A while back I bought the Pac Man Fever CD from mpe.com - has a lot of oldy moldy arcade songs from B&G:
Pac Man Fever, Froggy's Lament, Ode To Centipede, Do The Donkey Kong, Hyperspace, The Defender, Mousetrap and Goin' Berzerk.
Originally called Puck Man in Japan and then changed for fear that young video game players in the US would alter the P into a F - look it up in Wikipedia.
Also let us not forget the promotional song from Buckner and Garcia - "Pac Man Fever" that hit the airwaves briefly. You can still find that song and the other B&G video games tunes if you google them.
Glad he is getting involved - he is a very smart and nice guy. He delivered a talk about the future of the Internet for my lecture series at Temple University in Philadelphia last year and he was talking about the use of new technologies like this.
Vint also has friends in Hollywood (specifically within the Star Trek folks).
Yeah those wacky teens were doing "Skeet Surfing" (shotguns, skeet & surfing) in that movie.
This sounds just as wacky - hope that HD is shock mounted. Will the Wifi signal attract sharks? (just kidding)
Excellent response to the ABC claim!
Its basically about bragging rights. I worked as an educator in 1996 at the U. of Penn ENIAC museum and they insisted that I say that ENIAC was first to the public.
I have visited the Colossus machine and spoken with Tony Sale about this - they insist Colossus was first.
Let us not forget that Iowa State is also basing their claim on the fact that George Bush (Senior) presented a medal at the university declaring their's was first.
Geek's love to claim their's was first, bigger, better, faster, etc.
When I was there Tony Sale was hard at work - he has an impressive background computer restoration wise with the London Science Museum too. The museum it is in is really great and the tour is a lot of fun - when I was there two employees from IBM in the US were there too.
If you visit Bletchley Park (NW of London - take the train from Euston station in London to Bletchley) all that remains of the building where the 10 Colossus computers is the stone front step.
The building, computers and blueprints were destroyed at the end of the war. One Colossus computer was sent to GCHQ in Cheltenham at the end of the war then reportedly disassembled later.
Enjoy.
Yep they (WPVI) called me about his one and after listening to their pitch to be on camera I said no.
Glad I did - though I always turn down anything that is a sleazy topic like this. Rather be talking about the tech stuff than the sleazy stuff
The reporter didn't have a clue about newsgroups when they were talking to me and he kept pushing for me to talk about porn.
But that's most local and national news outlets these days....
Years ago when invited to a Canon Computer show at the now out of business Fashion Cafe in NYC (Naomi Campbell was there) Canon attempted to create a fashion show out of their hardware.
Among the notable and memorable features were:
A woman that was dressed in about 200 sewn together Canon CD's.
A guy rollerblading with an open working laptop in one hand and CD's in the other (on a 3 foot wide ramp 4 feet from the floor)
And finally a model balancing (probably painfully) and Canon inkjet printer on her head and power cord dangling behind her.
Yeah - yeah - all jokes aside this is a WWII geek machine - it was easy to assemble and works great.
I give the creators of this credit for the hard work they put in - they even delivered a completed one to the Bletchley Trust Director for display.
On the side I have been a consultant to Bletchley Park - supporter and a personal friend of a woman who worked in the registration room at Bletchley during the war. She shared many of her photos, artifacts and stories about what it was like to work somewhere and then never being able to tell anyone what you did there until 35 years later (Secrets Act). Her parents died not knowing what she did for her country.
If you haven't been there - take the train to Bletchley (from Euston station in London north about an hour & a half) next time you in the UK - 200 yards away from the station is the main gate of the complex - you will be blown away by what's there.
One of the problems with the comments I have seen here is that most of the knowledge about BP from folks on this side of the Atlantic is either incomplete or misinformed.
At BP they had 12 Colossus computers working by the end of the war. A replica was rebuilt in 1996 from scratch and is still working - including the unique paper tape/proximity fuse system used to enter information - read all of Tony Sale's site to understand it. At the end of the war all but one of the Colossus computers were destroyed under the British War Secrets act and the building housing them was demolished in the 1960's - all that's left is the granite front step. All blueprints and all photos but about 3 were destroyed.
The last Colossus was sent to the British version of the NSA - GCHQ in Cheltenham. It was reported it was also destroyed after a few years.
Americans know very little about BP or Colossus. One of the reasons why various codes were cracked was that some the Germans became lazy and started beginning the codes with familiar words, phrases, and even girlfriend's names - like putting a personal stamp on the message.
Bletchley Park is in the process of creating and preserving the unique information technology history that took place there. They are a very unique treasure - you won't find them mentioned in UK travel books but I am going to change that.
Hooray for the Enigma-E! - personally I was amused that this fully working encryption device (BTW not all German codes were deciphered) was sent to me and passed through US Customs with the label "Electronic Toy" on it. This device is still a useful machine and definitely not a toy.
Three other sources on this topic - worth looking at - UDC has a video of an early working green monochrome display:
Universal Display Corporation (NJ)
www.universaldisplay.com
Cambridge Display Technology (UK)
www.cdtltd.co.uk
Society for Information Display
www.sid.org
There were more codes created than the first one Enigma from the Italy, Japan, etc.
here were about 15 versions of the code at the end of the war that were not cracked. There wasn't just one Enigma code like the movies would lead one to believe.
On the side I am a consultant in the US for Bletchley Park, UK.
The only reason why the original Enigma code was cracked was that some of the German soldiers using it made mistakes and did things like start the message with their girlfriend's initials every time they transmitted.
Its still an impressive device.
I am breaking out my soldering iron to work on this gift coming from my wife...the Enigma-e
This is a brand new kit project so you can make an electronic working replica of the German Enigma machine. Includes plans to make yourself a wooden case and also code sheets from German Enigma files. Find it here: www.xat.nl/enigma-e
Its from the Netherlands - sold through Bletchley Park in the UK - www.bletchleypark.org.uk
It also connects to your PC with a serial cable - then you can transmit coded messages through something like hyperterminal.
Enjoy.
Way back then he declared on stage in Philadelphia that he was through sending spam (this was 1999) and his company would be legit. Didn't happen.
Glad he is out of the tech world - BTW how does anyone know or even care about whether he has gorgeous women around him - I am pretty sure he was married back then.
Ah well - one less spammer....
Slashdot Mirror
A while back I bought the Pac Man Fever CD from mpe.com - has a lot of oldy moldy arcade songs from B&G: Pac Man Fever, Froggy's Lament, Ode To Centipede, Do The Donkey Kong, Hyperspace, The Defender, Mousetrap and Goin' Berzerk.
Originally called Puck Man in Japan and then changed for fear that young video game players in the US would alter the P into a F - look it up in Wikipedia. Also let us not forget the promotional song from Buckner and Garcia - "Pac Man Fever" that hit the airwaves briefly. You can still find that song and the other B&G video games tunes if you google them.
Glad he is getting involved - he is a very smart and nice guy. He delivered a talk about the future of the Internet for my lecture series at Temple University in Philadelphia last year and he was talking about the use of new technologies like this.
Vint also has friends in Hollywood (specifically within the Star Trek folks).
Yeah those wacky teens were doing "Skeet Surfing" (shotguns, skeet & surfing) in that movie. This sounds just as wacky - hope that HD is shock mounted. Will the Wifi signal attract sharks? (just kidding)
Excellent response to the ABC claim! Its basically about bragging rights. I worked as an educator in 1996 at the U. of Penn ENIAC museum and they insisted that I say that ENIAC was first to the public. I have visited the Colossus machine and spoken with Tony Sale about this - they insist Colossus was first. Let us not forget that Iowa State is also basing their claim on the fact that George Bush (Senior) presented a medal at the university declaring their's was first. Geek's love to claim their's was first, bigger, better, faster, etc.
When I was there Tony Sale was hard at work - he has an impressive background computer restoration wise with the London Science Museum too. The museum it is in is really great and the tour is a lot of fun - when I was there two employees from IBM in the US were there too. If you visit Bletchley Park (NW of London - take the train from Euston station in London to Bletchley) all that remains of the building where the 10 Colossus computers is the stone front step. The building, computers and blueprints were destroyed at the end of the war. One Colossus computer was sent to GCHQ in Cheltenham at the end of the war then reportedly disassembled later. Enjoy.
Yep they (WPVI) called me about his one and after listening to their pitch to be on camera I said no. Glad I did - though I always turn down anything that is a sleazy topic like this. Rather be talking about the tech stuff than the sleazy stuff The reporter didn't have a clue about newsgroups when they were talking to me and he kept pushing for me to talk about porn. But that's most local and national news outlets these days....
The folks at the Eckert Mauchly Corporation in Philadelphia (makers of the UNIVAC computer) staged all kinds of stunts like this.
They once had a woman in a Maidenform bra pose next to the UNIVAC for the "You Never Know Where The Maidenform Lady will show up next" ad campaign.
Also many then famous celebrities posed with the UNIVAC like Angie Dickinson, Pat Boone, John Wayne and others.
Years ago when invited to a Canon Computer show at the now out of business Fashion Cafe in NYC (Naomi Campbell was there) Canon attempted to create a fashion show out of their hardware.
Among the notable and memorable features were:
A woman that was dressed in about 200 sewn together Canon CD's.
A guy rollerblading with an open working laptop in one hand and CD's in the other (on a 3 foot wide ramp 4 feet from the floor)
And finally a model balancing (probably painfully) and Canon inkjet printer on her head and power cord dangling behind her.
People - Computers are not a fashion statement...
Yeah - yeah - all jokes aside this is a WWII geek machine - it was easy to assemble and works great. I give the creators of this credit for the hard work they put in - they even delivered a completed one to the Bletchley Trust Director for display. On the side I have been a consultant to Bletchley Park - supporter and a personal friend of a woman who worked in the registration room at Bletchley during the war. She shared many of her photos, artifacts and stories about what it was like to work somewhere and then never being able to tell anyone what you did there until 35 years later (Secrets Act). Her parents died not knowing what she did for her country. If you haven't been there - take the train to Bletchley (from Euston station in London north about an hour & a half) next time you in the UK - 200 yards away from the station is the main gate of the complex - you will be blown away by what's there. One of the problems with the comments I have seen here is that most of the knowledge about BP from folks on this side of the Atlantic is either incomplete or misinformed. At BP they had 12 Colossus computers working by the end of the war. A replica was rebuilt in 1996 from scratch and is still working - including the unique paper tape/proximity fuse system used to enter information - read all of Tony Sale's site to understand it. At the end of the war all but one of the Colossus computers were destroyed under the British War Secrets act and the building housing them was demolished in the 1960's - all that's left is the granite front step. All blueprints and all photos but about 3 were destroyed. The last Colossus was sent to the British version of the NSA - GCHQ in Cheltenham. It was reported it was also destroyed after a few years. Americans know very little about BP or Colossus. One of the reasons why various codes were cracked was that some the Germans became lazy and started beginning the codes with familiar words, phrases, and even girlfriend's names - like putting a personal stamp on the message. Bletchley Park is in the process of creating and preserving the unique information technology history that took place there. They are a very unique treasure - you won't find them mentioned in UK travel books but I am going to change that. Hooray for the Enigma-E! - personally I was amused that this fully working encryption device (BTW not all German codes were deciphered) was sent to me and passed through US Customs with the label "Electronic Toy" on it. This device is still a useful machine and definitely not a toy.
Three other sources on this topic - worth looking at - UDC has a video of an early working green monochrome display: Universal Display Corporation (NJ) www.universaldisplay.com Cambridge Display Technology (UK) www.cdtltd.co.uk Society for Information Display www.sid.org
Moving line art you can animate or look at the designs from previous visitors. sodaplay.com
There were more codes created than the first one Enigma from the Italy, Japan, etc. here were about 15 versions of the code at the end of the war that were not cracked. There wasn't just one Enigma code like the movies would lead one to believe. On the side I am a consultant in the US for Bletchley Park, UK. The only reason why the original Enigma code was cracked was that some of the German soldiers using it made mistakes and did things like start the message with their girlfriend's initials every time they transmitted. Its still an impressive device.
I am breaking out my soldering iron to work on this gift coming from my wife...the Enigma-e This is a brand new kit project so you can make an electronic working replica of the German Enigma machine. Includes plans to make yourself a wooden case and also code sheets from German Enigma files. Find it here: www.xat.nl/enigma-e Its from the Netherlands - sold through Bletchley Park in the UK - www.bletchleypark.org.uk It also connects to your PC with a serial cable - then you can transmit coded messages through something like hyperterminal. Enjoy.
Way back then he declared on stage in Philadelphia that he was through sending spam (this was 1999) and his company would be legit. Didn't happen. Glad he is out of the tech world - BTW how does anyone know or even care about whether he has gorgeous women around him - I am pretty sure he was married back then. Ah well - one less spammer....