I came across this interesting story last night.
In early 1934, Clarence Hickman, a Bell Labs engineer, had a secret machine, about six feet tall, standing in his office. It was a device without equal in the world, decades ahead of its time. If you called and there was no answer on the phone line to which Hickman’s invention was connected, the machine would beep and a recording device would come on allowing the caller to leave a message.
Why was this so earthshaking a find?
The genius at the heart of Hickman’s secret proto–answering machine was not so much the concept- perceptive of social change as that was-but rather the technical principle that made it work and that would, eventually, transform the world: magnetic recording tape. Recall that before magnetic storage there was no way to store sound other than by pressing a record or making a piano roll. The new technology would not only usher in audio cassettes and videotapes, but when used with the silicon chip, make computer storage a reality. Indeed, from the 1980s onward, firms from Microsoft to Google, and by implication the whole world, would become utterly dependent on magnetic storage, otherwise known as the hard drive.
But what happened to this invention?
What’s interesting is that Hickman’s invention in the 1930s would not be ” discovered” until the 1990s. For soon after Hickman had demonstrated his invention, AT&T ordered the Labs to cease all research into magnetic storage, and Hickman’s research was suppressed and concealed for more than sixty years, coming to light only when the historian Mark Clark came across Hickman’s laboratory notebook in the Bell archives.
/snip
But why would company management bury such an important and commercially valuable discovery? What were they afraid of? The answer, rather surreal, is evident in the corporate memoranda, also unearthed by Clark, imposing the research ban. AT&T firmly believed that the answering machine, and its magnetic tapes, would lead the public to abandon the telephone.
It makes me wonder what else is out there, being suppressed by the idea of protecting the corporate creators, or possibly by political correctness?
How would our lives be different?
How would they be the same?
And how much further along would we be if this invention had been allowed to come to fruition? Would we be on other planets by now? How would our politics be different?
Would my husband actually be comfortable with email? Forget email, would he at least be able to turn on a computer?
Superscript test.
Subscript test.
mharper #28; Darren’s kids have the most interesting names I’ve ever come across! It was delightful to see this series of drawings. They are dazzling. Thanks! I was fine with common names like “Steve” or “Nancy” but Mrs. Darren’s creative spirit said no to that mundane thinking. Janisen was the first grandchild on both sides of our family so Niki… Read more »
I found this posted in FaceBook: So what have we learned in 2,065 years? “The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living… Read more »
#55 Texpat, I reckon your guess is as good as mine. You put forth an interesting range of hypotheses. It’s food for thought.
#56
You say something? I was out blowing holes in a 2×4 with my pressure washer.
Sarge, thanks for the movie review.
Along the topic of ‘what if’ technology. I recently talked to a person who works in a building once part of a complex to build a nuclear powered rocket in Nevada.
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/N/NERVA.html
Pray for this woman and marvel at her guts and bravery. She is only 28, one year older than my own daughter. So Gándara alone was left to police the dangerous ranching towns of the border. “I see this as any other job,” she said during a November interview with the El Paso Times. But it wasn’t. Since June, Gándara… Read more »
#44 Bob42 #43 Did they repeatedly fire pistols all around the lower portions of the barrel in order to increase the oxygen supply to the fire? There was concern about the barrel fire, because it was smoking so much, and when we opened the kitchen door all that wood smoke would blow into the kitchen. Big Brother went to the… Read more »
#54 bob42 IBM would likely have been a very different company and either survived to become a very different and nimble competitor or disappeared altogether had they been allowed to reap the results of what they sowed with their lame leasing strategy. A few years more would have seen their customers flocking to new alternatives and the intransigent, moss-backed management… Read more »
#51 Texpat, ever hear of the “Consent Decree?” III The provisions of this Final Judgment applicable to IBM shall also be applicable to its subsidiaries, officers, directors, agents, employees, successors, assigns, and all persons acting under, through or for IBM, but shall not impose any obligation to do or omit any action outside the United States unless specifically provided for… Read more »
This storm went deep to the south. There might have been as much snow in Raleigh as there was in Poughkeepsie.
Texpat, today I’ve IMed with colleagues in Raleigh and Poughkeepsie, and a friend in Paramus who recently moved there from Texas. You’ve got a good point when you mention the greatest driving danger is in folks on the road who are not experienced with that kind of weather. In Raleigh, the memo went out that if you could work from… Read more »
RE: IBM My dad’s best friend was from Washington DC and his college roommate went to work for International Business Machines in NYC when they got out of college selling new-fangled business computers. He and his wife lived in a tiny apartment in Manhattan and she worked so they could pay the rent. The problem was that IBM was starved… Read more »
#43 TT
Why were the men out in the cold lighting fires? Is that some sort of macho challenge?
I had to take some construction workers home last night at around 4 PM and it was already pitch dark. I had to take them from north Bergen county to Hudson county which is approximately equivalent to driving from Beltway 8 & I-10 to Meyerland. The trip back was in complete white out blizzard conditions. White knuckle driving – much… Read more »
Some comments about Darren’s Christmas card gallery — since I couldn’t post there even when I tried to login as “moron”… http://darren-familycomesfirst.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-cards.html The general style of these collaborative art works is Folk Art. Notably innovative, fresh, and original. And wow, Darren’s kids have the most interesting names I’ve ever come across! It was delightful to see this series of drawings.… Read more »
Super Dave Just finished plowing, blowing and digging out our two houses. Final snowfall report for this little town just west of NYC: 30 inches of medium light snow with drifts to 4 feet and higher. Her Highness is every bit of 5′ tall and when she stood in the front yard, the snow level concealed half of her buttocks… Read more »
#41 Simple:
I think you and I are speaking apples and oranges. Compressor/power generation/marine applications tend to be somewhat static in load are very different than automotive applications which are darned dynamic. I don’t know diddly about static applications except in theory; in the automotive world, the transmission consumes in excess of 10%. Take a look at the hydristor link.
#6, #7, #12, #15
Yep, my stink-o-meter lit up too on #6. So #12 was a Whew! relief.
😀
#43 Did they repeatedly fire pistols all around the lower portions of the barrel in order to increase the oxygen supply to the fire?
/no kidding, I’ve done that.
On Christmas day, there was a fire pit and later, a 55 gallon barrel in which fires were lit. There was a lot of available wood (a pile of tree branches), and I was tickled to see all the menfolk standing around their fires, seeing how many branches could be stuffed into the fire, and standing around talking with each… Read more »
Boobquake pays off in more ways than scientifically proving that natural disasters are not related to the rantings of kooks. Boobquake is still making an impact months later*. You may remember that I sold some boobquake t-shirts in my store promising the royalties would go to charity. The total royalities earned from boobquake shirts was $621.87, and my April volume… Read more »
37, Boney, The inefficiency in the Driver is where you start. If it can only convert at 42%; then the best transmission will not create energy. It just won’t lose as much !! We manufacture gearboxes for engines up to 30k horsepower. We try not to use them with compressors and work to match compressor speed to Power Turbine speed… Read more »
Came across this interesting tidbit today. It seems some folks are making it a big deal that Joe Straus was elected unanimously in the last session. It ain’t such a big deal. Speakerships are built on the political and personal needs of the 150 members of the Texas House: All else being equal, they vote for whoever gives them the… Read more »
#37 Bones, I took a ride on a friend of my daughter scooter that uses a form of constant velocity transmission. It was odd hearing the tiny little motor run at a pretty much steady RPM while feeling the acceleration, which wasn’t too bad (for a toy motorcycle.) I’ve read that in higher torque applications the technology becomes a more… Read more »
Well, the poverty pimps are going to feel slighted again.
#35 Simple: The hydristor is a transmission device. In automotive applications, an incredibly efficient engine is worthless without an efficient transmission to go with it. The hydristor is a possible answer to that. In most normal driving or even stop and go traffic driving, you only use a very small portion of the available engine power to do what you… Read more »
Bonecrusher #28;
3D technology is interesting to say the least. Glassesless TV was bound to come to market but te fact of the matter is that 3D has not caught into the public as nearly as much as big TV/software manufactures promote 3D. Personally I care very little for it.
23, Boney, I have been working on Turbines for nearly thirty years as an Engineer; therefore I assure you that if we could get 95% efficiency (without WHRS Cogen); we would already be doing it. So far, the Mssrs. Saint-Hillare have yet to demonstrate their variation of the Wankel engine in anything meaningful. P.S. Most of the reduced emissions work… Read more »
texpat, If you’re lurking, I hope you can dig out, I just saw this headline; 31.8″ snow in Elizabeth, NJ.!! 🙁
I’m putting together my resume, and I’m not sure how to handle my background. My IT experience isn’t too helpful in today’s market, being twelve years old. I’m a dinosaur in that area. My goodness, it’s full of mainframe references! Fortunately, I’ve saved a few copies of my resume, but I haven’t pulled it out since I went to work… Read more »
GJT #100 (yesterday); My system is a patch together with each part being the best I can afford at the time which in the past 3 yrs has been zero. That’s perfectly understandable. In HT forums I’ve said that I’d love product “x” but the kids have to eat first. You should never spend money you don’t have on HT.… Read more »
Even though I covered my garden, I lost my basil and my lilies, possibly my orchid tree. That poor orchid tree – this was the third “kill” on that poor thing.
Lettuce and kale are looking good, though.
Good morning all. Our handy little weather station says it was 25 out here about 4 am; it was 26 at 6. The walk to the barn was brisk. A light layer of ice was in the mares’ bucket edges, but they could drink from open water in the middle. Outside all was white lacy ground and rooftops, fences, trees,… Read more »
More history… One of the first weekend tasks I did was to double the memory on a 2000 user mainframe system. It took two techs most of a day to install the upgrade, which consisted of 32 memory cards and 200 pounds of water cooled power supplies. It cost over $200,000 but the system ran much faster with 64MB than… Read more »
THIS IS COOL! 3D TV without glasses.
#24 TT: I miss that guy about like the dry heaves. Ann Coulter’s columns are one of the highlights of my week.
#22 Bob42 I, too, took Fortran in college. My professor was a rather short guy who was flown in once a week to teach the class on Wednesday nights. He used to program for the Pentagon. We were the only class to program linear linked lists. He also gave us a brief overview of how missile guidance systems worked. He… Read more »
I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamed that I was a catalytic converter. Naturally, I woke up this morning feeling exhausted.
Again, Ann Coulter nails it. I don’t miss Shammy at all; maybe I should give Ann his contact information. They can argue this issue in a place far, far away from here.
#20 Simple: Cat-cons are mandated by law. They were first instituted in the 70’s when cars generally ran much dirtier than today. The big question is are they still necessary given that EFI engines run so much more cleanly? How much fuel is wasted by the restriction imposed by this device? If the goal is increased miles per gallon and… Read more »
When I took FORTRAN in college, we used 80 column cards, along with an IBM 1130 drum based single tasking system. You had to schedule time on to test your programs. Two semesters later, when I took BASIC, the academic computing center got a “state of the art” system that supported multiple users at terminals. Meanwhile, registration was still done… Read more »
I did too.
Just moving it along a bit.
Boney 2 & GJT 3, The problem is not the carburator (does anyone still use them?), but rather the efficiency limitations of diesels, gasoline recips, and gas turbines, which hover around the high forties in terms of energy in versus energy output. You would be mistaken to think that any one of the companies are holding something back. Putting out… Read more »
Ach.
A couple of posts back I suddenly remembered who holds that record.
#12 Well, I for one, got it.
#11 TT: When I went to UofH in the first 1/2 of the 80’s ( I managed to cram 4 years of college into 7) we still had to use punch cards (1984 or so) to enter the first program. To edit we could use the keyboard and monitor. I remember being REALLY WISSEDOFF about having to mess with those… Read more »
Headline of the day.
Went from cogently inciteful to bat shizzle in about 2 micro milliseconds.
Never seen it happen quite that fast.