The Dead Media Notebook (59 page)

“Unit, complete with microphone, radio-phono cord, eraser magnet and one recording disc $59.95. Dealer cost $39.96 “Extra Attachments Available “NOW, for the first time, a recorder with all of these features: “Low cost “Simple to operate “Small size “Plays 45 RPM records “Discs can be folded and mailed “Discs compact for storage

“This unique new magnetic disc recorder is especially suited to home and family use. It will record ‘sound albums’ of anniversaries, engagements, children’s first words, birthday parties, correspondence in sound from distant friends and relatives. It will record direct from radio, phonograph and TV; and can be used for business recordings.

“The unit is as simple to operate as a standard record player; nothing to thread, no tape to break or tangle, no needles to wear out, no complicated controls, no accidental erasures.

“The recording discs, iron oxide on a plastic base, are extremely smooth, lightweight and flexible. They can be folded and mailed without damage, only first class postage required. Over 100 discs can be stored in the space required for one standard record album.

Source: National Jeweler, October 1954

From Trevor Blake

[Bruce Sterling remarks: Fossil media, alive and on the wing! This is exciting news. I for one would love to see the official seals and badges of the Orissa Police Pigeon Service.] “Pigeons to carry election messages “NEW DELHI (Reuters), Election officials in the eastern province of Orissa kept carrier pigeons ready to take urgent messages as India held the second phase of general elections on Sunday.

“Wireless services and telephones have still not reached some remote areas, where pigeons are used, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

“The trained birds of the Orissa Police Pigeon Service, the only one of its kind in the country, might carry election messages and information regarding law and order,” it said.

“The news agency said the pigeon service was launched in 1946 with birds taken from the army after World War Two.”

Source: Reuters New Media, Monday, February 23, 1998, 10:33 AM EST

From Joel Altman

[Joel Altman remarks: We deal with a company called ‘The Trailing Edge of Technology.’]

“Philosophy “From its beginning, Lansdale Semiconductor, Inc., has specialized in ‘Aftermarket Technology.’ Lansdale has the technical expertise to support the aftermarket and has dedicated itself to that goal, assuring its customer base that older technology products will continue to be available.

“The U.S. Military and Department of Defense contractors make a large portion of Lansdale’s clientele. Lansdale helps maintain the integrity of a number of military programs by supplying essential parts which are the equivalent to the originals, avoiding costly redesigns and emulations.

“As technology advances, Lansdale is also keeping an eye on the future. As product life cycles become shorter, more programs are placed at risk by obsolete parts. Lansdale serves two vital functions by purchasing discontinued product lines. It allows the original manufacturer to divest itself of a product it can no longer support. It also offers users of that product the opportunity to keep their programs intact without costly redesign.

“As long as customers need to maintain older systems, Lansdale will be there to supply the technology critical to their success.

“History “Lansdale was founded in 1964 when Edward Pincus purchased Philco-Ford’s small signal transistor line. In 1976, Lansdale acquired Motorola’s Germanium transistor line. The company moved from Lansdale, Pennsylvania, to Arizona that same year.

“Through the following years, the company purchased additional product lines, including the first bipolar digital integrated circuit line from Raytheon, and SUHL, DTL, and TTL lines from Motorola and Signetics. A bipolar wafer fabrication facility in Santa Monica, California, was added in 1984, allowing the company to expand its manufacturing capability in standard and custom integrated circuits. In 1986, the Germanium transistor lines were sold, and Lansdale dedicated itself to producing integrated circuits.

“In 1987, Lansdale was purchased by then-company president R. Dale Lillard. Since then, Lansdale has added product from AMD, Fairchild, Harris, and Intel to the lines it supports. The company expanded its support of Motorola products by acquiring DTL, HTL, Linear, RTL, and more TTL lines in 1991. It has also increased its Signetics offerings by acquiring over 600 new parts, including both military and commercial product in 1992. The new sole-sourced commercial product facilitated Lansdale’s expansion into plastic packaging and the commercial marketplace.

“To improve its ability to support its customers, Lansdale built a new wafer fabrication facility in Tempe, Arizona, in 1994, became a QPL manufacturer, then transitioned to QML in 1996. The QML plan was modified to allow Lansdale to list all its products, whether the die was fabricated by Lansdale or the original manufacturer.” [Joel Altman remarks: Looking through the Lansdale catalog is a trip down Memory Lane for this correspondent. It is interesting to see which circuits Lansdale considers “important.” They live up to their mission statement: To manufacture “important” integrated circuits forever.]

Source: Catalog from Lansdale Semiconductor, Inc. 2502 W. Huntington Drive, Tempe, Arizona 85282 USA

From Dan Howland

[Dan Howland remarks: In a nutshell, this toy was capable of storing simple line drawings as replacable dual cams. The engraving shows a seated doll in a clown suit, with his right arm holding a pencil lead to an easel. Behind him, on the base, is a crank.]

“The mechanical toy shown in the accompanying illustration is one of the most original and ingenious things of its kind that have recently appeared. Within the base upon which the ‘artist’ and his easel are placed, and immediately below the figure, is a small pinion which is operated by a worm at the end of the crankshaft which is seen projecting through the side of the base. The pinion, which rotates in a horizontal plane, is provided with a couple of pins upon which is placed one of the sets of removable cams which accompany the toy.

“The cams are double, being provided with two separate peripheral edges, and each edge is engaged by the short arm of a pair of levers, as shown in the engraving. [To picture the double cam, imagine an Oreo with small chunks broken at irregular intervals from the cookie’s edges.] The upper lever attaches at the end of its long arm to a vertical shaft, which passes up through the body of the figure, and is pivotally attached to its right arm at the shoulder.

“By this means the rotation of the cam causes a vertical up and down movement of the arm and the drawing pencil which it carries. The lower cam operates a system of levers by which the arm is given a series of right and left movements. It is evident that by giving the proper relative contours to the two edges of the cam, the arm, with the pencil which it carries, may be made to trace any desired line upon the paper, either vertical or horizontal, by the action of the first or second cam, or diagonal or curved, by the joint operation of the two. Each of the double cams which are provided with the toy will cause the figure to draw some well-known object...

“The model from which our engraving was made produced an easily recognized likeness of the Emperor William of Germany [the device is made in Germany] and a drawing which bore a strong resemblance to a familiar barndoor fowl.”

Source: Scientific American, October 17, 1896

From Trevor Blake

HASBRO SOUND BITES, YOU HAVE TO TRY IT TO BELIEVE IT
Revolutionary Lollipop Lets You Hear Music Inside Your Head
“Toy Fair is filled each year with innovative products that entertain children and families, but never before has the world experienced a toy that delivers sounds ‘inside your head.’ “Sound Bites™ is being unveiled at the 1998 Toy Fair in New York City, and the early reaction is music to Hasbro’s ears.

“Based on proprietary technology developed by Sound Bites, LLC., the new toy-candy sensation sends safe sound vibrations through a standard lollipop. When a person bites on a lollipop that has been inserted in a Sound Bites, the sound vibrations travel through the teeth to the inner ear, where they are heard just like normal sounds. Audible primarily to the eater, the effect is the magic of hearing sounds inside your head.

“’It’s rare to find a truly original product that is a sure winner,’ said senior toy industry analyst Sean McGowan of New York-based Gerard Klauer Mattison. ‘The possibilities for line extensions are practically limitless.’ “The Sounds Bites has four buttons that, when pushed, mix and match the sound selection. The holder is compatible with most standard lollipops. The first Sound Bites will be available nationwide at specialty and national retailers in May, with more extensive, global distribution later in 1998. Sound Bites will retail for approximately $9.99 in the U.S.

“’We began showing Sound Bites to our retail trade last week, and the response is phenomenal,’ said Dan D. Owen, President of Hasbro’s Emerging Business Group, which includes Hasbro’s OddzOn subsidiary. OddzOn will distribute and market Sound Bites. ‘You have to experience Sound Bites to believe it,’ Mr. Owen said.

“There are six different versions of Sound Bites. First introductions include three musical themes, guitar, drum and saxophone; and three special effects versions, with cartoon voices, space noises and fun voices.

“Sound Bites’ proprietary technology was co-invented by Andrew Filo, an accomplished Silicon Valley engineer, and David Capper, a veteran toy industry entrepreneur whose track record and experience ranges from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to the Koosh® brand. Sound Bites, LLC. has filed numerous patent applications to protect its revolutionary new technology.

“’Sound Bites is a collectible candy experience that appeals to boys and girls of all ages,’ said Capper, the President of Sound Bites, LLC. ‘We see enormous potential for Sound Bites, with virtually unlimited line extensions tied to holidays, movies, sports, television and music, to name a few. If it makes a sound, Sound Bites can put it right inside your head.’

Source: softball business press coverage [Bruce Sterling remarks: okay, this music-producing candy isn’t dead media yet, but one really has to wonder if the world is ready for this collectible candy experience.]

From David Morton

“Westinghouse Putting TV on Phonograph Records” “The Westinghouse Electric Corporation introduced yesterday a new electronics system that plays sound and television pictures from phonograph records. The new system, to be called Phonovid, was displayed before the Edison Electric Institute convention at Miami by Dr. William E. Shoupp, vice president for research at Westinghouse. ‘The record is not just an audio recording that triggers pictures from a slide projector,’ Dr. Shoupp said. ‘Both the audio signal and the video signal are present in the grooves of the record and both are picked up by the phonograph needle.’

“In answer to questions, Dr. Shoupp disclosed that the price of a Phonovid installation was $10,000. He indicated that closed-circuit television in schools would be a prime market and that television stations might find Phonovid useful for news background pictures and reports.

“It was emphasized that the series of still pictures, voice and music came from the same phonograph records. Up to 400 pictures and 40 minutes of voice and music are available from two sides of a 12-inch, 33 1/3 r.p.m. recording, known as the Videodisc. The pictures can be line drawings, charts, printed text, or photographs.

“Dr. Shoupp did not cite a price on Videodiscs but indicated they could conceivably run as low as classical records if the demand warranted it. He explained Phonovid would thus provide ‘a complete 400-page picture book on a single long-play phonograph record. . . with the accompanying sound equal in quality to that broadcast by an AM radio station.’ “In operation, the record would be played on n ordinary turntable and the pictures and sound could appear on any number of television receivers in a classroom or throughout an entire building. Any part of the recording and picture can be held, skipped or repeated by manually lifting the tone arm of the record player.

“The key to the system is a scan converter, a series of electronic circuits that ‘scan’ the video signals on the recording and convert them into a video image. This is a technique similar to that used for obtaining television pictures from signals broadcast from weather satellites and space probes.”

Source: New York Times, May 6, 1965

From Dave Walsh

[Dave Walsh remarks: Here’s a quote concerning methods of signalling in ancient Ireland, gleaned from the pages of Praeger.]

“A little to the west of Westmeath lake region the hill of Usnagh or Uisneach rises gently to 250 feet above the surrounding undulating country, itself attaining some 600 feet above sea level. It has a rather extensive flattish top, which was a place of importance in old days, as witnessed by the number of monuments, mostly of the nature of ring forts and tumuli, which are scattered over it. According to ancient sources, it was the site of a royal palace and a royal cemetary in prehistoric times, and leading place of assembly; later, in early Christian days, it was the seat of the kings of Connaught.

“One point is worthy of note. Though of but small elevation, the Hill of Usnagh, standing in the middle of the Central Plain, commands a singularly extensive view. From its summit, on a clear day, features belonging to no less than twenty out of the thirty-two Irish counties can be identified, and a beacon-fire lit here might be seen over one-fourth of Ireland, whence it could be readily relayed to the furthest corners. Probably this contributed materially to its early importance.”

Source: The Way That I Went, Robert Lloyd Praeger, pp. 241, 1937, republished 1997 by The Collins Press ISBN 1-898-256-357