Com399

Editor's Notes

• #2: Created by Bell Labs in 1980, the digital cellular telephone helped make many new improvements to the old way of communicating. TDMA and CDMA were the technology that was patented at this time. TDMA stands for time division multiple access. The TDMA can perform many functions, three of which are worth noting. The first function is that it allows carrier frequencies to be shared by multiple users. The second is that using resources from other cells (cell breathing) is something that is done in this system. The final item to note is that this system faces interference with other device very easily. CDMA stands for code division multiple access. An interesting tidbit about CDMA is that it is an early application of GPS. Why is the development of a digital cell phone important? It is important to see that while the first model was far from perfect when it came to accuracy and reliability, it did pave the way for the cellular devices that we have now. While the old phones had more issues with interference, they have been modified and new ideas have been put into action to make the technology that we have the best that it can be. I chose these pictures for my PowerPoint because they show just how far we have come from those huge chunky phones. I also impressed because it never occurred to me that there was this technology at the beginning of the 1980s. This was something interesting for me to look at in the history of technology. 
• #3: The first personal flight simulator was invented by Bruce A. Artwick. He graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While he was at school he discovered his company subLOGIC in 1979. This company created the flight simulation program, called A2-FS1 Flight Simulator. Artwick started working on this project by first writing about it. He published many articles about flight simulation. He used the computer to make graphics and readers became extremely interested in purchasing his program. His first simulation program was released for the Apple II personal computer. Another version of the software was released in March 1980. It was called TRS-80. It was stated to be a improved version of the A2-FS1 Flight Simulator program but the graphic had a much lower quality than the first product released to Apple II. The information that can be learned from the flight simulation software is valuable to the future of commercial and military flying. Not only does this allow for a more effective way to train pilots and keep them safe, it also gives the opportunity for regular people to see how difficult it is to operate a plane. I have had the opportunity to use a flight simulation program and it is not easy to use. I like that now ordinary people now have the opportunity to experience what it is like to fly something. It gives you a new found respect for the pilot and all of the training that they had to do.
• #4: It came as little shock that the first home portable computer was invented and sold in 1981. I was more shocked that it was available so early in the history of computers. The first home computer was produced by Osborne. It was creatively called the Osborne 1. It was sold for $1,795. Adam Osborne, the founder, expanded his business into the computer world after he sold his computer book publishing company to McGraw-Hill. The result was the Osborne 1. This computer weighs around 23 pounds, has a 5 inch screen, and was durable enough to survive being accidentally dropped. It also had a floppy disc drive that would be able to store information.While now-a-days this is not a reasonable portable computer, it did have benefits that helped advance technology. Today instead of selling computers that weigh 23 pounds, it is unlikely that one will weigh more than 10. We have been able to advance the technology that was presented with the Osborne 1 and create a better product. It was also an innovation at the time. Now business people could purchase their own computer so work could be done in a timely manner. Again I chose the pictures it did to show how far we have come from the past. Portable computers are no longer bulky and hard to move around. It is also a way that shows how fast we have made these upgrades. It is the year 2011 and 30 years ago this was the technology that was at the top. Now we have the iPad. Who knows how far we will be in the future.
• #5: In 1982, Sony invented the first commercial electronic camera. It is important to note that this camera was not a digital one. The camera was the Sony Mavica. Mavica is short for Magnetic Video Camera. The images that were taken by the camera were stored in still form on a mini disc. From there they could be transferred to a television monitor or printer via a video reader. While this sounds complicated it really is not. The Mavica is really just a video camera that is using video-freeze frames as the photos. An easy way to think about how this method of old film watching. You would have the reels of film that had the negatives. They would be put through a projector that would show the pictures and make it appear that it was moving. The pictures that the Mavica would take would be one single frame in that film. So why is this camera important to the history of technology? It show the beginning process of the camera that we have today. Now we are able to take picture and immediately look at them to see it we like what we captured. This also takes away the step we would have to do with the old camera. Now we do not have to go to a computer, television, printer to see how the pictures came out. We can also that the overall size of the camera has decreased as well. We also have ways to have clearer and sharper focused pictures.
• #6: While we had portable home computers in 1981, we now have an affordable home computer that is strictly for use in the home. This computer is the Commodore 64 by Commodore International. It was sold for around $595. The Commodore 64 had many features that helped make it accessible to the common person. It had color graphics and was very good at playing video games. The other area in which this computer excelled was the sound system that it had. It was even able to have a floppy disc drive so information could be stored. Once again we can see that the size of technology today have decreased greatly. It is amazing to think that so many different things have been done in the past that bring computers to where they are today. If we look at some of the features that the Commodore 64 has it shows that this was just a stepping stone to the things that we have today. While it was used for work and play the Commodore 64 did something that helped the progression of technological advancement. Because the price for this item was lower it allowed for more people to purchase it for their home. I basically grew the audience to the scientist, academic, and rich to the middle, working class people. Now more people are familiar with computers and all of the functions that they can do.
• #7: What is cyberspace? Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place. It is interesting to learn that this term did not exist until 1984 when William Gibson popularized the term. Gibson is a writer that made his first impact when he published his novel Neuromancer. His book is about a man named Henry Dorsett Case who is a computer hacker. He gets caught stealing from his boss and he was punished leaving him no longer to hack anymore. As the story continues he finds a new job and works on that through the book. Through this book Gibson is able to introduce others to the concept of cyberspace. It was not until he published his short story Burning Chrome that he was able to coin the term cyberspace.The impact that this book had on the world is important. I have not read the story so I am not able to say whether or not the book is one that should be on everyone’s must read list, it does appear to be a novel that would be worth checking out. The fact that though his novel he was able to introduce a new concept shows that it does have impact. This is an interesting area to look at because I really feel that it show how much of an impact the public sphere can have on the acceptance of an idea or concept. That is the same thing that we see everyday. We see famous people talking about social media or journalists writing about a concept. William Gibson was doing the same thing. He just did it in a novel form.
• #8: The breakup of AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) is an event that happened in 1984. The breakup actually happened on January 1st. The AT&T company transferred the ownership of the company to Southwestern Bell Company. When this transfer happened it put an end to the monopoly that AT&T had on telephone service. This decision was a result of a court case against AT&T (United States v. AT&T). This was an antitrust case. Basically, since AT&T was holding a monopoly it was not allowing for others to compete in the market. The case was ruled upon by Justice Harold Greene. I feel that this is an important factoid because it shows that the government is making some decisions that benefit the common man. If AT&T would have been allowed to continue growing and controlling the market, who now where we would be today. I like the fact that we have a choice of where we want to go or what company we are going to use. It is beneficial to the way that things are run. Without the antitrust law we would have companies that run everything and that would charge more than we should ever have to pay to get service. The main area that I can look at in today is Comcast. Since they are the main provider to the Peoria area they basically can do whatever they want. If a problem arises, Comcast is horrible at providing the service that you need to fix the problem. I could see AT&T being a lot like this. If there is only one person in the market for something then they do not have to worry about how they treat customers. Therefore, the breakup of AT&T shows us that monopolies are bad things and the effect that they had in the past.
• #9: Apple Computer and Steve Jobs introduce the “Mac” (Macintosh) in 1984. The first computer was introduced on January 24th. When the computer was first being marketed they used the concept of George Orwell’s 1984. They used the concept of Big Brother to draw in customers. The ad aired two days before the “Mac” went on sale. Here is a link to the commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8. The “Mac” used graphical user interface to operate. This is the use of graphic icons and a pointing device to control a computer. It is basically if the icon is a link to a paper that you wrote it will look like a piece of paper on the computer screen. The mouse curser looks like a hand with the pointer finger extended. It made the programs user friendly. The was one of the first times that the graphical user interface was successful in it use. I have seen in my use of “Mac’s” that they do strive to make the computer a user friendly piece of technology. The reason I chose this topic to cover was to show how important it is for there to be competition in the world. Because Apple was willing to make improvements new advances have been made. Now Apple is a huge company in the computer world. I agree with the last part of the commercial for the computer that Apple put out. If we do not strive to make changes we will just give and no progress will be made.
• #10: An avatar is a representation that is made graphically as a user or made up person. It can be used in games or virtual worlds or as an icon. The avatar first made an appearance in 1985. They were first seen in the role playing game called Avatar IV, Quest of the Avatar. This was a computer game that was invented for use on Apple II computer. In the game an avatar is chosen for a person by the virtues they chose at the beginning of the game to be the most important. There are a total of eight virtues in the game so a person could be eight different people. In the game a player must become enlightened in all of the virtues to finish the game and be considered an “Avatar”.  The concept of an avatar is slightly different than it was in the game Avatar IV, Quest of the Avatar. While the player does get to pick a starting point, they do not get to create an avatar from scratch. That is something that we have the opportunity today. I feel that this was an important topic to look at because we see avatars so many times in our life. I thought it was interesting to get the background of where avatars come from and to know what and how they are used.
• #11: 1986 was the first PC virus epidemic. The virus was called the Pakistani flu. As the name suggests it originated in Lahore, Pakistan. This virus was considered to be the first IBM PC compatible virus. It was created by a 19 year old Pakistani man name BasitFarooqAlvi and his brother AmjadFarooqAlvi. The virus was located on a floppy disc that made programs on the compute not work properly. The main area that this virus affected was the boot area of the media storage. While the brother state they were just making a program that would keep others from accessing the private information that was on the computer, it looks like they did nothing but cause the computer to completely stop working.  It is important to look at the start of major virus and the affect that they have on technology. This is an extremely easy way for a computer to receive a virus. Today it is harder to figure out how a virus gets started or how someone gets a virus. It is amazing to think that this simple method for spreading a virus is now considered out of date. I am just amazed that virus were out there at this time. The internet and computers were not too old at this point and it is interesting to see how quickly people can figure out how to get technology to work in this manner. All of the information for the slides was found online at http://www.historyofinformation.com/index.php?era=1980 and the links on the page of this website.