Will Blog for Food

Philo T Farnsworth, Inventor of TV, Screwed by David Sarnoff, CEO of RCA

Philo T Farnsworth (1906-1971)was a Mormon farm boy who is the undisputed inventor of television yet he made little money and got little credit for his efforts. Instead he was tied up in litigation by David Sarnoff and his RCA corporate lawyers, and, although he eventually was ruled the sole inventor of TV  by the US Patent Office, he collected precious few royalties from Sarnoff and RCA before his patent expired in 1947 shortly before the post war boom in TV sets really took off. In 1935 the US Patent Office declared that Farnsworth was the undisputed inventor of TV. However Sarnoff and RCA tied Farnsworth up in litigation that prevented Farnsworth from marketing a single TV set. Then along came World War II which prevented Farnsworth from pursuing his commercial venture. After the war Farnsworth had two years to market and collect royalties before his patent expired in 1947 and TV became public domain. It wasn't until after 1947 that TV sales really took off with the result that RCA didn't have to pay royalties to Farnsworth at all and most of the profits went to RCA. Farnsworth eventually died depressed and alcoholic having spent his life dedicated to his invention. The basic history of the invention is the following:

In 1921 the 14-year-old Mormon had an idea while working on his father's Idaho farm. Mowing hay in rows, Philo realized an electron beam could scan a picture in horizontal lines, reproducing the image almost instantaneously. This would prove to be a critical breakthrough in Philo Farnsworth's invention of the television in 1927. Earlier TV devices had been based on an 1884 invention called the scanning disk, patented by Paul Nipkow. Riddled with holes, the large disk spun in front of an object while a photoelectric cell recorded changes in light. Depending on the electricity transmitted by the photoelectric cell, an array of light bulbs would glow or remain dark. Though Nipkow's mechanical system could not scan and deliver a clear, live-action image, most would-be TV inventors still hoped to perfect it.

So Farnsworth used electronics instead of a mechanical device to scan the picture a line at a time similar to the way he raked hay a row at a time. With the advent of digital TV, each row is divided up into a number of picture elements or pixels which are then given a digital value. But Farnsworth's black and white TV was simpler. The camera recorded an analog signal which represented the values between pure black and pure white continuously, a line at a time, using the photoelectric effect to convert light intensity into an electron stream. This signal was then converted into a radio wave that was sent out over the air and then reconverted into an electron stream at the receiver. The electron beam was then swept back and forth in rows or lines (similar to Farnsworth's hay field) across a cathode ray tube which then lit up according to the lightness or darkness of the original image.

Interested in electricity and science from an early age, Philo explained his ideas for television in a diagram to his high school teacher. This diagram turned out to be invaluable when the Patent Office had to decide who had precedence in the invention of television. They decided that Farnsworth's ideas took precedence and he was issued a patent in 1927. At the age of 19, having dropped out of college, Philo persuaded two backers to put up the money necessary for him to develop his ideas. He had to develop a camera that would turn an image into a stream of electrons and a television tube that would turn a stream of electrons into an image.

Meanwhile, in 1929 David Sarnoff hired Vladimir Zworykin, a Russian emigre like himself, who had a competing version of electronic television. Sarnoff had engineered a virtual monopily for RCA in the radio industry, was sitting on a large capital war chest, and was determined to do it again with television. In 1930 Sarnoff sent Zworykin to California  to check out Farnsworth's invention which was considerably more developed at that time than Zworykin's. Farnsworth had a working TV camera. Farnsworth was too naive to  realize that Zworykin's mission was to steal his ideas for RCA which then tried to do a work-around of Farnsworth's patent. Zworykin told Farnsworth disingenuously, "That's a beautiful tube. I wish I had invented it." Later Sarnoff himself visited Farnsworth and offered him $100,000 for his invention. Farnsworth refused since he felt that, as the inventor, he should be paid royalties instead. Sarnoff had famously said, "RCA doesn't pay royalties; we collect them."

In 1931, Farnsworth found a company that agreed to license his television technology. In an old brick building in Philadelphia, Farnsworth signed a secret deal with a radio company called Philco that wanted to get a head start in television. They agreed to his terms and offered to fund his research if he would bring his lab to Philadelphia. The move was shrouded in secrecy because Philco wanted to hide their plans from RCA. After leaving Philco and forming his own company, Farnsworth demonstrated live TV in Philadelphia in 1934. Sarnoff decided to use his corporate might and his team of patent lawyers to fight Farnsworth, who had only one patent attorney, in court. Teetering on the verge of bankruptcy Farnsworth signed a deal with an English company that enabled him to put the first TV station on the air in 1936.

Burned out by constant work and pressure, Farnsworth started to drink heavily, decided to get away form the TV business and retreated to a farm in Maine. Meanwhile, David Sarnoff was finally ready to unveil RCA television to America. The history books would say that television was born in 1939 at the New York World's Fair. Farnsworth's first public demonstration in Philadelphia, five years earlier, was forgotten. At the World's Fair in 1939, David Sarnoff  stated, "We have added radio sight to sound." Although RCA lore would not mention Farnsworth as having anything to do with bringing TV to the world, after seven years of crippling litigation, Farnsworth finally won his case against RCA. In October, 1939, Sarnoff was forced to admit defeat. For the first time in RCA's history, royalties would be paid to an outside inventor. The small inventor had dared to take on the giant corporation, and he had won. But it was a Pyrrhic victory. Just as TV was about to go into production, World War II intervened. By the time the war was over, Farnworth had just two years left before his patent would become public domain. So in the end, he was shoved aside and RCA, the corporation, was the one that got the credit for developing and presenting television to the American people.

After the war Farnsworth worked on a variety of projects for ITT. But his health deteriorated due to alcoholism and depression. He had to sit by while Sarnoff and RCA took all the credit and the money for the invention of television. As always his ventures teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Stress associated with his job threw Farnsworth into relapse.  He was eventually terminated and allowed medical retirement.

In the spring off 1967, Farnsworth and his family moved back to Utah to continue his fusion research at Brigham Young University, which presented him with an honorary doctorate. The university also offered him office space and an underground concrete bunker location for the project. Realizing the fusion lab was to be dismantled at ITT, Farnsworth invited staff members to accompany him to Salt Lake City as team members in his planned Philo T. Farnsworth Associates (PTFA) organization. By late 1968 the associates began holding regular business meetings and PTFA was underway. However, although a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was promptly secured and more possibilities were within reach, the financing needed to pay the $24,000 in monthly expenses for equipment rental and salaries was stalled.

By Christmas 1970, PTFA had failed to secure the necessary financing and the Farnsworths had sold all their own ITT stock and cashed out Philo's life insurance policy to maintain organization stability. The underwriter had failed to provide the financial backing that was to have supported the organization during its critical first year. The banks called in all outstanding loans. Repossession notices were placed on anything not previously sold and the Internal Revenue Service put a lock on the laboratory door until delinquent taxes were paid. During January 1970, Philo T. Farnsworth Associates disbanded. Farnsworth became seriously ill with pneumonia and died on 11 March 1971, broke and depressed.

Philo Farnsworth was named one of Time magazine's 100 greatest scientists and thinkers of the 20th century. He had had high hopes for television - that it would bring the world together and provide unlimited educational opportunities for all. Like the inventor of radio, Edwin Armstrong, and the inventor of the triode, Lee de Forest, he was sadly disillusioned by the programming that was put on his invention instead. However, in 1969 he and his wife, Pem, watched a man walk on the moon, and he knew his work had been worthwhile. Meanwhile, David Sarnoff, who had driven Armstrong to suicide over his invention of FM radio and Farnsworth to drink and depression, continued to make profits for RCA Corporation.

The Qualcomm vs Broadcom Spat

By now everyone has heard about the Qualcomm Broadcom spat. Qualcomm sued Broadcom over patent infringement and Broadcom sued Qualcom over patent infringement. They are like two little boys playing in a sandbox, and one says, "You infringed on my patent." The other one says, "No you infringed on my patent. Nyaaaah." "My patent portfolio is bigger than yours." "No it's not! Mine is bigger than yours!" As they continue to hurl sand in each other's face, someone said, "Let's get an adult (in this case a judge) to decide who infringed on who's patent." Well, the adult has finally determined that Broadcom is right and Qualcomm is wrong. "Not fair," cries Qualcomm. "We'll get another adult to decide because this one is biased!" Besides Qualcomm recently had to pony up $20 million to Broadcom even before the recent ruling.

The ruling means all new devices launched after 7th June 2007 that use Qualcomm's chipsets will be banned from being imported into the U.S. The stakes, therefore, could not be higher, even though the ruling does not affect handsets that are already available. The point is it will in effect prevent operators from launching new models using Qualcomm chipsets in the U.S. market.

But Broadcom is being magnanimous in victory just as Qualcomm is crying foul in defeat. Broadcom is extending an open hand and is offering Qualcomm the opportunity of licensing its patents, the ones Qualcomm is infringing upon. Isn't that nice of Broadcom? The one kid is going to still let the other kid play in his sandbox even after the other kid threw sand in his face. C'mon Qualcomm. Be gracious in defeat, pay up to Broadcom for the use of its patents and everything will be fine. You still will be able to import all the chipsets you want into the US market. But Qualcomm says, "Waaahhh. Those are our patents, and (stamping its feet) Broadcom should pay us not the other way around." Qualcomm wants to make all this money just for letting other companies license its patents. Its fleet of corporate lawyers must justify their existence by insisting that other companies pay them, and they take it pretty hard if it's the other way around. Now Broadcom's corporate lawyers have smug smiles of satisfaction on their faces while Qualcomm's drag around with their tails between their legs. We can't have that.

"Our goal is simply to ensure fair competition and a level playing field, not just for Broadcom, but for the entire cellular industry," said Scott McGregor, CEO at Broadcom. "Qualcomm's practices prevent that. Their monopoly in CDMA technology has increased the price of cell phones in the U.S., and we are hoping that the courts will prevent the same thing from happening with the next generation '3G' cell phones. Qualcomm's monopolistic activities limit competition, stifle innovation, and ultimately harm consumers and service providers."

This sounds very reasonable, Qualcomm. Be nice. Scott McGregor is looking out for the whole industry and the American consumer, not just himself! Now don't be greedy, and (I shudder to think) monopolistic! Horrors! Out damned spot!

But wait a minute! There's a missing piece of the puzzle. Qualcomm is being forbidden from importing CDMA chips into the US market. But Qualcomm is a San Diego, CA, USA based company. Solution! Make them here. Then you won't have to import them! And it would create a few more US based jobs. Problem solved! That'll be a couple million, please. Just pay my PayPal account. Fire the corporate lawyers. Save tons of money. Jeez, I might even let you infringe on my patent. I can't afford to hire a bevy of corporate lawyers to defend it. How would I even know? Someone's infringin' Lawd, Kum Bay Ya. You know, while these high tech billionaires play their little sandbox games over millions of dollars, the rest of us peons are just scratching out a living and playing games on our cell phones. How did we ever get along without them? We're  living in different worlds.

To add insult to injury Qualcomm Stadium and the feckless San Diego Chargers are going bye-bye while Henry Samueli, co-founder and CTO of Broadcom, is cruising to victory as owner of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks (just Ducks now, thank you!) ice hockey team since his team won the much coveted Stanley Cup this year in addition to its triumphs over Qualcomm.

But if my previous suggestion doesn't work for them, here's another one: Qualcomm and Broadcom should merge! That's a true capitalistic solution to the problem. They could call themselves QualBroadcom, and for a website QualBroad.com. Pretty neat, huh? But I've got a patent on the name. So don't think about doing it without paying me first! Don't forget my expertise in the name game! If the cell phone gig starts to fade, they could always go into the escort, massage, outcall business. You know Quality Broad Company, QualBroad.com. For all the conventioneers, conference attenders and out of town CEOs, where you gonna turn when you need a little excitement or dinner companionship? Why QualBroadcom! Satisfaction guaranteed for all of your out of town human resource needs! We are discreet and professional.  Need a massage after a hard day of conventioneering? Just call QualBroadCom or  log on to QualBroad.com. Problem solved! That'll be another million, please.

The US Can Satisfy All Its Energy Needs Without Buying Any Foreign Oil

The US has a domestic supply of energy in the form of coal equal to all the known oil reserves in the middle east. So why are we depending on oil for our energy? Big corporate interests want us to buy oil not coal. Coal is a lot cheaper than oil. Already, half the electricity generating plants are powered by coal. The technology is emerging for coal fired electricity producing plants to be pollution free, and electric car technology is already here. That means that, in addition to all out household and industrial electricity consumption needs, all our transportation needs can be powered by electricity ultimately produced from coal.

America has more thaan 274 billion tons of coal reserves - a 250 year supply based on current usage levels. That's 29 times the known US reserves of natural gas and 54 times the known US reserves of oil. The use of coal to generate electricity in the US rose by over 188% between 1970 and 2003, and government experts predict that the use of electricity from coal will rise by another 25% by 2020. The US produces more than 1 billion tons of coal each year or about 35% of the world's coal supply - more than any other country. Wyoming is the state that produces the most coal (about 390 million tons in 2004), and Montana has the largest reserves (about 120 billion tons).

Another reason to make coal the US' primary energy source is that it's more affordable than other sources of energy including oil. Energy costs place the highest burden on low and middle income families. In 2005 families earning less than $10K spent 48% of their income on energy costs. Families earning $10K to $30K spent 17% while families earning over $50K spent only 5%. Costs for household energy use have risen much slower than costs for transportation due largely to the fact that over half the electricity produced comes from coal which is relatively cheap compared to oil. While household energy costs due to electricity use increased 12% from 2000 to 2005, energy costs due to fuel oil increased 67%. Similarly, business energy costs will be reduced by a greater usage of electricity produced from coal resulting in increased competitiveness and more jobs.

In the early 70s the Federal Congress passed the first Clean Air Act. Since then pollutants from coal based power plants have been reduced by 35% while electricty produced from coal has been increased 180%. Technological improvements in the generation of electricity from coal will result in the first pollutant free coal based electricity generating plant by 2012. These plants will produce hydrogen as a by-product which can then be used for hydrogen powered vehicles and will completely contain carbon dioxide which is the main greenhouse gas.

FutureGen is an initiative to build the world's first integrated sequestration and hydrogen production research power plant. The $1 billion dollar project is intended to create the world's first zero-emissions fossil fuel plant. When operational, the prototype will be the cleanest fossil fuel fired power plant in the world. The initiative is a response to President Bush's directive to draw upon the best scientific research to address the issue of global climate change. The production of hydrogen will support the President's call to create a hydrogen economy and fuel pollution free vehicles; and the use of coal will help ensure America's energy security by developing technologies that utilize a plentiful domestic resource. Additionally, other countries will be joining the U.S. to participate in the project. The prototype plant will establish the technical and economic feasibility of producing electricity and hydrogen from coal (the lowest cost and most abundant domestic energy resource), while capturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide generated in the process. The initiative will be a government/industry partnership to pursue an innovative 'showcase' project focused on the design, construction and operation of a technically cutting-edge power plant that is intended to eliminate environmental concerns associated with coal utilization. This will be a 'living prototype' with future technology innovations incorporated into the design as needed. The project will employ coal gasification technology integrated with combined cycle electricity generation and the sequestration of carbon dioxide emissions. The project will be supported by the ongoing coal research program, which will also be the principal source of technology for the prototype. The project will require 10 years to complete and will be led by the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, Inc., a non-profit  industrial consortium representing the coal and power industries, with the project results being shared among all participants, and industry as a whole.

The technology to use coal to produce a substitute for natural gas and fuel for jet planes exists today. By 2025 all coal powered electricity generating plants could be converted to ultra -low near zero emissions.

The US path to the future is clear: more dependence on cheaper coal based electricity for household, business and transportation use, less dependence on more expensive and less reliable foreign oil. The question is: will we have the political leadership and collective will to implement a rational future for America or will we continue to be governed by politicians who are only concerned about catering to corporate interests in return for campaign contributions and lobbying jobs.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

A great documentary film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?", is playing now in a very limited number of art theaters. Too bad since this film should be widely viewed. Anyone interested in the high price of gas, the environment and automotive technology should certainly see it. It "pairs well" (as Starbucks would say) with another current great documentary by Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth." These films both should be seen by every thinking, caring person.

The history of the electric car goes something like this. First a definition and a distinction.  By electric car we mean a car powered solely by batteries whereas a hybrid is a car powered by gas and batteries. A plug-in hybrid is a car which can be plugged in to recharge the batteries whereas a normal hybrid's batteries only get charged in the process of driving.

The electric car has been around for over a hundred years. In 1859 Thomas Davenport invented the battery powered car. In 1890 Thomas Edison built a battery powered car using nickel-alkaline batteries. In 1903 one third of all cars produced were electric vehicles, one third were steam powered and one third were gas powered. In 1930 Krieger manufactured the first gas-electric hybrid. It was front wheel driven with power steering. A gasoline engine supplemented the battery pack. In the same year the successful introduction of Ford's internal combustion engine powered Model T virtually wiped out the electric car companies.

In 1990 the Los Angeles basin issued 41 stage 1 smog alerts. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted a Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate requiring car manufacturers selling vehicles in the state of California to have 2% of their market share in ZEVs by 1998, 5% by 2001 and 10% by 2003. In 1995 the American Automobile Manufacturing Association circulated a confidential proposal to launch a public relations "grassroots education campaign" to repeal the CARB ZEV program.

In 1996 in response to auto industry pressure, the CARB made the ZEV mandate more flexible. A "Memorandum of Agreement" between CARB and seven of the largest automobile manufacturers stated that the automakers would promote and market ZEVs in sufficient quantities to meet consumer demand. However, advertising expenditures for GM's EV-1 were minimal as the auto manufacturers did everything they could to discredit their own vehicles while advertising gas-powered cars to the hilt. 10% of all new cars and light duty trucks were still required to be ZEVs by 2003.

In 2000 GM's EV-1 was made available for lease at $400 to $500 a month. Meanwhille, GM purchased Hummer, a gas guzzler, showing where its priorities really were. In 2002 GM, ChryslerDaimler and seven San Joaquin Valley dealerships sued CARB over the ZEV mandate. The US Department of Justice in the Bush Administration filed a "friend of the court" brief supporting GM's and Daimler's suit arguing that the ZEV mandate was an attempt to regulate fuel economy standards something only the Federal Government could do. Alan C Lloyd, chairman of CARB, was named Chairman of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a group devoted to promoting fuel cell technology, a competitor to electric car technology which was being promoted by the auto industry. Accordingly, Lloyd and CARB lost interest in electric cars. President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address called for research in hydrogen fuel cells. The only problem was that hydrogen fuel cell technology was at least 15 years away. EV technology was already proven and in production. At best fuel cell technology would require a large expenditure in infrastructure in terms of filling stations whereas electric cars could be simply plugged in at home at night.

In 2003 Toyota announced that it would stop production on its electric vehicle, the RAV4 EV, citing poor sales. The Toyota was the only EV that could be purchased (for $42,000) in addition to being leased. The CARB  under Alan Lloyd further modified the ZEV mandate to only require auto makers to roll out a mix of gas-electric hybrids, fuel cell and partially zero emission vehicles by 2008. This effectively killed the ZEV mandate. Subsequent to the CARB's revisions, GM announced that it would not renew leases on the EV-1 and would recall all of them dispatching tow trucks to haul them away from customers reluctant to relinquish them. Ford, Honda and Toyota also pulled their fleets of EVs off the roads.

In 2004 EV-1's are discovered and filmed at GM's Arizona proving grounds having been crushed. Documentary maker Huell Howser elicits the admission that not only are the practically new EV-1s being crushed but that they are scheduled to be shredded so that no earthly trace of them will remain. In 2005 EV-1 activists launch a 24 hour vigil at a GM lot in Burbank where a number of EV-1s have been impounded. When enclosed vans showed up to haul them away, the activists blocked the exit and were handcuffed and arrested by local cops.

In 2006 GM and Toyota ended research on hydrogen-powered  fuel cell vehicles. It seems that they were merely a stalking horse to put out there to attract attention away from and to finally kill EVs. Why you may ask would auto manufacturers want to get rid of the EV? Here are some reasons. A large percentage of auto dealer profits come from maintenance and the EV, in contrast to the gas engine, is virtually maintenance free. Also oil companies would go out of business, and there are still a trillion barrels of oil in the ground and $100 trillion in profits yet to be gained by oil companies. So they don't want oil free transportation to become a reality just yet.

Regardless of the machinations of the oil companies and the auto manufacturers who are more interested in their own profits than in a technology which will protect the environment, reduce greenhouse gasses and reduce costs to consumers (hence less profits), there is an independent company, Tesla Motors, which as of 2006 is manufacturing all electric cars which use Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries developed by Stanford Ovshinsky, have a range of 300 miles, can go 0 to 60 in 4 seconds and cost less than a penny a mile to operate. It will be interesting to see how the auto manufacturers and oil companies will respond to this challenge. Will they try to buy them out and kill the electric car again? Will they try to get legislation passed by the oil friendly (Bush, Cheney and Condoleeza Rice are former oil company executives) Federal Government? Will they try to propagandize consumers away from the all electric vehicle. In the near future, however, only rich people will be able to afford a Tesla, the first car named after an electrical engineer, which started production with a sports model. Down the road, if EVs become more affordable, the average person may be able to own one. Don't expect any help from the Bush Administration though in jump starting the switch to EVs. Their interests are tied in with the status quo.

Finally, Ovshinsky and his company Ovonics have developed thin film solar panels which can be used in lieu of shingles as roofing materials. Every new and re-roofed home can have a built-in solar panel covering the whole roof! It is with sadness that we note the recent passage (August 16, 2006) of Stan Ovshinsky's wife, Iris, who was an equal partner in his business developments.

Speaking for the family, Dr. Ovshinsky’s daughter, Dr. Robin Dibner, said, “Iris fought for peace, equality and justice with empathy for everyone. She found great happiness in creating new industries that resulted in high-value jobs. She was full of life and sparkle, bringing joy to all who met her.”

Edwin Howard Armstrong: The Inventor of FM

Edwin Howard Armstrong was born in 1890 in New York City. He studied electrical engineering at Columbia University inventing the Regenerative Circuit while a junior there. Also the Super-regenerative circuit (patented 1922), and the Super Heterodyne receiver (patented 1918). The superheterodyne receiver makes Am and FM radio as we know them possible, and is probably the single greatest invention affecting radio of all time. It makes tuning a radio possible. Each radio station has a different carrier frequency, and the superheterodyne receiver allows the information riding on the carrier to be stripped off when the radio is tuned to a particular station.

Armstrong didn't invent radio. Lee DeForest, among others, with his invention of the triode got the credit for that. Armstrong's inventions made radio feasible, practical and listenable. Regeneration was a form of positive feedback that allowed the production of radio waves. Such a circuit is called a transmitter. Similarly it allowed for the reception of radio waves by a circuit known as a receiver.

Armstrong patented the Regenerative circuit in 1914 and licensed it to the Marconi company. He then went to Europe to fight in WW I. When he came back he found himself embroiled in a patent fight.

From Wikipedia:

In particular, the regenerative circuit, which Armstrong patented in 1914, was subsequently patented by Lee De Forest in 1916; De Forest then sold the rights to his patent to AT&T. Between 1922 and 1934, Armstrong found himself embroiled in a patent war, between himself, RCA, and Westinghouse on one side, and De Forest and AT&T on the other. This patent lawsuit was the longest ever litigated to its date, at 12 years. Armstrong won the first round of the lawsuit, lost the second, and stalemated in a third. Before the United States Supreme Court, De Forest was granted the regeneration patent in what is today widely believed to be a misunderstanding of the technical facts by the Supreme Court.

In 1920 Westinghouse bought Armstrong's patent for the superheterodyne receiver and started the nation's first radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, Marconi's company RCA started buying up the patents of Westinghouse and AT&T including Armstrong's and DeForest's patents. RCA was content to let DeForest win the patent fight because it meant that they got the use of the patent for another 10 years even though they knew Armstrong should have won.

During the patent fight Armstrong started working on the invention of FM radio which was far superior to AM because it was static free and much higher fidelity. It was patented in 1933. Armstrong lobbied the FCC to create a frequency band for FM which it did - between 42 and 50 MHz. Armstong then helped to market a small number of high powered FM radio stations in the New England states, known as the Yankee Network. Armstrong had begun on a journey to convince America that FM radio was superior to AM, and, he hoped, to collect patent royalties on every radio sold with FM technology. FM was also chosen by the FCC to provide the sound for the fledgling television industry. Armstrong should have collected royalties for that as well.

However, RCA CEO David Sarnoff, a Russian immigrant, conspired to have Armstrong's FM radio put out of business partly because RCA was so heavily invested in AM and partly because it would interfere with the launch of television by RCA after WW II. RCA lobbied the FCC to change the frequency allotment for FM which it did thus making all of Armstrong's radios and radio stations obsolete overnight.  Most experts believe that FM technology was set back decades by the FCC decision.

From Wikipedia:

Furthermore, RCA also claimed invention of FM radio and won its own patent on the technology. A patent fight between RCA and Armstrong ensued. RCA's momentous victory in the courts left Armstrong unable to claim royalties on any FM radios sold in the United States. The undermining of Yankee Network and Patent Court battle brought ruin to Armstrong, by then, almost penniless and emotionally distraught.

From Edwin Armstrong: The Creator of FM Radio:

During World War II, Armstrong did important research on long range radar for the War Department and gave his FM patents to the military for no fee, an important gift, once the U.S. commanders realized that the German army traveled on AM, which they could easily jam. FM was unjammable. By the end of the war, Armstrong had developed his continuous wave FM radar to the point where he was able to bounce a radio signal 238,000 miles -- to the moon and back again. He had proven that FM waves, unlike AM waves, could penetrate the ionosphere. That paved the way for radio communication in space, and it gave astronomers a new tool to measure distances from the earth to the ends of the universe. By the end of World War II, FM had been proven. Much to the disgust of RCA's David Sarnoff. "I thought Armstrong would invent some kind of a filter to remove static from our AM radio. I didn't think he'd start a revolution -- start up a whole damn new industry to compete with RCA." Furthermore, FM was a distraction. Sarnoff wanted RCA to put its resources into the development of television, which was taking up huge chunks of RCA's working capital. "A new kind of radio," said Sarnoff, "is like a new kind of mouse trap. The world doesn't need another mousetrap." Armstrong would see no personal rewards for all his work and all his genius. Now he found that RCA and all of America's big communication giants were teaming up to stifle FM, and take away all the rewards Armstrong had been waiting for. He'd expected royalties on the manufacture of FM receivers. He expected to negotiate contracts with FM broadcasters. He also expected royalties on every TV set sold -- in the U.S. and, eventually, abroad, for TV's sound system was his -- FM. But that wasn't going to happen. RCA tried to circumvent Armstrong's patents, and began producing televisions with his sound system, but paying him nothing, and then, finally, offering him $1 million for a non-exclusionary license. It was something like a scene from the Old West, the rich rancher going to his upstart competitor next door and saying, "I'm going to give you $1 million for your spread. Do you want me to pay you, or do want me to pay your widow?" In 1948, Armstrong turned to the courts -- charging open theft, infringement on five of his basic FM patents. RCA responded with an army of lawyers who tied him up for six years with trickery, truth-twisting, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, and botheration. RCA had time. For Armstrong, time was running out. RCA could afford the legal fees. Armstrong had to sell many of his assets, including his stock in Zenith and RCA and Standard Oil, for $200,000. With all of his other expenses, including the expense of running his research facility at Columbia University, Armstrong could afford to pay only $22,000 to his lawyers. By 1954, he was ready to settle. He asked RCA for $2.4 million. RCA countered with $200,000, less than the outstanding bill for his legal fees. Armstrong appealed to his wife, Marion. Would she advance him some of the money he had given her years ago? She objected. That was the money for their retirement. Exhausted and out of hope, frustrated by all the litigation, Armstrong exploded in a great rage. He swung a poker at Marion. The blow landed on her arm. She fled to her sister in Connecticut. Armstrong had shattered his happy marriage of nearly 30 years. He spent Christmas and New Year's alone in his New York apartment. Then, on January 31, 1954, he wrote a final letter to Marion. "I am heartbroken because I cannot see you once again. I deeply regret what has happened between us. I cannot understand how I could hurt the dearest thing in the whole world to me. I would give my life to turn back to the time when we were so happy and free. God keep you and may the Lord have mercy on my soul." Next morning, Edwin Howard Armstrong put on his hat and coat, wrapped a scarf around his neck and walked out the window of his apartment on the 13th floor. David Sarnoff told the press, "I did not kill Armstrong."

The moral of this sad story is that a single solitary individual no matter how meritorious, no matter how ingenious, no matter how deserving of recognition and reward is no match for a corporation with large capital assets and a team of well-paid corporate lawyers. This poor man, Edwin Armstrong, having contributed so much to society was driven to despair simply because Sarnoff and RCA had the power to do it. They squashed him like a bug, and they didn't care.

Postscript: After his death, Armstrong's widow, Marion, renewed the patent fight against RCA and finally prevailed in 1967. Marion would get a little more than a million dollars, the same amount that Sarnoff had offered Armstrong in 1940. In effect, Sarnoff had finally gotten an answer to the question: "Do you want me to pay you, or your widow?"

Qualcomm: What's in a Name?

Qualcomm is a San Diego based corporation that does very fine work in the cell phone world. It's a Fortune 500 company, and I'm sure they have a lot of very smart people running the company and a lot of very fine  people working there. Their record of quarterly profits is admirable; so much so that they find themselves in the enviable position, quite often, of having to pooh-pooh their own profit reports something like this. "Well, even though we exceeded Wall Street analysts' expectations this quarter, don't expect us to keep this up. We'll probably do really lousy next quarter!" This is called lowering expectations. If the analysts got really excited and expected Qualcomm to do great things in the next quarter and then they fell short, that would be really bad for their stock. People would probably dump it if it didn't live up to expectations, and that would be really, really bad!

However, I have a problem with 'Qualcomm,' the name. It's just too obvious: Quality Communications.  Duhhh! How banal! How mundane! It's also a little too long. Too many m's. It's obvious they didn't have a naming expert like me come up with that one! Actually, Qualco would have been better. Shakespeare said, "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." True, but actually there's a lot in a name. Certain sounds and certain words or word fragments connote certain things either pleasant or not so pleasant. Consider the words 'smegma' and 'maggot. Would you want a rose called by either of these names? "Oh, come here, Honey, and smell this wonderful smegma." How poetic!

Instead,  Qualcomm should have hired me to come up with a name that connoted pleasant associations having to do with their primary field of interest: cell phones. How about this: Celerity Corporation? The dictionary definition of celerity is rapidity of motion or action." It connotes speed, a very cool thing in any name, and cell phones - Cell-erity. Or it could even be called the Cellerity Corporation Even better. Also variations on this theme would work such as Celeritas Corporation or Cellarium Corporation with connotations of solarium as well. Solarium connotes the sun, always a good connotation. How about Celereal or Cellereal? A little too much like cereal, maybe.

Taking a different tack, consider the word 'accelerate,' related to celerity to be sure. How about the Accell Corporation? Unfortunately, other entities have seen the beauty in these names and taken them for their own operations, but they don't include major corporations. I'm sure Qualcomm could have had them if they wanted. Here's another one: Cellebrium. This connotes something really brainy as well as cell phones. However, it sounds a little like a drug or a cereal. Then there's variations on the word 'cerebral.'  Celebreal Corporation. Sounds a bit mysterious. That's OK. Or take variations on the word 'alacrity.' Alacrity means "promptness of response, cheerful readiness." What could be better than that? How about Cellacrity Corporation?

Intel knew what they were doing when they came up with the name "celeron" for one of their chips. It connotes speed, the very thing they would like their chip to be noted for. There are some companies whose names have nothing to do with their product line like the Cubic Corporation in San Diego. Then there's even a copycat Conic Corporation. There's no Spheric Corporation or Tetrahedronic or Octagonic Corporation. Why?? By the way, Cellonics would be a good name. Carrying this a bit further, how about the name Cellineal Corporation? Cellanial Corporation connotes the word cranial which connotes brainy which is good although there is a slight connotation of 'anal' which is bad. How about Cellubrious? Not bad. Close to salubrious from the Latin - healthy, safe - and meaning "promoting health and well-being." A perfect connotation.

I could go on and on. But there's no need to. They're stuck with the name 'Qualcomm.' They're never going to change it. And we're stuck with Qualcomm Stadium since they gave $17 million to the city of San Diego for the naming rights. How dreadful! Look at all the stadia that are named after corporations with dreadful names! We have here in San Diego the IPayOne Sports Arena. I Pay One!! It shouldn't be allowed. How disgusting and vulgar! How trite! It's a travesty of the English language, it is. And then the problems with Enron Stadium. They've finally renamed it Minute Maid Field! Finally, we have (in other parts of the country) Alltel Stadium, Bank of America Stadium, Invesco Field, Heinz Field, Lincoln Financial Field, Quest Field and FedEx Field. What next? Wal-Mart Stadium? Even Kick Ass Field would be better than these corporate names. How about Trash Talk Stadium or UpUrButt Field? Oh well. There's nothing I can do about it. Money talks, and if some city wants to name their stadium after the Smegma Corporation, there's nothing I can do about it!

Electronic Voting: What a Farce!

Most County governments that are investing millions in electronic voting machines are barking up the wrong tree. The idea is you go to the polls on a certain day; you have your identity checked by a number of poll workers. Then you go into a voting booth, and, instead of using mechanical equipment, now you'll be using electronic equipment to vote. What's wrong this this picture?! Instead of investing millions in electronic voting boxes, the government instead could adopt a model that would let you use the electronic box you already have, namely your desktop or laptop computer in your home.

And don't tell me that there are security concerns. Of course there are security concerns, but if my desktop is secure enough to do secure credit card transactions, it's secure enough to vote. Each person would have their own secure voting account. What the government should be developing is a website and the behind the scenes software to process and integrate each voter's account. Vote tallying would be a snap! There is always a chance of ID theft and that a voter's account will be hacked into and hijacked, but the consequences of having your credit card account hacked into and hijacked are far graver than having your vote hijacked. If your credit card is hijacked, it could cost you big bucks; if your vote is hijacked, some other guy than the one you voted for might get elected. Serious to be sure, but not as serious as losing your money!

Think of the revolution this would engender. First, most of the money that goes into holding an election would be saved. There would be no need for polls, poll workers, voting machines etc. etc. It would be a convenience to the voters not having to make a special trip to the polls. By the way those without a PC could vote at any public library. There would be no need to vote on a particular day. Voters might have a two or four week period to vote much as they have now if they vote by mail. How much more secure would be voting by computer than voting by mail! Special elections would be a snap instead of costing millions.

Think of the fringe benefits. The additional government money that would presumably go into computer security would have corresponding benefits to any and all computer transactions: business to business transactions, banking transactions, credit card transactions. Instead of the archaic methods we now have and are continuing to be implemented, this would be a giant step into the 21st century!