.Just how simple do word processors have to get before you begin using one?
Even simpler than your old typewriter?
No problem. Because we’ve made one that eliminates all the intimidating things you’ve always associated with word processors.
Computers
I’m not certain, but I’d guess that if the question is “How do you shoot down a missile going 1,200 miles per hour with a gun, in 1954?” the answer is: you don’t.
.HOW TO HIT A SUPERSONIC MISSILE in flight?
An enemy guided missile comes winging towards our task force … at speeds of up to 20 miles a minute. What kind of computer can predict and compute the necessary data fast enough to shoot down the missile… and be reliable every time? That was the problem posed to Ford Instrument Company engineers… and in cooperation with the Navy, they found the answer. Compact equipment, housed in easy-to-service units… that stand at the front line of our defense.
The complaints in articles about Apple seem strangely timeless.
.Patronizing the Naive User
There is a lot of talk now about the naive user, what the naive user doesn’t want, and the hazards from which the naive user must be protected. Unfortunately, some of the steps that computer companies take on behalf of the naive user show a misunderstanding of what “naive” means in this context.
In 1982 (two years after this article was published) the Cray-XMP was one of, if not the, most powerful computers in the world. It had 16 MB of ram and in a dual processor configuration could hit 400 MFLOPS. It also occupied something like 50 square feet, used an ungodly amount of power and cost around $32,000,000 in today’s dollars.
By comparison, the Apple A6 processor used in the iPhone 5 is built using a 32nm process, so smaller than the lines in that picture. It has 1GB, or 64 times as much memory and the setting aside the dual core CPUs, the graphics cores alone hit about 25 GFLOPS or about 60 times the performance of the Cray. The A6 is about 97 square millimeters in area and costs around $17.50. And of course, it does this all with out Josephson Junctions or a cryostat.
If you want to see what a modern supercomputer looks like, check out the Cray Titan.
.World’s smallest what?
I haven’t checked, but somehow I don’t think the Guinness Book of Records has this one. Scientists at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center claim they have made the world’s smallest experimental circuit elements.
.DESIGN a voice command system with the Siliconix CODEC & WIN an Apple!
Enter the Siliconix CODEC Design Contest and win an Apple II — the world’s best-selling personal computer — or another great prize. All you have to do is use Siliconix’ CODEC to design a microprocessor-based system which responds to your spoken words (or talks back to you).
When I used to buy Infocom games in the 80′s I always loved how they came with all sorts of “props” in the box. Particularly the Microscopic Space Fleet in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Also, how crazy is it to see a video game ad that mentions availability for the PDP-11?
.DEADLINE
Twelve hours to find the murderer. One false move, and he kills again.
You are about to investigate one of the deadliest plots in the annals of crime. A locked door. A dead man. And 12 hours to solve the murder. That’s where you begin. Ahead of you, a treacherous web of motives and suspicion. And only by bringing your utmost skills of logic and intuition into play can you successfully solve the case.
“Unconventional” recording formats make recovering data from old disks a bit tricky. A problem the Archive Team has been dealing with as they endeavor to preserve roughly everything that has ever been stored. Ever.
.Dense disc
The MD-4 computer mini-disc unit from IMSAI (14860 Wicks Blvd., San Leandro, Calif. 94577) uses conventional Micropolis drives, but unconventional 1024-byte-per-sector recording format. Result: an 18-percent—780K bytes-increase in storage capability. It’s $1995 with MDOS and controller.
.Desk-top terminal
This 12x9x2-1/2-inch display takes the place of a full-size computer CRT terminal. It displays 12 lines of 40 characters and is touch sensitive—you give commands by just touching spots on the screen. Price: $3500. General Digital, 700 Burnside Ave., E. Hartford, Conn. 06108.
.NEW PRODUCTS
High-resolution computer, HP-87, has user memory that can be increased from a built-in 32K bytes to 544K bytes The system comes with 32K bytes of user RAM. 48K bytes of Basic language in ROM, and 16K bytes of RAM devoted to the display.
.Announcing a small improvement on the Apple IIe
It’s 12″x 11-1/4″ x 2-1/4″. It weighs less than 8 pounds* And costs less than $1,300** Yet with 128K, the new Apple® IIc Personal Computer is a lot bigger than it looks.
Because it’s inherited all the talents of the eminently talented Apple IIe: The versatility to run over 10,000 different software programs.
