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In 1981, the year of this catalog, the TRS-80 earned the nicknamed "Trash-80." Computer designer and writer Adam Osbourne described Tandy and Radio Shack as "the number-one microcomputer manufacturer." TRS-80 Pocket Computer Only $249.00.
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First time visitor to any mashable and all because of your (Sean's) post.
Sean Ewington TRS-80 Pocket Computer Only $249.00.
I saw it! I saw it in the catalogue. 
Also, TRS-80 is first computer I ever played a game on. It was checkers and I was 11 and I learned how to beat the stupid computer.
I know you are wondering so, here is how you do it.
Do not move any of your checkers that are in your bottom row. None.
Play the game without those pieces. You will ultimately get a king and be able to continue moving and the computer will admit defeat because it cannot move and you can.
That's entirely how my computer career started. 
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Ah the good ol' days, when you actually used advertising space to educate the reader with "What is a computer?"
Marc
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I still own (and it still works) a TRS-80 Model 100, possibly the very first affordable machine that faintly resembled today's laptops. I bought the 'fat' version, that had a whole 24K of RAM. I later bought an additional 8K to bring it to its maximum capacity. I also own the floppy drive that went with the machine, that used the RS-232 interface to pass data back and forth. The floppies stored an awe-inspiring 100K data each. My Model 100 saw its greatest use as an RS-232 device emulator. I wrote countless programs in BASIC to interact with RS-232 devices. If I still had to deal with RS-232, I would probably still be using it.
There was an apocryphal story going around that the Model 100 contains one of the last pieces of Microsoft code that Bill Gates actually wrote. Supposedly not long before the product was released Bill was using one and decided he hated the editor and rewrote it. Given the time period, it's at least plausible.
Hmm. That Model 100 is the first computer I purchased for my own use.
Software Zen: delete this;
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My TI 99/4a from 1983 (I think) is out in the garage in it's original box. AFAIK the only the wrong with it is the cassette interface broke, so no more saving/loading programs from tape!
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Verizon has told its field technicians in Pennsylvania that they can be fired if they try to fix broken copper phone lines. Instead, employees must try to replace copper lines with a device that connects to Verizon Wireless’s cell phone network. Verizon: "Our first responsibility to a customer out of service is to restore service as quickly as possible." Uh huh.
modified 6-Oct-16 15:53pm.
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It looks like Samsung's exploding battery woes may not be behind it just yet. According to a report from The Verge, a Southwest Airlines flight was evacuated this morning when a Galaxy Note 7 began smoking in a passenger's pocket. I wanna know what app that guy was running.
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The Note 7 is really a weapon. You can use it as an improvised hand grenade in GTA V: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_GhODn4FRoE
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What goes up, must come down — and the inexorable pull of gravity was punishing Twitter's TWTR -19.42% stock Thursday morning. Maybe Twitter is not what's happening.
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A federal judge has ruled it is plausible that four national credit-card companies improperly conspired “in lockstep” to set a deadline of Oct. 1, 2015 for requiring retailers to upgrade their technology to accept embedded chip cards for credit and debit card purchases. But judge dismisses claims against nine major banks
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The theory that we might all be living in a computer simulation has gotten so popular among Silicon Valley's tech elites that two billionaires are now apparently asking scientists to help break us out of the simulation. Ignorance is bliss.
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By sheer coincidence I was just watching a video on Youtube about this very subject. It sounds like science fiction but when you hear it clearly explained it seems utterly plausible. Fascinating stuff 
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
Home | LinkedIn | Google+ | Twitter
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People can make numerology, astrology, and the existence of gods sound plausible, too.
The trick is to not mention the "trivial" major details that disprove what you're talking about.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I would like to work for them...It sounds like a good, long-term job with fair+ payment...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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If you consider being deleted and restored from an older backup acceptable payment I guess. 
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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"frontiers of science" news, like this, make me weak in the knees: CNN, October 5: "Nobel Prize for chemistry awarded to 'molecular machine' trio" [^]
With videos, and, imho, better-than-usual graphics.Quote: The Academy's Professor Sara Snogerup says the nanomachines we are talking about are so small we can't see them, even with a light telescope. In fact, they are up to 10,000 times thinner than a hair.
These tiny machines that we can't even see have enormous potential. The Academy explained that the molecular motor was at the same stage as the electric motor in the 1830s, "when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food processors."
Think implants running bingo games with your intestinal biota ? Think neural wetware implants enabling super-powers ? or, just sober up ?
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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Coming soon: The molecular-motor land mine.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Dennis Muilenburg says Boeing will remain at the forefront of aerospace. The race to Mars continues.
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yeah, and the sabotage snipers on the roof are all part of that plan :P
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Yes. And this time ... it's private!
modified 6-Oct-16 5:02am.
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If you believe that, I have a bridge...
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The end may be in sight for software patents—which have long been highly controversial in the tech industry—in the wake of a remarkable appeals court ruling that described such patents as a “deadweight loss on the nation’s economy” and a threat to the First Amendment’s free speech protections. "Because generically-implemented software is an 'idea' insufficiently linked to any defining physical structure other than a standard computer, it is a precursor to technology rather than technology itself."
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And this is bad how?
#SupportHeForShe
Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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Software patents are bad. I don't think he implied that it was bad to be eliminating them.
They should be ready for a fight. Some big names rely heavily on their software patents for income.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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