they made the conscious decision to do whatever IBM has done, but do it cheaper. That, to me, that's not a. Didn't say less expensively either, so the whole thing just troubled me that, we're not going to be able to do anything new unless IBM has done it. And at about the same time the Macintosh came out and a superb piece of work. Yeah.  Randy Kindig: Okay. So what education training and previous work experience did you have at the time you got hired by Tandy that made you uniquely qualified for that project that they were looking for?  Steve Leininger: I'd been playing around with electronics since I was in the third grade. Actually, electricity.  Randy Kindig: The third grade, wow.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. My, my mom got me a kit that had light bulbs and bells and buzzers and wire from, I think it might have been the Metropolitan Museum. They had a kit. They, they've got a, they still today have an online presence. It, of course the materials have changed, but the kit had all these parts and it had no instructions. And I don't know if that was by design or it didn't have instructions, so I had to learn how to hook up wires and light bulbs and bells and switches to make it do things. And, in the process, I found out that if you put a wire right across the battery terminals, it gets hot. And, interesting stuff to know. Pretty soon, I was taking this stuff in to show and tell in the third grade. Look, and I was very early in electronics. It's electricity. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then my mom would take me to the library. She was quite a voracious reader, and I'd go to the library. technical section specifically the Dewey Decimal 621, which was electronics and things like that. Randy Kindig: you still remember that.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. And in the 590 series, there's some good stuff too. And I would usually take out a stack of books, even though I was a horrible reader because I'm dyslexic and ADD. So I have an attention span and reading problem. But the technical stuff I was reading about pipeline architecture processors while I was still in junior high. And not that was important to where I ended up, but it was important because I understood the words and data flow, and stuff like that. And between that and building the kits and things like that, I When we moved to Indianapolis, my dad moved jobs down to Indianapolis. Randy Kindig: Oh, you lived in Indianapolis?  Steve Leininger: Yeah. So I moved from South Bend down to Indianapolis. So I probably passed your house as . Actually we came down through Kokomo, but but yeah.  Randy Kindig: I actually grew up in that part of the state. Just south of South Bend.  Steve Leininger: Okay. So yeah La Paz, Plymouth,  Randy Kindig: yeah, Warsaw, Rochester.  Steve Leininger: Yeah, I was born in Rochester.  Randy Kindig: Oh, okay. So that's where I grew up in that area.  Steve Leininger: Okay, there you go. My dad's from Akron.  Randy Kindig: Are you serious?  Steve Leininger: I am serious.  Randy Kindig: Akron's where my wife grew up. And I was just 10 miles from there.  Steve Leininger: The general store there, Dan Leininger and Sons, that's my great grandfather. Randy Kindig: Really?  Steve Leininger: Yeah.  Randy Kindig: I'll be darned. Okay. Okay.  Steve Leininger: So now it all makes sense.  Randy Kindig: That's amazing.  Steve Leininger: Anyway, we started a garage band. This is before Apple's garage band. And I made my own amplifier. It basically had the sun sun amplifiers back end on the thing and a Fender Showman front end on it. Completely home brewed really loud amplifier. And I had a friend who had a guitar amplifier that was broken, and he had taken it down to the music store there. And after six weeks of not getting it back, they said we've had trouble with our technician and all that. I asked if I could go down and look at it, and in 15 minutes I had his amplifier fixed. And they said, do you want tom so you want a job? All right. Yeah, because I'd been doing, I'd had a paper route before and I don't think I was doing anything since we'd moved and ao I started working in a music store and they ended up with two music stores and then an organ store next door and I started repairing that kind of stuff. And this was the end of my first year in college. Went to the extension in Indianapolis.  Randy Kindig: Oh, okay. And Was that I U P U I?  Steve Leininger: IUPUI, yeah. Yeah. I, yeah, I U P U I.  Randy Kindig: Huh. I went there as well.  Steve Leininger: Yeah and learned Fortran there, got all my first year classes out, and then moved on up to the campus. And because we'd always go to the library, and because my mom would often take me to the library, the newsstand not too far from the library, and she'd get a couple magazines, but she let me get an electronic magazine. And, I didn't understand these things, pretty soon you start understanding the pic, you start understanding it. This is a resistor, I built a little shocker box based on a design in probably elementary electronics. And It's like a handheld electric fence.  Randy Kindig: Oh, wow.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. Think hot dog cooker. Anyway, so I learned some electronics that way. A lot of that was self taught. I learned quite a bit more by working in the music store, again, this was before I was taught any formal electronics. And actually when I moved up to campus on Purdue, I thought I was going to be a world class guitar amplifier designer. That's where I thought. And it turns out my analog gut feelings aren't, weren't as good as other people's. Paul Schreiber does a much better job with electronics, with analog electronics than I do. But digital electronics, I understood this stuff. I would hang out in the library and I'd read the trade magazines. So I was up to date on, I was way more up to date than a typical professor would be on current electronics. And in 1973, which was the end of my junior year, Electronics Magazine had an article on the Intel 8008. And I said, Oh, I understand this. See, I'd already been taking assembly language. Now they didn't teach assembly language programming in the electronics school. They had Fortran, but there was no way to get from Fortran to ..they weren't teaching programming languages. I had to go to the business school where I learned assembly language on the school's CDC 6600 mainframe.  Randy Kindig: Really?  Steve Leininger: Yeah.  Randy Kindig: Through the business school?  Steve Leininger: Yeah. And for those of you who have never tried assembly language programming, it looks like a foreign language until you just internalize it in your brain: there's ADD, A D and A D C for ADD with carry, and there's a whole bunch of different things. There's different ways to move data around, but you're only doing a few really basic things, and if you do it fast enough, it looks like it's instantaneous. That's the way even your phone works today. It's because you're doing it fast enough. It fools you.  Randy Kindig: Yep. Wow. Do you ever look back at these days, at those days, with amazement? As far as how far the industry has come?  Steve Leininger: Oh yeah. And, it's funny because you wouldn't, you couldn't probably, but you wouldn't start over again. I had to learn, I had to learn digital video. Actually the giant that I, whose shoulders I stood on there was the late Don Lancaster. He had a book called TV Typewriter Cookbook. And actually that came out a little bit later, but he had a TV typewriter series in Radio Electronics Magazine. And basically alphanumeric display. If you think about it, just the glass teletype, the keyboard display and a serial interface at the time that the RadioShack computer came out was selling for 999. Another 400 on top of what we were selling the whole computer for. Because we had a microprocessor in there. We didn't have a whole lot of options. We didn't have a whole lot of fluff. In fact Motorola said, send this to your schematics and your parts list and let's see if we can minimize your circuit. And after two weeks they sent it back. He said, you did a pretty good job here. . .  Randy Kindig: Okay. Huh. You still stay in touch with people at Tandy?  Steve Leininger: A few of them. It's actually been more lately. Because it's almost more interesting now. It's like the, I don't know whatever happened to Atwater and Kent, of the Atwater Kent radio. But, that's an old school radio that now you've got people that rebuild them and got them all polished up and all this kind of stuff. But for a while they ended up in the dump. I'm sure, there are some trash 80s that ended up in the trash.  Randy Kindig: I'm sure.  Steve Leininger: Yeah but I've gotten rid of lots of PCs that don't meet my needs anymore, right? Randy Kindig: Sure. Yeah, we all have, somewhere along the way. It seemed like you were really quiet there for a long time and that you were difficult to get in contact with. Steve Leininger: I wasn't really that difficult. I didn't maintain a social media presence on the thing, but things that I had my own consulting company for quite a while. I actually came back to Radio Shack two more times after I left. One was to come back as a technologist there. The politics still didn't work out well. Then I came back as a contractor to help them with some of their online things. I actually had a website called Steve's Workbench. Steve Leininger: And you can find it on the Internet Archive. The Wayback Machine. And it had some basic stamp projects. And we were going to do all sorts of other things. But I managed to upset the people at RadioShack. com. They didn't have a big sense of humor about someone being critical about the products that they'd selected. And I, I did a... I was going to start doing product reviews on the kits, how easy it was to solder, whether it was a good value for the money and all that kind of stuff. And I gave a pretty honest review on it. And Radio Shack didn't appreciate the power of an honest review. It's what makes Amazon what it is, right? You go in there and if there's something that's got just two stars on the reviews, Yeah, you really got to know what you're doing if you're going to buy the thing, right? And if you see something that's got a bunch of one star and a bunch of five star reviews Yeah, someone's probably aalting the reference at the top end. And so I mean they had such a fit that when they changed platforms For RadioShack. com, they didn't take Steve's Workbench with it And I basically lost that position. Radio Shack should own the makerspace business right now. They at one time, one time I suggested, you ought to take a look at buying Digikey or maybe Mouser. Mouser was right down the street from us. They already had their hands into Allied, but these other two were doing stuff, more consumer oriented, but they didn't. They were making, they were flush with money from selling cell phone contracts. And they thought that was the way of the future until the cell phone companies started reeling that back in. At a certain point, you don't want to be paying your 5 percent or 10 percent royalty to Radio Shack for just signing someone up.  Randy Kindig: Yeah. Okay. I didn't realize you had ever gone back and worked for them again.  Steve Leininger: Yeah, twice,  Randy Kindig: and so I'm curious, did you meet any other famous figures in the microcomputer revolution while you were working at Tandy?  Steve Leininger: At Tandy, let's see.  Randy Kindig: I'm just curious.  Steve Leininger: Yeah, Bill Gates, of course. I went out when we were working on level two BASIC. And Bill Gates I think was probably a hundred- thousand- aire at that time. And, working in a, thhey had a floor in a bank building in Seattle. He took me to the basement of his dad's law firm, and we had drinks there, and I went out to his house on the lake. This was not the big house. I've never been there. It was a big house on the lake, but it wasn't the one That he built later on. So I knew him early on run across Forest Mims a couple times. And of course, he's the shoulders upon which a lot of electronic talent was built and some of the stuff is lost. Jameco is actually bringing him back as a… Jameco is a kinda like a Radio Shack store online. It's yeah it is, it's not as robust as DigiKey or Bower, but they've held their roots.  Someone I've not met Lady Ada from Adafruit would be fun.  Randy Kindig: Yeah. Would, yeah.  Steve Leininger: I, that, that's another thing that, if we had something along those lines, that would have been cool, but the buyers weren't up, up to the task and they when you don't want criticism at a certain point you've got to quit doing things if you don't want to be criticized.  Randy Kindig: Sure. When you finally got the Model 1 rolled out and you saw the tremendous interest, were you surprised in the interest that it garnered?  Steve Leininger: I wasn't. I wasn't. In fact, there's a quote of me. Me and John Roach had a discussion on how many of these do you think we could sell? And, this is actually quoted in his obituary on the, in the Wall Street Journal. I, Mr. Tandy said you could build 3, 500 of these because we've got 3, 500 stores and we can use them in the inventory. And to take inventory. And John Roach thought maybe we could sell, up to 5, 000 of these things in the first year. And I said, oh no, I think we could sell 50, 000. To which he said, horseshit. Just like that. And that, now I quoted that to the Wall Street Journal, and they put that in his obituary. Yeah I don't know how many times that word shows up in the Wall Street Journal, but if you search their files you'll find that it was me quoting John Roach. So … Randy Kindig: I'll have to, I'll have to look for that, yeah, that's funny. So you were not surprised by the interest,  Steve Leininger: no, it, part of it was I knew the leverage of the stores I'd been working, when we introduced the thing I'd been working for the company for just over a year. Think about that. And it wasn't until just before probably, it was probably September or October when Don and I agreed on the specs. I'd keep writing it up, and he'd look at it. Don actually suggested that, demanded, he doesn't, in a, but in a good natured way, he made a good case for it, that I have, in addition to the cassette interface on there, that I have a way to read and write data. Because if you're going to do an accounting program, you got to be able to read and write data. I actually figured out a way to do that. There were a couple other things. John Roach really wanted blinking lights on the thing. And my mechanical, the mechanical designer, there said that's going to cost more money to put the LEDs in there. What are you going to do with them? And, Mr. Roach was, you know, familiar with the IBM probably the 360 by then? Anyway. The mainframes. Yeah, mainframes always had blinking lights on them.  Randy Kindig: Exactly.  Steve Leininger: And since it's a computer, it should have blinking lights. And Larry said, Larry the mechanical guy said what are you going to do with them? I said, I can't, I said I could put stuff up there, It's… Randy Kindig: What are they going to indicate?  Steve Leininger: Yeah. And then, he said, I'll tell you what, I'm going to make the case without holes for the lights and just don't worry about it. That was the end of the discussion. Mr. Roach was probably a little disappointed, but yeah, no one else had them,  Randy Kindig: it's funny to think that you'd have blinking lights on a microcomputer like that. Yeah. Yeah. Is there any aspect of the Model one development you would do differently if you were doing it today?  Steve Leininger: Yeah, I would, I would've put the eighth memory chip in with the, with the video display so you get upper and lower case. Randy Kindig: Yeah, there you go. Okay.  Steve Leininger: Might've put buffers to the outside world. We had the, the microprocessor was buffered, but it was, it was very short distance off the connector there. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot I would have changed. Software could have been written a little better, but when one person's writing all the software the development system that I had was a Zilog development system. And 30 character percent a second. Decorator, line printer. The fact that I got it done is actually miracle stuff.  Randy Kindig: Yeah, and you got it done in a year, right?  Steve Leininger: And it was all written in assembly language. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Got it all done in a year.  Randy Kindig: That's a good year's work. Steve Leininger: It is.  Randy Kindig: Building a computer from scratch, basically, and then getting it...  Steve Leininger: and back then we had to program EEPROMs. We didn't have flash memory. Okay. Didn't hardly have operating systems back then. Not that I was using one. There was something in the Zilog thing, but yeah we were so far ahead of things, we were developing a product rather than a computer. And maybe that's the whole difference is that we had a product that you pull it up, plug it in, and it says these are TRS 80 and it wasn't the Model 1 until the Model 2 came out.  Randy Kindig: Yeah, exactly. It was just the TRS 80. Yeah. So I have to know, do you have any of the old hardware? Steve Leininger: I've got a Model 1. I don't use it except for demonstrations now. I actually have two. I've got one that works and one that's probably got a broken keyboard connector from taking it out of the case and holding it up too many times.  Randy Kindig: Were these prototypes or anything?  Steve Leininger: They are non serial production units. I've got the, I've got a prototype ROM board that's got the original integer basic that I wrote. I don't have the video boards and all that kind of stuff that went with it when we did the original demonstration. Let's see we had four wire wrapped, completely wire wrapped industrial wire wrapped versions that we used for prototyping the software. One went to David Lein, who wrote the book that came with the thing, the basic book. One I had at my desk and there were two others. Yeah. And they got rid of all of those. So a cautionary tale is if you do something in the future where you've got that prototype that was put together in Tupperware containers or held together with duct tape, you need to at least take pictures of it. And you might want to keep one aside. If it turns out to be something like the Apple III, you can probably get rid of all that stuff. If it turns out to be something like the Apple II, The RadioShack computer, the Commodore PET, you really ought to, enshrine that. The original iPhone. Apple did stuff that was, what was it, can't remember what it was. They had a they had a thing not unlike the... 3Com ended up getting them. Anyway the hand of the PDAs, no one knows what a Personal Oh, digital assistant. Yeah. Yeah. We call that a, we call that a phone ...  Randy Kindig: Palm Pilot. Yeah.  Steve Leininger: Yeah. Palm Pilot. That's the one. Yeah. I've got a couple of those. I've got three model 100's. I've got one of the early… Randy Kindig: Did you work on the 100s? Steve Leininger: I used it, but I didn't work on it. The design. No. Okay. That was an NEC product with Radio Shack skins on it.  Randy Kindig: Oh, that's right. That's right.  Steve Leininger: Kay Nishi was the big mover on that. Yeah. Let's see I've got an Altair and an ASR 33 Teletype. Yeah, we're talking about maybe the computer's grandfather, right? I've had a whole bunch of other stuff. I've probably had 40 other computers that I don't have anymore. I am gravitating towards mechanical music devices, big music boxes, that kind of stuff.  Randy Kindig: Oh, okay. Cool. Interesting. Steve, that's all the questions I had prepared. Steve Leininger: Okay.  Randy Kindig: Is there anything I should have asked about that?  Steve Leininger: Oh my,  Randy Kindig: anything you'd want to say?  Steve Leininger: Yeah, I, I've given talks before on how do you innovate? How do you become, this is pioneering kinds of stuff. So you really have to have that vision, man. The vision, I can't exactly say where the vision comes from, but being dyslexic for me has been a gift. Okay and this is something I tell grade school and middle school students that, some people are out there saying I, I can't do that because, it's just too much stuff or my brain is cluttered. Cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what's an empty desk the sign of? Embrace the clutter. Learn a lot of different things. Do what you're passionate about. Be willing to. support your arguments, don't just get angry if someone doesn't think the way you do, explain why you're doing it that way. And sometimes it's a matter of they just don't like it or they don't have the vision. The ones that don't have the vision, they never, they may never have the vision. I've quit companies because of people like that. But When you've got the vision and can take it off in your direction, it could just end up as being art. And I shouldn't say just art, art can be an amazing thing. And that behind these walls here, we've got a pinball machine and gaming conference going on. And it is nutcase. But is there stuff out there you look at and say, Oh, wow. Yeah. And I do too. Keep it a while going. Randy Kindig: Very cool. All right. That's a great stopping point, I think. All right. I really appreciate it, Steve taking the time to talk with us today.  Steve Leininger: Thanks, Randy.  

Celebrate IBM PC Day with a tech-packed Mac Geek Gab episode? Sure…why not? Adam Christianson and Dave Hamilton start with some fun tangents about how the IBM PC relates to Steve Jobs, Apple, Bill Gates, and the art of leadership. Packed with Quick Tips, you'll learn how to streamline your […]

In 1984 SCO released PC XENIX, a port of UNIX that ran on an IBM PC. To understand why that's such a technical feat, and how we even got here, we have to go back to the late 1970s. In this episode we are taking a look at how Microsoft got into the UNIX game, and how they repeatedly struggled to make micro-UNIX work for them. Along the way we run into vaporware, conspiracy, and the expected missing sources!

Knowing who, and more importantly how they are using the open source project that you're working on is not just interesting, but also very important. This helps the community to evolve and strengthen the project and keep the ecosystem growing along with making it long living. Also, in most cases, people will use your project in a way you would've never imagined!In this MOSE Short, Jim Hall talks about how the FreeDOS use cases evolved over the years, including academic usage, hobbyists, a railway communication system, and booting an IBM PC 5150 from a vinyl record! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if your career trajectory could change with an unexpected gift? Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with John Charles, the Senior Vice President at ISSQUARED Inc, as he recounts his unique journey from receiving an IBM PC from his parents to shaping the field of IT security and identity management. From the discipline of the United States Marine Corps to impactful roles at AT&T and Microsoft, John shares how these experiences laid the foundation for his work at ISSQUARED, a company now navigating the complexities of managing access for devices, applications, and data.Ever wondered how actionable roadmaps can revolutionise IT security? In our discussion, John reveals the power of interactive reporting and how it can lead to immediate corrections and flexible budgeting, helping IT departments become more business-savvy. We also tackle the future of artificial intelligence, the critical need for private cloud solutions, and effective data management. Tune in to discover how these insights could be vital for insurers assessing risk and the importance of maintaining momentum through dedicated project management. This episode is packed with invaluable lessons for anyone navigating the fast-evolving landscape of IT security and AI. Enjoy!ISSQUARED® Inc. | IT Consulting, Managed IT Services, Cybersecurity and Communications (issquaredinc.com)Contact ABM Risk Partnership to optimise your risk management approach: email us: info@abmrisk.com.au Tweet us at @4RiskCme Visit our LinkedIn page https://www.linkedin.com/company/18394064/admin/ Thanks for listening to the show and please keep your guest suggestions coming!

U.S. society is in the throes of deep societal polarization that not only leads to political paralysis, but also threatens the very foundations of democracy. The phrase “The Disunited States of America” is often mentioned. Other countries are displaying similar polarization. How did we get here? What went wrong?In this talk, distinguished Israeli mathematician and computer scientist, Moshe Vardi, will argue that the current state of affairs is the result of the confluence of two tsunamis that have unfolded over the past 40 years. On one hand, there was the tsunami of technology — from the introduction of the IBM PC in 1981 to the current domination of public discourse by social media. On the other hand, there was a tsunami of neoliberal economic policies. Vardi will suggest that the combination of these two tsunamis led to both economic polarization and cognitive polarization.Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career. Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu. Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

An airhacks.fm conversation with Jonathan Ellis (@spyced) about: Jonathan's first computer experiences with IBM PC 8086 and Thinkpad laptop with Red Hat Linux, becoming a key contributor to Apache Cassandra and founding datastax, starting DataStax to provide commercial support for Cassandra, early experiences with Java, C++, and python, discussion about the evolution of Java and its ecosystem, the importance of vector databases for semantic search and retrieval augmented generation, the development of JVector for high-performance vector search in Java, the potential of integrating JVector with LangChain for Java / langchain4j and quarkus for serverless deployment, the advantages of Java's productivity and performance for building concurrent data structures, the shift from locally installed software to cloud-based services, the challenges of being a manager and the benefits of taking a sabbatical to focus on creative pursuits, the importance of separating storage and compute in cloud databases, Cassandra's write-optimized architecture and improvements in read performance, DataStax's investment in Apache Pulsar for stream processing, the llama2java project for high-performance language models in Java Jonathan Ellis on twitter: @spyced

On today's episode of the Entrepreneur Evolution Podcast, we are joined by Dean Guida. Tech entrepreneur and CEO Dean Guida knows there's a limit to what you can build with grit alone. At sixteen, Dean bought the first IBM PC and fell in love with writing software. He went on to receive a bachelor of science degree in operation research from the University of Miami. After graduating, he was a freelance developer and wrote many systems for IBM and on Wall Street. At twenty-three, he started Infragistics to build UX/UI tools for professional software developers. Seemingly overnight, Dean had to go from early internet coder to business operator—a feat that forced him to learn some of business's biggest lessons on the job. He immediately began navigating the nuances of scaling a company, hiring and growing teams, and becoming a leader, a manager, and a mentor. Fast-forward thirty-five years, and Dean's tech company now has operations in six countries. More than two million developers use Infragistics software, and its client roster boasts 100 percent of the S&P 500, including Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, Exxon, Intuit, and Bank of America.   You can explore more about Dean, visit https://www.deanguida.com/     We would love to hear from you, and it would be awesome if you left us a 5-star review. Your feedback means the world to us, and we will be sure to send you a special thank you for your kind words. Don't forget to hit “subscribe” to automatically be notified when guest interviews and Express Tips drop every Tuesday and Friday. Interested in joining our monthly entrepreneur membership? Email Annette directly at yourock@ievolveconsulting.com to learn more.  Ready to invest in yourself? Book your free session with Annette HERE.  Keep evolving, entrepreneur. We are SO proud of you! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/annette-walter/support

The Vintage Computer Festival East is an annual event held in New Jersey that celebrates the history and nostalgia of old computers. Attending this festival is like taking a trip down memory lane, where you can see, touch, and even play with vintage computers from the past. The Vintage Computer Festival East was a showcase of a wide array of old computers, each evoking a sense of nostalgia and admiration. The unique features of each computer were highlighted, from the small keyboard of the Cosmac to the green CRT monitors that are no longer commonly used.Vintage Computer Festival East memoriesOne of the highlights of the festival is the museum portion, where visitors can see a collection of old CPUs, including the 8086, 286, 386, and 486. These CPUs may bring back memories for those who have used them in the past, and it's a reminder not to throw away old technology as it can still hold value and significance.Another interesting exhibit at the festival was the Xerox Star 8010, a computer with a GUI that predates the Macintosh GUI. This computer was primarily used for business purposes but had a user interface that resembled the iconic Mac interface we know today. It's fascinating to see the evolution of technology and how certain features and designs have influenced modern computing.The festival also featured the PCjr, a less successful sibling of the IBM PC, and a TI-branded luggable computer. These computers may not have been as popular or successful as their counterparts, but they still hold a special place in computer history.One of the most memorable experiences at the festival was playing with an original Commodore PET. The PET was Commodore's first major personal computer, released around the same time as the Apple II and the TRS-80 in 1977. Playing with this computer brought back memories of the early days of personal computing and the excitement of exploring new technology.Overall, the Vintage Computer Festival East is a unique and nostalgic experience for computer enthusiasts and history buffs alike. It's a reminder of how far technology has come and the impact that these vintage computers have had on the evolution of computing. Attending this festival is not just a trip down memory lane, but a celebration of the history and innovation of old computers.Old computers evoke nostalgiaA key theme that emerged from the event was the sentimental value that these old computers hold for the attendees. Stories were shared about first computers, such as the TI-99/4A and the Apple II, and anecdotes about the software and games that used to run on these machines. These old computers evoke a sense of nostalgia, transporting individuals back to a simpler time when computing was still in its infancy.Technical aspects of the vintage computers were also discussed, such as the PowerPC chip inside the BeBox and the monochrome screens of the Osborne and TRS-80 computers. There was a fascination with the sharpness of the text on these old monitors and a lament for the inability to replicate the same experience on modern LCD screens. This longing for the unique features of old computers speaks to the emotional connection that individuals have with these machines, beyond just their functionality.The history of certain prototype computers, such as Microsoft Neptune and the Mac OS version that never came to fruition, was also explored. These failed attempts at innovation serve as a reminder of the risks and challenges that come with pushing the boundaries of technology. Despite their lack of success, these prototype computers still hold a special place in the hearts of computer enthusiasts, as they represent a glimpse into what could have been.Conclusion: History and nostalgia at onceIn conclusion, the Vintage Computer Festival East exemplifies the nostalgia and reverence that old computers evoke in individuals. These vintage machines are not just relics of the past, but symbols of innovation, perseverance, and the enduring impact of technology on society. Events like the Vintage Computer Festival allow individuals to connect with the history of computing and appreciate the journey that has led to the advanced technology we have today.

In this week's episode, I rate the movies and TV shows I shaw in Winter 2024. This week's coupon is for the audiobook of GHOST IN THE PACT as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. You can get the audiobook of GHOST IN THE PACT for 50% off at my Payhip store with this coupon code: MARCHEXILE The coupon code is valid through April 5th, 2024, so if you find yourself needing an audiobook to leap into spring, we've got one ready for you! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 192 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is March 15th, 2024, The Ides of March, which we're traditionally told to beware, and today we are looking at my Movie and TV Review Roundup for Winter 2024. Before we do that, we will do Coupon of the Week, an update on my current writing projects, and our Question of the Week. So first up, Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon is for the audiobook of Ghost in the Pact, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. You can get the audiobook for Ghost in the Pact for 50% off at my Payhip store with this coupon: MARCHEXILE and that is spelled MARCHEXILE. As always, the coupon code will be in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through April the 5th 2024. So if you find yourself needing an audiobook on this Ides of March, we've got one ready for you. So an update on my current writing projects. I am about 56% of the way through the first edit of Ghost in the Veils. That means the book should be on track to come out before Easter (which is at the end of March this year), if all goes well. I'm also 40,000 words into Wizard Thief, so hopefully that will come out before too much longer after Ghost in the Veils. I'm 11,000 words into Cloak of Titans. So that is where we're at with my current writing projects. 00:01:19 Question of the Week Now on to our new feature: Question of the Week. This week's question is inspired by the fact that I've spent a lot of the last few weeks setting up my new computer and getting it configured properly. So the question is: what is the first computer you ever used? No wrong answers, obviously. Joachim says his first personal computer was an Atari 1040 ST with 1 MB of RAM. I participated in the “religious war” with the Amiga 500 users, which was better and looked down at the MS-DOS PCs, which only has 640 kilobytes of RAM. Justin says: my first computer was a Timex Sinclair. It had two kilobytes of RAM and I forked out $50 for the 16 KB RAM extender module. The manual that comes with it says you will never need this much memory. I use a cassette tape recorder/player to record more programs and it ran a 300 baud. Todd says his first computer was in 1994. I purchased a 486 DX 2 8 megabytes of RAM for use in school. I believe the hard drive was about 250 MB. The monitor weighed a ton. I wrote a bunch of machine code and played Wolfenstein 3D like crazy. Tarun says in 1993 it was a 386 with four megawatts of RAM with Windows 3.1. I played a lot of Prince of Persia and got bad grades in school. Then the computer was locked up. In my educational defense, I did do some Pascal programming. AM says: my first computer was an Apple IIe at school. Getting to play Number Munchers or Oregon Trail on it was some kind of behavioral reward (and a very effective one at that). William says his first computer was a Macintosh SE in my parent's home office, though “using” is an overstatement since all I did was play a few simple preinstalled games. I also have fond memories of playing the original King's Quest with said parents and something like a Compaq Portable. Rich says Commodore 64 with cassette drive. Didn't have cassette the first day. Spent the whole day punching in code for a blackjack game. My sister walks into the room to turn the computer off, erasing everything. That is a bummer. Juana says: a Gateway. My whole family came to gawk at it, and me setting it up! It had 120 megabytes of RAM. Twice what was the ones that used in the college computer lab! I thought I was set for life. Venus says Commodore Vic20. We played Radar Rat Race and Mom gave us a stack of computer magazines and tape recorder, so we played every game that was in the magazines at the time after we typed in the programs and saved them to the tapes. You are the first person outside my family that ever heard also had one. More on that later. Cheryl says: we got our first computer in the early ‘90s: an Amstrad with an AWA printer. I was doing courses for work, so I needed something to print the assignments, but we also played games on it: Wolfenstein, Lemmings, and Stock Markets. They're the only ones I can remember. Craig says: Apple IIe. I'm oldish. With dot matrix printer and handheld modem, dial-up Internet access, the one you had the dial phone into the holding cradle after you called it in. Tracy says: at college we used the TRS80s. I think she may win the award for oldest computer mentioned in this topic. And Perry says: IBM PC clone at school, a friend's family had a Commodore 64. Our first family computer was a Commodore 128. For myself, I had the same first computer as Venus earlier in the thread. That would be a Commodore Vic20. It had 20 kilobytes of RAM and the Word file for the rough draft of Ghosts in the Veils, which I'm editing right now, is 355 kilobytes in size. So to load the Microsoft Word document of Ghosts in the Veils in Microsoft Word format, I would need about 18 different Commodore Vic 20 computers. That's like 1 computer per chapter and a half. So it is amusing to see how computer technology has changed quite a bit over time. 00:04:56 Winter 2024 Movie/TV Review Roundup Now to our main topic. We are inching closer to spring, so I think it's time for my Winter 2024 Movie Review Roundup. I got a Paramount Plus subscription to watch the Frasier reboot and since Paramount owns Star Trek and the Frasier reboot was only 10 episodes long, I ended up watching a chunk of modern Star Trek this winter. This was a new-ish experience because the last new Star Trek I watched was Star Trek Beyond way back in 2016. That was only eight years ago, but it's been a very eventful eight years, you know? I did watch a lot of Star Trek back in the 1990s. If you had held a gun to my head and demanded, you know, if I consider myself a Trekkie, I would say no, because I think Gene Roddenberry's socialist/utopian vision for the Federation that he put into Star Trek is fundamentally kind of goofy. The shows and movies were at their best when they stayed away from it or subverted it, like how the Federation can only be a utopia because Starfleet seems to have a Black Ops section that does all the unsanctioned dirty work and regularly runs amuck. Or like how Starfleet seems to have an actual mad science division that cooks up all kinds of nasty stuff. So anyway, these are the movies and shows I watched in Winter 2024, and as always, my ratings are wholly subjective and based on nothing more rigorous than my own opinions. We will go through these in order from least favorite to most favorite. So the first movie I watched was Now You See Me, which came out in 2013. Last year, I compared Adam Sandler's Murder Mystery movie to a C- student, but a fun C- student who everyone likes for his great parties and goes on to have a successful career as a regional sales manager. By contrast, Now You See Me is the sort of moody art student who always wears a black porkpie hat and thinks of himself or herself as deep and complicated, but in fact, they're just confusing. This is an apt comparison for this movie. Anyway, the plot centers around four sketchy magicians who are recruited by a mysterious organization called The Eye to carry out a series of high-profile heists using stage magic. I have to admit, that concept sounds even more ridiculous as I said the previous sentence. Anyway, after the first heist, the magicians become fugitives from the FBI but keep carrying on shows, sometimes staying ahead of law enforcement. The trouble is that nothing they do makes very much sense, and it all falls apart if you think about it for more than two seconds. Additionally, the movie overall feels very choppy since they rushed from scene to scene very quickly. The actors all gave very good performances that were entertaining to watch, but honestly, that was about the only thing the movie had going for it. Overall grade: D- Next up is The Marvels, which came out in 2023. This movie was logically incoherent, but actually rather charming and funny. It kind of reminds me of those ‘70s or ‘80s style science fiction movies that don't make much sense, though The Marvels was much lighter in tone than anything that came out in the science fiction space in the ‘60s or ‘70s. The movie got a bad rap because it didn't make back its budget, and apparently Disney rather shamefully threw the director under the bus. But to be fair, the budget for The Marvels was an enormous $274,000,000. To put this into context, the top three movies of 2023 (Barbie, Super Mario Brothers, and Oppenheimer) combined had a total budget across these three movies of $350 million, and together they grossed something like 15 times more than The Marvels did. Anyway, the plot picks up from the end of Ms. Marvel when Kamala Khan, Captain Marvel, and Monica Rambeau discover that their superpowers have become entangled. This means that if two of them use their powers at the same time, all three of them switch places randomly. This makes for a rather excellent fight scene earlier in the movie when the three characters don't know what's going on and are randomly teleporting between three different battles, much to the frequently amusing confusion of all participants. Once things settle down, Captain Marvel and her new friends realize that an old enemy of Captain Marvel is harvesting resources from worlds she cares about. So it's up to them to save Earth from this old enemy's vengeance. I have to admit, the plot of the movie didn't actually make much sense, but it was overall much funnier than Ant-Man 3 and Secret Invasion. The best thing about the movie was Kamala Khan and her family. Kamala, Monica, and Captain Marvel also had an entertaining dynamic together and the planet of space musicals was also pretty funny. I think the movie's biggest, unconquerable weakness was that it was the 33rd Marvel movie. There are all sorts of theories of why the movie didn't perform at the box office: superhero genre fatigue, everyone knew it would be on Disney Plus eventually, the lasting effects of COVID on movie theaters and the movie business, Disney throwing the director under the bus, Disney inserting itself into the US Cultural Wars, etcetera. All those reasons are subjective and subject to personal interpretation. What I think is objectively quantifiable is that The Marvels is the sequel to a lot of different Marvel stuff: The Avengers movie, Wandavision, Captain Marvel, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Secret Invasion, and Thor: Love and Thunder. That's like 50 to 60 plus hours of stuff to watch to fully understand the emotional significance of all the various characters in The Marvels. 50 to 60 hours of watching sounds like almost an entire entire semester's worth of homework assignments at this point. As someone who has written a lot of long series, I know that you lose some of the audience from book to book. I think that's ultimately why The Marvels didn't make back its budget. The Marvel movies as a series have just gone on too long and are just too interconnected. Ultimately, I am grateful to The Marvels. Realizing and understanding the concept of Marvel Continuity Lockout Syndrome helped me decide to write something new that wasn't a sequel or even connected to anything else I had written, which eventually led to Rivah Half-Elven and Half-Elven Thief. Overall grade: B- Our next movie is My Man Godfrey, which came out all the way back in 1936. This movie is considered the progenitor or one of the progenitors of the screwball comedy genre. A homeless man named Godfrey is living in a trash dump in New York, though despite his circumstances, Godfrey remained sharp and quick on his feet. One night, a wealthy woman named Cornelia approaches him and offers $5 if he'll come with her. Godfrey is naturally suspicious, but Cornelia assures him that she only needs to take him to a hotel to win a scavenger hunt by finding a forgotten man, which was a term President Roosevelt used to describe people who have been ruined by the Great Depression and then forgotten by the government. I have to admit, Cornelia immediately reminded me of the way the more obnoxious YouTubers and TikTokers will sometimes pay homeless people to participate in dance challenges and suchlike. King Solomon was indeed right when he said that there is nothing new under the sun and what has been done before will be done again. Anyway, Godfrey is offended by Cornell's imperious manner but after he sees Cornelia bullying her kindly but none too bright younger sister Irene, Godfrey decides he'll go with Irene so she can win. A grateful Irene offers him a job as the family's butler. At his first day at work, Godfrey very soon realizes the reason the family has gone through so many butlers: they are all certified certifiably and comedically insane. In addition to these other problems, Cornelia is harboring a massive grudge against Godfrey for losing the scavenger hunt and wants payback. Wacky hijinks ensue. Fortunately, Godfrey has some hidden depths that he will need, which include being much smarter than his employers. Admittedly, this is not hard. 1936 was towards the second half of the Great Depression in the United States, so obviously the movie has more than a bit of social commentary. The characters joked that prosperity is just around the corner and wonder where they can find that corner. The rich characters are uniformly portrayed as some combination of frivolous, clueless, or malicious. I think the movie was pretty funny, if sharply so, but the big weakness was that the male and female leads were so clearly unsuited for each other but got together at the end of the movie simply because it was the end of the movie. Still, it was definitely worth watching because you can see how this movie influenced many other movies after it. I definitely recommend watching it with captions if possible, because while human nature has not changed in the last 90 years, sound technology has in fact improved quite a bit. Overall grade: B. Next up is Charade, which came out in 1963. This is a sort of romantic comedy, sort of thriller that has Audrey Hepburn playing Regina, an American living in Paris who is in the process of getting divorced from her husband. When she returns to Paris, she learns that her husband was murdered in her absence and it turns out that he was in possession of $250,000 he stole from the US government during World War II. Regina had no idea about any of this, but the US government thinks that she has the money stashed away somewhere. It turns out that her late husband also betrayed the men he worked with to steal the money and they're convinced that she has the money as well, and they're going to get it from Regina regardless of what they have to do. Regina's only ally in this mess is a mysterious man calling himself Peter Joshua (played by Cary Grant), who may or may not be one of the other thieves operating under an assumed identity. I liked this movie, but I think it had two structural problems. First, Regina wasn't all that bright, though she did get smarter as the movie went on, probably out of sheer necessity. Second, it had some severe mood whiplash. The movie couldn't decide if he was a lighthearted romantic comedy or gritty thriller, though finally snapped into focus as a pretty good thriller in the last third of the movie. Amusing tidbit: Cary Grant only agreed to do the movie if Audrey Hepburn's character would be the one chasing his character in their romance, since he thought their age gap would be inappropriate otherwise, because he was so much older than Hepburn at the time of filming. Overall grade: B+ Next up is the new Frasier series from 2023. I admit I had very, very low expectations for this, but it was considerably better than I thought it would be. My low expectations came partly because the original show was so good. Some seasons were stronger than others, of course, but the show had some absolute masterpieces of sitcom comedy throughout its entire run. Some of this was because I think the 2020s are a much more humorless and dour age than the 1990s, so I had my doubts whether the new show could be funny at all. Fortunately, my doubts were misplaced. The new Frasier is actually pretty good. It's interesting that the show's generational dynamic has been flipped on its head. In the original show, the pretentious Frasier lived with his working-class father. 20 years later, it's now Frasier who lives with his son Freddie, who dropped out of Harvard to become a firefighter and consciously rejected his father's love of intellectualism and cultural elitism. The inversion of the original dynamic works quite well. It has some moments of genuine comedy because, like his father before him, Freddie is more like his father than he realizes. The show also avoided the pitfall of bringing back legacy characters that Disney and Lucasfilm stumbled into with Star Wars and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Disney brought back legacy characters like Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones but made them into sad, old losers. Frasier, by contrast, while frequently an unsympathetic comedy protagonist who brings his own misfortunes onto his own head, is most definitely not a sad old loser. He's famous, respected, and wealthy enough that he can afford to buy an apartment building in Boston at the drop of a hat. If you know anything about the United States, you know that the East Coast is the most expensive area of the of the country. Despite that, he remains the same well-meaning buffoon that he always was, the sort of man who, as a colleague aptly says, always goes that extra, ill-advised mile. There's a story that when Ricky Gervais was advising the creators of the American version of The Office, one of his chief pieces of advice was that Michael Scott could not be as incompetent as David Brent was in the original UK version of the show. American culture, Mr. Gervais said, was generally much less forgiving of incompetence than British culture. I thought of this as I watched Frasier because all the characters were in fact extremely competent at their jobs. Even Frasier himself, when he finally gets out of his own way, is a very good psychiatrist and teacher. Anyway, the show was funny and I think it deserves a second season. We'll see if that happens or not. Overall grade: A- Next up is Star Trek: Lower Decks Seasons One through Four, which came out from between 2020 and 2023. As I mentioned earlier, I ended up subscribing to Paramount Plus for a month after I watched Frasier, so I decided to watch Star Trek Lower Decks, since I'm forever seeing clips of that show turning up on social media. Lower Decks is a pitch perfect, affectionate parody of Star Trek from the point of view of four relatively hapless ensigns on the Cerritos, one of Starfleet's somewhat less prestigious ships. We have the self-sabotaging rebel Mariner, the insecure and ambitious Boimler, the enthusiastic science girl Tendi, and cheerful engineer Rutherford, who nonetheless has a dark and mysterious past that he can't remember. Season Four also adds T'Lyn, a Vulcan whose mild expressions of carefully measured annoyance make her a dangerous loose cannon by Vulcan standards. The show is hilarious because it makes fun of Star Trek tropes while wholeheartedly embracing them. The ensigns run into a lot of insane computers, random space anomalies, rubber forehead aliens, and other Star Trek tropes, including the grand and venerable Star Trek tradition of the Insane Admiral. Starfleet officers always seem to go off the deep end when they get promoted to Starfleet Command. The senior officers are also varying degrees of insane and drama generators. Starfleet, from the point of view of the Cerritos crew, is a vast bureaucratic organization that veers between ineffective idealism, blatant careerism, and whatever crazy project the Insane Admiral of the Week is pursuing. Yet since American sitcom characters have to be competent (like we just talked about above with Frasier), when the crisis really kicks into high gear, the Cerritos crew can pull itself together and save the galaxy with the best of them. I did like how the show grows from an affectionate parody to its own thing, with all the characters experiencing struggles and personal growth in their arcs. I liked it enough that when the 5th season of Lower Decks comes out, I'll subscribe to another month of Paramount Plus (assuming Paramount Plus still exists and hasn't been brought up by Warner Brothers or Skydance or something). Overall grade: A- Next up is Predator, which came out in 1987. When Carl Weathers died in early February of 2024, I realized I had never actually got around to seeing Predator. So I did and I'm glad that I watched it. Predator was an excellent blending of thriller, science fiction, and horror. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Dutch, who commands a team of operators who do Black Ops work for the CIA. Since it's 1987, the CIA is up to its traditional shenanigans in Central America and Dutch is dispatched to help out his old friend Dillon (played by Carl Weathers), who has been ostensibly assigned to rescue a Pro-American cabinet minister from rebel guerrillas in the jungle. Since this is the CIA, naturally there is more than the mission than is apparent on the surface. However, the mission quickly becomes irrelevant when Dutch and his team realize they are being hunted by an unknown creature with capabilities unlike anything they have ever seen before. It turns out the creature is the Predator, an alien hunter who comes to Earth and takes human skulls as trophies. Soon the movie turns into a death match duel between Dutch and the Predator. The movie did a very good job of showing the Predator's capabilities such as stealth, heat vision, and his shoulder laser without explicitly spelling them out for the audience. It was a very well put together piece of storytelling and it is of course the source of the famous Internet meme of a muscular white arm gripping a muscular black arm and also Schwarzenegger's famous line of “Get to the choppa!” Also to quote a famous Internet meme, if you had a nickel for every future governor of a US state who is in this movie, you would have two nickels, which is not a lot, but even two is pretty weird, right? Overall grade: A. Now for the favorite thing I saw in winter 2024. That honor goes to Star Trek: Picard Season Three, which came out in 2023. Honestly, this was so much better than I thought it was going to be. I thought I would watch one or two episodes and then give up. Instead I watched the whole thing in like two days over the New Year's holiday. I watched the first episode of Picard Season One way back in 2020 was free on YouTube, but I didn't like it enough to subscribe to CBS All Access (or whatever the heck it was back then). The first episode also seemed more ponderous and dour in the sort of 21st century realistic prestige television snooze fest than I really wanted to watch. But Season Three of the show got high reviews from people whose opinions I generally respect when it came out in early 2023. Since I had Paramount Plus for a month because of Frasier, I decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did. How to describe the plot? You may remember that back in summer 2023, I watched the Battleship movie. Battleship is objectively a bad movie, but it does have one interesting subplot that would make a good movie all on its own. When space aliens imprison most of the US Navy, a bunch of retired veterans take a decommissioned battleship out to war to save the day. This basically is the plot of Picard Season 3. The plot kicks off when Doctor Crusher contacts Admiral Picard after they have not spoken for twenty years. Apparently, Picard had a son named Jack with Crusher that she never told him about and mysterious assailants are trying to kidnap Jack. On the original show, Picard and Crusher definitely gave off the vibe that they probably got romantic whenever they were alone in the elevator together. The fact that Doctor Crusher got pregnant with Picard's son is not all that surprising. Picard had always been adamant about his desire not to start a family and given that any son of the legendary Captain Picard would be a target for his equally legendary enemies, Crusher decided to keep the boy a secret. Picard, understandably, is shocked by the news, but teams up with his former first officer, Captain Riker, to rescue his son. Jack has an extensive Robin Hood-esque criminal history, so it seems that his misdeeds might have caught up to him. It turns out that deadly weapon is locked in Jack's DNA and the people pursuing him aren't merely criminals but powerful enemies intent on destroying Starfleet and the Federation. Jack Crusher's DNA will give them a weapon to do it, which means it's up to the crew of The Enterprise to save the galaxy one last time. This was ten episodes, but it was very, very tightly plotted, with not many wasted moments. Sometimes you see movies that seem like they should have been streaming shows, and sometimes streaming shows seem like they really should have been cut down to movie length. But Picard's Season Three does a good job of telling a tense story that we've been impossible either in a movie or the old days of network television. The show very quickly plunges into the crisis and keeps moving from new tension to new tension. The gradual reveal where Picard at first feels guilty that he has to ask his friends to help rescue his estranged son and ex-girlfriend like he's living his own personal version of some trashy daytime TV show, only to slowly realize that something much more dangerous and much, much bigger than his personal problems is happening, was put together well. The show was also another good example of how to bring back legacy characters right. All the characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation are older and have been knocked around by life or suffered personal tragedies, but none of them are sad old losers like in a Disney or Lucasfilm project. The new and supporting characters were also great. Seven of Nine returns as the first officer to Captain Shaw, a by the book officer who thinks Picard and Riker are dangerous mavericks. He has a point. Shaw turns out to be extremely competent in a crisis. Amanda Plummer was great as Vadic, a scenery chewing villain who has very good reasons to hate Starfleet and the Federation. Vadic's love of spinning directly in her command chair was a great homage to Amanda Plummer's late father, Christopher Plummer, who played a villain with a similar tic way back in Star Trek VI in the ‘90s. It is also great how the show wrapped up some of the dangling plot threads from the ‘90s, like Picard's strained relationship with his former mentee Commander Ro Laren or the brief return of Elizabeth Shelby, Riker's former First Officer. A few people have complained that Worf is now a pacifist, but he's a Klingon pacifist, which basically means he'll attempt negotiation before cutting off your head, but he is still probably going to cut off your head. Less Conan the Barbarian, more serene Warrior Monk. I think Data had an excellent ending to his character arc, which started with his character's very first appearance way back in the ‘80s and Brent Spiner did a good job of portraying Data's fractured personalities and then how they achieved unity. I'd say the weakest point of the show was how consistently dumb Starfleet command is. The plot hinged around Starfleet gathering its entire fleet together for a celebration and then putting all those ships under a remote control system, which seems both exceptionally stupid and very convenient for the bad guys. But to be fair, this is Starfleet, an organization whose high command regularly spits out insane Admirals and also has an unsanctioned Black Ops/Mad Science division that it can't control, so it definitely fits within the overall context of Star Trek. I mean, that's like half the premise of Lower Decks. And if you've ever worked for a large governmental, military, healthcare, or educational institution, you understand. We all know that working in a large institution under leaders who are either insane or dumb isn't exactly an anomaly in the human experience. I mean, the Roman Empire circa 190 A.D. was the most powerful institution on the planet and the Empire's maximum leader liked to spend his time LARPing as a gladiator in the Coliseum. Anyway, the emotional payoff at the end of Picard Season Three was very satisfying, and how the show wrapped up a lot of threads from Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager was pretty great. It's like the people who were in charge of Season Three of Picard watched the Star Wars sequel trilogy and thought, you know, we can do better and then they did. Overall grade: A So those are the movies and TV shows I watched in Winter 2024. If you're looking for something to watch, hopefully one of them sounds like it will catch your interest. That's it for this week. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform or choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

For years, a computer was something only used by governments, corporations, or hobbyists. They didn't have any practical appeal to the average person. But that all changed going into the 1980s. Computers like the Apple 2 and the TRS-80 made some strong headway, but it was in 1981 when IBM helped to fully launch the personal computer revolution. This is the story of the IBM PC 5150: a machine for the masses. With a lower price point, and better usability, the concept of a PC in a home or small business finally made sense--and a new era in tech began... The Everything 80s Movie Club: Patreon.com/80s  

For years, a computer was something only used by governments, corporations, or hobbyists. They didn't have any practical appeal to the average person. But that all changed going into the 1980s. Computers like the Apple 2 and the TRS-80 made some strong headway, but it was in 1981 when IBM helped to fully launch the personal computer revolution. This is the story of the IBM PC 5150: a machine for the masses. With a lower price point, and better usability, the concept of a PC in a home or small business finally made sense--and a new era in tech began... The Everything 80s Movie Club: Patreon.com/80s Artwork: Janet Cordahi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode wraps up the System/360 trilogy by taking things back to where they started for me. We will be looking at System/360 clones, how they could exist, why they existed, and why IBM didn't crush them. We close with a discussion of how these earlier clones impact our understanding of the IBM PC story. The truth is, by 1981 IBM was no stranger to clones. This is the culmination of a wild story, so prepare!   Selected Sources:   https://archive.org/details/iclbusinesstechn0000camp/mode/1up - ICL: A Business and Technical History   https://archive.org/details/impactreportamdaunse/page/1/mode/1up - Impact Report by INPUT   https://www.stayforever.de/ibm-pc-a-conversation-with-dr-david-bradley/

Is this the Apple II killer?! The IBM PC drops in Aug 1981 and we are soooo here for it! We check out some of the first games for the new system as well as Empire I: World Builders by Edu-Ware and Ulysses and the Golden Fleece by On-Line Systems!Note-Ben's mic will sound a bit funny in places due to some static in the recording. We've cleaned it up as best as possible!Website -https://historyofvideogamespodcast.comTwitter - https://twitter.com/HistoryofVideo1Email - historyvgpodcast@gmail.comHosts - Ben & WesMusic - Arranged and recorded by Ben.

A cornucopia of great questions graced our podcasting table this month, and from it we drew such topics as (not) mixing and matching your RAM, fishing for game saves in AppData, an appreciation of the demoscene past and present, the redundant measurements that are totally the power company's fault, and the unmitigated decadence of the Tim Tam slam.Here's Area 5150, the IBM PC demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zADeLm9g0ZgMartyPC, the IBM PC/XT emulator: https://github.com/dbalsom/martypc Support the Pod! Contribute to the Tech Pod Patreon and get access to our booming Discord, a monthly bonus episode, your name in the credits, and other great benefits! You can support the show at: https://patreon.com/techpod

From the moment his father handed him an IBM PC with the simplest of instructions - "Play with it, don't be afraid" - Aral Balkan's worldview was forever changed. Our chat with this developer, professional speaker, consultant, and serial entrepreneur takes us on an enlightening journey through his life, shaped by his early immersion in technology's limitless potential. Aral's deep-seated passion for programming, his dedicated commitment to simplicity, and his advocacy for the internet as a tool for personal empowerment and democratized communication are nothing less than inspiring.Aral reflects on the evolution of the internet, once perceived as a decentralized entity, now understood as a client-server system molded partly by venture capitalists who recognized its potential. He emphasizes the need for coding education, applauding initiatives like Code Club and the involvement of Google, Raspberry Pi, and Coder Dojo in promoting coding. But our conversation doesn't stop there. Aral urges us to confront the systemic inequality in the digital space and the pressing need for simple articulation of the problem to spur action. He introduces us to the concept of small web and the empowering idea of owning and controlling one's own means of communication.Our dialogue extends to the importance of alternative funding methods for initiatives that serve society. Aral shares his views on the limitations of relying on political institutions for funding and the absolute necessity for communication tools to be accessible to all. We tackle the issue of arrogance in the open source community and its impact on software usability, and discuss 'kitten', a framework and server for building small websites, with its innovative security measures and potential as a learning tool. Join us for this essential conversation for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, empowerment, and democracy. This episode promises to enlighten, challenge, and inspire.The Gaming BlenderHave you ever wanted to design your own video game?Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifyUse my special link https://zen.ai/dsVpYxjSth5fD-hlbzdIiw to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paidplan.Support the show

An airhacks.fm conversation with Ingo Kegel (@IngoKegel) about: Epson HX-20 in 1983, transition to IBM PC, writing games in Basic, fast calculations in C, using Java in ecommerce projects, starting to build jprofiler, JVMPI and JVMTI, jprobe and OptimizeIT, freshmeat.net, theserverside.com, jprofiler is written in Swing, podcast about btrace, inter JVM profiling in two windows, async sampling vs. jvmti sampling, Project Loom challenges, a nice looking Swing UIs with flatlaf, how to deal with millions of threads, creating Java installer and launcher, the ugly Napkin LaF, the 2-pizza team Ingo Kegel on twitter: @IngoKegel

If an IBM PC can see the light, why not a Mac? Original text by Joel Snyder, SunWorld July 1993. This review calls A/UX “complete”, but that's meaningless until another Vancouverite demonstrates that it is possible to port Doom (sans audio) to it! The moment it worked. The usual emulators won't run A/UX since it requires an MMU. You'll need Shoebill (abandoned by the developer now that he works at Apple) or QEMU's Quadra 800 emulation. Watch someone else suffer so you don't have to: netfreak walks you through installing, patching, and configuring A/UX on a Macintosh SE/30. Boy is it slow. netfreak maintains some useful A/UX resources and a knowledge base. Mr. TenFourFox/OldVCR Cameron Kaiser has documented some interesting MachTen hacks and notes. If you find MachTen crashes shortly after launch, you might have a faulty 68LC040 CPU. I hope you bought AppleCare. “[X11 performance was] … about six times faster than a Sun 3/50.” Six times as fast as slow is still slow. Macworld November 1992 reports “Even on a [Quadra] 950, please note, A/UX is slow–three times slower than Unix on a midrange Sun workstation.” A/UX Product Manager Richard Finlayson's unabridged demo of A/UX 2.0 from the April 1990 Apple VHS User Group Connection tape. Apple's self-running Macromedia Director demo of A/UX 2.0, complete with simulated Extended Keyboard II typing sounds. Spot the two errors in the simulated CommandShells. The example user might be a play on Richard Finlayson's name.

Atari axes Ray Kassar, Nintendo launches the Famicom & Commodore's Jack Tramiel delivers the killing blow to Texas Instruments These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in July 1983.  As always,  we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events. Alex Smith of They Create Worlds is our cohost.  Check out his podcast here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/ and order his book here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/book Get us on your mobile device: Android:  https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly92aWRlb2dhbWVuZXdzcm9vbXRpbWVtYWNoaW5lLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz iOS:      https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/video-game-newsroom-time-machine And if you like what we are doing here at the podcast, don't forget to like us on your podcasting app of choice, YouTube, and/or support us on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/VGNRTM Send comments on Mastodon @videogamenewsroomtimemachine@oldbytes.space Or twitter @videogamenewsr2 Or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vgnrtm Or videogamenewsroomtimemachine@gmail.com Links: 7 Minutes in Heaven: Manic Miner     Video Version:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/87996985     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Miner     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassed_Off          Corrections:     June 1983 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/june-1983-85898642     Ethan's fine site The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/     When Nintendo Games Were on Atari | Gaming Historian  - Written by Ethan Johnson  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjRuV52Jk78      1963     Maloney sells Bally     https://archive.org/details/cashbox24unse_41/page/54/mode/1up?view=theater     http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/lion-and-bally-manufacturing/ Lasers featured in Popular Electronics     https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/60s/63/Pop-1963-07.pdf     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser 1973     Atari introduces Space Race     https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_3/page/39/mode/1up     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race_(video_game) Bushnell goes to Europe     https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_3/page/39/mode/1up RCA announces mass production of LCDs     https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/70s/1973/Poptronics-1973-07.pdf  pg. 23 Motorola announces Dynatac     https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/70s/1973/Poptronics-1973-07.pdf     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC Associated Press uses lasers to transmit and computers to store images     https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/70s/1973/Poptronics-1973-07.pdf  pg. 23 Digital Watches are the latest male fashion statement    https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/21/archives/a-watch-that-takes-the-hard-time-out-of-telling-time.html Ira Bettleman graduates with psychology degree     https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_2/page/50/mode/1up     Noah Falstein - Lucasfilm https://www.patreon.com/posts/37807684 1983: Ray Kassar leaves Atari     https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-atari-inc-ray/62357592/       https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-resignation-of-ray-kassar-f/68994316/        https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/08/business/chief-is-replaced-at-troubled-atari.html     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/24/business/philip-morris-s-marlboro-man.html     Toys Hobbies and Crafts July 1983         https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/27/movies/shapiro-quits-at-warner-s.html      Atari distribution restructuring tanks     https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-atari-inc-deals-with-c/62356604/     The Video Game Crash 40th Anniversary - Part 1: Atari  https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-game-crash-75643983 Mattel, Atari, and TI announces even bigger losses     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/26/business/mattel-expects-to-post-large-loss.html      Toy and Hobby World July 1983     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/22/business/warner-posts-a-283.4-million-loss.html        https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/13/business/mattel-reshuffles-its-electronics-unit.html       https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/23/business/texas-instruments-lost-119.2-million-in-quarter.html        https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/19/business/rca-profits-rise-zenith-also-climbs.html     Playthings July 1983     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/25/business/earnings-up-sharply-in-quarter.html Williams profits down     Games People July 30, 1983, pg. 7 Mattel axes 260 in Electronics division     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up TI lays off 750         https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up Marketers brought in to take reigns of computer makers     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/27/business/selling-computers-like-soap.html        https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/13/business/mattel-reshuffles-its-electronics-unit.html UK tax authority preps for micro crash     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-21/mode/1up?view=theater      Rebates hit coinop     Replay July 1983 pg. 8 Gottlieb changes name     Replay July 1983 pg. 8     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottlieb Sente has Videa     https://archive.org/details/joystik_magazine-1983-07/page/n11/mode/2up     Roger Hector - Atari, Disney, Sega, Namco, Sente  https://www.patreon.com/posts/72058794 New tech needed to revitalize arcades     https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-modesto-bee-arcade-game-difficulties/85528989/        Play Meter July 15, 1983, pg. 36     https://www.thebasementarcade.com/roadtrips31.htm Magnetic strips poised to replace coins     Play Meter July 15, 1983, pg. 32     https://www.sacoacard.com/ VCTER wants you to book flights at your arcade     Play Meter July 1, 1983 pg. 40 Digital poker goes after the older audience     Replay July 1983 pg. 8     Replay July 1983, pg. 32      Tex Critter bows out of pizza-arcade market     Games People July 30, 1983, pg. 1     https://dreamfiction.fandom.com/wiki/Tex_Critter%27s_Pizza_Jamboree_(fictional) Nintendo's Tokyo stock debut dampened by lawsuit     Japan Economic Newswire  JULY 21, 1983, THURSDAY        https://www.mariowiki.com/Ikegami_Tsushinki     NINTENDO TO SPLIT STOCK, Copyright 1983 Jiji Press Ltd.Jiji Press Ticker Service, JULY 22, 1983, FRIDAY Nintendo and Sega enter the programmable console market     https://archive.org/details/login-september-1983/page/n89/mode/2up?q=%E4%BB%BB%E5%A4%A9%E5%A0%82     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SG-1000 Sega's SC3000 sales estimates jump     Sharp attention on Sega product , The Japan Economic Journal July 19, 1983,      Tuesday  Business Japan, July 1983 Atari 2600 Adapter for the 5200 ships     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 57     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_5200 Atari drops price of 5200     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60      Vectrex drops to $100     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60 Gameline won't leave retailers in the lurch     Playthings July 1983        https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 55 Electra Concepts introduces a trigger button     Playthings July 1983        https://www.ebay.com/itm/224626441270 Second hand mail order game exchanges boom     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/07/garden/secondhand-games-for-video-buffs.html Supercharger gets first licensee     The Video Game Update July 1983, pg. 50 Frob makes console game design affordable     The Video Game Update July 1983, pg. 50         http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-frob-26_29983.html Coleco axes Super Game Module 3     The Video Game Update July 1983, pg. 53        https://cancelled-games.fandom.com/wiki/ColecoVision_Super_Game_Module Mattel axes Intellivision 3     The Video Game Update July 1983, pg. 53        https://cancelled-games.fandom.com/wiki/ColecoVision_Super_Game_Module MB goes blam-blam on VCS     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf   pg. 57 20th Century Fox wants you to make them a better game     https://archive.org/details/1983-07-compute-magazine/page/n33/mode/1up?view=theater Fox sees bright future for their games     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n6/mode/1up Fox halves price of MASH on VCS     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/page/n2/mode/1up Colecovision games coming to Spectravideo     https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Fun_with_Computer_Games_Vol_01_No_09_1983-07_Fun_Games_Publishing_US/page/n7/mode/2up        https://www.msx.org/wiki/Spectravideo_SV-603 As action figures rise, consoles fall     Playthings July 1983      Activision opens UK subsidiary    https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews019-20Jul1983/page/n11/mode/1up     Gregory Fischbach Part 1 - Activision - Acclaim  https://www.patreon.com/posts/46578120 Atari drops the 1200XL     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf pg. 58'     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family#1200XL Atari introduces XL line     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf pg. 59        https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-28/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60 Atari gets Hawkeye to hawk their wares     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n3/mode/1up     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvNLr_AVTAM Atari reacts to Adam introduction with new 600XL bundle     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 54        https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-28/mode/1up Adam ditches wafers for "Data packs"     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf pg. 58     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco_Adam Tomy enters computer market with free home trial     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 63        https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n6/mode/1up       https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomy_Tutor Acorn to launch BBC in US     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-07/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro#Export_initiatives Electron won't be BBC Micro compatible     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews020-27Jul1983/page/n3/mode/1up     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron Sinclair's Microdrive arrives     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-28/page/n7/mode/1up?view=theater     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Microdrive Computer maker stocks tumble on Peanut rumors     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/28/business/computer-stocks-slide.html     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr Osborne 1 price crashes     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/29/business/osborne-cuts-computer-price.html Mini and mainframe makers jump into micro fray     https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan/page/n8/mode/1up Networking to come to IBM PC     https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan/page/n8/mode/1up     SNL Weekend Update - https://youtu.be/GYyur7EEqns Milton Bradley brings speech recognition to TI     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60         http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/hardware/mbx/mbx.html         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04SecKb_ejA Apple ii software coming to the PC     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n25/page/n7/mode/2up     https://www.hackster.io/news/quapple-clones-a-card-that-turns-an-ibm-pc-xt-into-an-apple-ii-plus-clone-98c9b75ecfda The many faces of the mouse compete for dominance at NCC     https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan/page/n299/mode/1up?view=theater        http://www.le2.net/summa/     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Mouse TI signs up third parties     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60     https://www.mobygames.com/company/5680/texas-instruments-incorporated/games/ Romox  announces Gameport for TI     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 63       https://4apedia.com/index.php/Solid_State_Software_Command_Module     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews019-20Jul1983/page/n7/mode/2up Commodore declares software price war     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews019-20Jul1983/page/n3/mode/2up     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews020-27Jul1983/page/n4/mode/1up     Gary Carlston- Broderbund https://www.patreon.com/posts/50036733 bye bye Jelly Monsters, Hello Cosmic Cruncher!     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-07/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater     https://www.mobygames.com/game/138/pac-man/screenshots/vic-20/     https://www.mobygames.com/game/60882/cosmic-cruncher/      Commodore 64 and IBM conversions are coming     https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_3.4/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater     https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_3.4/page/n29/mode/1up?view=theater Softsync announces C64 games     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60 Parker Bros expands into computer games     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 54     Tom Dusenberry - Parker Brothers - Hasbro - Atari  https://www.patreon.com/posts/42807419     https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/octopussy-the-james-bond-videogame-that-never-was/     https://web.archive.org/web/20150302072400/https://atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=15¤tPage=12 Spinnaker goes cartridge     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n3/mode/1up Sierra offers one-to-one return policy with retailers     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up Soft Switch simplifies piracy     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-14     https://www.c64copyprotection.com/vic-20-cartridge-to-tape/     https://www.mobygames.com/company/966/microplay-software/ Datasoft launches budget line     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf pg. 59     https://www.mobygames.com/company/20696/gentry-software/ WH Smith stops taking new ZX81 software     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-14 Palace Software is looking for programmers     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews019-20Jul1983/page/n56/mode/1up     https://www.mobygames.com/company/1000/palace-software-ltd/ Dr. J and Larry Bird sign with EA     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 57       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gahan_Wilson        https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n1/mode/1up     https://www.mobygames.com/game/488/one-on-one/ First Star Software signs with Marvel     https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_3.4/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater     https://www.mobygames.com/company/166/first-star-software-inc/      Sydney Software gets Johnny Hart licenses     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 54     https://www.mobygames.com/company/1569/sydney-development-corp/ Crash mail order places ads    https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews020-27Jul1983/page/n56/mode/1up?view=theater     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(magazine) Videotex brings hope of standardized networked information and fears of privacy concerns     https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex Canadian Pacific Air brings games to planes     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 56       https://docplayer.net/205275760-From-electronic-to-video-gaming-computing-in-canada-historical-assessment-update.html Dan Bunten extols the virtues of play testing     https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_3.4/page/n25/mode/1up?view=theater     https://www.mobygames.com/person/8515/danielle-berry/ UCLA holds conference on graphic design in games     https://archive.org/details/Video_Games_Volume_1_Number_10_1983-07_Pumpkin_Press_US/page/n69/mode/1up?view=theater First Video Game Conference held in San Fransisco     Toys Hobbies & Crafts July 1983. Supercade coming to Saturday mornings     Replay July 1983, pg. 18 Vid Kid column brings game reviews to newspapers     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-07/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater Julian Rignall is gaming champ     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-14/page/n4/mode/1up   Recommended Links: The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Gaming Alexandria: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/ They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/ Playthrough Podcast: https://playthroughpod.com/ Retromags.com: https://www.retromags.com/ Games That Weren't - https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/ Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play. Copyright Karl Kuras Find out on the VGNRTM These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM with @QuarterPast83's Dale! Atari axes Ray Kassar, Nintendo launches the Famicom & Commodore's Jack Tramiel delivers the killing blow to Texas Instruments These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in July 1983.  As always,  we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events. Alex Smith of They Create Worlds is our cohost.  Check out his podcast here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/ and order his book here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/book Get us on your mobile device: Android:  https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly92aWRlb2dhbWVuZXdzcm9vbXRpbWVtYWNoaW5lLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz iOS:      https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/video-game-newsroom-time-machine And if you like what we are doing here at the podcast, don't forget to like us on your podcasting app of choice, YouTube, and/or support us on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/VGNRTM Send comments on Mastodon @videogamenewsroomtimemachine@oldbytes.space Or twitter @videogamenewsr2 Or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vgnrtm Or videogamenewsroomtimemachine@gmail.com Links: 7 Minutes in Heaven: Manic Miner     Video Version:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/87996985     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Miner     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassed_Off          Corrections:     June 1983 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/june-1983-85898642     Ethan's fine site The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/     When Nintendo Games Were on Atari | Gaming Historian  - Written by Ethan Johnson  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjRuV52Jk78      1963     Maloney sells Bally     https://archive.org/details/cashbox24unse_41/page/54/mode/1up?view=theater     http://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/lion-and-bally-manufacturing/ Lasers featured in Popular Electronics     https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/60s/63/Pop-1963-07.pdf     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser 1973     Atari introduces Space Race     https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_3/page/39/mode/1up     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race_(video_game) Bushnell goes to Europe     https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_3/page/39/mode/1up RCA announces mass production of LCDs     https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/70s/1973/Poptronics-1973-07.pdf  pg. 23 Motorola announces Dynatac     https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/70s/1973/Poptronics-1973-07.pdf     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_DynaTAC Associated Press uses lasers to transmit and computers to store images     https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/70s/1973/Poptronics-1973-07.pdf  pg. 23 Digital Watches are the latest male fashion statement    https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/21/archives/a-watch-that-takes-the-hard-time-out-of-telling-time.html Ira Bettleman graduates with psychology degree     https://archive.org/details/cashbox35unse_2/page/50/mode/1up     Noah Falstein - Lucasfilm https://www.patreon.com/posts/37807684 1983: Ray Kassar leaves Atari     https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-atari-inc-ray/62357592/       https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-resignation-of-ray-kassar-f/68994316/        https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/08/business/chief-is-replaced-at-troubled-atari.html     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/24/business/philip-morris-s-marlboro-man.html     Toys Hobbies and Crafts July 1983         https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/27/movies/shapiro-quits-at-warner-s.html      Atari distribution restructuring tanks     https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-atari-inc-deals-with-c/62356604/     The Video Game Crash 40th Anniversary - Part 1: Atari  https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-game-crash-75643983 Mattel, Atari, and TI announces even bigger losses     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/26/business/mattel-expects-to-post-large-loss.html      Toy and Hobby World July 1983     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/22/business/warner-posts-a-283.4-million-loss.html        https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/13/business/mattel-reshuffles-its-electronics-unit.html       https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/23/business/texas-instruments-lost-119.2-million-in-quarter.html        https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/19/business/rca-profits-rise-zenith-also-climbs.html     Playthings July 1983     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/25/business/earnings-up-sharply-in-quarter.html Williams profits down     Games People July 30, 1983, pg. 7 Mattel axes 260 in Electronics division     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up TI lays off 750         https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up Marketers brought in to take reigns of computer makers     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/27/business/selling-computers-like-soap.html        https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/13/business/mattel-reshuffles-its-electronics-unit.html UK tax authority preps for micro crash     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-21/mode/1up?view=theater      Rebates hit coinop     Replay July 1983 pg. 8 Gottlieb changes name     Replay July 1983 pg. 8     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottlieb Sente has Videa     https://archive.org/details/joystik_magazine-1983-07/page/n11/mode/2up     Roger Hector - Atari, Disney, Sega, Namco, Sente  https://www.patreon.com/posts/72058794 New tech needed to revitalize arcades     https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-modesto-bee-arcade-game-difficulties/85528989/        Play Meter July 15, 1983, pg. 36     https://www.thebasementarcade.com/roadtrips31.htm Magnetic strips poised to replace coins     Play Meter July 15, 1983, pg. 32     https://www.sacoacard.com/ VCTER wants you to book flights at your arcade     Play Meter July 1, 1983 pg. 40 Digital poker goes after the older audience     Replay July 1983 pg. 8     Replay July 1983, pg. 32      Tex Critter bows out of pizza-arcade market     Games People July 30, 1983, pg. 1     https://dreamfiction.fandom.com/wiki/Tex_Critter%27s_Pizza_Jamboree_(fictional) Nintendo's Tokyo stock debut dampened by lawsuit     Japan Economic Newswire  JULY 21, 1983, THURSDAY        https://www.mariowiki.com/Ikegami_Tsushinki     NINTENDO TO SPLIT STOCK, Copyright 1983 Jiji Press Ltd.Jiji Press Ticker Service, JULY 22, 1983, FRIDAY Nintendo and Sega enter the programmable console market     https://archive.org/details/login-september-1983/page/n89/mode/2up?q=%E4%BB%BB%E5%A4%A9%E5%A0%82     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SG-1000 Sega's SC3000 sales estimates jump     Sharp attention on Sega product , The Japan Economic Journal July 19, 1983,      Tuesday  Business Japan, July 1983 Atari 2600 Adapter for the 5200 ships     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 57     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_5200 Atari drops price of 5200     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60      Vectrex drops to $100     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60 Gameline won't leave retailers in the lurch     Playthings July 1983        https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 55 Electra Concepts introduces a trigger button     Playthings July 1983        https://www.ebay.com/itm/224626441270 Second hand mail order game exchanges boom     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/07/garden/secondhand-games-for-video-buffs.html Supercharger gets first licensee     The Video Game Update July 1983, pg. 50 Frob makes console game design affordable     The Video Game Update July 1983, pg. 50         http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-frob-26_29983.html Coleco axes Super Game Module 3     The Video Game Update July 1983, pg. 53        https://cancelled-games.fandom.com/wiki/ColecoVision_Super_Game_Module Mattel axes Intellivision 3     The Video Game Update July 1983, pg. 53        https://cancelled-games.fandom.com/wiki/ColecoVision_Super_Game_Module MB goes blam-blam on VCS     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf   pg. 57 20th Century Fox wants you to make them a better game     https://archive.org/details/1983-07-compute-magazine/page/n33/mode/1up?view=theater Fox sees bright future for their games     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n6/mode/1up Fox halves price of MASH on VCS     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/page/n2/mode/1up Colecovision games coming to Spectravideo     https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Fun_with_Computer_Games_Vol_01_No_09_1983-07_Fun_Games_Publishing_US/page/n7/mode/2up        https://www.msx.org/wiki/Spectravideo_SV-603 As action figures rise, consoles fall     Playthings July 1983      Activision opens UK subsidiary    https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews019-20Jul1983/page/n11/mode/1up     Gregory Fischbach Part 1 - Activision - Acclaim  https://www.patreon.com/posts/46578120 Atari drops the 1200XL     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf pg. 58'     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family#1200XL Atari introduces XL line     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf pg. 59        https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-28/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60 Atari gets Hawkeye to hawk their wares     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n3/mode/1up     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvNLr_AVTAM Atari reacts to Adam introduction with new 600XL bundle     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 54        https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-28/mode/1up Adam ditches wafers for "Data packs"     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf pg. 58     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco_Adam Tomy enters computer market with free home trial     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 63        https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n6/mode/1up       https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomy_Tutor Acorn to launch BBC in US     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-07/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro#Export_initiatives Electron won't be BBC Micro compatible     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews020-27Jul1983/page/n3/mode/1up     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Electron Sinclair's Microdrive arrives     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-28/page/n7/mode/1up?view=theater     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Microdrive Computer maker stocks tumble on Peanut rumors     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/28/business/computer-stocks-slide.html     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr Osborne 1 price crashes     https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/29/business/osborne-cuts-computer-price.html Mini and mainframe makers jump into micro fray     https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan/page/n8/mode/1up Networking to come to IBM PC     https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan/page/n8/mode/1up     SNL Weekend Update - https://youtu.be/GYyur7EEqns Milton Bradley brings speech recognition to TI     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60         http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/hardware/mbx/mbx.html         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04SecKb_ejA Apple ii software coming to the PC     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n25/page/n7/mode/2up     https://www.hackster.io/news/quapple-clones-a-card-that-turns-an-ibm-pc-xt-into-an-apple-ii-plus-clone-98c9b75ecfda The many faces of the mouse compete for dominance at NCC     https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan/page/n299/mode/1up?view=theater        http://www.le2.net/summa/     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Mouse TI signs up third parties     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60     https://www.mobygames.com/company/5680/texas-instruments-incorporated/games/ Romox  announces Gameport for TI     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 63       https://4apedia.com/index.php/Solid_State_Software_Command_Module     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews019-20Jul1983/page/n7/mode/2up Commodore declares software price war     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews019-20Jul1983/page/n3/mode/2up     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews020-27Jul1983/page/n4/mode/1up     Gary Carlston- Broderbund https://www.patreon.com/posts/50036733 bye bye Jelly Monsters, Hello Cosmic Cruncher!     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-07/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater     https://www.mobygames.com/game/138/pac-man/screenshots/vic-20/     https://www.mobygames.com/game/60882/cosmic-cruncher/      Commodore 64 and IBM conversions are coming     https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_3.4/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater     https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_3.4/page/n29/mode/1up?view=theater Softsync announces C64 games     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 60 Parker Bros expands into computer games     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 54     Tom Dusenberry - Parker Brothers - Hasbro - Atari  https://www.patreon.com/posts/42807419     https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/octopussy-the-james-bond-videogame-that-never-was/     https://web.archive.org/web/20150302072400/https://atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=15¤tPage=12 Spinnaker goes cartridge     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n3/mode/1up Sierra offers one-to-one return policy with retailers     https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n26/mode/1up Soft Switch simplifies piracy     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-14     https://www.c64copyprotection.com/vic-20-cartridge-to-tape/     https://www.mobygames.com/company/966/microplay-software/ Datasoft launches budget line     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf pg. 59     https://www.mobygames.com/company/20696/gentry-software/ WH Smith stops taking new ZX81 software     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-14 Palace Software is looking for programmers     https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews019-20Jul1983/page/n56/mode/1up     https://www.mobygames.com/company/1000/palace-software-ltd/ Dr. J and Larry Bird sign with EA     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 57       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gahan_Wilson        https://archive.org/details/arcade_express_v1n24/page/n1/mode/1up     https://www.mobygames.com/game/488/one-on-one/ First Star Software signs with Marvel     https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_3.4/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater     https://www.mobygames.com/company/166/first-star-software-inc/      Sydney Software gets Johnny Hart licenses     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 54     https://www.mobygames.com/company/1569/sydney-development-corp/ Crash mail order places ads    https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerNews/PersonalComputerNews020-27Jul1983/page/n56/mode/1up?view=theater     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(magazine) Videotex brings hope of standardized networked information and fears of privacy concerns     https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-07-rescan     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex Canadian Pacific Air brings games to planes     https://retrocdn.net/images/d/d0/ComputerEntertainer_US_Vol.2_04.pdf  pg. 56       https://docplayer.net/205275760-From-electronic-to-video-gaming-computing-in-canada-historical-assessment-update.html Dan Bunten extols the virtues of play testing     https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_3.4/page/n25/mode/1up?view=theater     https://www.mobygames.com/person/8515/danielle-berry/ UCLA holds conference on graphic design in games     https://archive.org/details/Video_Games_Volume_1_Number_10_1983-07_Pumpkin_Press_US/page/n69/mode/1up?view=theater First Video Game Conference held in San Fransisco     Toys Hobbies & Crafts July 1983. Supercade coming to Saturday mornings     Replay July 1983, pg. 18 Vid Kid column brings game reviews to newspapers     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-07/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater Julian Rignall is gaming champ     https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-07-14/page/n4/mode/1up   Recommended Links: The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Gaming Alexandria: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/ They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/ Playthrough Podcast: https://playthroughpod.com/ Retromags.com: https://www.retromags.com/ Games That Weren't - https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/ Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play. Copyright Karl Kuras Find out on the VGNRTM   atari   nintendo   famicom   nes   sega   sg1000   commodore   c64   tramiel   dragon's lair   crash   ti99   spectrum   sinclair   microdrive   vic20   1200xl   coleco   colecovision   coleco adam    

Todd Ogasawara and Jon Westfall are joined by frequent guest panelist Don Sorcinelli. They discuss: One of the recommended charity funds to support the victims of the Lahaina Maui wildfire Using CharityNavigator to vet charitable organizations Ooma VoiP for home phones and progress in porting Todd's landline phone number to it Noting the IBM PC's launch 42 years and 1 day ago (Aug. 23, 1981) and other tech reminisces Making peace with the Notion note-taking service and considering trying Obsidian too Jon's tech travel notes based on his recent trip to attend the American Psychological Association conference in Washington DC

Welcome back to another episode of "The Secret to Success" podcast. In today's episode, we delve into the art of making yourself stand out in a crowded marketplace. Drawing inspiration from "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" by Al and Laura Ries, we explore key strategies to differentiate yourself from the competition and establish a unique position in the minds of your customers.Here are key points discussed in this episode.1. Create a Distinct Category:  - Discuss the importance of creating a category in which you can be the first and foremost player.  - Emphasize the need for a category that is supported by a singular word, making it easier for customers to associate your brand with a specific concept.2. Be the Opposite of the Leader:  - Highlight the strategy of fighting against the market leader by positioning yourself as their opposite, rather than attempting to be better than them.  - Explain how this approach can help you carve out a distinct niche and attract customers who are seeking an alternative to the market leader.3. Avoid Line Extensions:  - Share insights from "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" regarding the risks of brand extensions.  - Discuss the idea that your brand is not necessarily the one that works, but rather the association with something.  - Encourage listeners to focus on building associations and connections that resonate with their target audience.4. Study Customers, Market, and Trends:  - Emphasize the importance of conducting thorough research to understand your customers, market dynamics, and emerging trends.  - Discuss the concept of finding the "one move" that will have the greatest impact on your brand's success.  - Encourage listeners to analyze their customers' needs and preferences, identify gaps in the market, and adapt their strategies accordingly.In a competitive business landscape, it's crucial to make yourself stand out from the crowd. By following the principles outlined in "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing," you can create a unique category, position yourself as the opposite of the leader, avoid ineffective brand extensions, and make strategic moves based on customer insights and market trends. Join us next time as we continue to uncover the secrets to success in various aspects of life and business.Here are notes for this class:Day 2Making Yourself Stand Out The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al and Laura Ries     Create a category that you can be first in — and make sure that the category is supported by a singular word. Fight the leader by not being better, but being their opposite. Don't extend your brand through line extension; it rarely works. Plus, your brand is not the one that works, it's the association with something. Study your customers, market and trends to find the “one move” that works.The Law of Leadership – It's better to be first that is it is to be better.The first person to fly across the Atlantic was Charles Lindbergh. Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon. Roger Bannister was the first person to run the four minute mile.What are the names of the people who accomplished these feats second?Bert Hinkler was the second man to fly across the Atlantic. Buzz Aldrin followed Neil Armstrong onto the moon's surface. John Landy was the second man to run a mile in less than four minutes (only six weeks after Bannister did).While you may have heard of Aldrin, you're most likely not familiar with the names Hinkler and Landy.Similarly, the leading category in any brand is almost always the first brand into the prospect's mind. Hertz with rent-a-cars. IBM with computers. Coca-Cola in cola.After WWII, Heineken was the first imported beer to make a name for itself in America. Decades later, it's still number one. Advil was the first Ibuprofen and is still number one. Time still leads Newsweek. Coke leads PepsiIf you're second in your prospects mind you'll languish with the Buzz Aldrins, John Landys and Bert Hinklers of the world.In spite of the benefits of being first though, most companies tend to wait companies until a market develops and then they jump in.Chapter 1: The Law of Leadership It's better to be first than it is to be better. The basic issue in marketing is not convincing prospects that you have a better product or service. The basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in. It's much easier to get into the mind first than to try to convince someone you have a better product than the one who got there first. The leading brand in any category is almost always the first brand into the prospect's mind. E.g Hertz in rent-a-cars, IBM in computers, Coca-Cola in cola. Not every first is going to be successful. The timing could be an issue — for e.g your first could be too late. Some firsts are also just bad ideas that will never go anywhere. E.g Frosty Paws, the first ice cream for dogs. The law of leadership applies to any product, brand or category. Imagine you didn't know the name of the first college founded in America. You can always make a good guess by substituting leading for first. What's the name of the leading college in US? Most people would say Harvard, and that is indeed the name of the first college founded in America. One reason why the first brand tends to maintain its leadership is that the name often becomes generic. Xerox, the first plain-paper copier became the name for all plain-paper copies. Kleenex. Coke. Scotch tape.The Law of the Category – If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.-Antonio set up a newer category when it comes to business and he is the first in it. Who else do you know that is doing what he is doing?While Bert Hinkler's name is not a household word, I'm sure you know the name of the third person who successfully flew across the Atlantic Ocean. Her name was Amelia Earhart. The first female to fly across the Atlantic.If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.Charles Schwab didn't open a better brokerage firm; he opened up the first discount broker. Lear's isn't the best selling woman's magazine; they're the best selling magazine for mature women. Dell wasn't the biggest computer company; they're the biggest computer company to sell their computers over the phone.Chapter 2: The Law Of The Category If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in. Example: What's the name of the third person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo? You probably don't know. Yet you do. It's Amelia Earhart. But she isn't known for that. She is known as the first woman to do so. IBM was the first in computers. DEC competed by becoming the first in minicomputers. Cray Research came up with the first supercomputer. Today, Cray is an $800 million company. Convex put two and two together and came up with the first mini super-computer. Today Convex is a $200 million company. You can turn an also-ran into a winner by inventing a new category. Commodore was a manufacturer of home PCs that wasn't going anywhere until it positioned the Amiga as the first multi-media computer. There are many different ways to be first. Dell was the first to sell computers by phone. When you launch a new product, the first question to ask yourself is not “How is this new product better than the competition?”, but “First what?” Forget the brand. Think categories. Everyone is interested in what's new. Few people are interested in what's better. When you're the first in a new category, promote the category. In essence, you have no competition.The Law of the Mind – It's better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.First personal computer was the MITS Altair 8800. Duryea was the first automobile. Du Mont is the first commercial TV set.What's going on? Is the just mentioned Law of Leadership wrong.Not at all. Here's the thing …IBM wasn't first in the marketplace with a mainframe computer, Remington was.However, IBM began a massive marketing campaign to get into people's mind first and when they did they won the computer battle early.Being first in the mind is everything in marketing. Being first in the marketplace is important only to the extent that it allows you to get into the mind first.Chapter 3: The Law Of The Mind It's better to be first in the mind than it is to be first in the marketplace. The law of the mind modifies the law of leadership. Being first in the mind is everything in marketing. Being first in the marketplace is important only to the extent it allows you to get in the mind first. Marketing is a battle of perception, not product, so the mind takes precedence over the marketplace. The problem for would-be entrepreneurs is getting the revolutionary idea or concept into the prospect's mind. The conventional solution is money. But it's not. More money is wasted in marketing than any other human activity. You can't change a mind once it's made up. The single most wasteful thing you can do in marketing is try to change a mind. Having a simple, easy-to-remember name helps get into prospect's minds.The Law of Perception – Marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions.Some marketers see the product as the hero of the marketing program and that you win and lose based on the merits of your products.Ries and Trout disagree – what's important is the perceptions that exist in the minds of your prospects and customers. They cite as an example the three largest selling Japanese imports, Honda, Toyota and Nissan.Most people think the battle between the three brands is based on quality, styling horse power price. Not true. It's what people think about Honda Toyota and Nissan which determines which brand will win.Chapter 4: The Law of Perception Marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perception. It's an illusion. There is no objective reality. There are no facts. There are no best products. All that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the customer or prospect. The perception is the reality. Everything else is an illusion. Marketing is a manipulation of these perceptions. Most marketing mistakes stem from the assumption that you're fighting a product battle rooted in reality. What some marketing people see as the natural laws of marketing are based on a flawed premise that the product is the hero of the marketing program and that you'll win or lose based on the merits of the product. This is why the natural, logical way to market a product is invariably wrong. Only by studying how perceptions are formed in the mind and focusing your marketing programs on those perceptions can you overcome your basically incorrect marketing instincts.The Law of Focus – The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind.A company can become incredibly successful if it can find a way to own a word in the mind of the prospect.Federal Express was able to put the word ‘overnight' in the minds of their prospects. Xerox owns ‘copier'; Hershey owns ‘chocolate bar'; Coke owns ‘cola'; Heinz owns ‘ketchup'; Crest owns ‘cavities'; Volvo owns safety; Nordstrom's owns service.The word should be simple and benefit oriented. One word is better than three or four.Words can change ownership. In the early days of the personal computer, Lotus owned the word ‘spreadsheet'. Now it belongs to Microsoft thanks to ‘Excel'.Chapter 5: The Law Of Focus The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind. Not a complicated word, or an invented word. Simplest words are the best, words taken right out of the dictionary. You “burn” your way into the mind by narrowing the focus to a single word or concept.Just Do It. The Best Part of Waking up…. Prime Membership.   The law of leadership enables the first brand or company to own a word in the mind of the prospect. The leader owns the word that stands for the category. For e.g IBM owns the word “computer”. If you're not a leader, your word has to have a narrow focus. Your word has to be “available” in your category. No one else can have a lock on it. The most effective words are simple and benefit-oriented. No matter how complicated the product, no matter how complicated the needs of the market, it's always better to focus on one word or benefit rather than two or three or four. While words stick in the mind, nothing lasts forever. There comes a time when a company must change words. You can't take somebody else's words. What won't work is leaving your own word in search of a word owned by others. The essence of marketing is narrowing the focus. You can't stand for something if you chase after everything. You can't narrow the focus with quality or any other idea that doesn't have proponents for the opposite point of view. For example: You can't position yourself as an honest politician, because nobody is willing to take the opposite position.Once you have your word, you must go out of your way to protect it in the marketplace.The Law of Exclusivity – Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect's mind.When a competitor owns a word or position it's futile to own the same word. For instance Volvo owns the word ‘safety'. Many automakers have tried to wrestle that word away from them, but none have been successful.Energizer tried to wrestle ‘long lasting' away from Duracell. But Duracell got in people's minds first.Chapter 6: The Law Of Exclusivity Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect's mind. It's wrong to think that if you spend enough money, you can own the idea.The Law of the Ladder – The strategy to use depends on which rungs you occupy on the ladder.The primary objective is to be first, but if you're not – all is not lost.Avis lost money for 13 years in a row when they used the slogan “Finest in rent-a-cars”. It wasn't until they changed it to “Avis is only No.2 in rent-a-cars. So why go with us? We try harder” that their fortune turned around. (Avis was later sold to ITT who ordered up the advertising theme “Avis is going to be number one” which bombed.)Another campaign that worked was when 7 Up, the leader in the lemon-lime soda category wanted to make inroads into the larger cola market. When they positioned themselves as “The Uncola” they climbed to the third largest selling soft drink in America.Chapter 7: The Law Of The Ladder The strategy to use depends on which rung you occupy on the ladder. All products are not created equal. There is a hierarchy in the mind that prospects use in making decisions. For each category, there is a product ladder in the mind. On each rung is a brand name. For e.g car rental. Hertz is on the top rung, Avis is on the 2nd rung, and National on the third. Your marketing strategy should depend on how soon you got into the mind and consequently which rung of the ladder you occupy. Example: Avis admitted it was #2. Told prospects to go with them because they tried harder. They made money. The mind is selective. Prospects use their ladders in deciding which information to accept and which information to reject. In general, a mind only accepts new data that is consistent with its product ladder in that category. Everything else is ignored. How many rungs are there on your ladder? Products you use every day tend to be high-interest products with many rungs. And vice versa. There's a relationship between market share and your position on the ladder in the prospect's mind. Sometimes your own ladder or category might be too small. It might be better to be a small fish in a big pond than to be a big fish in a small pond. It's sometimes better to be №3 on a big ladder than №1 on a small ladder.The Law of Duality – In the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race.In batteries, it's Eveready and Duracell. In photographic film, it's Kodak and Fuji. In rent-a-cars, it's Hertz and Avis. In mouthwash, it's Listerine and Scope. In fast food, it's McDonalds and Burger King. In running shoes, it's Nike and Reebok. In toothpaste, it's Crest and Colgate.Chapter 8: The Law Of Duality In the long run, every market becomes a two-horse race. Early on, a new category is a ladder of many rungs. Gradually, the ladder becomes a two-rung affair. E.g Coke vs Pepsi.The Law of the Opposite – If you're shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader.If you're number two it makes sense to try and leverage the leader's strength into a weakness. An example of this is the campaign Pepsi Cola used to become the choice of the new generation (versus Coke-Cola being the old established product).Scope successful hung the “medical breath” label on market leader Listerine by becoming the good tasting mouthwash that kills germs.Other examples are Lowenbrau's “You've tasted the German beer that's the most popular in American. Now taste the German beer that's the most popular in German” and advertising slogan used to launch Tylenol in 1955 “For the millions who should not take aspirin” (when it was discovered that aspirin caused stomach bleeding).Chapter 9: The Law Of The Opposite If you're shooting for second place, your strategy is determined by the leader. Wherever the leader is strong, there is an opportunity for a would-be №2 to turn the tables. A company should leverage the leader's strength into a weakness. You must discover the essence of the leader and then present the prospect with the opposite. Too many potential №2 try to emulate the leader. This is an error. You must present yourself as the alternative. The law of the opposite is a two-edged sword. It requires honing in on a weakness that your prospect will quickly acknowledge. Marketing is often a battle for legitimacy. The first brand that captures the concept is often able to portray its competitors as illegitimate pretenders. A good#2 cannot afford to be timid.The Law of Division – Over time a category will divide and become two or more categories.A category starts off as a single entity. But over time it breaks up into other segments.Computers for example, you have: mainframes, minicomputers, workstations, personal computers, laptops, notebooks.Beer is the same way. Today's there's imported and domestic beer. Light, draft and dry beers. Even non-alcoholic beers.Each segment has its own leader (which is rarely the leader in the original category).Chapter 10: The Law Of Division Over time, a category will divide and become two or more categories Each segment is a separate, distinct entity. Each segment has its own reason for existence. Each segment has its own leader, which is rarely the same as the leader of the original category.The way for the leader to maintain its dominance is to address each emerging category with a different brand name.The Law of Perspective – Marketing effects takes place over an extended period of time.Does a sale increase a company's business or decrease it? Obviously in short term it increases it, but more and more there's evidence to show sales decrease business in the long term by educating customers not to buy at regular prices.Sales also say to people that your regular prices are too high. To maintain volume some companies find they have to run continuous sales. In the retail field, the big winners are Kmart and Wal-mart who are known for their everyday low prices.Chapter 11: The Law Of Perspective Marketing effects take place over an extended period of time      Many marketing move exhibit the same phenomenon. The long-term effect is often the exact opposite of the short-term effect. For e.g a sale. A sale increase in a business in the short-term, but there are increasing evidence that shows that sales educate customers not to buy at regular prices.The Law of Line Extension – There is an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of the brand.Here are two examples they give of companies harming their brand by overextending it:The introduction of Coors Light caused the collapse of regular Coors which today sells one-fourth of what it used to.Back in 1978, 7 Up had a 5.7 percent market share. Then they added 7Up Gold, Cherry 7 Up and assorted diet versions. In the early 90's, 7 Up's share had fallen to 2.5 percent.Chapter 12: The Law Of Line Extension There's an irresistible pressure to extend the equity of a brand. One day a company is tightly focused on a single product that is highly profitable. The next day the same company is spread thin over many products and is losing money. When you try to be all things to all people, you inevitably wind up in trouble. Line extension usually involves taking the brand name of a successful and putting it on a new product you plan to introduce. Marketing is a battle of perception, not product. In the mind, for example, A-1 is not the brand name, but the steak sauce itself. Less is more. If you want to be successful today, you have to narrow the focus in order to build a position in the prospect's mind.The Law of Sacrifice – You have to give up something to get something.If you want to be successful today you should give something up.The first area you could sacrifice in is your product line. The example they give is Federal Express who focused on one service: small overnight deliveries.The second is market share. Pepsi gave up part of their market when they focused on the youth market and it worked brilliantly – it brought them within 10% market share of Coca Cola. Here a few of the other companies Reis and Trout cite as having given up market share by specializing: Foot Locker (athletic shoes); The Gap (casual clothing for the young at heart); Victoria Secret (sexy undergarments); The Limited (upscale clothing for working women).The third sacrifice is constant change. One of the examples they list is White Castle whose restaurants look the same as they did sixty years ago and still sell the same frozen sliders, yet they still average over a million dollars per year per location.Chapter 13: The Law Of Sacrifice You have to give up something in order to get something This law is the opposite of Law 12. If you want to be successful, you have to give up something. There are 3 things to sacrifice: product line, target market and constant change.        The generalist is weak.The Law of Attributes – For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute.The Law of Exclusivity says that two companies can't own the same word or position. A company must seek out another attribute (it's much better to find an opposite attribute, similar won't do).For instance, Crest owns the word “cavities”. Other toothpastes avoided “cavities”. Instead they focused on taste, whitening, and breath protection.Of course, all attributes aren't created equally. When it comes to toothpaste “cavities” is the best. If the best one is taken you must move on to an attribute and live with a smaller share of the market. And then dramatize its value and increase your market share.Chapter 14: The Law Of Attributes For every attribute, there is an opposite, effective attribute. Too often a company attempts to emulate the leader. It's much better to search for an opposite attribute that will allow you to play off against the leader. All attributes are not created equal. Some attributes are more important to customers than others. You must try and own the most important attribute. You cannot predict the size of a new attribute's share, so never laugh at one.The Law of Candor – When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive.First admit a negative and then twist it into a positive.Examples:“Avis is only No.2 in rent-a-cars” (Avis tries harder)“With a name like Smuckers it has to be good” (We have a bad name, but a good product.)“The 1970 VW will stay ugly longer.” (A car that ugly must be reliable.)“Joy. The Most expensive perfume in the world.” (At $375 an ounce, it has to be sensational.)When you state a negative it's automatically viewed as the truth. When you state a positive it's looked upon as dubious at best.Another great example of twisting a negative into a positive is how Listerine reacted when Scope entered the market with a “good-tasting” mouthwash. They came out with “Listerine: The taste you hate twice a day.”Chapter 15: The Law Of Candor When you admit a negative, the prospect will give you a positive. It goes against corporate and human nature to admit a problem. Yet one of the most effective ways to get into a prospect's mind is to first admit a negative and twist it into a positive. Candor is disarming. Every negative statement you make about yourself is instantly accepted as truth (NOTE: This is a similar law stated in 48 Laws of Power.) You have to prove a positive statement to the prospect's satisfaction. No proof is needed for a negative statement. When a company starts a message by admitting a problem, people tend to almost instinctively open their minds. Example: Listerine used to advertise with “The taste you hate twice a day.” which set them up for selling the idea of killing a lot of germs. The Law of Candor must be used carefully and with great skill. Your negative must be widely perceived as a negative. It has to trigger an instant agreement with your prospect's mind. Next, you have to shift quickly to the positive. The purpose of candor isn't to apologize. It is to set up a benefit that will convince your prospect.The Law of Singularity – In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results.According to Reis and Trout “many marketing people see success as the sum total of a lot of small efforts beautiful executed. They think as long as they put the effort in they'll be successful whether you try hard or try easy, the differences are marginal”. They say the one thing that works in marketing is the single, bold stroke.An example they give is the two strong moves that were made against General Motors. The Japanese came at the low end with small cars like Toyota, Datsun and Honda. The Germans came at the high end with super premium cars like Mercedes and BMW.Chapter 16: The Law Of Singularity In each situation, only one move will produce substantial results (similar to 80/20 principle.) Many marketing people see success as the sum total of a lot of small efforts beautifully executed. They think they can pick and choose from a number of different strategies and still be successful as long as they put enough effort into the program. They seem to think the best approach is “get into everything.” Trying harder is not the secret of marketing success. History teaches that the only thing that works in marketing is the single, bold stroke. In any given situation, there is only one move that will produce substantial results. What works in marketing is the same as what works in the military — the unexpected. To find that singular idea of concept, marketing managers have to know what's happening in the marketplace.The Law of Unpredictability – Unless you write your competitors' plans, you can't predict the future.Marketing plans based on what will happen in the future are usually wrong. It's very difficult to predict your market. You can get a handle on trends, but the danger for many companies is they jump to conclusions about how far a trend will go.Chapter 17: The Law Of Unpredictability Unless you write your competitor's plans, you can't predict the future. Implicit in most marketing plans is an assumption about the future. Yet such marketing plans are usually wrong. Most companies live from quarterly report to quarterly report. That's a recipe for problems. Companies that live by the numbers, die by the numbers. Good short-term planning is coming up with that angle or word that differentiates your product or company. Then you set up a coherent long-term marketing direction that builds a program to maximize that idea or angle. Not a long-term plan, but a long-term direction. While you can't predict the future, you can get a handle on trends, which is a way to take advantage of change. The danger of working with trends is extrapolation. Many companies will jump to conclusions about how far a trend will go. Equally as bad as extrapolation is the common practice of assuming the future will be a replay of the present. One way to cope with an unpredictable world is to build an enormous amount of flexibility into your organization. NOTE: There is a difference between predicting the future and taking a chance on the future.The Law of Success – Success often leads to arrogance and arrogance to failure.Ego is the enemy of successful marketing. Objectivity is what is needed.Companies who became arrogant according to Ries and Trout are General Motors, Sears, Roebuck and IBM. Quite simply they felt they could anything they wanted to in the marketplace. And of, course, they were wrong.In my opinion, IBM's arrogance peaked back in the days of the IBM PC, XT, AT and the PS/2 line of computers. The difference between models was based more on marketing considerations rather than supplying their customers with a technically superior product. Compaq computers, on the other hand, focused on pushing the technical limits of their products and soon gained a reputation for building a superior computer, eventually outselling IBM.The bottom line being while ego can be an effective driving force when it comes to building a business – it can hurt if you inject it into your marketing.Chapter 18: The Law Of Success Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure. Ego is the enemy of successful marketing. Objectivity is what is needed. When people become successful, they tend to become less objective. They often substitute their own judgment for what the market wants. Ego can be an effective driving force in building a business. What hurts is injecting your ego in the marketing process. Brilliant marketers have the ability to think like how a prospect thinks. They put themselves in the shoes of their customers.The Law of Failure – Failure is to be expected and accepted.Too many companies try to fix things rather than drop things. For instance, American Motors should have abandoned passenger cars and focused on the Jeep. IBM should have dropped copiers and Xerox should have dropped computers years before they finally recognized their mistakes.Chapter 19: The Law Of Failure Failure is to be expected and accepted. Too many companies try to fix things rather than drop things. Admitting a mistake and not doing anything about it is bad for your career. A better strategy is to recognize failure early and cut losses.The Law of Hype – The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press.Hype usually means a company's in trouble. According to Ries and Trout, when things are going well you don't need hype.For example, new coke had tons of publicity, but as everyone knows it bombed. Remember Steve Job's NeXt Computers? All the hype in the world couldn't turn NexT Computers into the next big thing in computers.History is full of failures that were successful in the press. Tucker 48, US Football league, Videotext, the automated factory, the personal helicopter, the manufactured home, the picture phone, polyester suits. The essence of the hype was not just that these products would be successful, but they would render existing products obsolete.For the most part hype is hype. The authors tell us that "real revolutions don't arrive at high noon with marching bands and coverage on the 6:00 pm news. Real revolutions arrive unannounced in the middle of the night and sneak up on you."Chapter 20: The Law Of Hype The situation is often the opposite of the way it appears in the press. When things are going well, a company doesn't need the hype. When you need the hype, it usually means you're in trouble. Real revolutions in the industry don't arrive at high noon with marching bands. They arrive unannounced in the middle of the night and sneak up on you.The Law of Acceleration – Successful programs are not built on fads, they're built on trends.According to Ries and Trout, "A fad is a wave. A trend is the tide. A fad gets hype. A trend gets very little. A fad is a short-term phenomena that in the long-term doesn't do a company that much good".A great example they cite is Coleco Industries Cabbage Patch Kids. They hit the market in 1983. Two years later they had sales of 776 million with profits of 83 million.Then in 1988 the bottom fell out. Coleco filed for Chapter 11. (In 1989, they were acquired by Hasbro where Cabbage Patch Kids with more conservative marketing are doing quite well.)Fads don't last. When everyone has a Ninja turtle, nobody wants one anymore. Compare that to Barbie which is a trend and continues to be popular.Chapter 21: The Law Of Acceleration Successful programs are not build on fads, they are built on trends. A fad is like a wave in the ocean, and a trend is the tide. Like the wave, the fad is very visible but it goes up and down in a hurry. Like the tide, a trend is almost invisible, but very powerful over the long-term.A paradox: if you were faced with a rapidly rising business, with all the characteristics of a fad, the best thing you could do is to dampen the fad and stretch it out.The Law of Resources – Without adequate funding an idea won't get off the ground.The best idea in the world needs money to make it happen. A mediocre idea and a million dollars is better than a great idea with no money.Chapter 22: The Law Of Resources Without adequate funding, an idea won't get off the ground. You need money to get into a mind. And you need money to stay there. First get the idea, then get the money to exploit it.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-secret-to-success/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Nelumbo nucifera, or the sacred lotus, is a plant that grows in flood plains, rivers, and deltas. Their seeds can remain dormant for years and when floods come along, blossom into a colony of plants and flowers. Some of the oldest seeds can be found in China, where they're known to represent longevity. No surprise, given their level of nitrition and connection to the waters that irrigated crops by then. They also grow in far away lands, all the way to India and out to Australia. The flower is sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism, and further back in ancient Egypt. Padmasana is a Sanskrit term meaning lotus, or Padma, and Asana, or posture. The Pashupati seal from the Indus Valley civilization shows a diety in what's widely considered the first documented yoga pose, from around 2,500 BCE. 2,700 years later (give or take a century), the Hindu author and mystic Patanjali wrote a work referred to as the Yoga Sutras. Here he outlined the original asanas, or sitting yoga poses. The Rig Veda, from around 1,500 BCE, is the oldest currently known Vedic text. It is also the first to use the word “yoga”. It describes songs, rituals, and mantras the Brahmans of the day used - as well as the Padma. Further Vedic texts explore how the lotus grew out of Lord Vishnu with Brahma in the center. He created the Universe out of lotus petals. Lakshmi went on to grow out of a lotus from Vishnu as well. It was only natural that humans would attempt to align their own meditation practices with the beautiful meditatios of the lotus. By the 300s, art and coins showed people in the lotus position. It was described in texts that survive from the 8th century. Over the centuries contradictions in texts were clarified in a period known as Classical Yoga, then Tantra and and Hatha Yoga were developed and codified in the Post-Classical Yoga age, and as empires grew and India became a part of the British empire, Yoga began to travel to the west in the late 1800s. By 1893, Swami Vivekananda gave lectures at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago.  More practicioners meant more systems of yoga. Yogendra brought asanas to the United States in 1919, as more Indians migrated to the United States. Babaji's kriya yoga arrived in Boston in 1920. Then, as we've discussed in previous episodes, the United States tightened immigration in the 1920s and people had to go to India to get more training. Theos Bernard's Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience brought some of that knowledge home when he came back in 1947. Indra Devi opened a yoga studio in Hollywood and wrote books for housewives. She brought a whole system, or branch home. Walt and Magana Baptiste opened a studio in San Francisco. Swamis began to come to the US and more schools were opened. Richard Hittleman began to teach yoga in New York and began to teach on television in 1961. He was one of the first to seperate the religious aspect from the health benefits. By 1965, the immigration quotas were removed and a wave of teachers came to the US to teach yoga. The Beatles went to India in 1966 and 1968, and for many Transcendental Meditation took root, which has now grown to over a thousand training centers and over 40,000 teachers. Swamis opened meditation centers, institutes, started magazines, and even magazines. Yoga became so big that Rupert Holmes even poked fun of it in his song “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” in 1979. Yoga had become part of the counter-culture, and the generation that followed represented a backlash of sorts. A common theme of the rise of personal computers is that the early pioneers were a part of that counter-culture. Mitch Kapor graduated high school in 1967, just in time to be one of the best examples of that. Kapor built his own calculator in as a kid before going to camp to get his first exposure to programming on a Bendix. His high school got one of the 1620 IBM minicomputers and he got the bug. He went off to Yale at 16 and learned to program in APL and then found Computer Lib by Ted Nelson and learned BASIC. Then he discovered the Apple II.  Kapor did some programming for $5 per hour as a consultant, started the first east coast Apple User Group, and did some work around town. There are generations of people who did and do this kind of consulting, although now the rates are far higher. He met a grad student through the user group named Eric Rosenfeld who was working on his dissertation and needed some help programming, so Kapor wrote a little tool that took the idea of statistical analysis from the Time Shared Reactive Online Library, or TROLL, and ported it to the microcomputer, which he called Tiny Troll.  Then he enrolled in the MBA program at MIT. He got a chance to see VisiCalc and meet Bob Frankston and Dan Bricklin, who introduced him to the team at Personal Software. Personal Software was founded by Dan Fylstra and Peter Jennings when they published Microchips for the KIM-1 computer. That led to ports for the 1977 Trinity of the Commodore PET, Apple II, and TRS-80 and by then they had taken Bricklin and Franston's VisiCalc to market. VisiCalc was the killer app for those early PCs and helped make the Apple II successful. Personal Software brought Kapor on, as well as Bill Coleman of BEA Systems and Electronic Arts cofounder Rich Mellon. Today, software developers get around 70 percent royalties to publish software on app stores but at the time, fees were closer to 8 percent, a model pulled from book royalties. Much of the rest went to production of the box and disks, the sales and marketing, and support. Kapor was to write a product that could work with VisiCalc. By then Rosenfeld was off to the world of corporate finance so Kapor moved to Silicon Valley, learned how to run a startup, moved back east in 1979, and released VisiPlot and VisiTrend in 1981. He made over half a million dollars in the first six months in royalties.  By then, he bought out Rosenfeld's shares in what he was doing, hired Jonathan Sachs, who had been at MIT earlier, where he wrote the STOIC programming language, and then went to work at Data General. Sachs worked on spreadsheet ideas at Data General with a manager there, John Henderson, but after they left Data General, and the partnership fell apart, he worked with Kapor instead. They knew that for software to be fast, it needed to be written in a lower level language, so they picked the Intel 8088 assembly language given that C wasn't fast enough yet. The IBM PC came in 1981 and everything changed. Mitch Kapor and Jonathan Sachs started Lotus in 1982. Sachs got to work on what would become Lotus 1-2-3. Kapor turned out to be a great marketer and product manager. He listened to what customers said in focus groups. He pushed to make things simpler and use less jargon. They released a new spreadsheet tool in 1983 and it worked flawlessly on the IBM PC and while Microsoft had Multiplan and VisCalc was the incumbent spreadsheet program, Lotus quickly took market share from then and SuperCalc. Conceptually it looked similar to VisiCalc. They used the letter A for the first column, B for the second, etc. That has now become a standard in spreadsheets. They used the number 1 for the first row, the number 2 for the second. That too is now a standard. They added a split screen, also now a standard. They added macros, with branching if-then logic. They added different video modes, which could give color and bitmapping. They added an underlined letter so users could pull up a menu and quickly select the item they wanted once they had those orders memorized, now a standard in most menuing systems. They added the ability to add bar charts, pie charts, and line charts. One could even spread their sheet across multiple monitors like in a magazine. They refined how fields are calculated and took advantage of the larger amounts of memory to make Lotus far faster than anything else on the market. They went to Comdex towards the end of the year and introduced Lotus 1-2-3 to the world. The software could be used as a spreadsheet, but the 2 and 3 referred to graphics and database management. They did $900,000 in orders there before they went home. They couldn't even keep up with the duplication of disks. Comdex was still invitation only. It became so popular that it was used to test for IBM compatibility by clone makers and where VisiCalc became the app that helped propel the Apple II to success, Lotus 1-2-3 became the app that helped propel the IBM PC to success. Lotus was rewarded with $53 million in sales for 1983 and $156 million in 1984. Mitch Kapor found himself. They quickly scaled from less than 20 to 750 employees. They brought in Freada Klein who got her PhD to be the Head of Employee Relations and charged her with making them the most progressive employer around. After her success at Lotus, she left to start her own company and later married. Sachs left the company in 1985 and moved on to focus solely on graphics software. He still responds to requests on the phpBB forum at dl-c.com. They ran TV commercials. They released a suite of Mac apps they called Lotus Jazz. More television commercials. Jazz didn't go anywhere and only sold 20,000 copies. Meanwhile, Microsoft released Excel for the Mac, which sold ten times as many. Some blamed the lack os sales on the stringent copy protection. Others blamed the lack of memory to do cool stuff. Others blamed the high price. It was the first major setback for the young company.  After a meteoric rise, Kapor left the company in 1986, at about the height of their success. He  replaced himself with Jim Manzi. Manzi pushed the company into network applications. These would become the center of the market but were just catching on and didn't prove to be a profitable venture just yet. A defensive posture rather than expanding into an adjacent market would have made sense, at least if anyone knew how aggressive Microsoft was about to get it would have.  Manzi was far more concerned about the millions of illegal copies of the software in the market than innovation though. As we turned the page to the 1990s, Lotus had moved to a product built in C and introduced the ability to use graphical components in the software but not wouldn't be ported to the new Windows operating system until 1991 for Windows 3. By then there were plenty of competitors, including Quattro Pro and while Microsoft Excel began on the Mac, it had been a showcase of cool new features a windowing operating system could provide an application since released for Windows in 1987. Especially what they called 3d charts and tabbed spreadsheets. There was no catching up to Microsoft by then and sales steadily declined. By then, Lotus released Lotus Agenda, an information manager that could be used for time management, project management, and as a database. Kapor was a great product manager so it stands to reason he would build a great product to manage products. Agenda never found commercial success though, so was later open sourced under a GPL license. Bill Gross wrote Magellan there before he left to found GoTo.com, which was renamed to Overture and pioneered the idea of paid search advertising, which was acquired by Yahoo!. Magellan cataloged the internal drive and so became a search engine for that. It sold half a million copies and should have been profitable but was cancelled in 1990. They also released a word processor called Manuscript in 1986, which never gained traction and that was cancelled in 1989, just when a suite of office automation apps needed to be more cohesive.  Ray Ozzie had been hired at Software Arts to work on VisiCalc and then helped Lotus get Symphony out the door. Symphony shipped in 1984 and expanded from a spreadsheet to add on text with the DOC word processor, and charts with the GRAPH graphics program, FORM for a table management solution, and COM for communications. Ozzie dutifully shipped what he was hired to work on but had a deal that he could build a company when they were done that would design software that Lotus would then sell. A match made in heaven as Ozzie worked on PLATO and borrowed the ideas of PLATO Notes, a collaboration tool developed at the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana  to build what he called Lotus Notes.  PLATO was more more than productivity. It was a community that spanned decades and Control Data Corporation had failed to take it to the mass corporate market. Ozzie took the best parts for a company and built it in isolation from the rest of Lotus. They finally released it as Lotus Notes in 1989. It was a huge success and Lotus bought Iris in 1994. Yet they never found commercial success with other socket-based client server programs and IBM acquired Lotus in 1995. That product is now known as Domino, the name of the Notes 4 server, released in 1996. Ozzie went on to build a company called Groove Networks, which was acquired by Microsoft, who appointed him one of their Chief Technology Officers. When Bill Gates left Microsoft, Ozzie took the position of Chief Software Architect he vacated. He and Dave Cutler went on to work on a project called Red Dog, which evolved into what we now know as Microsoft Azure.  Few would have guessed that Ozzie and Kapor's handshake agreement on Notes could have become a real product. Not only could people not understand the concept of collaboration and productivity on a network in the late 1980s but the type of deal hadn't been done. But Kapor by then realized that larger companies had a hard time shipping net-new software properly. Sometimes those projects are best done in isolation. And all the better if the parties involved are financially motivated with shares like Kapor wanted in Personal Software in the 1970s before he wrote Lotus 1-2-3. VisiCalc had sold about a million copies but that would cease production the same year Excel was released. Lotus hung on longer than most who competed with Microsoft on any beachhead they blitzkrieged. Microsoft released Exchange Server in 1996 and Notes had a few good years before Exchange moved in to become the standard in that market. Excel began on the Mac but took the market from Lotus eventually, after Charles Simonyi stepped in to help make the product great.  Along the way, the Lotus ecosystem created other companies, just as they were born in the Visi ecosystem. Symantec became what we now call a “portfolio” company in 1985 when they introduced NoteIt, a natural language processing tool used to annotate docs in Lotus 1-2-3. But Bill Gates mentioned Lotus by name multiple times as a competitor in his Internet Tidal Wave memo in 1995. He mentioned specific features, like how they could do secure internet browsing and that they had a web publisher tool - Microsoft's own FrontPage was released in 1995 as well. He mentioned an internet directory project with Novell and AT&T. Active Directory was released a few years later in 1999, after Jim Allchin had come in to help shepherd LAN Manager. Notes itself survived into the modern era, but by 2004 Blackberry released their Exchange connector before they released the Lotus Domino connector. That's never a good sign. Some of the history of Lotus is covered in Scott Rosenberg's 2008 book, Dreaming in Code. Others are documented here and there in other places. Still others are lost to time. Kapor went on to invest in UUNET, which became a huge early internet service provider. He invested in Real Networks, who launched the first streaming media service on the Internet. He invested in the creators of Second Life. He never seemed vindictive with Microsoft but after AOL acquired Netscape and Microsoft won the first browser war, he became the founding chair of the Mozilla Foundation and so helped bring Firefox to market. By 2006, Firefox took 10 percent of the market and went on to be a dominant force in browsers. Kapor has also sat on boards and acted as an angel investor for startups ever since leaving the company he founded. He also flew to Wyoming in 1990 after he read a post on The WELL from John Perry Barlow. Barlow was one of the great thinkers of the early Internet. They worked with Sun Microsystems and GNU Debugging Cypherpunk John Gilmore to found the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF. The EFF has since been the nonprofit who leads the fight for “digital privacy, free speech, and innovation.” So not everything is about business.    

The Business of Meetings – Episode 169 – Are You Ready for AI? With Jim Spellos Today, we have the great pleasure of speaking with an old industry friend and true industry luminary, Jim Spellos! Jim is the President of Meeting U. He holds a wealth of knowledge, matched only by his captivating personality, that can guide individuals and companies in navigating and harnessing the power of technology. He joins us to share his insights and expertise, dispel fears, and equip listeners with the confidence to apply technology effectively.  Meeting U is a company dedicated to demystifying technology and empowering its users. In today's exclusive interview, we embark on an insightful journey of exploring the intricacies of AI technology. We discuss its seamless integration into our lives and touch on the age-old question of whether we should fear its advancement. Jim also shares the inspiring story of his journey to good health.  Get ready for a thought-provoking conversation as we dive into the world of tech and beyond with the extraordinary Jim Spellos!  Jim's story Jim stumbled into the hospitality industry by chance, just like many others. After college, he worked at a physics organization, doing basic copy editing tasks under the guidance of his boss, a brilliant man who had worked on the Manhattan Project and held the esteemed position of Dean of Nuclear Physics at Columbia University. It was there that Jim's journey took an unexpected turn. About a year into his job, his boss offered him the responsibility of handling meetings, assuring him that it was a straightforward task. Little did Jim know that his next assignment would be overseeing a gathering of 1,500 people in New York. Determined to rise to the challenge, Jim embraced the opportunity with gusto, marking the beginning of his 20-year-long career in the meeting industry. Simultaneously, his boss introduced him to a new technology—an IBM PC, the only one in the organization. Intrigued, Jim began exploring the possibilities and taught himself database management. That marked the beginning of his second career as he transitioned into teaching and became a go-to expert in the industry. Over the years, Jim's passion for technology and teaching led him to join NYU as an instructor specializing in event technology. By the late 1990s, he realized that teaching technology could be his calling. In 1999, he embarked on a journey that continues to this day.  Things were different back in the 1980s During the 1980s, the landscape of events and meetings was distinctively different. While there were occasional events that required Secret Service involvement, such as gatherings with Nobel laureates, most of the meetings were comprised of everyday individuals. What should we be thinking about AI technology? We need to embrace technology as a tool that can be used for both positive and negative purposes. Technology, including AI, is neither inherently good nor bad because its use and application determine its impact. On the positive side, technology has advanced medical research and scientific understanding, allowing for the processing and utilization of vast amounts of information. However, it also has the potential to influence people's beliefs and narratives.  Job security Some jobs may be lost, and some gained, as technology evolves. AI, like ChatGPT, is a tool that can process information quickly and engage in conversations, which can blur the line between human and AI interaction.  The impact of AI on the industry The hotel and large business sectors already understand the power of AI for analyzing customer data and improving decision-making. However, the future influence of AI on the meeting industry is still uncertain.  Looking ahead In the future, organizations will utilize compartmentalized AI to scrape and combine information to create personalized content. However, it will be essential to address any biases in AI systems.  AI as a complement to human intelligence AI should be seen as a complement to human intelligence because it allows the generation of nuanced and valuable insights when used together with human input. Productivity for business owners Jim realizes the potential of AI for business owners but acknowledges its imperfections. He explains that AI, like ChatGPT, is generative and does not access the internet for information. It operates on what it has learned from a specific dataset and predicts the next word based on context and the question asked without having comprehensive knowledge. So, to utilize AI effectively, it is crucial to ask the right questions and not expect AI to possess all-encompassing knowledge. Coding There is currently a shortage of coders. Jim focuses on teaching people to use low-code tools that allow them to build apps without extensive coding knowledge. However, those tools will not eliminate the need for coders because quality control, nuanced tasks, and proper integration still require coding expertise.  A most exciting time Jim is enthusiastic about the current tech landscape and considers this time the most exciting time for consumers since the emergence of search engines 25 to 30 years ago! A challenge for business owners It is challenging for business owners to scale their organizations when involved in day-to-day tasks. That is why they should focus instead on raising capital, understanding marketing and sales, and finding the right people to handle those areas. Jim believes management issues are not only technology-related but also a constant challenge across generations. Business owners need a good understanding of technology and its potential to guide their teams in utilizing it effectively. It is also crucial for them to provide the necessary resources, whether internal or external, for their teams to learn and implement new technologies.  A delicate balance A delicate balance is required for business owners to allow their teams space while staying involved enough to provide guidance and direction based on their knowledge. Jim encourages business owners to be aware and informed about technology but avoid excessive micromanagement. Certificates Jim holds a certificate from Cornell that does not directly relate to meetings and events. He recognizes the challenges of obtaining certificates and diplomas and acknowledges their value.  Jim's health journey Jim experienced health issues that involved battling heart disease and struggling with excess weight over the past seven years. Through extensive research and scientific findings, he discovered the immense benefits of embracing a plant-based lifestyle that includes more than just dietary choices. It also involves stress reduction, sufficient sleep, and a holistic approach to well-being.  Engaging with the plant-based community Jim engages actively in the plant-based community. He collaborates with organizations and delivers presentations on his own transformative experience. He is particularly excited about the Jewish Veg Jumpstarters, where he guides participants through a 21-day program focusing on the health advantages of a plant-based lifestyle and its impact on society and the environment. Jim and his team provide the participants with essential resources, scientific evidence, and mentorship, empowering them to adopt positive changes and incorporate them into their lives according to their preferences. Jim's passion for promoting healthy lifestyles While Jim thoroughly enjoys teaching technology, he is also passionate about promoting healthy lifestyles and educating others on the importance of proper nutrition. Inspired by his personal journey, he has merged his tech expertise with health information to create an app that features 400 plant-based recipes. The importance of pursuing passions  Jim firmly believes in the significance of pursuing passions and embracing diverse interests. Rather than limiting oneself to a single endeavor, he advocates for integrating various aspects of life to cultivate a fulfilling and enriching existence. Whether it involves teaching technology, advocating for healthy living, or exploring other areas of interest, Jim remains dedicated to making a positive impact and empowering others to lead healthier and happier lives! Connect with Eric On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website Connect with Jim Spellos On his website On LinkedIn On Facebook On Twitter  

Floppy Days 126 - Interview with Bob Frankston, Co-developer of Visicalc Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors: 8-Bit Classics  Arcade Shopper   Hello, everyone!  Welcome to episode 126 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with yours truly, Randy Kindig, as the host. Everyone, and I mean everyone, listening to this podcast has surely heard of the ground-breaking application (for its time) Visicalc.  Visicalc was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979.  It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later.  More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history.   Initially developed for the Apple II computer, VisiCalc was ported to numerous platforms, both 8-bit and some of the early 16-bit systems, such as the Commodore PET, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80 (TRSDOS), CP/M, MS-DOS, and even the HP Series 80. VisiCalc was later replaced in the market by Lotus 1-2-3 and eventually by Microsoft's Excel, which is the dominant spreadsheet today.  Spreadsheets, along with word processors, and presentation tools are still today considered one of the key applications for computing. Bob Frankston, along with Dan Bricklin, are the co-inventors of VisiCalc.  This month, we have an interview with the aforementioned Bob Frankston.  Bob was kind enough to take time to talk with me about what it was like to create such a ground-breaking tool. Before doing that, I have a few new acquisitions to discuss and I'll tell you about upcoming computer shows. New Acquisitions/What I've Been Up To Retro Innovations  Lige and the YouTube show “The Commodore Room” - https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554  Console5 (cap kits)  Upcoming Shows The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the Portland Retro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/  Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info  VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org  Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start  Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - July 1-2 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/  KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 (in-person) - July 29–30, 2023 (virtual) - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/  Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/  ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/  Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se  Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/  VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/  Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/  AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net  Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/  Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/   World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/  http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html  Facebook show listings - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/  Interview Bob's Website - https://www.frankston.com/  New York Times article on Bricklin and Frankston joining Lotus (acquisition) - https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/10/business/business-people-former-friendly-rivals-joining-forces-at-lotus.html  Bob interview on TwitTV - https://twit.tv/shows/triangulation/episodes/4 

This week on TechTime with Nathan Mumm®, TikTok Ban or No Ban? We explain 4 Scenarios that might play out in this TikTok situation. ChatGPT might be in some legal trouble, and Guest Gwen Way has a new item on Gadgets and Gear. We also have our LETTERS Segment back with a few new spam email threats you will want to listen to and learn about.Join us on TechTime Radio with Nathan Mumm, the show that makes you go "Hummmm" Technology news of the week for April 9th – 15th, 2023Episode 148: Starts at 1:04--- [Now on Today's Show]: Starts at 2:30--- [Top Stories in Technology]: Starts at 3:49TikTok is in limbo for next steps in the US - https://tinyurl.com/48rypkz2ChatGPT: Mayor starts legal bid over false bribery claim - https://tinyurl.com/36e87c5vExperience Every 'Star Trek' Movie in 4K HDR for the First Time - April 4th--- [Pick of the Day - Whiskey Tasting Reveal]: Starts at 21:051792 Small Batch Bourbon | 93.7 Proof | $31.95--- [Gadgets and Gear with Gwen Way]: Starts at 23:18Kickstarter Item - Heisenberg LawnMeister All-in-One Robot Mower with Vision AI--- [This Week in Technology]: Starts at 36:59April 11, 1985 John Sculley takes down Steve JobsAlmost exactly 2 years after joining Apple, John Sculley, asks Steve Jobs to step down as head of the Macintosh division at an Apple Computer board meeting. Sculley's and Jobs's visions for the company greatly differed. Sculley favored open architecture computers like the Apple II, targeting education, small business, and home markets less vulnerable to IBM. Jobs wanted the company to focus on the closed architecture Macintosh as a business alternative to the IBM PC.--- [Marc's Whiskey Mumble]: Starts at 40:30--- [Letters]: Starts at 44:25Mike and Nathan share this week's informative emails that were received during the week. This includes scams, phishing emails, and all-out mistruths disguised as legitimate emails.--- [Mike's Mesmerizing Moment brought to us by StoriCoffee®]: Starts at 53:40Why are rating systems so successful and why do I get anxious about getting a negative review?  --- [Pick of the Day Whiskey Review]: Starts at 54:561792 Small Batch Bourbon | 93.7 Proof | $31.95Mike: Thumbs UpNathan: Thumbs Up

【Mini Insider】如今汽车行业的中国制造已经拥有与合资叫板的实力，中国车企也有了属于自己的扎实中坚力量。而在十多年前，我国自主市场仍然是一片迷雾，合资汽车在市场上大行其道，国内车企基本只有靠卖微型汽车才能够艰难的存活。而正式在彼时，民营车企吉利做出了一个让世界震惊的决定，用自己的全部资金收购了沃尔沃汽车公司。这笔被外界誉为蛇吞象的收购，在彼时的中国汽车界掀起了巨大的波澜，也是继2004年联想集团收购IBM PC之后，中国公司最重要的海外收购。今天就让我们一起打开历史，回顾这段惊心动魄的海外收购经历和国产车企“造车”往事里的勃勃野心。本期节目我们主要聊了以下几点，⭕️ 沃尔沃是谁？最安全和环保的车1999年被福特收购⭕️ 为什么要收购？李书福的野心机遇出现，多次问价，多次被拒⭕️ 不对等的买卖真的能谈成嘛？天时：2008年全球金融危机，福特急需甩掉沃尔沃这个包袱人和：组建200人的收购天团，罗斯柴尔德基金担任此次财务顾问吉利为此做了五年的准备半路杀出的竞争对手们价格谈判的三连⭕️ 钱从哪里来？地方政府融资（上海嘉定、大庆油田出资）来自欧洲的贷款和卖方融资⭕️ 价格谈定后，真正的困难才刚刚到来专利切割和谈判瑞典工会（上汽收购韩国双龙汽车最终因为工会问题无法解决40亿告吹）⭕️ 吉利收购沃尔沃后的十年“沃人治沃”，放虎归山2021年沃尔沃实现上市随着吉利的疲软陷入困境主播 / 珂珂 王妈妈封面设计 / 珂珂 音频剪辑 / 珂珂Shownotes / 王妈妈 珂珂如何加入听友群？微信公众号搜索「无时差研究所」，后台回复「入群」，扫描小助手二维码就可以啦！【Mini Insider】 如今汽车行业的中国制造已经拥有与合资叫板的实力，中国车企也有了属于自己的扎实中坚力量。而在十多年前，我国自主市场仍然是一片迷雾，合资汽车在市场上大行其道，国内车企基本只有靠卖微型汽车才能够艰难的存活。而正式在彼时，民营车企吉利做出了一个让世界震惊的决定，用自己的全部资金收购了沃尔沃汽车公司。这笔被外界誉为蛇吞象的收购，在彼时的中国汽车界掀起了巨大的波澜，也是继2004年联想集团收购IBM PC之后，中国公司最重要的海外收购。今天就让我们一起打开历史，回顾这段惊心动魄的海外收购经历和国产车企“造车”往事里的勃勃野心。本期节目我们主要聊了以下几点，⭕️ 沃尔沃是谁？最安全和环保的车1999年被福特收购⭕️ 为什么要收购？李书福的野心机遇出现，多次问价，多次被拒⭕️ 不对等的买卖真的能谈成嘛？天时：2008年全球金融危机，福特急需甩掉沃尔沃这个包袱人和：组建200人的收购天团，罗斯柴尔德基金担任此次财务顾问吉利为此做了五年的准备半路杀出的竞争对手们价格谈判的三连⭕️ 钱从哪里来？地方政府融资（上海嘉定、大庆油田出资）来自欧洲的贷款和卖方融资⭕️ 价格谈定后，真正的困难才刚刚到来专利切割和谈判瑞典工会（上汽收购韩国双龙汽车最终因为工会问题无法解决40亿告吹）⭕️ 吉利收购沃尔沃后的十年 “沃人治沃”，放虎归山2021年沃尔沃实现上市随着吉利的疲软陷入困境主播 / 珂珂 王妈妈封面设计 / 珂珂 音频剪辑 / 珂珂Shownotes / 王妈妈 珂珂如何加入听友群？微信公众号搜索「无时差研究所」，后台回复「入群」，扫描小助手二维码就可以啦！“每一次准备播客的过程，都带我们走到了某一个小小议题的门口，而每个嘉宾都是一把钥匙，ta 领着我们看到了全新的、更大的世界，ta 让我对世界多了一些了解，即便每次都有一点点，它都成为了我们生命里的一个小小刻度，也希望它也能帮助到你~”节目每周一定期更新。如果你喜欢我们，欢迎关注无时差研究所同名公众号或者爱发电https://afdian.net/@timetravel给我们送来你的心意哦！同时欢迎在全平台搜索并订阅无时差研究所。“每一次准备播客的过程，都带我们走到了某一个小小议题的门口，而每个嘉宾都是一把钥匙，ta 领着我们看到了全新的、更大的世界，ta 让我对世界多了一些了解，即便每次都有一点点，它都成为了我们生命里的一个小小刻度，也希望它也能帮助到你~”节目每周一定期更新。如果你喜欢我们，欢迎关注无时差研究所同名公众号或者爱发电https://afdian.net/@timetravel给我们送来你的心意哦！同时欢迎在全平台搜索并订阅无时差研究所。

Quizmasters Lee and Marc meet with Fletcher for a trivia quiz with topics including History, Movies, Animals, Computers, Greek Mythology, Anatomy, Food & Beverage, Olympics and more! Round One MCU - Besides 2020, which year was the only to have no movie installments in the MCU (since its inception with the release of Iron Man in 2008)? NEW YORK CITY - Though the third largest in terms of land area, which is the least populous of the five New York City boroughs? MOVIES - With an estimated count of 300,000, what movie holds the record for most extras used? ANIMALS - What type of crocodilian is a close relative to the alligator but features a few notable differences including longer and sharper teeth and more agile movement? HISTORY - Operation: Just Cause was the codename of the U.S.invasion of what transcontinental country (spanning from December of 1989 til January of 1990)? COMPUTERS - Simply called 'brain' the first computer virus for IBM PC's (and compatibles) was released in what year? Round Two VIDEO GAMES - What is the name of the video game pair of a honey bear and a bird, that were featured in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as well as their own series of games? MOVIE LOCATIONS - Found in Western Ireland, what is the real name or the fictional name that is featured as the setting in the intro of 1987's film The Princess Bride? GREEK MYTHOLOGY - Who was the Greek god of language, commerce and thieves? GEOGRAPHY - Keflavik International Airport is located in which country? ANATOMY - Located in the head, what is the common name for what the medical community refers to as the 'tympanic membrane' of the human body? FOOD & BEVERAGE - The company behind what well-known beverage was originally called "Unadulterated Food Products"? Rate My Question HOLLYWOOD - Film director James Cameron has been married four times; three of his ex-wives worked in the film industry. A producer, a director, and an actress. Name two of them. Final Questions VOCABULARY - Coined by Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey, and most well-known for use in comic strips, what is the term for a string of typographic symbols standing in for profanity? CELEBRITIES - In 2006, what celebrity sold their kidney stone for $25,000 with the proceeds benefiting Habitat for Humanity? OLYMPICS - While 2020 saw the introduction of skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing to the Summer Olympic Games, what activity (first developed in New York City in the 1970's) will be featured as an event for the first time in 2024? ACADEMY AWARDS - Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director? Upcoming LIVE Know Nonsense Trivia Challenges March 15th, 2023 - Know Nonsense Challenge - Point Ybel Brewing Co. - 7:30 pm EST March 16th, 2023 - Know Nonsense Trivia Challenge - Ollie's Pub Records and Beer - 7:30 pm EST March 25th, 2023 - FRIENDS TRIVIA - Know Nonsense Challenge - Point Ybel Brewing Co. - 7:30 pm EST You can find out more information about that and all of our live events online at KnowNonsenseTrivia.com All of the Know Nonsense events are free to play and you can win prizes after every round. Thank you Thanks to our supporters on Patreon. Thank you, Quizdaddies – Gil, Tim, Tommy, Adam, Brandon, Blake, Spencer Thank you, Team Captains – Kristin & Fletcher, Aaron, Matthew, David Holbrook, Mo, Lydia, Rick G, Skyler, Hayden Thank you, Proverbial Lightkeepers – Elyse, Kaitlynn, Frank, Trent, Nina, Justin, Katie, Ryan, Robb, Captain Nick, Grant, Ian, Tim Gomez, Rachael, Moo, Rikki, Nabeel, Jon Lewis, Adam, Lisa, Spencer, Hank, Justin P., Cooper, Sarah, Karly, Lucas, Mike K., Cole, Adam, Caitlyn H, Sam, Spencer, Stephen, Cameron, Clay, JB, Joshua, James, Paul Thank you, Rumplesnailtskins – Mike J., Mike C., Efren, Steven, Kenya, Dallas, Issa, Paige, Allison, Kevin & Sara, Alex, Loren, MJ, HBomb, Aaron, Laurel, FoxenV, Sarah, Edsicalz, Megan, brandon, Chris, Alec, Sai, Nathan, Tim, Andrea, Ian, Aunt Kiki, Clay, Littlestoflambs, Seth, Bill, Marc P., Holgast, Nora, Joe If you'd like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content, please visit http://theknowno.com and click "Support." Special Guest: Fletcher.

We've talked about the history of microchips, transistors, and other chip makers. Today we're going to talk about Intel in a little more detail.  Intel is short for Integrated Electronics. They were founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore. Noyce was an Iowa kid who went off to MIT to get a PhD in physics in 1953. He went off to join the Shockley Semiconductor Lab to join up with William Shockley who'd developed the transistor as a means of bringing a solid-state alternative to vacuum tubes in computers and amplifiers. Shockley became erratic after he won the Nobel Prize and 8 of the researchers left, now known as the “traitorous eight.”  Between them came over 60 companies, including Intel - but first they went on to create a new company called Fairchild Semiconductor where Noyce invented the monolithic integrated circuit in 1959, or a single chip that contains multiple transistors.  After 10 years at Fairchild, Noyce joined up with coworker and fellow traitor Gordon Moore. Moore had gotten his PhD in chemistry from Caltech and had made an observation while at Fairchild that the number of transistors, resistors, diodes, or capacitors in an integrated circuit was doubling every year and so coined Moore's Law, that it would continue to to do so. They wanted to make semiconductor memory cheaper and more practical. They needed money to continue their research. Arthur Rock had helped them find a home at Fairchild when they left Shockley and helped them raise $2.5 million in backing in a couple of days.  The first day of the company, Andy Grove joined them from Fairchild. He'd fled the Hungarian revolution in the 50s and gotten a PhD in chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Then came Leslie Vadász, another Hungarian emigrant. Funding and money coming in from sales allowed them to hire some of the best in the business. People like Ted Hoff , Federico Faggin, and Stan Mazor. That first year they released 64-bit static random-access memory in the 3101 chip, doubling what was on the market as well as the 3301 read-only memory chip, and the 1101. Then DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory in the 1103 in 1970, which became the bestselling chip within the first couple of years. Armed with a lineup of chips and an explosion of companies that wanted to buy the chips, they went public within 2 years of being founded. 1971 saw Dov Frohman develop erasable programmable read-only memory, or EPROM, while working on a different problem. This meant they could reprogram chips using ultraviolet light and electricity. In 1971 they also created the Intel 4004 chip, which was started in 1969 when a calculator manufacturer out of Japan ask them to develop 12 different chips. Instead they made one that could do all of the tasks of the 12, outperforming the ENIAC from 1946 and so the era of the microprocessor was born. And instead of taking up a basement at a university lab, it took up an eight of an inch by a sixth of an inch to hold a whopping 2,300 transistors. The chip didn't contribute a ton to the bottom line of the company, but they'd built the first true microprocessor, which would eventually be what they were known for. Instead they were making DRAM chips. But then came the 8008 in 1972, ushering in an 8-bit CPU. The memory chips were being used by other companies developing their own processors but they knew how and the Computer Terminal Corporation was looking to develop what was a trend for a hot minute, called programmable terminals. And given the doubling of speeds those gave way to microcomputers within just a few years. The Intel 8080 was a 2 MHz chip that became the basis of the Altair 8800, SOL-20, and IMSAI 8080. By then Motorola, Zilog, and MOS Technology were hot on their heals releasing the Z80 and 6802 processors. But Gary Kildall wrote CP/M, one of the first operating systems, initially for the 8080 prior to porting it to other chips. Sales had been good and Intel had been growing. By 1979 they saw the future was in chips and opened a new office in Haifa, Israiel, where they designed the 8088, which clocked in at 4.77 MHz. IBM chose this chip to be used in the original IBM Personal Computer. IBM was going to use an 8-bit chip, but the team at Microsoft talked them into going with the 16-bit 8088 and thus created the foundation of what would become the Wintel or Intel architecture, or x86, which would dominate the personal computer market for the next 40 years. One reason IBM trusted Intel is that they had proven to be innovators. They had effectively invented the integrated circuit, then the microprocessor, then coined Moore's Law, and by 1980 had built a 15,000 person company capable of shipping product in large quantities. They were intentional about culture, looking for openness, distributed decision making, and trading off bureaucracy for figuring out cool stuff. That IBM decision to use that Intel chip is one of the most impactful in the entire history of personal computers. Based on Microsoft DOS and then Windows being able to run on the architecture, nearly every laptop and desktop would run on that original 8088/86 architecture. Based on the standards, Intel and Microsoft would both market that their products ran not only on those IBM PCs but also on any PC using the same architecture and so IBM's hold on the computing world would slowly wither. On the back of all these chips, revenue shot past $1 billion for the first time in 1983. IBM bought 12 percent of the company in 1982 and thus gave them the Big Blue seal of approval, something important event today. And the hits kept on coming with the 286 to 486 chips coming along during the 1980s. Intel brought the 80286 to market and it was used in the IBM PC AT in 1984. This new chip brought new ways to manage addresses, the first that could do memory management, and the first Intel chip where we saw protected mode so we could get virtual memory and multi-tasking.  All of this was made possible with over a hundred thousand transistors. At the time the original Mac used a Motorola 68000 but the sales were sluggish while they flourished at IBM and slowly we saw the rise of the companies cloning the IBM architecture, like Compaq. Still using those Intel chips.  Jerry Sanders had actually left Fairchild a little before Noyce and Moore to found AMD and ended up cloning the instructions in the 80286, after entering into a technology exchange agreement with Intel. This led to AMD making the chips at volume and selling them on the open market. AMD would go on to fast-follow Intel for decades. The 80386 would go on to simply be known as the Intel 386, with over 275,000 transistors. It was launched in 1985, but we didn't see a lot of companies use them until the early 1990s. The 486 came in 1989. Now we were up to a million transistors as well as a math coprocessor. We were 50 times faster than the 4004 that had come out less than 20 years earlier.  I don't want to take anything away from the phenomenal run of research and development at Intel during this time but the chips and cores and amazing developments were on autopilot. The 80s also saw them invest half a billion in reinvigorating their manufacturing plants. With quality manufacturing allowing for a new era of printing chips, the 90s were just as good to Intel. I like to think of this as the Pentium decade with the first Pentium in 1993. 32-bit here we come. Revenues jumped 50 percent that year closing in on $9 billion. Intel had been running an advertising campaign around Intel Inside. This represented a shift from the IBM PC to the Intel. The Pentium Pro came in 1995 and we'd crossed 5 million transistors in each chip. And the brand equity was rising fast. More importantly, so was revenue. 1996 saw revenues pass $20 billion. The personal computer was showing up in homes and on desks across the world and most had Intel Inside - in fact we'd gone from Intel inside to Pentium Inside. 1997 brought us the Pentium II with over 7 million transistors, the Xeon came in 1998 for servers, and 1999 Pentium III. By 2000 they introduced the first gigahertz processor at Intel and they announced the next generation after Pentium: Itanium, finally moving the world to the 64 bit processor.  As processor speeds slowed they were able to bring multi-core processors and massive parallelism out of the hallowed halls of research and to the desktop computer in 2005. 2006 saw Intel go from just Windows to the Mac. And we got 45 nanometer logic technology in 2006 using hafnium-based high-k for transistor gates represented a shift from the silicon-gated transistors of the 60s and allowed them to move to hundreds of millions of transistors packed into a single chip. i3, i5, i7, an on. The chips now have over a couple hundred million transistors per core with 8 cores on a chip potentially putting us over 1.7 or 1.8 transistors per chip. Microsoft, IBM, Apple, and so many others went through huge growth and sales jumps then retreated dealing with how to run a company of the size they suddenly became. This led each to invest heavily into ending a lost decade effectively with R&D - like when IBM built the S/360 or Apple developed the iMac and then iPod. Intel's strategy had been research and development. Build amazing products and they sold. Bigger, faster, better. The focus had been on power. But mobile devices were starting to take the market by storm. And the ARM chip was more popular on those because with a reduced set of instructions they could use less power and be a bit more versatile.  Intel coined Moore's Law. They know that if they don't find ways to pack more and more transistors into smaller and smaller spaces then someone else will. And while they haven't been huge in the RISC-based System on a Chip space, they do continue to release new products and look for the right product-market fit. Just like they did when they went from more DRAM and SRAM to producing the types of chips that made them into a powerhouse. And on the back of a steadily rising revenue stream that's now over $77 billion they seem poised to be able to whether any storm. Not only on the back of R&D but also some of the best manufacturing in the industry.  Chips today are so powerful and small and contain the whole computer from the era of those Pentiums. Just as that 4004 chip contained a whole ENIAC. This gives us a nearly limitless canvas to design software. Machine learning on a SoC expands the reach of what that software can process. Technology is moving so fast in part because of the amazing work done at places like Intel, AMD, and ARM. Maybe that positronic brain that Asimov promised us isn't as far off as it seems. But then, I thought that in the 90s as well so I guess we'll see.        

This week's Misfit Entrepreneur is Dean Guida.  Dean has a storied history.  Dean launched his first company Infragistics in 1989.  Being a startup with just 10 people, he went head to head against Microsoft for a $300k deal with Philadelphia Conrail—and won. From there, he never looked back.  The company has grown to 250 employees across 6 countries, without ever accepting outside funding. Today, the company boasts a client roster that includes 100% of the S&P 500, including Intuit, Exxon and Morgan Stanley. One of the things Dean saw as he built his own business and observed teams at hundreds of others is the struggle they have to bring the right tools together to drive decisions and effectively use data.  He started his latest company Slingshot to help solve this challenge. Dean has a wealth of experience and knowledge, but one of the things I most want to speak with him about is how you can better use data in your business to grow and thrive. www.Slingshotapp.io When Dean was 15, he was saving up to buy a car, but bought an IBM PC instead.  He fell in love with computers and taught himself how to program.  He'd always been an entrepreneur at heart.  As he grew up, he brought these two passions together and 35 years ago, started Infragistics bootstrapping it while freelance consulting for IBM on Wall Street.  He would work during the day and code at night.  They worked out of their apartment building their first product.  After a year, they got a small office.  He learned quickly that “Sales solves all problems” and taught himself to sell to drive the company forward.   You've been in business 35 years.  What do you credit as the biggest reasons for that? ·       You need to create a learning organization where people grow, solve problems, and take initiative. ·       Putting processes in place and a culture where people are excited to collaborate and ask for help, share ideas, etc. ·       Be careful not to higher everyone like you.  Get diversity of thinking.  ·       Use data to make decisions and collaborate around it.  It is more than growth hacking.  It is using the scientific method to drive real business outcomes. ·       You need to do experiments based on the data and hypothesis.  You will learn and get better and better with each iteration. At the 12:30 mark, I asked Dean how he went head to head with Microsoft in a true David vs. Goliath scenario and won…. ·       It was early in the company. ·       People were just starting to move from mainframes to PCs. ·       It was with a big railroad company.  ·       Dean had to compete against Microsoft Visual Basic with their tool that allowed coders to use C++ and make it visual.  That was their edge over Microsoft because C++ was better for coding, but harder, so Infragistics  made it easy like Microsoft VB.  ·       Being small and new, the client also needed to trust that the company would be around, so Dean spent a lot of time showing them how they would be and built the trust with a better product to win. Talk to us about the entrepreneur mindset – what have you learned about the mental game of entrepreneurship? ·       The entrepreneur journey is similar in a lot of respects across entrepreneurs. ·       First, you must have the courage to get started and start. ·       Second, you must be and stay curious. ·       It's a commitment to grit.  The long-term focus and putting your effort into the things you have control over working toward to goal. ·       Be present and open to opportunity.  Be visible as a company and leader.  ·       Practice outside-in thinking…. Using data to drive a business.  What should entrepreneurs know about making the best use of the data that they have? ·       Data by itself leads to more questions. ·       You need to start with the fundamentals:  Sales data, marketing data, click through rates, targeting/segmenting your target market. ·       If you target well early on, you will be so much better off.  Industry, title, the group of people with the most pain that your solution solves. ·       With data, you need to keep asking why.  Data will tell you what is happening, but you need to ask why and dig into to get the answers to improve outcomes. Best advice on how to get target market right and how do you use the scientific method with data to drive outcomes? ·       Before you start the company or build the product, you have a hypothesis of the problem you want to solve based on intuition and research. ·       A product can appeal to a large audience, but there is a segment of that audience that is the “best buyer.” ·       You can get to the right segment through testing, surveys, talking to customers.  You are looking for the segment with the biggest need that your product solves that seems to be unmet. ·       The whole process can use the scientific method.  Question, make predictions, assumptions, gather data, analyze data, draw conclusions… At the 27 min mark, Dean shares more about Slingshot and how it connects data points. Any trends or data points you are seeing your work with Slingshot that businesses should be focused on to up their game? ·       People expect good digital tools, with great UI and data.  The customer is smarter than you think. ·       If a company is not focused on their digital skills and using their data to best level they can, they will find it hard to survive.  ·       A company needs to implement processes around data throughout the organization to use it daily.  How does AI and tools like Chat GPT fit into data and technology and business into the future? ·       ChatGPT raised the bar for what you expect a natural language processor to be.  We are in a new game now. ·       We are going to be looking at AI services like we see databases today.  ·       Businesses will incorporate these tools into their solutions as part of everyday features. ·       These AI's will become just new services to use and will integrate into most things we do. ·       It will cause the pace of things to move faster than they do even now. Anything else around data or these topics that people should know? ·       We always overpredict innovation in the short term, but in the long term, we underpredict it. ·       Get alignment of execution with data.  Use OKRs – key results for objectives in using data. ·       Know your objective and execute on it.  Defining your core objectives is data!   Best Quote:  "Sales solves all problems..."   Dean's Misfit 3: What creates a happy life and long life is your social connections with people.  Figure out the amount you need. Stay curious and keep learning. In order to perform well, you need to recover.  Pros train hard, but then take breaks to recover.  You need to set aside time to recover both mentally and physically.   Show Sponsors: Benchmark Email (Free account): www.MisfitEntrepreneur.com/Benchmark 5 Minute Journal: www.MisfitEntrepreneur.com/Journal

Loved this episode? Please leave us a review and rating on your favorite podcast platform!After leaving the CPA industry and becoming a computer trainer, Roger worked his way into the cybersecurity industry, Roger Grimes, a data-driven evangelist, is determined to protect organizations from malicious social engineering attacks, but finds that even his advanced tools are no match for the crafty hackers."Organizations need to defend their infrastructure by identifying their critical data to recognize and respond to threats. Utilizing a data driven defense allows you to detect and respond to threats more quickly and accurately than traditional methods." -Roger GrimesRoger Grimes is a cybersecurity expert and data driven defense evangelist for KnowBe4. He has held a variety of roles throughout his career, and his focus is on fixing the internet and protecting organizations from social engineering attacks.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How did Roger Grimes go from being a CPA to becoming a cybersecurity expert?2. What was it like to work with John McAfee?3. How did Roger Grimes successfully bluff his way into the cybersecurity industry?About Roger Grimes, CPA, CISSPLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogeragrimes/eMail: rogerg@knowbe4.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/rogeragrimesShow Notes / Links:Cuckoo's Egg book - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083DJXCM?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_FK52CJS8J6DAJ6JMZJTFData Killers, John McAfee - https://www.amazon.com/dp/031202889X?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_7N07KYGNG9GGSKMW5Q07FidoNet - https://www.fidonet.org/index.htmlPeter Norton's Guide to the IBM PC - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0136619010?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_FJ7E13ENVAFXZWR139YDCISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog - https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalogConnect with us:Website: securitymasterminds.buzzsprout.comKnowBe4 Resources:KnowBe4 Blog: https://blog.knowbe4.comErich Kron - https://www.linkedin.com/in/erichkronJelle Wieringa - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jellewieringaJames McQuiggan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmcquigganJavvad Malik: https://www.linkedin.com/in/javvadMusic Composed by: Brian Sanyshyn - https://www.briansanyshynmusic.comAnnouncer: Sarah McQuiggan - https://www.sarahmcquiggan.comThis show's sound is edited by ProPodcastSolutions - https://propodcastsolutions.com/ShowNotes created with Capsho (www.capsho.com)

Ran Aroussi is the founder and CEO of Tradologics - the world's first cloud platform for trading.Ran Aroussi is an autodidact computer programmer turned algorithmic trader. He first began programming after getting an IBM PC as a Bar-Mitzvah present. In 1995, he started a web development firm, which, as the online landscape evolved, transformed into a technology & marketing company.In 2009, Ran led a multi-million-dollar product launch for MyAdWise (later renamed to Intango), which led him to the AdTech industry, where he developed models for both the Buy and Sell sides of online media Exchanges.In 2013, Ran turned to trading and hasn't looked back since. Given his background, his approach to trading is systematic, and his strategies are rule-based and fully automated. To this day, Ran considers himself as much a technologist as a trader, and he uses a common-sense approach to develop automated trading strategies for Futures, Equities, and Cash markets.As an avid open-source supporter and contributor, Ran released a number of popular open-source projects for algorithmic trading and analysis, which now have more than 500,000 installs every month, and are available on his Github page.In 2020, Ran founded Tradologics, a cloud platform that helps traders, investors, and firms develop, test, run, and scale their programmatic trading strategies in the cloud – without worrying about broker connectivity, data management, infrastructure, or any of that other boring stuff.In this episode of How To Trade It, Ran and Casey discuss the importance of automating your trading to eliminate frustration and wasted time in front of a screen. You don't want to miss it!Subscribe to How To Trade ItYou'll want to listen to this episode, if you are interested in hearing Ran Aroussi discuss…[04:05] Coding skills[05:59] Getting automated[12:12] Becoming profitable[14:00] Thinking in a different way[16:37] AI defined[19:11] Machine learning[22:02] Trading…a zero sum game[32:54] Supporting 9 different coding languagesResources & People MentionedAlgorithmic Trading & Analysis at GibhubConnect with Ran AroussiWebsite:     https://tradologics.com Twitter:        https://twitter.com/aroussiLinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/aroussi    Support the show

Researchers have a pretty good idea what all the chatter between crows is about. They seem to figure out when to launch a mass takeoff by discussing it. Plus: a very small ornament is also a fully functional IBM PC that can play the classic game Doom on its tiny, full color screen. Noisy jackdaw birds reach 'consensus' before taking off (Science Daily) The Christmas tree ornament of Doom (Boing Boing) The best group is our group of Patreon backers, join them today! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/support

Panelists: Paul Hagstrom (hosting), Quinn Dunki, and Carrington Vanston Topic: Little bit taller, COBOLler We consider 1959, and mostly come up with COBOL, then spend some time in an engagement-generating excercise, not quite remembering a remarkable number of things. Topic/Feedback links: COBOL at Britannica.com COBOL at Smithsonian. Grace Hopper on Letterman Gorilla Banana, a rebranded Seikosha GP-100 (same as VIC-1525) Retro Computing News: TRS-80 Model I/III diagnostic ROM Behind the scenes at Berkeley Softworks Open Apple #52 Hell's Halls type-in program for TI-99/4A Hells' Halls cassette with game and variant How Apple I video memory worked Vintage Computer(-related) commercial: Joust and Moon Patrol (Atari) Commodore VIC-20 Retro Computing Gift Idea: Joust board game Auction Picks: Carrington: Playskool Play and Learn Computer Avalon Hill Class Struggle game See also: The Story of Class Struggle, America's Most Popular Marxist Board Game Paul: Bell & Howell II+/- Echo II set Rocketry software Griffin iMate selling for what now? Brand new IBM PC, moldy box A2Stream file: a2stream file for this episode: http://yesterbits.com/media/a2s/rcr259.a2stream Feedback/Discussion: @rcrpodcast on Twitter Vintage Computer Forum RCR Podcast on Facebook Throwback Network Throwback Network on Facebook Intro / Closing Song: Back to Oz by John X Show audio files hosted by CyberEars Listen/Download:

Join us on TechTime Radio with Nathan Mumm, the show that makes you go "Hummmm" Technology news of the week for November 6th – 12th, 2022.Today on TechTime with Nathan Mumm, Are you buying property or a place to live in the Metaverse before the market explodes? First, we explain Mastodon as people are moving away from Twitter to this platform, but there needs to be more clarity. Next, a Microsoft misstep, as the latest ad test might have you running toward a Mac. Then, James Riddle joins us and answers a few questions on new technology that hopes to improve lung cancer detection and robotic systems that could transform prosthetics. Finally, we have Gwen Way back to talk about a new Gadget and Gear. In addition, we have our standard features, including "Mike's Mesmerizing Moment," "This Week in Technology," and a possible "Nathan Nugget." Finally, our "Pick of the Day" whiskey tasting. So, sit back, raise a glass, and welcome to TechTime with Nathan Mumm.  Episode 126: Starts at 1:34--- [Now on Today's Show]: Starts at 3:11 --- [Top Stories in The First Five Minutes]: Starts at 4:50Twitter users jump to Mastodon - https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63534240  Do you like Movies? Well AMC Partners With Zoom to Bring Meetings to a Theater Near You - https://tinyurl.com/mva9vuzp Billions being spent in metaverse land grab - https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63488059 --- [Pick of the Day - Whiskey Tasting Reveal]: Starts at 20:30Lismore Single Malt Whiskey | 80 Proof | $26.95--- [Ask the Expert with James Riddle]: Starts at 22:32James Riddle the Vice President of Research Services & Strategic Consulting at Advarra joins the show to talk about medical technology breakthroughs in the last few months.  --- [This Week in Technology]: Starts at 39:48November 6, 1980 - IBM and Microsoft formally sign a contract whereby Microsoft will create an operating system for the in-development IBM PC. Microsoft shrewdly included a clause in the agreement that allowed them to sell the operating system to other companies under the name MS-DOS.  --- [Marc's Mumble Whiskey Details]: Starts at 43:33--- [Gadgets and Gear with Gwen Way]: Starts at 45:36SuperBase V: First Plug-and-Play Home Energy Storage System--- [Technology Fail of the Week]: Starts at 50:48Tesla Recalls 40,000 Vehicles Over Potential Power Steering Failure. - Certain 2017-2021 Model S and X Teslas could potentially experience a loss of power steering assist if you hit a pothole or drive on rough roads.--- [Mike's Mesmerizing Moment brought to us by StoriCoffee®]: Starts at 52:01--- [Pick of the Day]: Starts a 54:24Lismore Single Malt Whiskey | 80 Proof | $26.95Mike: Thumbs UpNathan: Thumbs Up

Today we are looking at VisiCalc, the original killer app. Hitting the market in 1979, VisiCalc was the first computer spreadsheet program. Through it's 6 year lifespan it was ported to everything from the Apple II to the IBM PC to the Apple III. It dominated the market and then... it disappeared.   Selected Sources:   https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/113026 - Oral History with Bricklin and Frankston   http://www.bricklin.com/history/intro.htm - Bricklin's personal website   https://sci-hub.se/10.1109/MAHC.2007.4338439 - The creation and demise of VisiCalc

NuTek's plan for Macintosh World Domination: a clean room implementation of the ROMs and System 6, cheap hardware, and enough investor money to survive the inevitable legal assault from Apple. Macworld speculated a Macintosh clone with a 68030 CPU, colour monitor and hard disk could cost just $600USD at a time when lowly Macintosh LC systems sold for $2700USD. The faster 32-bit data path IIsi sold for $3700 in complete configurations, and the more expandable IIci, $6,000USD and up. Original text from Macworld, April 1991. Advertisements for the NuTek One and Duet. Why use custom chips instead of off-the-shelf parts? IBM PC clone production went into high gear thanks to PC-compatible BIOS vendors like Phoenix and chipset manufacturers like Chips and Technologies. Did you know C&T founder Gordon Campbell went on to co-found 3dfx, the Voodoo company? Savour the varying quality of different IBM PC compatible chipsets. John Warnock gave Apple a good needling in this article, likely because of the ongoing Font Wars. See Chuck Geschke and John Warnock retelling the story. ARDI Executor was open sourced in 2008. Lee Lorenzen speaking about Apple's lawsuit against Digital Research, and Bill Gates admitting he intended this to serve as a distraction while work progressed on Windows. Lee's “sick cow” story. Steve Jobs WWDC 1997 Q&A: “I was hoping that you would venture an opinion this morning on how you see the future evolution of the Macintosh compatible market.”

The first IBM PC kicked off what would be a line of computers that would be sold through the 1980s. This week, Quinn and Stephen hit the high points of this beige wave.