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www.us-tech.com
Tech-Op-ed May/June, 2012
SOUNDING OFF
By Walter Salm Editor
Calling Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
T
oday’s level of personal connectivity never ceases to amaze me, mainly be- cause I watched it all grow from such crude beginnings. Growing up in a small town in Upstate New York, we had a single, desk-type telephone
with no rotary dial or pushbuttons. In fact, the Touch-Tone phone was still decades away from being developed. Like Henry Ford’s Model T, you could have the phone in any color you wanted, as long as it was black. This was a “new” style phone. Its predecessor had been a skinny thing — an American version of the French phone that just held the handset in a cradle on the table. To use the phone, you picked up the handset and waited for an operator to say, “Number Please”. Sometimes you had to wait a while for a response; it built patience and character. At other times, you picked up the handset and could become privvy to all of Sadie’s business. Sadie lived across the street from us and was on our party line. Forget about FBI and CIA wiretaps; your neighbors could know all of your business just by picking up their phone and listening. The telephone ruled from its perch on a “Gossip Bench”, a made-for-the-
telephone piece of furniture with a padded seat, a shelf for the phone book under the tabletop, and it was parked in our house’s entrance hallway. We also had the incredible luxury of an extension phone in my parents’ bedroom on the second floor. That’s where, as a teenager, I went for some privacy if I wanted to call a girl. Of course, there was always the chance that Sadie was listening.... While I was still in high school, our little independent (non-Bell/AT&T)
phone company was taken over by General Telephone & Electronics, on its way to becoming the largest independent phone company in the country. It even had its own Western Electric-style manufacturing plant — Automatic Electric, with an all-in-one factory located in one of Chicago’s suburbs. I was fortunate enough to get a plant tour. I was amazed to find that this factory outsourced nothing; they extruded the hard plastic cases for their phones; they even rolled their own tubular capacitors that were used in the phones. As an independent, GT&E wasn’t small. It owned subsidiary companies
like Sylvania, which made lots of light bulbs, and even a line of TV sets and other home-entertainment equipment. Most of these products were still being made in the U.S.A. — a lot of them in Chicagoland with other plants on Boston’s Route 128. Some time after I left home for college, a GT&E installer visited our
house to replace our two manual phones with new instruments that sported gleaming, nickel-plated rotary dials. Automation was finally coming to back- ward Gloversville. They built new switching exchanges, moved all of the op- erator services to a central location seven miles south of town, and had a gi- gantic switching-over ceremony at 12 Midnight of the designated day. Offi- cials attended from phone companies around the world; the switchover was the largest of its kind to be made in many years, accounting for over 10,000 subscriber lines for the three communities involved. It was accomplished by simply pulling the cords on some insulating blocks that had been separating key relay contacts, and after about five minutes of necessary system shut- down, the three linked communities suddenly had automated dial service. There were a few inconveniences for the subscribers. A whole list of new
phone numbers had to be learned. Our home phone went from 2757-W to 4- 8929 and later to 725-8929, when direct distance dialing was instituted. What is most amazing to me is that I still remember those numbers after all these years! What I don’t miss is the difficulty of placing out-of-town calls. First di- al the operator who would answer with “Long Distance.” My father, who would often call my kid sister in graduate school, would say, “I’d like to place a call to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.” After a pregnant pause, the operator would say, “You’ve got to be kidding.” My father would assure her that there really was such a place and he would like to call his daughter there. Remem- ber, this was still a small town in Upstate New York, and many of the locals had never traveled more than 50 miles from home. What a contrast with today’s level of connectivity. Simply pick up a phone
and with a few button presses, call anywhere in the world. And if you’re us- ing your computer, the call is free! You just have to be aware that your call may rouse someone out of a deep sleep because of time zone differences. Us- ing your computer to make the call, the call is not only free, you get to see the party you’re talking to — if you want to. The video phone has finally come of age, and the Internet makes it all possible. And to tell the truth, I don’t miss that kludgy, heavy, old black telephone and its party line one darned bit. r
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
By Jacob Fattal Publisher
potential for an economic domino effect. Getting the world’s staggering economy righted and healthy again is go-
Needed: A Concerted Effort G
ing to take a concerted effort from all of us, but there are a few movers and shakers who can make a big difference. One of the most impressive shakers is Christine Lagarde, who as the managing director of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) has a plateful of world problems to deal with. While it’s doubtful that the IMF will be making any loans to Greece, she can certainly make recommendations. No, it’s not all on her shoulders, but when she talks, world leaders listen. And as the Greek economy goes, so may go all of the Eu- ro zone, which is on shaky ground at best these days. The weak dollar has been getting stronger; today a Euro only costs $1.30
US down from $1.60 four years ago. The Canadian dollar is about on a par with the US. China decided to let its currency float, but only within a limited range, and it immediately went down as far as it could go. But the Chinese economy is recovering, albeit slowly, certainly not at the breakneck rate it had been growing over the last decade or so. U.S. recovery is weak but steady; more companies are bringing manufacturing back to the U.S.A., certainly not at the rate that we lost jobs over the last 20 years, but everything seems to be improving. Not so in Eu- rope, where Christine and all of her elves are going to have to work some special kind of magic. The problem there is that Europe’s bleak outlook is slowing down the little upswing we have been having in the U.S. And Japan continues to struggle. The aftermath of the earthquake and
tsunami over a year ago still is staggering. Even one-time powerhouse Sony is reeling, and has estimated that it will lose $6.4 billion this year. Are they go- ing to need a General Motors/Chrysler type bailout from Japan’s already hurt- ing banks? In the U.S., business is clawing its way out of the hole, and the economy
is getting incrementally better. Domestic trade shows have been very busy and upbeat with companies selling major capital equipment right off the con- vention floor. This is a good sign, and the electronics industry will continue to show improvement. Now we have to be careful that the Euro Zone crisis doesn’t pull us back down into the hole. It’s going to take a concerted effort by all of us. r
reece. One small country, yet its economy is dragging down at least two other shaky members of the European Union, and the whole of the Eu- ro Zone is now worried and endangered, and there is the ever-looming
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