Hmm, somebody hasn't been doing their assigned reading. You may not have heard about it, so I will tell you. In 1979, the Nobel Prize in Physics was given to a group of scientists that showed how the electromagnetic and weak forces were actually different views of the same force. Their theory has pretty much been widely accepted. You can see for yourself here.
And here is the text I linked to if the link goes down:
electroweak theory,
a unified field theory that describes two of the fundamental forces in nature, electromagnetism (see electromagnetic radiation) and the weak interaction. The electroweak theory derived from efforts to produce a theory for the weak force analogous to quantum electrodynamics (QED), the quantum theory of the electromagnetic force. Although the weak force fails to meet a requirement for that theory-that it behave the same way at different points in space and time-because it acts only across distances smaller than an atomic nucleus, it was shown that the electromagnetic force, which can extend across interstellar distances, and the weak force are but different manifestations of a more fundamental force, the electroweak force. This made it possible to formulate a unified model that predicted the existence of mediating, or messenger, particles. The electroweak theory, for which Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, was confirmed in 1983 by the discovery of the W and Z particles, two of a number of elementary particles it predicted.
So then, there are 3 fundamental forces of nature: gravity, electroweak, and the strong force.
Please throw your old physics primer away, it is outdated.
Forget about the old TI chips and the Intellivision speech module and such. Don't compare a single chip solution to an entire computer such as the Amiga, Mac, or PC. What I want to know is, how does it stack up to the Kurzweil 3000?
We had one of these in my public library back in '92. It could scan, OCR, and read a page to you within about 10 seconds. The prosody was actually fairly good too -- you could tell it was artificial, but it didn't sound like crazy pickle face man. <Adam Sandler>Hey, I'm crazy pickle face man! I got a pickle on my face. Now give me some candy!</Adam Sandler>
Of course, it cost in the tens of thousands back then but hey, we expect that kind of technology advance don't we?
Discovered a little animation company that needed a vision. Liked the product so much I bought the company. Pixar is now "the" digital animation studio.
And yes, it was named Pixar before he bought it from Lucas. Check the Lucasfilm site:
Return of the Jedi is released May 25. It breaks the industry record for a single day with the largest opening day gross in history, $6.2 million. The film grosses $45 million by the end of the first week.
Jedi receives a Special Achievement Academy Award for visual effects along with five Academy Award nominations.
Computer Division reorganizes to form Pixar and Games.
1986
Howard the Duck opens August 1.
Captain EO is created for Disneyland and Walt Disney World and is released September 13.
Pixar is sold to Steven Jobs.
Lucasfilm coproduces Labyrinth with Henson Associates.
I know all of this because I lived through it. Please don't simply quote the first source you find on google.
Actually, lovable Steve is the CEO, but not the founder of Pixar. After he left Apple to form Next (1985 I think), he purchased several divisions that Lucasfilm was selling off (presumably to help with NeXT). These were SoundDroid, EditDroid, and Pixar.
Oops, scratch number four above. These were being researched in 198x, but the NeXT shipped with a working magneto-optical (although today we all use phase change). Sorry about that.
1) Giant Magneto-resistive drive heads, which IBM had been working on and claimed to be right around the corner
2) Silicon-on-Insulator manufacturing technology for integrated circuits. Another research project in 199x
3) Copper Interconnects for Integrated Circuits - also big research in 199x
4) Recordable CD's. This was also being researched in 199x
5) A LOT of problems have been overcome in GA (Gallium Arsenide) circuits manufacturability. This is especially good news for the communications industry.
6) DSL and Cable Modems - just research projects only five years ago
7) DVD - that's right, didn't exist in 1995, just a twinkle in the eye of a few companies.
I have probably forgotten quite a few, but this is not too bad a list.
Now, don't even get me *started* on the tech we use today that didn't exist in 198x!
Slashdot Mirror
And here is the text I linked to if the link goes down:
electroweak theory,
a unified field theory that describes two of the fundamental forces in nature, electromagnetism (see electromagnetic radiation) and the weak interaction. The electroweak theory derived from efforts to produce a theory for the weak force analogous to quantum electrodynamics (QED), the quantum theory of the electromagnetic force. Although the weak force fails to meet a requirement for that theory-that it behave the same way at different points in space and time-because it acts only across distances smaller than an atomic nucleus, it was shown that the electromagnetic force, which can extend across interstellar distances, and the weak force are but different manifestations of a more fundamental force, the electroweak force. This made it possible to formulate a unified model that predicted the existence of mediating, or messenger, particles. The electroweak theory, for which Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, was confirmed in 1983 by the discovery of the W and Z particles, two of a number of elementary particles it predicted.
So then, there are 3 fundamental forces of nature: gravity, electroweak, and the strong force.
Please throw your old physics primer away, it is outdated.
http://www.kurzweiledu.com/kurzweil3000.html
We had one of these in my public library back in '92. It could scan, OCR, and read a page to you within about 10 seconds. The prosody was actually fairly good too -- you could tell it was artificial, but it didn't sound like crazy pickle face man. <Adam Sandler>Hey, I'm crazy pickle face man! I got a pickle on my face. Now give me some candy!</Adam Sandler>
Of course, it cost in the tens of thousands back then but hey, we expect that kind of technology advance don't we?
Kids, don't believe everything you read.
Check the Pixar section of his resume
http://homepage.mac.com/steve/Resume.html
Discovered a little animation company that needed a vision. Liked the product so much I bought the company. Pixar is now "the" digital animation studio.
And yes, it was named Pixar before he bought it from Lucas. Check the Lucasfilm site:
http://www.lucasfilm.com/history_top.html
1983
Return of the Jedi is released May 25. It breaks the industry record for a single day with the largest opening day gross in history, $6.2 million. The film grosses $45 million by the end of the first week.
Jedi receives a Special Achievement Academy Award for visual effects along with five Academy Award nominations.
Computer Division reorganizes to form Pixar and Games.
1986 Howard the Duck opens August 1.
Captain EO is created for Disneyland and Walt Disney World and is released September 13.
Pixar is sold to Steven Jobs.
Lucasfilm coproduces Labyrinth with Henson Associates.
I know all of this because I lived through it. Please don't simply quote the first source you find on google.
Peace ;)
Actually, lovable Steve is the CEO, but not the founder of Pixar. After he left Apple to form Next (1985 I think), he purchased several divisions that Lucasfilm was selling off (presumably to help with NeXT). These were SoundDroid, EditDroid, and Pixar.
A post-test loop? You mean you don't check if you're alive before you go to work? Look Out, It's Zombie Bool!!
...only kidding
And I found out that all this time our government has been putting flourine in our drinking water!
Oops, scratch number four above. These were being researched in 198x, but the NeXT shipped with a working magneto-optical (although today we all use phase change). Sorry about that.
Well, off the top of my head, I can think of:
1) Giant Magneto-resistive drive heads, which IBM had been working on and claimed to be right around the corner
2) Silicon-on-Insulator manufacturing technology for integrated circuits. Another research project in 199x
3) Copper Interconnects for Integrated Circuits - also big research in 199x
4) Recordable CD's. This was also being researched in 199x
5) A LOT of problems have been overcome in GA (Gallium Arsenide) circuits manufacturability. This is especially good news for the communications industry.
6) DSL and Cable Modems - just research projects only five years ago
7) DVD - that's right, didn't exist in 1995, just a twinkle in the eye of a few companies.
I have probably forgotten quite a few, but this is not too bad a list.
Now, don't even get me *started* on the tech we use today that didn't exist in 198x!