2600 Flash
Computer Makes it Easy for Reagan
Using $1.1 million in research money from the Republican National Committee, a team of 26 computer operators and analysts, who called themselves the Opposition Research Group, scrutinized every available aspect of Walter Mondale's political career.
The team collected uncounted hours of videotape and 75,000 quotations, coded, cross-referenced, and entered in a giant computer at the Republican headquarters on Capitol Hill.
"Walter Mondale couldn't open his mouth without our analyzing it in 45 seconds and determining whether he was telling the truth," Michael Bayer, director of the team, said. "It took them days to monitor the same thing that we were cranking out."
Beginning in April, every speech text, every television appearance, every vote Mondale had cast in his political career was broken down, analyzed, coded by category and entered in the electronic file. While Senator Gary Hart was still in the race for the Democratic nomination, his record was scrutinized as well. And after Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, the team made the study of her life a priority project.
They used the information to insert attack lines into Reagan speeches. And Vice President Bush's staff aboard Air Force Two could plug directly into the team's computer to check things Mr. Mondale had just said and counter with new charges of their own.
Penetrating the Pentagon by Phone
The Pentagon employs 25,000 people, who work, in one way or another, on national defense. But to many outsiders who have tried to reach someone at the huge office building, The Pentagon's best defense is against incoming phone calls. That situation is about to come to a halt, according to the Lockheed Electronics Company, which has installed a compute riled directory assistance system at The Pentagon on an eight-year contract worth $1 million. Now an operator can find a number even if the caller lacks such information as the party's first name or office location. The new system has about 150,000 listings. The number to call is: 202-545-6700
First of the "Superminis"
Digital Equipment Corporation has unveiled its new "supermini" computer, the powerful VAX 8600, which starts in price at $576,000. This machine, produced under the code name of Venus, can compute at a speed more than four times that of DEC's previous computer. With full peripherals, the 8600 will cost almost a million dollars. They should start popping up allover the place in April.
Students Bog Down Computer
Some students at Ohio's Oberlin College don't like the fact that their school has investments in South Africa. So to protest that fact, they tried to overload Oberlin's main computer and another in the school's library on November 30. At the same time, more than 200 students staged a silent demonstration outside a meeting of the Oberlin College Board of Trustees. The trustees took no action on the matter.
SBS Offers Toll-Free Service
SBS Skyline recently came up with an alternative to the standard AT&T INWATS service which could become quite popular. It works as follows: In many parts of the country, SBS Skyline can be accessed toll-free by dialing: 950-1088
To make a toll-free call on Skyline, the caller would first access the system, using the number above. Then they would enter a six digit "service code "which would ring whatever phone number has been assigned to that code. The result is the same as making an 800 call, but the procedure is different.
For instance, the caller must be at a Touch-Tone phone to enter the service code. The caller must also know in advance what this six digit code is. And Skyline service still isn't available all over the country. But this system is much easier for the called party. While an 800 line can cost hundreds of dollars to install, Skyline only requires a $15 monthly minimum per line.
Electronic Jail All Screwed Up
Travis County (Texas) officials had hoped to open their new $12 million jail with its advanced electronic locking system last year.
Unfortunately, the jail is still not open. Or rather, it's too open.
"In 1983 we were supposed to move in, and we discovered the locking mechanisms were not adequate," Sheriff Doyne Bailey of Travis County explained.
"Not adequate" may understate the problems, which Mr. Bailey says relate to an "inherent design problem that allows the locking system to be defeated."
The locking system is integrated with other security equipment, so that locking a cell door will turn on an intercom. Or turning on an intercom will unlock a cell.
And when a fire alarm goes off, officials reported recently to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, all the cells unlock.
That particular feature, they noted, may not be wholly desirable,
Video Telephone Invention
A new two-way video phone that makes use of any single standard telephone line has been patented by Jerome H. Lemelson, a prolific inventor with more than 350 other patents, and Christian Grund, a research scientist at the University of Wisconsin.
According to the patent, the new video phone functions without any interruption of conversation by transmission of pictures or data. A portable, self-contained unit can be provided at each end of a conventional telephone circuit. Each unit has a television camera and a display screen. A speaker and microphone may be carried within the housing or in a telephone handset. A picture printer may also be provided to record the images on the display screen.
Federal Telephone System Update
In what has been called the largest telecommunications buy in history, the U.S. government is spending more than a billion dollars to modernize its massive Federal Telephone System (FTS). This huge upgrade includes 1.3 million telephones, 15,000 trunk circuits, and 1,655 Private Branch Exchanges (PBX).
According to Dr. Bernard J. Bennington, the General Services Administration (GSA) administrator in charge of the buy, the FTS is only slightly smaller than a Bell operating company and five to six times the size of General Motors' telephone network [see page 1-61].
At the present, the FTS is largely a voice system. About 15% of the network, however, consists of facilities for data transmission. Although the data portion sounds like an insignificant figure, it represents as much data as is moved in all the other civil agency networks combined.
Basically, the main justification for the system itself and the continuous battle to keep it upgraded is to provide continuity of government. Until the 1960s in general, and the April 1961 Bay of Pigs situation in particular, there was a large comfort index surrounding the nation's telephone system. Until that time, it had been tried and always found adequate.
"During the Bay of Pigs operation, no one could get a phone call in or out of Washington," Dr. Bernard J. Bennington said. "Naturally, we must have a viable, up-to~ate communications system to support our national defense. And it must operate cost-effectively," he continued. "We cannot mix military and civil agency traffic."