Portable computing ad date: May 17, 1976
The issue's top stories:
IBM Decries Justice's Use of FBI as 'Coercive'
The government's use of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to interview people who will be called as witnesses by IBM in the current antitrust trial is "coercive," "unconstitutional" and an abuse of government power. So charged IBM's lead attorney in a recent closed-door meeting with Judge David N. Edelstein, who is hearing the case.
Unchecked Government Output Costs Millions
Government computer applications routinely churn out checks, pay bills and make requisitions for more than $40 billion annually -- and no one seems to be checking that the output is correct. At least that's the conclusion of a report the General Accounting Office (GAO) recently submitted to Congress.
Two Bombs Rock Maine Utility
AUGUSTA, Maine - Two powerful explosive devices were detonated on floors above and below the DP center of the Central Maine Power Co. (CMP) here last week, but the computer installation remained intact. The bombs contained sophisticated timing and ignition mechanisms; the closest device exploded "within 50 feet" of the utility firm's DP center, according to officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Even if the installation had been knocked out, DP operations could have continued by utilizing backup plans, according to Raymond Pelletier, CMP DP manager. . . . The dual blasts apparently were set by an extremist group calling itself the "Fred Hampton Unit of the Peoples Forces," according to a letter left in the offices of the Kennebec Journal, the local daily newspaper.
8. It's small and light at only 11+ lbs.
"MultiSpeed is multi-talented. It's small. Light. And gives you the option of running at a clock speed of either 9.54 or 4.77 MHz," boasts this ad from NEC showing what a laptop of its day was like. It weighed in at 11.2 lb. with 640K of memory, dual 720K drives and five built-in programs.
Any idea when a company would be boasting about an 11-lb. laptop?