November 2009 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

question about DIY computing in the 1940s/1950s
by Evan Koblentz 15 Nov '09

15 Nov '09

While writing about the National Bureau of Standards' SEAC tonight, I began to wonder: what are some other examples of computers in the late 1940s and early 1950s that were developed by customers because it was easier than buying one commercially? I'm specifically interested in machines that were completed and put into real-world use, not those which were experiments.

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New CBI Newsletter (Fall 2009, Vol. 31:2)
by Charles Babbage Institute 13 Nov '09

13 Nov '09

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World Computer Congress, 2010, second notice
by Ceruzzi, Paul 13 Nov '09

13 Nov '09

The 2010 World Computer Congress will be held next September in Brisbane, Australia. Included in the program will be a history track celebrating the 50th anniversary of IFIP. Here is the web site for further information, and a link to the Call for Papers for the history track. http://www.wcc2010.com/HC/ Paul E. Ceruzzi National Air & Space Museum

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Material and cases on actual management accounting systems
by Lars Heide 13 Nov '09

13 Nov '09

Dear list member, I am working to develop a course on management economy and have been looking for material and cases on actual management accounting systems, particularly cases with problems that can facilitate discussions in a class. I would be pleased with your suggestions. Thanks for your help, Lars Heide Associate Professor, Dr. merc. Centre for Business History Copenhagen Business School Porcelanshaven 18A DK-2000 Frederiksberg DENMARK Tel: +45 3815 3027 Mob: +45 2383 4840 Fax: +45 3815 3635

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Fw: Veterans Rebuild IBM 1401, Patent Case of the Century, and more
by Roger Neil Barton 12 Nov '09

12 Nov '09

IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert - 11/12/2009FYI kind regards neil Dr Roger Neil Barton http://www.uclmail.net/~neil.barton/ ----- Original Message ----- From: IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert To: neil.barton(a)uclmail.net Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 1:29 PM Subject: Veterans Rebuild IBM 1401, Patent Case of the Century, and more To view this e-mail as a web page, go here. ADVERTISEMENT Forward to a Friend Print this Issue Search Back Issues November 12, 2009 Rebuilding the IBM 1401 More than 30 retired computer engineers worked together to resurrect an antique IBM 1401 for the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. Unlike today's computers, this 1960s-era model actually lets you see all the moving parts that make it work. This photo essay documents the team's work with the machine, which was donated to the museum by computer enthusiasts who bought it for US $21 000 from the German eBay site. Read more. The Future of Robotics Nov 12, 2009 Reducing Physical Verification Cycle Times with Debug Innovation ADVERTISEMENT Podcast: Business Patents Up for Grabs Oral arguments started in Bilski v. Kappos this week, in what some have called "the patent case of the century." Could Isaac Newton have patented calculus under U.S. patent law and created an insurance-industry monopoly? Patent attorney Kirk Teska describes the barrage of such questions from U.S. Supreme Court justices and considers what it bodes for the future of business-method patents. Listen now. New MEMS for Monitoring Bridges HP boosted the sensitivity of MEMS acceleration sensors 1000-fold without increasing the cost. The secret was borrowing technology from inkjet printers to make chunkier MEMS. Read more. Push-Button Books Google's deal to digitize books may be in legal limbo this week, but a New York City-based start-up has pressed ahead. On Demand Books' one-off bookmaking technology is pressing pages in bookstores and libraries around the world. Read more. Video: Capturing Sound with Smoke and Lasers A father-and-son team thinks they've discovered the next stage of microphone evolution: replacing the vibrating mechanical diaphragm with a stream of smoke. They measure changes in the stream's shape with a laser and a photodetector. Watch and listen as the inventors give a demonstration of their latest prototype. View now. The Air Piano Omer Yosha's home-brew musical interface is like an invisible multilevel keyboard that floats in the air in front of you. It goes on sale early next year. We've included video of the instrument in action. Read more. IEEE Spectrum Emerging Technology Forum Learn about Enabling Electronics for Smart Grid Technologies & Beyond. What are the opportunities, and what engineering challenges must be met to seize the day successfully? The forum scheduled on Nov 30th in Santa Clara, CA is free for all local members. The video recording of the event will also be available later for all IEEE members. Seats are limited. Learn more. Blogs Risk Factor: British Government: We Want Access to Your Every Phone Call, E-mail and Web Search In England, your home may be your castle, but the government will soon be able to get a rather good idea of what is happening inside it. The British government has decided to go ahead with its Intercept Modernisation Programme, which would force every telecommunication company and Internet service provider to keep a record of all of its customers' personal communications, showing whom they have contacted, when and where, as well as the Web sites they have visited. Read more and comment. Nanoclast: Has China Surpassed the U.S. in Nanotech? At his Metamodern blog, Eric Drexler has been examining the position of China in nanotechnology development. The data seems to suggest that the most prolific authors are based in China. But there is a giant chasm between research projects and commercial products and that probably remains the single biggest obstacle to nanotechnology having a greater impact on our economies. Read more and comment. Automaton: How To Make a Humanoid Robot Open a Door As it turns out, opening a door-in this case, a swinging door-is actually pretty hard, though we humans don't even have to think about it. Hitoshi Arisumi's experiments with an HRP-2 humanoid have shown that the best approach is for a robot to use its whole body, just as you use your hip and shoulder to open a door while carrying groceries. Read more and comment. ADVERTISEMENT Aerospace BioMedical Computing Consumer Electronics Energy GreenTech Robotics Semiconductors Telecom At Work Geek Life Nov 2009 Issue ADVERTISEMENT To ensure delivery of the IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert, please add techalert(a)ieee.org to your e-mail address book or Safe Sender List. If you are still having problems receiving our communications, see our white-listing page for more details. Interested in other IEEE Newsletters? Sign up here. To unsubscribe from future e-mails, click here. Copyright 2009 IEEE Inc. 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor New York, NY 10016-5997 Tel +1 212 419 7760 Fax +1 212 419 7589 www.spectrum.ieee.org IEEE Media, 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016

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Call for papers, HiNC3
by Per Lundin 10 Nov '09

10 Nov '09

Hi all, The Third IFIP WG 9.7 Working Conference on the History of Nordic Computing (HiNC3) will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, October 18-20, 2010. The deadline for abstracts is February 28, 2010. See the web page http://dsv.su.se/en/hinc3/ for call for contributions and further information. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ Per Lundin Div. of History of Science and Technology Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) SE-100 44 Stockholm Sweden Phone: +46 8 790 87 41 Fax: +46 8 24 62 63 http://www.teknikhistoria.se ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

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ICOHTEC proposal
by Petri Paju 06 Nov '09

06 Nov '09

Hello all, We, that is I and Jaakko Suominen are organizing a panel proposal for ICOHTEC 2010 in Tampere, Finland in 10th -15th of August 2010. It's a panel on (re)uses of history in the field of information and communication technology and especially in corporate environment. We have three papers (on IBM, Nokia etc.), and are especially looking for a chair, (perhaps someone who is coming to ICOHTEC anyway), but are also open to other suggestions. Please email us during next week. Best wishes, Petri Here's the call again, http://www.tampere.fi/industrialpast2010/callfor.html

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