Posted on 03/26/2008 7:09:42 PM PDT by Drew68
“Wasn’t the mouse already invented in 1968?”
A prototype had been made, but it wasn’t patented until 1970. So if you go by the patent date, the answer is no.
mouse
In computing, an input device used to control a pointer on a computer screen. It is a feature of graphical user interface (GUI) systems. The mouse is about the size of a pack of playing cards, is connected to the computer by a wire or infrared link, and incorporates one or more buttons that can be pressed. Moving the mouse across a flat surface causes a corresponding movement of the pointer. In this way, the operator can manipulate objects on the screen and make menu selections.
The mouse was invented in 1963 at the Stanford Research Institute, USA, by Douglas Engelbart, and developed by the Xerox Corporation in the 1970s. The first was made of wood; the Microsoft mouse was introduced in 1983, and the Apple Macintosh mouse in 1984. Mice work either mechanically (with electrical contacts to sense the movement in two planes of a ball on a level surface), or optically (photocells detecting movement by recording light reflected from a grid on which the mouse is moved). Many modern laptops incorporate a Glide Pad, just below the keyboard, which performs the same function.
Most GUIs provide alternative keystrokes for disabled users and these are also useful in emergencies when a mouse fails, or its drivers are deleted or corrupted. Many professional typists use these to avoid the time wasted in moving a hand from the keyboard to the mouse and back again.
I want a new robot maid! Mine is lazy.
woah they almost caught me!!! I didn’t realize this was fiction. For a second I thought this was Hitlary or Osamah pandering to voters again. Vote for me and this stuff will be paid for by the STATE; its the newest adendum to my health care bill. Of course White Anglo Saxon Straight Protestant males will not be eligible for this program and will see a ‘minor’ tax increase. Osamah’s version wanted the hovercrafts to reach 800 mph, but the MAN reduced the speed to make blacks late for work. The prototype for Hitlary’s was slightly damaged by sniper fire and could not viewed for photographs
People have more time for leisure activities in the year 2008. The average work day is about four hours
“Where is Free Republic?”
What - you missed the part where he said we would only work 4-hour days!?
The single most important item in 2008 households is the computer. These electronic brains govern everything from meal preparation and waking up the household to assembling shopping lists and keeping track of the bank balance. Sensors in kitchen appliances, climatizing units, communicators, power supply and other household utilities warn the computer when the item is likely to fail. A repairman will show up even before any obvious breakdown occurs.
One thing the computer will not do is tell me when I have been on it too long in the morning and the pancakes are burning.
I guess this prediction came true.
A B O R T I O N
In what has come to be known as the mother of all demos Douglas Engelbart demonstrated the first computer mouse at the Fall Joint Computer Expo in San Francisco on December 9, 1968. Engelbart also demoed the chord keyset (on left) that was a keyboard used with five piano-like keys. Englebert worked at the Stanford Research Institute which was also perfecting the acoustic modem at this time. Other technologies demonstrated during the landmark 90 minute session included hypertext, object addressing, dynamic file linking, and shared-screen collaboration in which two persons at different sites communicated over a network via both audio and video.
From http://www.cedmagic.com/history/first-computer-mouse.html
Bump for later read!
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush
To quote from the Wiki entry,
As We May Think predicted many kinds of technology invented after its publication, including hypertext, personal computers, the Internet, the World Wide Web, speech recognition, and online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia: “Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified.”
Also, they’re mounting another expidition to Jupiter to try to find out what happened to the one from 2001.
IknowIknow. Expedition.
But she's got to have plastiflesh.
I love the feel of plastiflesh. It makes me.....hot!
--Quoted from doctor T. J. Teru, from Ruby: Galactic Gumshoe.
It's just over 300 million including the illegal aliens.
How many illegals are there in the country then?
Standing tough under stars and stripes
We can tell
This dream's in sight
You've got to admit it
At this point in time that it's clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we'll be A-OK
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there's time
The fix is in
You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky
You know we've got to win
Here at home we'll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There'll be spandex jackets one for everyone
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
(More leisure time for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free yes and eternally young
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
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