The Birth Of Mobility Honored At The Smithsonian

Introduced together with the TI-58 these calculators introduced a novelity, the Solid State Software Modules™ with up to 5000 program steps. On the backside of the TI-58/59 you'll notice a small lid with a place for a module. The Master Library with 25 different programs was included, a lot of other modules were available. Image & Caption Credit: DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

The Birth Of Mobility Honored At The Smithsonian

Texas Instruments introduces the handheld calculator and the tools that enhance our business, communications, and entertainment lives ... changed the way we all relate to the world we live in forever.

The consumer electronics revolution (the evolution and packaging of electronic devices that have come to aid our lives over the last forty plus years) also created the enterprise mobility revolution and spawned the competitive growth of many of the retail giants of today.

TELXON PTC-610 ADVANCED HANDHELD COMPUTER - Telxon's PTC-610 proves the old adage that good things come in small packages. From a price/performance standpoint, this small but mighty Portable Tele-Transaction Computer is one of the most advanced, low-cost handhelds in the industry. Image & Caption Credit: OPAL

By employing calculators that were redesigned with built-in memory and barcode symbology scanning capability, small regional companies like Sam Walton’s Wal-Mart employed data collection and accounting techniques that allowed the business effort to outstrip the competition. Timely and correct information about inventory levels was the key to this mega-store retailing growth and enterprise mobility datacollectors that Sam Walton and others utilized was the tool.

Today, the functional capabilities of consumer electronics and enterprise mobility are beginning to blend and become the same. Cellphones, cameras, and computers are morphing into devices that are equally useful to both dedications.

Consumers use cameras on cellphones to capture information through symbology and WiFi (PWC/PWH applications) in much the same way the associates at Wal-Mart or PETCO read symbols (barcodes) to gain information on which to base decisions and lead more successful lives.

The Smithsonian Institute recognizes the beginning of this revolution with a museum honor.

Excerpts from Computerworld -

TI's first handheld calculator is now a museum piece
Smithsonian honors pioneering device; co-inventor remembers 'progress on a daily basis'
By Patrick Thibodeau - Computerworld - September 26, 2007

In 1965, the consumer electronics revolution that would result in PCs, iPods, smart phones and myriad other electronic devices was still years off. And the predecessors of the integrated circuits that would power such products were being used mostly by the military.

But inside Texas Instruments Inc., an effort began to change that.

Jerry Merryman was part of a small team at TI given the task that year of creating a handheld calculator. Numerous problems arose, according to Merryman. The calculator had to work at low power, and it required a reliable keyboard and a chip with thousands of transistors. Nevertheless, a working model was delivered 18 months later, in 1967 -- giving TI the world's first electronic handheld calculator.

Merryman was asked at a ceremony held here on Tuesday if he thought the device would have the impact that it did. "No, really," he said. "I thought a few accountants might use them. I thought some engineering students might get them as presents. It was only later that I realized we were kicking off [the electronics] revolution.

TI's calculator became commercially available in 1970 and already is a part of the IT collection at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. The museum also has the original 1967 prototype, which weighed 3 pounds, was encased in aluminum and ran on batteries. At the time the calculator was developed, existing models were heavy desktop devices -- not handhelds.

At yesterday's ceremony, the Smithsonian expanded its collection to include two of the first programmable calculators, the TI-58 and TI-59.

The Texas Instruments "Programmable 58" (1977) was TI's middle range programmable calculator. The TI58 and TI59 (below) are based on the same design, and are almost identical (In fact, they came with the same manual). The TI58 has 1/2 the internal memory (240/480 steps), and lacks the magnetic cards available on the TI59. The model shown is a 'C' version, which stands for "Constant Memory" - this calculator retains user written programs when powered off. Image & Caption Credit: claccicmp.org

"Think about how these innovations affected our lives," said David Allison, a curator at the museum who called TI's calculator a unique device that "touched the lives of all Americans."
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Despite the sweeping ambition of the original handheld project, Merryman said the calculator was developed without a set budget. "It was just work that we did in our spare time," he said. Merryman was joined at the Smithsonian's ceremony by another member of the team, James Van Tassel.

A third member, TI engineer Jack Kilby, died in 2005. Kilby invented the integrated circuit at TI in 1958 and later won the Nobel Prize for his work, which included holding 60 U.S. patents.
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The initial calculators could handle basic math functions only. Nonetheless, Merryman believes that the devices helped students tackle more difficult problems. And math education is essential, he added.

Lovett said that technical jobs are growing at a double-digit rate in the U.S. But only 17% of undergraduates leave their schools with a math or science degree. In China, that percentage is 52%,he said, and in South Korea, it's 41%.
Reference Here>>

In this world of New Media - Mobility is king!

This mobility technology has become the technological backbone of the New Media paradigm. Cellphones with memory, photo capability, & WiFi are the tools that have become citizen (and more, professional) journalism cornerstones.

Writing Checks Almost So … Last Century

Personal Wallet Checks - Many great designs to choose from, starting at only $5.96 for 240 checks. Save Time -- Order Online Now! Image and Caption Credit: WAL*MART Financial Services

Writing Checks Almost So … Last Century!

When was the last time anyone drags a checkbook around with them every time they leave the house and run errands?

OK, if one doesn’t have American Express, one still needs a checkbook for an outing at COSTCO, but this is a rare exception.

Even retailers are moving to scanning checks they receive into an electronic communications package thus converting checks to electronic payments.

Plastic, plastic, plastic – it is just to convenient! And if one isn’t using their cerdit/debit card to pay for things, they are using the web to get things done.

Excerpts from AP via The Washington Times -

Check writing loses ground to electronic payments
By Josh Funk - ASSOCIATED PRESS - February 8, 2007

OMAHA, Neb. -- Some consumers may still be writing checks, but merchants increasingly are scanning those checks and converting them into electronic payments.

That, accompanied by the increasing use of credit and debit cards, may be tolling the end of check writing.

The Federal Reserve estimates that 49.5 billion checks were paid in the United States in 1995, compared with 36.6 billion in 2003.

The widespread availability of debit cards and the growing popularity of plastic are the biggest factors in the decline of check writing. From 2000 to 2003, the number of debit-card transactions nearly doubled, from 8.3 billion to 15.6 billion, and the number of credit-card transactions jumped from 15.6 billion to 19 billion.

Julie O'Neill of Omaha said she thinks her credit card is more convenient than writing a check, and all her spending is compiled on one statement at the end of the month.

When it comes time to pay bills, she turns to her computer instead of her checkbook because she can pay her bills at the last minute.

"I procrastinate, so then I can go online and not have to go through snail mail" to pay bills, she said.

Together, credit- and debit-card use accounted for 43 percent of all noncash payments in 2003, compared with 33 percent in 2000.
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The decline in check writing, combined with the increase in electronic check processing, prompted the Federal Reserve to dramatically reduce the size of its check-processing department, whose operations are covered by the processing fees it charges for handling checks and electronic transfers. Since 2003, the Fed has closed more than half of its 45 check-processing centers, and by the end of 2008, only 18 such centers will remain operational.

At some stores that process checks electronically, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and clothing retailers Gap Inc. and Banana Republic, the clerk hands the check back to the consumer with his or her receipt after scanning it and claiming an electronic payment for the store.

Converting checks to electronic payments allows merchants to get paid quicker, and it may help reduce the number of insufficient-funds checks that businesses have to deal with. Processing checks electronically also is cheaper than processing paper checks.

In 2003, about 8.9 billion converted checks were reported, accounting for about 11 percent of all noncash payments.

Consumers may not realize that many of the checks they write to utilities, mortgage companies and other businesses also are being converted to electronic payments when those companies receive the checks, said Terri Bradford, a payments researcher with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Some business payments might be better suited to checks than electronic payments, Ms. Bradford said. Writing a check instead of authorizing a wire transfer or making some other electronic payment may help a business better manage its cash flow because there is still some delay between when the check is written and when it is received.
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Ms. Bradford said there's no way to predict how quickly check writing will continue to be replaced by electronic payments.

Still, checks continue to be used because older consumers are comfortable with what they have used for years. And Ms. Bradford said there are still some transactions for which checks are better suited, such as paying the neighbor youth who mowed the lawn or making a contribution to the church, to have a record of charitable donations at tax time.
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Ms. Bradford said checks might remain popular for transactions in which the payment must be guaranteed, such as at real estate closings, especially when people and small businesses are involved.

And she doesn't expect checks to entirely vanish.

"There's a certain segment of the population that's going to write checks," she said. "You probably get stuck behind them in the check-out aisle."
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