The New Tech Times; No. 212

<v Announcer>The New Tech Times, a video magazine for the electronic age. <v Announcer>In this edition. Old timers in a young industry gab about the hobby they love. <v Announcer>Also, micros at Boston's Gait Lab help the handicapped walk. <v Announcer>Later, meet the "Vidkid" Rawson Stovall, and visit a Southern Ham, spending his time <v Announcer>tuned to the world via shortwave radio. <v Announcer>This and more in this edition of The New Tech Times. <v Announcer>[music plays] <v Announcer>The New Tech Times is brought to you through a grant from Wausau Insurance Companies. <v Announcer>Times change Wausau works. <v Announcer>And by the collective voice of the Consumer Electronics Industry. <v Announcer>C.E.G. A Consumer Electronics Group. <v Announcer>An Electronic Industries Association. [theme song plays] <v Mort Crim>Hello, I'm Mort Crim. Welcome to this edition of The New Tech Times.

<v Mort Crim>This week, we focus on young and old in the world of electronics. <v Mort Crim>We'll travel to Boston, where technology is helping a handicapped boy. <v Mort Crim>Spend time in Texas watching micros and software challenge the gifted. <v Mort Crim>Visit Atlanta for a review of advances in amateur radio with a longtime ham <v Mort Crim>and take time out with Tim ?Anosco? for an update on Apple's Macintosh. <v Mort Crim>We begin in San Francisco, where some of the young computer industry's old timers got <v Mort Crim>together recently to touch base with the past, present, and future. <v Different Speaker>The theory behind this is it's meant to allow people to identify who you are and get an <v Different Speaker>idea for why they would want to talk with you or why they would want to avoid you. <v Mort Crim>It was like this back in the old days, the mid 1970s. <v Mort Crim>Then the informal gatherings were dedicated to the ethic that free information <v Mort Crim>be freely shared. Those gatherings produced what we call the Personal <v Mort Crim>Computer Revolution. These men represent 3 generations of revolutionaries. <v Bruce Baumgart>My name is Bruce Baumgart and I'm formerly of the Artificial Intelligence Lab Stanford

<v Bruce Baumgart>and I my hacks include uh Robot Cart, ?GeoMed?, Micro Planer, <v Bruce Baumgart>List. Uh <v Mort Crim>The pioneering generation stayed up all night exploring massive <v Mort Crim>mainframes. <v Doug Carlston>The liberal arts majors who whose only computer time was available as if they gummed <v Doug Carlston>up the locks and snuck into the building late at night because they weren't allowed to <v Doug Carlston>sign up for the stuff. <v Richard Stallman>I would write programs. <v Richard Stallman>All night. And around 7:00 in the morning, I go to sleep, perhaps <v Richard Stallman>at 3:00 a.m., we go out and have another meal. <v Richard Stallman>I've seen so many sunsets. <v Richard Stallman>Well, sunrises while coming back from Chinatown. <v Richard Stallman>It was really beautiful. <v Mort Crim>The next generation built the hardware. <v Mort Crim>This man, Lee Felsenstein, developed the Osborne. <v Mort Crim>Steve Wozniak's electronic offspring is the Apple. <v Steve Wozniak>I don't know who I am from what I read all the time. [audience laughs] I'm trying I'm <v Steve Wozniak>trying to live up to my image, my idol, the designer of the Macintosh, Burrell Smith. <v Steve Wozniak>[audience applauses]

<v Mort Crim>The latest generation are the software authors. <v Mort Crim>Together, they are hackers. <v Mort Crim>This weekend convention just across the Golden Gate Bridge at the Yosemite Institute was <v Mort Crim>a celebration of their success and an expression of their concern about the course <v Mort Crim>the revolution has run. These days, hacker is synonymous with criminal activity. <v Mort Crim>It hasn't always been that way. <v Richard Stallman>What hacking is, is having the attitude of playful cleverness. <v Stewart Brand>Of several sub subcultures of the 60s that I can think of the dopers, <v Stewart Brand>the new left, uh revolutionaries, and the artists. <v Stewart Brand>I was involved with the dopers and the artists, and we did all right. <v Stewart Brand>But I don't think we had anything like the effect and the continuing effect and still <v Stewart Brand>being creative the way this group is is doing. <v Steve Wozniak>Now in school, a lot, you have the courses that teach you the problem and the solution, <v Steve Wozniak>whereas the hackers tended to be a ?sprite? <v Steve Wozniak>enough to take the little starting blocks, the mathematical tools, and build up a <v Steve Wozniak>solution of their own and they could discover the optimum solution of the day. <v Hacker>Anybody wants breakfast, now is the time.

<v Mort Crim>It was a return to a time of sharing project information, borrowed computer time, <v Mort Crim>and all night hacks. There was an ample supply of the haute cuisine of true hackers. <v Hacker>A lot of sugar. <v Hacker>A lot of sugar. Good stuff. <v Hacker>I don't have any idea why it hasn't- <v Mort Crim>These computer veterans are still pumping up products for their infant industry. <v Mort Crim>Things like this new computer board. <v Mort Crim>It sends a videotape image to the Macintosh where it can be digitized, flipped, <v Mort Crim>multiplied, and stored. <v Richard Woodhead>And I could say, you know, you do all the standard, you know, make a negative out of it <v Richard Woodhead>or uh. <v Mort Crim>They're producing new games like Richard Woodhead's Wizardry. <v Richard Woodhead>Uh, we fully expect that anybody who gets to play this game will never, ever play the <v Richard Woodhead>Apple version again. <v Mort Crim>True to the hacker profile, men like Woodhead would be glad to share the programing <v Mort Crim>tools which helped him develop new software products. <v Mort Crim>This competitive development in the hacker's eyes produces better program. <v Mort Crim>They don't want their programs, machines, or game designs stolen. <v Richard Woodhead>The product. That's that's my soul is in that product. <v Richard Woodhead>I don't want anyone fooling with that. I don't want anyone hacking into into that product

<v Richard Woodhead>and changing it because then it won't be mine. <v Mort Crim>The need for protection and secrecy is anathema to the hacker ethic, advocating <v Mort Crim>a shared pool of acquired knowledge. These men whose ideas and fantasies <v Mort Crim>spawned an industry were looking for a way to keep the current electronic creativity <v Mort Crim>flowing. <v Steve Wozniak>Well, sort how I got my positive feedback in the world. <v Steve Wozniak>I felt that I was something, the rest of the world didn't think microcomputers would <v Steve Wozniak>amount to anything. I just thought I had a neat one for my house. <v Steve Wozniak>I'm going to show others. I'm going to even help them build their own. <v Hacker>When I talk to people who are interested in uh taking high school kids and turning them <v Hacker>into us. [audience laughs] <v Mort Crim>It's good to see that the hackers who ushered in the micro revolution are as excited <v Mort Crim>about it today as they were when those first mainframe overnights began more than a <v Mort Crim>decade ago. The micro technology hackers invented is being used <v Mort Crim>today in a variety of applications. <v Mort Crim>How about helping people walk? Here's Tom Tomaszewski's report. <v Tom Tomaszewski>[music plays] [kid laughs] In 6 years, Jonathan Venskus has developed the refreshing

<v Tom Tomaszewski>laughter of someone who enjoys life with a relish far beyond his years. <v Tom Tomaszewski>The boy that lives at number 34, ?Ludlum? <v Tom Tomaszewski>In Lowell, Massachusetts, has cerebral palsy. <v Tom Tomaszewski>Operations and plastic braces help him walk. <v Tom Tomaszewski>There's no way to quantify the effect that fact has on the joy reflected in his face. <v Joe Venskus>A child with the ability now to walk freely that he did, whereas before he couldn't. <v Joe Venskus>Um, how do you describe that? <v Marcia Venskus>Just recently he has started coming in and saying, I can't do it. <v Marcia Venskus>Uh, he couldn't keep up with the kids. Why? <v Marcia Venskus>And that kind of hit me because I've been, you know, knowing that it's going to happen <v Marcia Venskus>and it did. <v Tom Tomaszewski>Videotape and computer technology analyze Jonathan's progress here in the Gait <v Tom Tomaszewski>Lab at Boston Children's Hospital. <v Tom Tomaszewski>Gait refers to the manner in which Jonathan walks. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>Your foot looks very good, but you see what happens, it turns down and in. <v Jonathan Venskus>Alright. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>So if we let you free of the brace, where we're concerned about is. <v Joe Venskus>20 years ago, they wouldn't have had this technology. <v Joe Venskus>So, there would have been a lot of exploratory surgery and a lot of guesswork.

<v Dr. Sheldon Simon>We had to have some time to put it together. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>Certainly, these are not the kind of applications that are the first thought <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>for such sophisticated cameras and other kinds of devices. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>They're used for many other purposes and very often used first for those. <v Doctor>OK. Jon, all right. Can you come and step on that middle plate just like you did last <v Doctor>time? <v Tom Tomaszewski>The laboratory is a simple combination of technologies. <v Tom Tomaszewski>Infrared strobe lights make the 21 reflective tape dots glow. <v Tom Tomaszewski>The dots mark key points of Jonathan's body. <v Tom Tomaszewski>Sensitive videotape cameras capture the session from 6 angles. <v Doctor>OK. Just walk down towards your mom. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>All those little things that are look like buttons on the <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>child's skin, those are tiny now. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>Years ago, they would have been much, much bigger than they are now. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>And they would have been very obtrusive in terms of his walking, in terms <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>of how we looked at it. <v Tom Tomaszewski>The resulting computer analysis prints out a series of stick figures. <v Tom Tomaszewski>There, you can see them on the computer screen. <v Tom Tomaszewski>Those figures are a graphic illustration analyzing motion and velocity.

<v Tom Tomaszewski>The pressure sensitive floor Jonathan walks on records the force and motion and each <v Tom Tomaszewski>step. That floor is sensitive enough to detect the fetal heartbeat <v Tom Tomaszewski>within an expectant mother. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>You could ask the same question of x-ray years ago. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>Why do you need an x-ray if you know it's a broken bone? <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>Until we have the objectivity of seeing exactly all the little <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>innuendos of that of those two broken bones, could we make advances in treatments <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>that would would subdivide the whole area of treatment of that <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>and refine it so that we have better treatments today than we had then. <v Joe Venskus>He's decided that when he comes down here and gets all dressed up with his wires and all <v Joe Venskus>the little dots and stuff, that he's a robot. He's a pretty remarkable kid. <v Tom Tomaszewski>These hospital films hold a visual record more accurate than a doctor's notes or memory. <v Tom Tomaszewski>They show Jonathan's gradual improvement. <v Tom Tomaszewski>They show, too, just how tough it is to make such judgments, particularly when your <v Tom Tomaszewski>subject is cute and giggly and wants to know when the braces will <v Tom Tomaszewski>come off.

<v Jonathan Venskus>When don't I have to wear my braces anymore? <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>I think when you get a little bit older. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>This brings a little bit more objectivity into it, helps me balance the two sides of the <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>coin better and <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>um stays away from allowing me to color my feelings when I immediately see him in a <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>good mood like that. <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>We'll see if we can take a walk. Maybe in a little while. <v Jonathan Venskus>Hey, ma! In a little while! <v Dr. Sheldon Simon>Maybe. Maybe. <v Tom Tomaszewski>The lab can be used to deal with a number of different walking problems, ranging from <v Tom Tomaszewski>imparities from strokes to simple infirmities of old age. <v Tom Tomaszewski>The value in this blend of technologies is something you can't begin to quantify. <v Tom Tomaszewski>Just appreciate. [music plays]. <v Jonathan Venskus>In a little while, guys! <v Host>If you have story, ideas, suggestions or comments about The New Tech Times, get in touch <v Host>with us electronically through The Source, log on with public 125 direct <v Host>on CompuServe use go NTT or contact us directly through our 300 <v Host>?board? New Tech Times Electronic Bulletin Board by dialing 6 0 8 2 6 3

<v Host>2 7 8 4. <v Mort Crim>That young boy's smile is all we need to realize the good work technology is helping <v Mort Crim>accomplish in Boston. We too, hope those braces come off soon, Jonathan. <v Mort Crim>Technology helping the young in Boston is challenging the young in Texas. <v Mort Crim>So much so that one 12 year old we ran into recently is fast becoming a national <v Mort Crim>figure in software and video game circles. <v Mort Crim>Here's our report produced by Al Warmon. <v Mort Crim>[music plays] <v Narrator>Living in the part of West Texas called the Big Country, smack dab in the city of <v Narrator>Abilene, is an influential video games and software critic who carries <v Narrator>clout with some very big companies. <v Narrator>He's 12 year old Rawson Stovall, a.k.a. <v Narrator>the Vid Kid. Professional and articulate, Rawson Stovall is the youngest <v Narrator>member of the working press, writing a syndicated newspaper column about video games

<v Narrator>and software. <v Rawson Stovall>I'm syndicated now by Universal Press Syndicate and they they name they chose <v Rawson Stovall>the name The Vid Kid, which wasn't my original title. <v Rawson Stovall>My original title of my column was The Video Beat that <v Rawson Stovall>when I saw my column to the San Jose Mercury News in San Jose, <v Rawson Stovall>California. They nicknamed it The Vid Kid. <v Rawson Stovall>And that's how it got the name. <v Narrator>The Vid Kid's writing style is witty Erma Bombeck and helpful Ann Landers. <v Narrator>It can be read weekly in 22 newspapers around the country. <v Narrator>Being a video game connoisseur and an expert game player, Rawson's <v Narrator>opinions count and are taken seriously. <v Narrator>That's why he is inundated daily with packages from Calico, Atari, Epics, <v Narrator>and other video game companies that contain the newest video games for him to test and <v Narrator>review. <v Rawson Stovall>Ooh, this looks neat. ?Break Street? And it's also for the Commodore 64. <v Rawson Stovall>Golly.

<v Rawson Stovall>If I liked the game, I'll review it. <v Rawson Stovall>That's what I do on my column. I don't, I try not to review bad games. <v Rawson Stovall>Since there are so many games out there, I can't really afford wasting time on a bad <v Rawson Stovall>game. A lot of people think that uh to be a critic, you have to review good <v Rawson Stovall>and bad games. That's not true. I keep a positive attitude and write about <v Rawson Stovall>games that I like in that manner. <v Rawson Stovall>I'm suggesting the games. <v Rawson Stovall>Well, like you just saw, Ghostbusters. <v Rawson Stovall>Yeah, the sound is great, but after a while it kind of <v Rawson Stovall>becomes annoying. <v Kids>[singing] An invisible man, sleeping in your bed. <v Kids>Who you gonna call? <v Kids>Ghostbusters. <v Kids>I like it. Yeah. <v Interviewer>What is the hardest thing about writing your column? <v Rawson Stovall>I think just doing it. <v Rawson Stovall>Um, finding the time or there's so many diff- other things that I <v Rawson Stovall>could be doing than writing this column. <v Rawson Stovall>That's that's what I think of. You know, MASH is on reruns of MASH

<v Rawson Stovall>uh Gilligan's Island. There's so many things that are on TV or my friends are calling. <v Rawson Stovall>No, I've gotta do my column. That's the-. <v Rawson Stovall>Tell them I can't play, I've got to do a column. <v Rawson Stovall>It's one of the hardest things for me to do. <v Narrator>When Rawson completes a column, his editor-in-chief and mother, Kay Stovall, <v Narrator>a former high school English teacher, puts the blue pencil to his copy. <v Kay Stovall>Are you sure of this? <v Rawson Stovall>What? <v Kay Stovall>Dave Johnston. ?inaudible? <v Rawson Stovall>Yeah, yeah. <v Rawson Stovall>Mhm. <v Kay Stovall>Okay. <v Teacher>[typewriter] Okay, give me the name of the- <v Kathy Aldridge>I know that junior high for him is going to be exciting this year because he can take <v Kathy Aldridge>speech, debate, foreign language, work on computers, <v Kathy Aldridge>something different that he hasn't been exposed to before. <v Narrator>Kathy Aldridge is a close friend of the Stovall family and was Rawson's 6th grade Gifted <v Narrator>Studies teacher. <v Kathy Aldridge>Rawson always downplays any of the stardom that <v Kathy Aldridge>he might have. Any appearances that he's made, he doesn't usually share that with his <v Kathy Aldridge>friends, and so therefore he remains one of the kids.

<v Kathy Aldridge>He jokes with them. They play together and they all admire him and they want him for <v Kathy Aldridge>their friend. <v Interviewer>When I asked him 3 wishes. One of his wishes was a 4 story house with an elevator that <v Interviewer>goes up and down. Can you elaborate on that a bit as he talked to you about that? <v Kathy Aldridge>No, he hasn't. But I'm sure he could fill every floor. <v Kathy Aldridge>[laughing]. <v Interviewer>With what? Video games or just books? <v Kathy Aldridge>Well, probably I would think he would have different things on each floor depending on <v Kathy Aldridge>the mood he was in. Uh I bet he would probably have a library of books. <v Kathy Aldridge>He'd have a section where he could write. <v Kathy Aldridge>Uh certainly he would have his entertainment area because he enjoys music and video <v Kathy Aldridge>games. I would think he would have a variety of things. <v Kathy Aldridge>His interested in meteorology, probably have a telescope up there. <v Kathy Aldridge>And then he would definitely need a corner for cooking so he could try out his favorite <v Kathy Aldridge>recipes. <v Narrator>One of Rawson's favorite recipes, Pac-Man Cookies, is included in his first book <v Narrator>published by Doubleday. The Vid Kid's Book of Home Video Games, a collection of his <v Narrator>newspaper columns. <v Rawson Stovall>Actually, the recipe is not what matters, it's the idea <v Rawson Stovall>of it. You can use any sugar cookie recipe, but the idea

<v Rawson Stovall>of the Pac-man and the yellow icing and the red lips and <v Rawson Stovall>the raisin for the eye. That's what I think makes the uh recipe unique. <v Girl>I think the icing is good. <v Rawson Stovall>You think the icing is the best part? <v Rawson Stovall>Huh? <v Rawson Stovall>Mm. <v Narrator>Rawson Stovall, cook, video game expert, newspaper columnist, published <v Narrator>author. Your typical 12 year old? <v Rawson Stovall>I think I am a typical uh 12 year old. <v Rawson Stovall>I like to talk on the phone and read typical 12 year old books and watch typical <v Rawson Stovall>12 year old television shows. [music plays] <v Mort Crim>Isn't he great? And Rawson's reviews carry clout, software and video game <v Mort Crim>industry executives take his calls and they listen to what he thinks about their <v Mort Crim>products. We're pleased to report Rawson's clout will be available to you <v Mort Crim>beginning next week as he becomes a contributing columnist to the New Tech Times.

<v Mort Crim>Computer technology captured Rawson Stovall's interest and imagination, <v Mort Crim>but it was amateur radio technology that caught another young man's eye in Atlanta some <v Mort Crim>53 years ago. Here's our report produced by Jim Carr. <v Mort Crim>[music plays] <v Narrator> It was 1895 <v Narrator>when Marconi sent signals through the air using radio waves. <v Narrator>Since then, amateur radio operators have been working to find better ways to communicate <v Narrator>with colleagues around the world. <v Narrator>Amateurs or hams, as they're called, have seen a lot of changes over the years, <v Narrator>but very few have witnessed as many innovations as 69 year old ham, Byron Lindsey. <v Byron Lindsey>?inaudible? This is W4BIW. <v Byron Lindsey>Okay, uh. <v Narrator>Byron got into ham radio in 1931 when he was 16. <v Narrator>Today, his house in Atlanta is decorated with more than half a dozen antennae. <v Narrator>The basement is filled with examples of both old and new ham radio technology.

<v Byron Lindsey>I got the classic radio he on my right and the future <v Byron Lindsey>radio on my left. So uh I guess I'm on the <v Byron Lindsey>fence. <v Narrator>If something new hits the market, you can bet Byron will try it. <v Byron Lindsey>Cause I'm afraid I'll miss something. After all, I'm 69 years old. <v Byron Lindsey>If I don't try it in a hurry, I'll never get to try it. <v Narrator>When Byron started out, radios ran on ?crystals not tubes?. <v Narrator>He's watched as transceivers evolve through the transistor age to the era of integrated <v Narrator>circuits. And he's bought it all. <v Byron Lindsey>That's a new Yaesu 757. I just bought it yesterday. I had a FT 101 ?ZD? <v Byron Lindsey>sitting in there, uh which I still got, put it over there. <v Narrator>Byron's wife, Billy may have mixed feelings about his enthusiasm for miniaturized <v Narrator>ham radio. On their honeymoon, Byron kept a bulky radio <v Narrator>under the bed. <v Byron Lindsey>It was kind of my security blanket. <v Byron Lindsey>After all, marriage was new to me.

<v Byron Lindsey>And I and I'd been talking to hams a long time and I figured I'd better stay in touch <v Byron Lindsey>with him, you know, just in case things didn't work out. <v Narrator>Today, Billy remains discreetly out of sight when Byron's using one of his many <v Narrator>radios scattered around the house. <v Byron Lindsey>If she was into it, she'd be down here while talking on my Globe King. <v Byron Lindsey>And I'd wanna use that. And now she says, one ham in the family is enough. <v Carol Schrader>But not all women shy away from ham. <v Carol Schrader>Byron has heard more and more women like Carol Schrader fill the airwaves as equipment <v Carol Schrader>has become small enough to keep in the kitchen. <v Carol Schrader>The Rick here is the Kingwood TS 430. We're running it barefoot right now. <v Byron Lindsey>Well, the men uh we have more in common. <v Narrator>No doubt men have much more interest in the material often received on this new tech <v Narrator>addition to ham radio. It's called slow scan TV. <v Narrator>Ham operators can transmit a still frame television picture line by <v Narrator>line.

<v Byron Lindsey>The Italians, they send back nude pictures to ya all the time. <v Byron Lindsey>And although I enjoyed them, <v Byron Lindsey>I wasn't sure that I was supposed to- that it was legal for me to even be on the <v Byron Lindsey>receiving end of such material. <v Narrator>Slow scan is a big improvement from the days when pictures could only be received on <v Narrator>teletype machines like this. <v Narrator>[radio plays] Byron traded in his slow scan TV <v Narrator>for yet another new tech development, satellite transmission. <v Byron Lindsey>?inaudible? Five Echo. This is W4BIW. <v Narrator>The trick in satellite transmission is to keep one's antenna aimed at the moving target. <v Byron Lindsey>They go over, and zip over and in about <v Byron Lindsey>15 minutes, they're gone. And a old guy like me, about time I got ready, it <v Byron Lindsey>was half gone. <v Narrator>Perhaps the most significant new influence on amateur radio is the computer. <v Narrator>So of course, Byron managed to squeeze one into his basement. <v Narrator>[beeping] Byron just types words onto his screen and the computer translates and

<v Narrator>transmits each letter in Morse code. <v Narrator>The latest computer contribution to hams is called Packet Radio. <v Byron Lindsey>It's data communication but you can uh have an outfit just go [loud noise] <v Byron Lindsey>you could send a stack of messages that high or a whole book. <v Byron Lindsey>in a minute or less. And uh I'd just like to try it. <v Byron Lindsey>I'm not sure I'd like it. <v Narrator>Byron enjoys experimenting with new technology, but says the old fashioned way of <v Narrator>sending with Morse code is more comfortable and more reliable. <v Narrator>[beeping] When he started tapping out code more than half a century ago, Byron's father <v Narrator>wanted him to spend more time helping out in the family store and ask him to quit. <v Narrator>Byron kept hamming it up. <v Narrator>Now retired, he attributes a long and successful career in television <v Narrator>to those ties to ham radio at an early age. <v Byron Lindsey>Just a little drink and uh a big dose of ham radio will make you <v Byron Lindsey>forget all your troubles til the end of the morning.

<v Byron Lindsey>[music plays] <v Mort Crim>Byron's philosophy about life no doubt was influenced by his radio sets. <v Mort Crim>He certainly looks at home with them, but listening to folks from around the world has <v Mort Crim>another advantage. It's a good way to make a lot of interesting friends. <v Mort Crim>Chips may lead us to friends or be friendly themselves. <v Mort Crim>Apple made a promise of user friendliness last year when it introduced the Macintosh. <v Mort Crim>Tim Onosko reviewed the Mac for us earlier. <v Mort Crim>He's back this week with a progress report. <v Mort Crim>Tim? <v Tim Onosko>Steve Jobs, one of Apples founders, said that the company's new Macintosh computer, <v Tim Onosko>introduced earlier this year, had just 100 days to prove itself. <v Tim Onosko>Well, how has this innovative machine fared since we last looked at it? <v Tim Onosko>Well, we know a few more things about it after some months of road testing. <v Tim Onosko>We found out, for instance, that a second floppy disk drive isn't an option. <v Tim Onosko>It's a necessity. There just isn't enough space on a single desk for a program, all

<v Tim Onosko>of the Mac's systems software, and your files as well, data, documents or pictures. <v Tim Onosko>And Apple's confirmed what we thought all along. <v Tim Onosko>The Mac needs more memory. To that end, version with an incredible 512 <v Tim Onosko>K, that's a half a megabyte hit the market last month. <v Tim Onosko>I suspect it could eventually replace the original 128k version. <v Tim Onosko>This thing is a real hog for memory. <v Tim Onosko>I'm a little bewildered by the slowness of the image writer printer. <v Tim Onosko>Still the only one that the machine supports. <v Tim Onosko>But since the Macintosh is so graphically oriented, there's no other solution until <v Tim Onosko>technology gives us a cheap laser printer. <v Tim Onosko>That flood of software that Apple promised has been slow to arrive. <v Tim Onosko>The Mac still needs several key programs, like a good word processor and a database <v Tim Onosko>to make it a practical professional tool. <v Tim Onosko>But the Macintosh software that has seen the light of day has been very impressive, <v Tim Onosko>and much of it is showing the same kind of innovation that the computer itself is based <v Tim Onosko>on. Even the basic programing language, this one is Microsoft's, <v Tim Onosko>looks and feels different on the Mac.

<v Tim Onosko>Listings appear in one window, commands and another and the program operates in yet a <v Tim Onosko>third. Now this program is called FileVision. <v Tim Onosko>It's an entirely different approach to a database manager and uses pictures, kind of like <v Tim Onosko>intelligent maps instead of words to organize information. <v Tim Onosko>Right now, though, it's a little bit like a hammer looking for a nail. <v Tim Onosko>And it's going to require some imaginative users. <v Tim Onosko>The Da Vinci Graphics disks, really aren't programs, they're picture files you can use <v Tim Onosko>with Mac Paint, the Mac's clever drawing program. <v Tim Onosko>They contain architectural elements. <v Tim Onosko>Habadex is probably one of the most practical desktop programs around. <v Tim Onosko>It gives you a rolodex, an appointment calendar, and a phone dialer all in one. <v Tim Onosko>It's fast and easy to use. <v Tim Onosko>Among the games for the Mac are the Infocom Adventure series, an arcade game <v Tim Onosko>called Mouse Stampede, and here's Millionaire. <v Tim Onosko>It's a nifty stock market simulation that uses all of the machine's features. <v Tim Onosko>Now here are a couple of sneak previews. <v Tim Onosko>These are programs that aren't quite ready yet, but they're worth giving you a glimpse <v Tim Onosko>of. Professional Composer promises to do for musicians with the word processor

<v Tim Onosko>did for writers. It's miles beyond the other music programs, quite powerful <v Tim Onosko>and is aimed at serious music writers. <v Tim Onosko>Finally, Helix is an extremely inventive approach to database management using <v Tim Onosko>icons, pictures, to portray the relationships among data. <v Tim Onosko>The best and most welcome thing about the Macintosh is how it continues to break ground <v Tim Onosko>and personal computing. <v Tim Onosko>Exciting is a word that's often misused, but if there is any excitement to be found in <v Tim Onosko>computers today, I think it's right here. <v Mort Crim>The Mac now sports a 512 K memory and some new capabilities. <v Mort Crim>Apple's pushing it for business. Only consumers and time will tell whether Mac becomes <v Mort Crim>the success it set out to be. <v Mort Crim>From Macintosh to hackers with a pair of extraordinary young men in between. <v Mort Crim>This week's program has been another look at the people and technology that are changing <v Mort Crim>our lives. Next week, we return to bring you more reports, including <v Mort Crim>these. <v Narrator>In the next edition of The New Tech Times, Silicon Valley.

<v Narrator>What are the costs of pleasure and prosperity? <v Narrator>Also, take a detour through space as you travel by car and ?do? <v Narrator>Battle on the Planet Photon as you become part of a living video game. <v Narrator>This and more in the next edition of The New Tech Times. <v Mort Crim>For the New Tech Times staff, I'm Mort Crim. <v Mort Crim>Thanks for watching. <v Narrator>The New Tech Times has been brought to you through a grant from Wausau Insurance. <v Narrator>Times change. Wausau works. <v Narrator>And by the collective voice of the Consumer Electronics Industry, the CEG, <v Narrator>the Consumer Electronics Group. <v Narrator>Electronic Industries Association. <v Narrator>For a transcript of this program, send 3 dollars to The New Tech Times Program 212.

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