1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Text Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech. And some of you 5 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:26,600 Speaker 1: might not know this, but I close every single episode 6 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: by giving out the Twitter and Facebook handles for this show. 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: Both of those, by the way, our Text Stuff h 8 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: s W. And I invite people to suggest topics for 9 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: me to cover on this show. And some folks actually 10 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 1: do that, like Andy, who actually sent his suggestion to 11 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: me directly to my personal Twitter account that, by the way, 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: is at John Strickland and that's a j O in Strickland. Anyway, 13 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: Andy wrote, you cover Packard Bell before? Probably well, Andy, 14 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: I haven't covered Packard Bell before, but I'm going to 15 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: do it now so that shows you. Well. I gotta 16 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: little confrontational there. I'm sorry Andy to know what came 17 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: over me, but yes, it's time to talk about Packard 18 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: Bell now. For someone my age, the name Packard Bell 19 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: brings to mind an army of IBM PC clones in 20 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties and nineties. I'll get into what that 21 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: means later on, but while I think most folks around 22 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:33,399 Speaker 1: my age associate Packard Bell with inexpensive and frequently mocked 23 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: personal computers. The company's origins, or at least the origins 24 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: of the name of the company, go back much, much further. 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: The full story of Packard Bell is one of entrepreneurship, innovation, acquisitions, betrayal, death, resurrections, 26 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: and fading into the sunset only to come back. The 27 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: story shares some parallels with other company stories like a TORII, 28 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: and I'll explain that a little bit further on. For now, 29 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: let's start with a man named Herb Bell. Kind of Now, 30 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: the history of both the company and this founder are 31 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: a bit muddled. Some history state that Packard Bell should 32 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: trace its origins to nineteen twenty six. Others say no, no, no, 33 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: it should be nineteen thirty three. The company itself was 34 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: incorporated in ninety five, according to The New York Times. 35 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: The New York Times also says that Herbert Bell was 36 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: born in eighteen ninety in Rock Valley, Iowa, but other 37 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: sources say he was born in Burlington, Wisconsin. So, as 38 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: you guys can gather, this is a somewhat difficult story 39 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: to tell, but hey, history is more than just dates. 40 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: And places right. So we'll just accept that there is 41 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: some confusion about the details of this history, or that 42 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: we're dealing with a multiverse, parallel dimension situation here. Either 43 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:00,519 Speaker 1: of those I think work as a get out of 44 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: jail free card in this situation. So when Herb Bell 45 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: was growing up in either Iowa or Wisconsin, he wasn't 46 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,079 Speaker 1: necessarily dreaming of building an electronics company. I should add 47 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,359 Speaker 1: he definitely grew up in Burlington. I found newspaper articles 48 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: from Burlington that talked about it. So it might be 49 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 1: possible that he wasn't born there, but he definitely grew 50 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,920 Speaker 1: up there. Herbert Bell was actually born Herbert Anthony Zwiebel. 51 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: He had four brothers, Arthur, Albert, Elmer, and Willard. Between 52 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: nineteen ten and nineteen fifteen, these brothers all left home 53 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: to quote make their way in the world end quote. 54 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: Herbert left Burlington in nineteen twelve to go to Milwaukee. 55 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: He found work with the Mitchell Automobile Company, where he 56 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: worked until nineteen eighteen, at which point he set out 57 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: to make a company of his own. In partnership with 58 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: his brothers Arthur and Albert, they formed the Zwiebel Brothers Company. 59 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: And they manufactured tires and related equipment for vehicles. A 60 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: bit later, they brought in brother Elmer, also known as Bub, 61 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: and he owned the Bub Body Company. The four brothers 62 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:17,920 Speaker 1: incorporated the two companies together, forming a voltron of car 63 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: part companies. I guess. In nineteen twenty one, the brothers 64 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: decided to sell this business. They turned it public and 65 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,359 Speaker 1: they handed it over to a new board of directors, 66 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,919 Speaker 1: and they pocketed the cash. They all packed up and 67 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: moved to California because actually their parents had relocated to 68 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 1: California back in nineteen nineteen, so they were following behind. 69 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: They had made a good amount of money by building 70 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: up their business and then selling it, and so they 71 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: looked for what would come next. For Herbert that would 72 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: end up being electronics. He became interested in the young industry. 73 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: He was just starting to to really flourish in the 74 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: Los Angeles area around this time, so radio was very young. 75 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 1: The first license radios to stations in the United States 76 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 1: began to broadcast in nineteen twenty, so this is still 77 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: very very early in the history of radio. And her 78 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: Bell was one of those tech entrepreneurs who would establish 79 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: a well worn tradition. By this time today. He started 80 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: his company in a garage, actually his parents garage to 81 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: be precise. He began to learn how to build radio 82 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,479 Speaker 1: sets and the ins and outs of electronics. His early 83 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: work focused on providing coin operated radio sets for hotel lobbies. 84 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: So imagine that you're in a hotel lobby, there's a 85 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: radio there. You actually have to put a coin in 86 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: and then it will play whatever station you tune it 87 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: to for however long. The coin operation thing lasts interesting concept. 88 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: Herbert made his brother Albert a partner in the business, 89 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: but this early company didn't establish itself, and by nineteen 90 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 1: twenty nine it was out of business. Undiscouraged, Herbert Bell 91 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: found a financial partner in a certain Simtir Edward Jackson 92 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: if You're nasty, and together they formed the Jackson Bell 93 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 1: Radio Company. Jackson Bell radios are to this day sought 94 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 1: after by collectors. That being said, according to the Radio 95 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: History Museum, Jackson Bell wasn't really in the business of 96 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: manufacturing radios so much as it was all about marketing radios. 97 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: The actual radios, again according to the Radio History Museum, 98 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: were made by a company called Gilfillan Brothers Radio Company. 99 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: Whether Jackson Bell made their own radios or not as 100 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: kind of a moot point, because it wasn't around for 101 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: very long. It got started in nineteen thirty, but it 102 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: was out of business by nineteen three. This was during 103 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: a truly tumultuous time in economic history. In nineteen twenty nine, 104 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: stock prices in the United States began to plummet, leading 105 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: to a massive crash in the market on October. The 106 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 1: economic all outstretched all around the world and it would 107 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: take a decade to get back to where the market 108 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: had been before the crash. This was the Great Depression. 109 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: I don't see what's so great about it. The Swiebels 110 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: company was, like many others, affected by this fallout, and 111 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: the brothers folded their business. Part of the problem was 112 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: due to a bigger company making some rather broad changes. 113 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: That company was our c A, which I have actually 114 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: covered in previous episodes of Tech Stuff, multiple episodes in fact, 115 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 1: so you can go back through our archives and listen 116 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: to those. The Swiebel Brothers had a license to sell 117 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: our c A radios, but when the company introduced a 118 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: new type of radio that made the ones that the 119 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: Sweebels had in their inventory completely obsolete. As we will, 120 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: company really began to struggle. Jackson Bell just couldn't really 121 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: do anything. They now had products that were hard to 122 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: sell right at the beginning of a severe economic depress, 123 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: so they couldn't move their inventory, they couldn't afford to 124 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: invest in the new technology, and they just had to 125 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: close up shop as a result. Now, this is why 126 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: some histories say that Packard Bell cannot use nineteen twenty 127 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: six as the starting point, because even though that's when 128 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: Herb got into the electronics gig, the companies he founded 129 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: all ceased to exist by the early nineteen thirties. Herb 130 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: was down, but he wasn't out. He and his brothers 131 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: changed their last name to Bell officially, mostly to americanize 132 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: their names a bit more, even though they were all Americans. 133 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,440 Speaker 1: And in nineteen thirty three, her Bell would strike up 134 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: a new partnership to launch another electronics business, this time 135 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: with a guy named Leon Packard Packard Bell. Packard was 136 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: able to secure investments from his family to start up 137 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: this new business. Some reports say he used a trust fund, 138 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: some say that it was an uncle who lent the money, 139 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: but in any case, he was kind of the cash 140 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 1: behind the whole business. And again the business was called 141 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: Packard Bell, but Leon Packard wasn't part of this company 142 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: for very long. He apparently got unhappy with the way 143 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,719 Speaker 1: her Bell was pushing things. Bell was aiming for more ambitious, 144 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: more expensive radio sets, and Packard was worried about it 145 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: getting priced out of the market. So Herb would end 146 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: up buying out his partner sometime in either nineteen thirty 147 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: four or nineteen thirty five. Again I found sources that 148 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: gave conflicting dates, but it did happen right around that time. 149 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: Now there was no longer a Packard at Packard Bell, 150 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: but the company had established the sort of brand name, 151 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: so rather than mess with that, they stuck with it. 152 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 1: So Packard was gone, but Packard Bell remained. The first 153 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: product out of Packard Bell, as far as I can determine, 154 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: was a rebranded Jackson Bell tabletop radio called the Model 155 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 1: thirty five. A tabletop meaning this was a radio that 156 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: could sit on a table, as opposed to a giant 157 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: console radio that was a free standing piece of furniture. 158 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: They still were pretty big and they involved a lot 159 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: of artistry. The cabinets that were made for these these 160 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: radios often are gorgeous. In fact, that's one of the 161 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: reasons why UH collectors seek out these antique radios. They 162 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: were also very specific to the regions where they were produced. 163 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 1: I'll say more about that in a second. So Urban 164 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 1: his brothers maintained close business relationships. And the brothers had 165 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: all founded their own businesses, and we're manufacturing various components 166 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,320 Speaker 1: and her Bell would package them together as finished radio. 167 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: So some of them were making electronics, some of them 168 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: were cabinet makers, and collectively they were all kind of 169 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: creating the pieces that would allow Packard Bell to sell 170 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: finished radios. So Packard Bell was really more of an 171 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: assembly company, not a manufacturer. They took the component it's 172 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: from the other brothers organizations. One interesting thing Bell did, 173 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: as I mentioned, was he customized his radios for the 174 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: West Coast region. Remember they were located at a California 175 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: So rather than simply creating a radio with a dial 176 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: that has all the different radio frequencies marked on it, 177 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: he actually listed out the radio stations with their respective frequencies. 178 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: So let's say that you have a radio station called 179 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: we'll just say Bob, and the radio station Bob is 180 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: at a M seven fifty and instead of having it 181 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:35,520 Speaker 1: saying just a M seven fifty. You would actually write 182 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: out Bob on the dial, so people could dial directly 183 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: to whichever radio station they were interested in. They didn't 184 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: have to hunt through the frequencies. And Bell was primarily 185 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: selling radios to people on or near the West Coast, 186 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: so he could do this. It was called stationizing, and 187 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:55,679 Speaker 1: he could do it because he wasn't selling radios to 188 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 1: people in other parts of the world, where the radio 189 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: stations would be totally different, and for those frequencies. It 190 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: would actually take several years before the company would start 191 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: to sell radios beyond this immediate region. The nice thing 192 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:11,559 Speaker 1: was you didn't have to remember about which station was 193 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: using which frequency. You just set the dial to the 194 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:16,679 Speaker 1: station you were interested in because things were right there. 195 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: And the story goes that the inspiration for doing this 196 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: all came from Mama Bell. Now I don't mean mob 197 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: Bell the phone company, but rather the mother of the 198 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: Bell brothers. Herbs said that his mother complained about the 199 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:35,000 Speaker 1: printing on radio dials and that it was too difficult 200 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: for her to read those numbers and thus be able 201 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,960 Speaker 1: to tune the radio to the station she wanted. Packard 202 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 1: Bell licensed some of our CIA's radio technology and incorporated 203 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: that technology into their own radios. Or Bell led his 204 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: company into establishing a pretty solid reputation upon the outbreak 205 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,440 Speaker 1: of World War Two in Europe. Then Packard Bell began 206 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: to branch out from radios and we're done building components 207 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 1: and technologies for the US military. One of those technologies 208 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: was the transponder. Now, Packard Bell did not invent the transponder. 209 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: It wasn't created out of Packard Bell. British engineers actually 210 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: created the first transponders, but Packard Bell helped develop them 211 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: and manufacture them. So what the heck is a transponder. Well, 212 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: it's an electronic component. Technically, it's a transceiver that's used 213 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: in aircraft. During World War Two, it served as a 214 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: way for radar stations to identify whether a detected aircraft 215 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: was friendly or not. The idea was actually incredibly simple. 216 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: You would outfit your aircraft with these transponders, which, upon 217 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: receiving a signal, could send out a message that contained 218 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:50,439 Speaker 1: the identifying information of that aircraft. In fact, it could 219 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:53,679 Speaker 1: just contain a signal, a simple signal. So essentially this 220 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:56,599 Speaker 1: plane was saying, hey, it's okay, I'm a buddy, you 221 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,680 Speaker 1: know I'm not I'm not one of the enemy. And 222 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: the British called this tech a parrot transponder. The parrot 223 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: would squawk or send out its message. American engineers called 224 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:12,560 Speaker 1: it identification friend or foe or I F F for short. 225 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: Creating unique codes for aircraft would come a little bit later, 226 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: but that would help too. So now not only did 227 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 1: you know, oh, this is a friendly aircraft because it's 228 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 1: responding to the signal and giving me the appropriate response. 229 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: Now I can actually get specific unique signals, so I 230 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: can say exactly which aircraft it is. Not just that 231 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: it's friendly, but I know which one it is. Even 232 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: if the enemy figured out that Allied planes were sending 233 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: back signals, the odds of them picking an existing signal 234 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: to masquerade as a friendly aircraft would be slim. The 235 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: one big problem was that the transponder signals were strong 236 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: enough to muck up radar stations. So an incoming signal 237 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: from a transponder was powerful enough that it would completely 238 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: cover a radar screen. It was like you had an 239 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: enormous puddle of ink covering up your screen, except it was, 240 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:08,800 Speaker 1: you know, points of light. So pilots were instructed instead 241 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: to turn on their transponders when they were prompted by 242 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: radio operators. The informal way, as I said, was to 243 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: call this squawking. So to squawk your parrot is to 244 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: turn on your transponder so it sends a message back 245 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:24,360 Speaker 1: down to the ground. Then you're supposed to turn it 246 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: back off again because you don't want to flood the 247 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: radar stations. Eventually, this technology found its way into civilian 248 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: aircraft and it became a way for air traffic control 249 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: to identify aircraft in specific airspace, and when paired with 250 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: other electronics, the transponder could send back specific information beyond 251 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: just the identity of the aircraft. It could also send 252 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: stuff like that aircraft's altitude, and pilots could set transponders 253 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: to send specific messages when other communications systems failed. If, 254 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 1: for example, their radio failed, the pilot could set a 255 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: transponder so that the code sent to a t C 256 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: would correspond to an emergency message such as may day, 257 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: or communications are down or even hijack, So pilots can 258 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,480 Speaker 1: squawk if they're in trouble. They can set their transponder 259 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: to that specific code to indicate the issue, so it's 260 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: an emergency system as well as an identification system. Transponders 261 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: are pretty interesting. For one thing, they only allow codes 262 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: with digits between zero and seven, or at least the 263 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: original ones did. But to explain why that is why 264 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 1: they could only use between zero and seven would take 265 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,240 Speaker 1: a bit more time away from our topic. So I'm 266 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: going to spare you. Guys. You're welcome, but maybe someday 267 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: I'll go into a full episode about transponders. So you've 268 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: been warned, But for now, let's take a quick break. Okay. 269 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: Packard Bell continues to put together radios and make military 270 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,679 Speaker 1: components all throughout World War Two, and the company was 271 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: doing pretty well. Like it wasn't going gangbusters, but it 272 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,479 Speaker 1: was profitable. It was still focused on that regional market, 273 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: so it's still making radio sets for people on the 274 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: West coast of the United States, still going with that 275 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: stationized approach to the dials. After the war, Packard Bell 276 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,640 Speaker 1: finally incorporated, at least according to The New York Times 277 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: in its obituary for her Bell spoiler alert or Bell 278 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: passed away a long time ago. But Packard Bell also 279 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:40,479 Speaker 1: began to enter into a new industry. They began to 280 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:45,719 Speaker 1: get into television manufacturing. Television's back then were similar to 281 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,959 Speaker 1: the old school radios. They tended to be pretty large 282 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: pieces of furniture, often housed in cabinets. The earliest ones 283 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,080 Speaker 1: I know about from Packard Bell were three models that 284 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: the company introduced in nineteen. Two of those were console models, 285 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: essentially the cabinet style. I was just talking about these 286 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: free standing pieces of furniture that had television sets inside them. 287 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 1: The third model was a tabletop model, and so in 288 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 1: this case, the television was inside a wooden frame another 289 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,920 Speaker 1: like wooden cabinet, but it was small enough to sit 290 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: on a table as opposed to stand freely on its own. 291 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:28,960 Speaker 1: The screen on the tabletop model, and the smaller of 292 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,639 Speaker 1: the two console models was ten inches on the diagonal, 293 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:37,520 Speaker 1: just ten one zero. The larger console had a twelve 294 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:41,119 Speaker 1: inch screen. It also had a radio and a phonograph 295 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: built into this thing. I imagine it had to be 296 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:48,160 Speaker 1: a bit of a monster. The company would continue producing television's, 297 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,120 Speaker 1: branching into color TV a decade later, and I've covered 298 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: how TV works several times, so don't worry, I'm not 299 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,640 Speaker 1: gonna go on a how television works tangent here. Packard 300 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: Bell found success in the television market, just as it 301 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: had with the radio market, and before long the company 302 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: was selling its products across the United States. This also 303 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 1: meant finally abandoning that stationized approach to radio dials, because 304 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:19,719 Speaker 1: now the frequencies weren't corresponding to the same radio stations. 305 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: There was no guarantee that the person who was buying 306 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: your radio would have access to the exact same radio 307 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,200 Speaker 1: stations as what you were putting on the dial, so 308 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,879 Speaker 1: they get rid of that. By the mid nineteen fifties, 309 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: things were good enough with Packard Bell for them to 310 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: go public, with the company to go from private company 311 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 1: to publicly traded company, or Bell would step down as president, 312 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: but he would remain on the board of directors for 313 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 1: several more years. In the meantime, the company wanted to 314 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,200 Speaker 1: stretch a bit more to get into some other industries, 315 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,959 Speaker 1: and so they created a new division focused on building 316 00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:01,120 Speaker 1: out computers. Now this was still in the late nineteen fifties, 317 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: so we're not talking about personal computers here. We're talking 318 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: about many computers, kind of the the bridge between mainframe 319 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 1: systems and the desktop machines that we would later know 320 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 1: and sometimes love. So These were computer systems that were 321 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: meant to do number crunching for stuff like research facilities 322 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:27,159 Speaker 1: or universities, or the military, or sometimes really big companies. 323 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 1: Packard Bell hired a former US Air Force meteorologists named 324 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: Max Palevski to spearhead the computer efforts. Polevski had really 325 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:42,479 Speaker 1: begun to study computer science after working with people like 326 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,120 Speaker 1: von Neumann, so he was coming into this really jazzed. 327 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: And the first computer that Packard Bell would build would 328 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: be called the p B two fifty. It was a 329 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:58,440 Speaker 1: computer built on the principles of the Automatic Computing Engine 330 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: or ACE. That the computer system that was designed by 331 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: the great Alan Turing himself. The ACE marked the first 332 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:12,440 Speaker 1: truly electronic stored program all purpose digital computer. And that's 333 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:14,720 Speaker 1: a lot of words, so let's break it down a 334 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: little bit. The all purpose part is really easy. So 335 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: early on, engineers built a lot of specific purpose computer systems. 336 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: These were designed to handle a very narrow spectrum of tasks, 337 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,360 Speaker 1: and these machines had a streamlined design for that purpose. 338 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: Now when I say streamlined, I don't mean in terms 339 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:37,440 Speaker 1: of physical structure, because all these machines were big and unwieldy, 340 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,280 Speaker 1: but rather in terms of the systems architecture what it 341 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 1: was actually processing information for. So these specific machines were 342 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: quite good at handling the problems that fit within their design, 343 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 1: but they were incapable of running any other kind of 344 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: process outside of that purpose. And all purpose or general 345 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: purpose computer could run any program within that computer's capabilities, 346 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:07,240 Speaker 1: not just a narrow spectrum of programs. Turing's design was ambitious, 347 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: so much so that his colleagues ultimately decided that they 348 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,120 Speaker 1: had to compromise on that vision quite a bit when 349 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: building out the actual computer. Otherwise the engineering requirements were 350 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: going to just be too severe, so they made a 351 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:24,399 Speaker 1: much more modest machine called the Pilot Model ACE. In 352 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty. Packard Bell's p B two fifty followed uh 353 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: in the design philosophy of ACE. It wasn't exactly a copy, 354 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,879 Speaker 1: but it was built on those same basic principles. Okay, 355 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: but what about electronics stored. Well, one thing the PB 356 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: two fifty sported was magneto restrictive memory, and this was 357 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: a type of delay line memory for computers. Now, you've 358 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:53,640 Speaker 1: probably heard me talk about random access memory or RAM, 359 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,080 Speaker 1: and if not, I'm sure you've encountered at least the 360 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 1: concept of RAM. RAM is a type of storage that 361 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 1: allows computers to process information without pulling it from a 362 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: hard disk or disk drive. It's a temporary type of 363 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:12,679 Speaker 1: storage meant to facilitate calculations to make stuff faster. I 364 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: sometimes like in it to short term versus long term 365 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,199 Speaker 1: memory for humans, but that's not really an apples to 366 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,199 Speaker 1: apples comparison. It's just kind of useful to say. If 367 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,920 Speaker 1: you have something in your short term memory that's right 368 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,200 Speaker 1: there and you're working with it, it's really easy. If 369 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: you have to remember something that happened a long time 370 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: ago that takes more time. It's similar to that concept, 371 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: but it's not a one to one analogy. Well, delay 372 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 1: line memory is even different from that. For one thing, 373 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: it's not random access. Delay line memory is sequential, so 374 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: the data is organized in the order that it was entered. 375 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: It has this predetermined ordered sequence. It's also totally weird 376 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: when you think about it in context of modern computing. 377 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:03,120 Speaker 1: Here's how it worked. In the original incarnation of delay 378 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,800 Speaker 1: line memory, the system would convert data into sound waves, 379 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 1: so it would actually become an acoustic form of information, 380 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: and then it would send that acoustic wave. These sound 381 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: waves through a medium that put the brakes on those 382 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,359 Speaker 1: sound waves. You know, sound travels at different speeds through 383 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 1: different media, right, it travels through water more slowly than 384 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: it travels through air. For example, in the case of 385 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: the early delay line memory models, they use tubes of 386 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:40,639 Speaker 1: liquid mercury. The sound waves carrying data would slow down 387 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: as it would transfer into the liquid mercury, but it 388 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,639 Speaker 1: would continue traveling until I reached the far end of 389 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: the tube of mercury, wherein it would hit a sensor 390 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: that would allow it to re electrify the signal for 391 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 1: processing a process. Signal could then be sent back through 392 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,160 Speaker 1: the tube. Now you could set up such a system 393 00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: to store that data to it barily, and the way 394 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:04,640 Speaker 1: you would do it is you would constantly send the 395 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,320 Speaker 1: same signal back and forth through the tube until you 396 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: needed it. The site make likened this to using an 397 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: echo to do the same thing. So imagine that you're 398 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: standing in a canyon and you need to remember something 399 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: like someone's just told you some numbers and you gotta 400 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,640 Speaker 1: remember them, so you shout it out really loudly, and 401 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: a couple of moments later, you hear the echo of 402 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 1: your shout coming back to you, So it's like you 403 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,679 Speaker 1: just remembered the number you yelled out. But hey, that 404 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,640 Speaker 1: echo is gonna fade away, right, It doesn't stick around forever, 405 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: and maybe you don't need the information at that exact moment. 406 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: So that means after you hear the echo, you need 407 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,520 Speaker 1: to shout the same thing again to continue to preserve it, 408 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,360 Speaker 1: and so on and so on until you finally get 409 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 1: to the point where you actually have to use that 410 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: information and then you can stop shouting it back out again. Well, 411 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: the same thing is happening in delay line memory. The 412 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: system sends data through this journey because it's going to 413 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 1: need that data later. It doesn't need it right now. 414 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: But let's say the data completes this journey, the computer 415 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: still doesn't need the information. Well, then it just repeats 416 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: the incoming message and sends that data back out on 417 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: the journey again. One downside of this is that when 418 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: the computer does need the information, it has to wait 419 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 1: for the data to complete whatever leg of the journey 420 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:33,919 Speaker 1: it's on, so you can't just call up information instantaneously. 421 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: There's actually a bit of a delay. Computer systems like 422 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: the PB two fifty relied on this type of memory 423 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: as did more well known computers like the UNIVAC one. 424 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 1: It's a pretty interesting way to store information and fundamentally 425 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 1: different from how we do it now. So I thought 426 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:55,399 Speaker 1: it was pretty darn cool. Not necessarily the most convenient 427 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: way of doing it, and not necessarily the most satisfying 428 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: way if you need information right away now, granted, the 429 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 1: delay is typically on the order of milliseconds. It might 430 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,480 Speaker 1: be long enough for there to be a perceptible delay, 431 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: but it wasn't like you were waiting around forever. But 432 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: still it wasn't instantaneous. The PB two fifty did not 433 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: have a CPU chip, because this was before transistors were 434 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: a viable option for that kind of thing. Instead, the 435 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: central processing unit was a series of logic boards that 436 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:29,440 Speaker 1: were wired together, and these logic boards processed data one 437 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: bit at a time, sequentially. In other words, I've seen 438 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 1: a picture of one of these PB two fifty computers 439 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: and it kind of looks like a pair of large 440 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:44,680 Speaker 1: briefcases or the old school style suitcases that are sitting 441 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,240 Speaker 1: side by side on top of a little pedestal stand, 442 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: and then there's a typewriter like thing next to it. 443 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: That typewriter like saying was actually a teleprinter called a 444 00:27:55,760 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: Frieden Flexo writer. Super cool old school to tchnology here, 445 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,919 Speaker 1: but outside the scope of what we're covering, so I'm 446 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,120 Speaker 1: gonna leave it be. The computer division of Packard Bell 447 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:11,640 Speaker 1: was essentially a subsidiary of the larger Packard Bell Electronics 448 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:15,680 Speaker 1: or Packard Bell Corporation. It would continue to make computer 449 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:20,360 Speaker 1: systems until nineteen sixty four. That's when the company Ray 450 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: Theon made Packard Bell Corporation and offer it couldn't refuse. 451 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: Ray Theon purchased the computer division. By this time, Palevski, 452 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,679 Speaker 1: the guy who had spearheaded the PB two fifty, he 453 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: had already left Packard Bell at this point. He actually 454 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: took several top level engineers with him all the way 455 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,400 Speaker 1: back in nineteen sixty one to form another company called 456 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: Scientific Data Systems of California or STS, that would subsequently 457 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 1: get acquired by Xerox by the end of the nineteen 458 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: sixties and made Polevski very wealthy. So you might think 459 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: that it was this computer division of Packard Bell that 460 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: would ultimately emerge in the nineteen eighties as the company 461 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,840 Speaker 1: behind all those personal computers, all those IBM clones, And 462 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:09,800 Speaker 1: you'd be so totally wrong. I mean, you could argue 463 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 1: very convincingly that the Packard Bell of the eighties and 464 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 1: nineties fame had nothing whatsoever to do with the original 465 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 1: Packard Bell at all. But it had a little more 466 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 1: to do with the Packard Bell Corporation than it did 467 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: with Packard Bell computers. Now this came as a surprise 468 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: to me as I was doing this research. I thought, 469 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: surely this computer division is what ultimately evolved into the 470 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: Packard Bell PCs. But no, so, Raytheon buys the Packard 471 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: Bell Computer Division and essentially folds it into the larger 472 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,520 Speaker 1: company of Raytheon. Raytheon is another company I'm going to 473 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:49,760 Speaker 1: have to cover at some point. It also has a 474 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: pretty bumpy history, which I guess you could expect from 475 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,800 Speaker 1: a company that's in the military and defense industry. But 476 00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: we're going to close that chapter of our story here 477 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,560 Speaker 1: at the Computer division effectively merged into the rest of 478 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: Raytheon and was no more. So let's get back to 479 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: the Packard Bell Corporation, the one that was still making 480 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: radios and television sets, because that still existed. That parent 481 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,480 Speaker 1: company soldiered on a little bit longer, but in nineteen 482 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,960 Speaker 1: sixty eight. So just four years after Raytheon had bought 483 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: the computer division, a suitor came calling to Packard Bell Corporation, 484 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: and this was Teleedne. Tele Dine started as a microelectronics 485 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: and control system company, and it began all the way 486 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: back in nineteen sixty. By all the way, I mean 487 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: eight years previously. So tele Dine had a slightly different 488 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,920 Speaker 1: strategy when it came to establishing itself. It was not 489 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,720 Speaker 1: the type of company that built lots of R and 490 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: D facilities and manufacturing plants. Instead, tele Dine was all 491 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:55,920 Speaker 1: about acquiring other already established companies, such was the case 492 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,920 Speaker 1: with the Packard Bell Corporation. By the end of the 493 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:04,720 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, tele Dine had acquired around one hundred companies. Yikes, 494 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,640 Speaker 1: it's ten companies a year if you divide it up 495 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,600 Speaker 1: that way. Now, some people mark this as the death 496 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,080 Speaker 1: of the original Packard Bell. Though tele Dine did offer 497 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: some products with a tele Dine Packard Bell branding into 498 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, they stopped sometime around nineteen seventy four. 499 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 1: So this means we could say Packard Bell's original lifespan 500 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: was from nineteen twenty six to nineteen sixty eight or 501 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three to nineteen seventy four, or nineteen twenty 502 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: six to nineteen seventy four, you get it. The company 503 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 1: is something of an enigma when it comes to talking 504 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:46,360 Speaker 1: about its lifespan. Between nineteen seventy four and nineteen eighty five, 505 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 1: Packard Bell essentially remained nothing more than a brand name 506 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,200 Speaker 1: owned by tele Dine, but not actually used on anything. 507 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 1: There were devotes of the brand, people who loved particular 508 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: radios or television sets, or collectors who were seeking a 509 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: specific model to complete their collection. And antique radio scene 510 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,320 Speaker 1: grew out of Los Angeles and Packard Bell radios were 511 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: a top commodity. But otherwise the name was languishing. And 512 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:15,480 Speaker 1: that will bring us to the next phase in our 513 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 1: story and an Israeli tank driver named Benny Allagam. But first, 514 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:32,520 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. Okay. So Packard Bell had 515 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 1: its rise and fall as a radio and television company. 516 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: Or Bell had resigned from the board back in nineteen 517 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: sixty two. He remained on as a sort of advisor 518 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,560 Speaker 1: for a short while, continue to have an office in 519 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: the Los Angeles headquarters, but he passed away in nineteen seventy. 520 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: So how did Packard Bell come back as a brand 521 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties and what connection did it have 522 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 1: to this company? Well, enter Benny Algam. He was born 523 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: in Israel in nineteen fifty three, and he's generally pretty 524 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: quiet about his personal history. In fact, he's also pretty 525 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,200 Speaker 1: quiet about his professional history in a lot of ways. 526 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:16,400 Speaker 1: But he attended college in the United States, studying engineering 527 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:20,120 Speaker 1: and business at the California State Polytechnic University in the 528 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies. By the early nineteen eighties, he and two 529 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 1: other Israeli American businessman, Jason bars Lay and Alex Sandel, 530 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: formed a company called cal Abco c A L dash 531 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 1: a b c O. This was a wholesaler of computer 532 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:43,320 Speaker 1: components like memory chips. The early eighties offered a special 533 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,800 Speaker 1: opportunity for people who were in the computer business. And 534 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: I've talked about this many times before IBM had dipped 535 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:55,160 Speaker 1: its corporate tow in the world of personal computers. Previously, 536 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: IBM had marketed almost exclusively to big businesses, but the 537 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,920 Speaker 1: company explored the PC market by building computers using off 538 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: the shelf components kind of like the ones that cal 539 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 1: Abco sold and landing a license with Microsoft for the 540 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:15,440 Speaker 1: DOSS operating system. But here's the kicker. IBM didn't secure 541 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:20,400 Speaker 1: an exclusive agreement with Microsoft, which meant Microsoft could license 542 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 1: that same operating system or a slight variation of it 543 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:28,240 Speaker 1: to any other computer manufacturer. And since IBM was using 544 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:32,360 Speaker 1: off the shelf components rather than designing a proprietary machine 545 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: built exclusively on IBM technology, this made it possible for 546 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:41,480 Speaker 1: anyone with the know how to build similar machines using 547 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: a similar operating system. And that would mean a customer 548 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 1: could go out and buy a less expensive computer from 549 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:52,759 Speaker 1: some other manufacturer and still run the same software and 550 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 1: tended for the IBM machines. The first company to do 551 00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:01,680 Speaker 1: this was Compact in n Two other companies would follow suit, 552 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,880 Speaker 1: and the era of the IBM clone PC began. We 553 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:09,319 Speaker 1: called them clones because they weren't made by IBM, but 554 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,359 Speaker 1: they could run the same software that was designed for 555 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 1: IBM computers. But Allergem and his business partners saw another 556 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: opportunity within this world. See these other companies that were 557 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:26,640 Speaker 1: making IBM PCs were still aiming primarily at the business market, 558 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:31,040 Speaker 1: and that might include some smaller businesses that otherwise would 559 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:33,680 Speaker 1: never have invested in computers and not just you know, 560 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,120 Speaker 1: big corporations, but it was still largely a focus on 561 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,160 Speaker 1: productivity machines. Alagam and his partners saw the chance to 562 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,719 Speaker 1: market to the average American. Now. To do it, he 563 00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: would need a company that could build inexpensive computers at 564 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: scale and at an efficiency that would allow him to 565 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,200 Speaker 1: sell PCs at a much lower cost than his competitors. 566 00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:58,479 Speaker 1: And he wanted a name for this company that would 567 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:02,840 Speaker 1: give him a marketing edge. That name would be you 568 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:07,919 Speaker 1: guessed it, Packard Bell. Now I'm not sure if Alagam 569 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: was going after that name with the intent of muddying 570 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:15,479 Speaker 1: the waters, but I'm not not saying that that wasn't 571 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:21,000 Speaker 1: the case. See, the name Packard Bell wasn't in frequent 572 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,920 Speaker 1: use by the nineteen eighties, and it was easy to 573 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 1: associate it with other entities. One was Bell Labs, the 574 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:31,360 Speaker 1: R and D arm of a T and T. Another 575 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,680 Speaker 1: was Hewitt Packard, the tech company that had been around 576 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:38,640 Speaker 1: since nineteen thirty nine. Or you might even just associate 577 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,280 Speaker 1: it with the original Packard Bell that made radios and TVs. 578 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:46,520 Speaker 1: The marketing for the new PC company definitely leaned into 579 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 1: this because their slogan was America grew up listening to us. 580 00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: It still does, which you know, it seems to at 581 00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:56,719 Speaker 1: least imply that this is the same company that was 582 00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,960 Speaker 1: making radios and TVs back in the fifties and sixties. 583 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:03,640 Speaker 1: But the truth is this new company had nothing to 584 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 1: do with any of the other companies, but it did 585 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:12,239 Speaker 1: benefit from that association. Alagam purchased the rights to the 586 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:15,879 Speaker 1: Packard Bell name from Teledne and the new Packard Bell 587 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:22,840 Speaker 1: Company established sometime around nine n six. Another big step 588 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:27,040 Speaker 1: Alagam made was to form partnerships with retailers. Typically, to 589 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,480 Speaker 1: purchase a computer, you would have to go to like 590 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:32,920 Speaker 1: a hobby store or a computer store, which could be 591 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 1: pretty intimidating for the average person, or you were ordering 592 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,759 Speaker 1: direct from a big business because you were placing an 593 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:41,560 Speaker 1: order for a company. So in that case, you're like 594 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:45,600 Speaker 1: ordering tens or hundreds of computers, not a single computer 595 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:49,680 Speaker 1: for a average person. But Aligam saw the opportunity of 596 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:54,080 Speaker 1: reaching a broader customer base by selling computers through consumer 597 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,840 Speaker 1: retail stores like Sears and Walmart, and later on like 598 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,400 Speaker 1: Best Buy in Circuit City. He started to form business 599 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:05,720 Speaker 1: relationships with these companies and secured agreements to sell Packard 600 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:10,120 Speaker 1: Bell PCs in their stores. In return, he would send 601 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:14,000 Speaker 1: Packard Bell employees to help train up the store staff 602 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,680 Speaker 1: on how to understand, talk about, and ultimately how to 603 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:22,360 Speaker 1: sell these PCs. The new Packard Bell would actually be 604 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:26,120 Speaker 1: a pioneer in a few fields early on. So, for example, 605 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:30,240 Speaker 1: with early PCs, it was pretty standard for a customer 606 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:34,120 Speaker 1: to have to install the operating system and any initial 607 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:37,600 Speaker 1: software themselves. You would get your computer home, you would 608 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:41,440 Speaker 1: have a whole bunch of disks for whatever operating system 609 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 1: you were in. You'd have to you know, boot up 610 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:46,840 Speaker 1: into the bios and then load up the operating system. 611 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:49,759 Speaker 1: Computers didn't come with stuff preloaded on it back in 612 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:53,440 Speaker 1: those days. This was another barrier to entry for a 613 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:57,400 Speaker 1: lot of people. Not only were computers expensive, it was 614 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,400 Speaker 1: intimidating to buy them and to set them up. So 615 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:04,440 Speaker 1: in nine seven, Packard Bell became the first IBM PC 616 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:09,560 Speaker 1: clone manufacturer to offer computers with a preloaded operating system 617 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:15,359 Speaker 1: and software bundle, thus again lowering that barrier of entry. 618 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:20,480 Speaker 1: The following year, Packard Bell established a toll free support 619 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:24,200 Speaker 1: telephone line so customers could call and get help setting 620 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 1: up or maintaining a computer. In nine, Packard Bell would 621 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:32,920 Speaker 1: be the first company to sell computers with Intel's Pentium 622 00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:36,360 Speaker 1: processor as the CPU, as well as the first to 623 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,480 Speaker 1: sell a computer with a CD ROM drive. So how 624 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:43,719 Speaker 1: was a budget PC company able to get out in 625 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,200 Speaker 1: front of its competitors in this way? One large part 626 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,680 Speaker 1: it came back to those business relationships I mentioned earlier. 627 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:55,080 Speaker 1: Customers would have conversations with sales people in stores like Sears, 628 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:58,359 Speaker 1: and those sales people would report back and word would 629 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,400 Speaker 1: get back up the chain to pack or Bell about 630 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:03,920 Speaker 1: what customers liked, what they didn't like, what they were 631 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:07,640 Speaker 1: looking for. So company executives learned about how people wanted 632 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:11,880 Speaker 1: stuff like a machine capable of running a CD ROM 633 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,239 Speaker 1: and that meant that one it needed to be a 634 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,960 Speaker 1: Pentium and two they need to include cd ROMs in 635 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:19,960 Speaker 1: order to meet that demand. It also helped that Packard 636 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:25,160 Speaker 1: Bell had established an extremely nimble manufacturing process. Everything was 637 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:28,279 Speaker 1: really efficient, and reportedly the company was even capable of 638 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,600 Speaker 1: assembling machines running on one type of component in the 639 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,839 Speaker 1: morning and then swap out their assembly line to cover 640 00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:37,880 Speaker 1: a totally different set of components for a different model. 641 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:42,160 Speaker 1: By lunchtime, so you can be making say a three 642 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:44,920 Speaker 1: eight six computer in the morning and swap over to 643 00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:48,360 Speaker 1: pentium by lunch. This is a big deal. Bigger companies 644 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:51,760 Speaker 1: couldn't move this fast, so Packard Bell was hearing about 645 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,640 Speaker 1: customer needs early and then able to respond to them 646 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:58,480 Speaker 1: faster than they're larger competitors were capable of doing. The 647 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,360 Speaker 1: company also tried out different desktop computer designs. The general 648 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:07,760 Speaker 1: design philosophy was pretty industrial and utilitarian and boring. Around 649 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,120 Speaker 1: that time, your standard computer was either a tower or 650 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,200 Speaker 1: a tabletop PC that took up a good amount of space. 651 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 1: Packard Bell introduced computers with smaller form factors, and they 652 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:22,080 Speaker 1: tried to get away from the boring, beige tower design. However, 653 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,000 Speaker 1: we have to look at some of the bad stuff too. 654 00:41:25,239 --> 00:41:28,600 Speaker 1: Sure the company was aggressive and producing machines for much 655 00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:31,840 Speaker 1: lower costs than the competition, but that doesn't mean the 656 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,040 Speaker 1: machines were good. If you do a search on Packer Bell, 657 00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 1: you're gonna find a lot of articles that named the 658 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:40,760 Speaker 1: company as the worst brand of PCs in the nineteen nineties. 659 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:45,239 Speaker 1: Heck PC magazine, in their Top ten Worst Computers of 660 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:50,640 Speaker 1: All Time, listed all Packard Bell computers at number one, 661 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:54,800 Speaker 1: not a single model. They said Packard Bell in general 662 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:59,160 Speaker 1: was the worst PC. So what was actually going on? Well, 663 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:02,000 Speaker 1: a big part of this had to do specifically with quality. 664 00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:05,480 Speaker 1: A lot of customers were displeased with their purchases, having 665 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:09,080 Speaker 1: various components failed. The computer just wasn't working really well. 666 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:13,359 Speaker 1: But how much is a lot? Well in, Packard Bell 667 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 1: revealed that it had a return rate of about seventeen percent. Now, 668 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: the average in the market was closer to seven percent, 669 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:26,960 Speaker 1: so this was more than double the average. So nearly 670 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:31,400 Speaker 1: twenty percent, or nearly one out of every five computers 671 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:36,120 Speaker 1: were being returned to Packard Bell. So their reputation for 672 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:40,680 Speaker 1: unreliable computers wasn't exactly unearned. Now, it didn't start out 673 00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:44,400 Speaker 1: that way. The early computers were considered to be pretty reliable. 674 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:48,719 Speaker 1: They weren't exactly premium machines, but for the price, they 675 00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:53,520 Speaker 1: were serviceable. However, as chip manufacturers, and really, I guess 676 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:56,239 Speaker 1: I should just say Intel, because that's what Packard Bell 677 00:42:56,280 --> 00:43:01,200 Speaker 1: went with. As Intel produced faster processors, Packard Bell's quality 678 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:05,240 Speaker 1: began to slip. Packard Bell leaned hard on the Intel 679 00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 1: inside sticker that was placed on every computer because the 680 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:12,359 Speaker 1: Intel name gave a lot of cashe to Packard Bell, 681 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:15,799 Speaker 1: and the general thought was that a cheap computer with 682 00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:19,880 Speaker 1: an Intel processor is still better than an expensive computer 683 00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:22,680 Speaker 1: with some other company's processor in it, like an a 684 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:26,400 Speaker 1: m D processor. But that wasn't necessarily true. It's just 685 00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:30,279 Speaker 1: that was the perception. On top of that, Packard Bell 686 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:33,279 Speaker 1: was using a lot of components that were, you know, 687 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:38,120 Speaker 1: a little odd. Some of them were produced by other 688 00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:42,080 Speaker 1: companies that the owners of Packard Bell also just happened 689 00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:45,759 Speaker 1: to own. Funny thing that this meant that when one 690 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:49,840 Speaker 1: of those parts failed, as they frequently did, you couldn't 691 00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:53,240 Speaker 1: just go and grab a replacement version off the shelf. 692 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:57,000 Speaker 1: You couldn't go and get some generic power source, for example. 693 00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:00,719 Speaker 1: You had to order special parts because as those were 694 00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:04,200 Speaker 1: the ones that would only work with those Packard Bell computers, 695 00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:08,319 Speaker 1: and they were also typically fairly expensive, they also were 696 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:12,200 Speaker 1: not necessarily more reliable than the part you replaced, so 697 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,680 Speaker 1: you might have to keep replacing the same part with 698 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:19,080 Speaker 1: the same machine if you stuck with it. That meant 699 00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:21,880 Speaker 1: that Packard Bell didn't get a whole lot of repeat 700 00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:24,319 Speaker 1: business people would get burned by it, and then they'd say, 701 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:25,680 Speaker 1: you know, what I'm going to spend a little more 702 00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:29,440 Speaker 1: money and go with one of the competitors. Magazines gave 703 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,480 Speaker 1: the computers bad reviews. Like I mentioned earlier, there was 704 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:36,600 Speaker 1: a glut of models Packard Bell models on the market, 705 00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:39,960 Speaker 1: and some of them were indistinguishable from each other. You 706 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:44,800 Speaker 1: could buy essentially the same Packard Bell computer from Sears 707 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:48,960 Speaker 1: or Walmart or Circuit City, but each of those computers 708 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:52,480 Speaker 1: would have a different model number that indicated that it 709 00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:56,319 Speaker 1: was a computer sold through this specific chain. Otherwise they 710 00:44:56,320 --> 00:45:01,040 Speaker 1: were all identical, but it got confusing. In nineteen a 711 00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:04,800 Speaker 1: French company called Group Bull made a deal with Packard 712 00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:09,080 Speaker 1: Bell that gave Group Well nearly ownership of the company, 713 00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:12,759 Speaker 1: and another company, and Japanese electronics company called inn e 714 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:16,480 Speaker 1: C took pretty much the rest of the ownership of 715 00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:21,839 Speaker 1: Packard Bell and integrated Packard Bell within EC computers. This 716 00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:25,360 Speaker 1: would turn out to be what we call a bad decision. 717 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:28,960 Speaker 1: See Packard Bell was on the downward slope. The company's 718 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:34,400 Speaker 1: reputation was shot. Everyone associated their computers as being cheap 719 00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:39,359 Speaker 1: and unreliable technology. The bad reviews were killing sales and 720 00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:43,399 Speaker 1: competitors were catching up. In addition, combat one of the 721 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,000 Speaker 1: big competitors to Packard Bell had been accusing Packard Bell 722 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:51,719 Speaker 1: of building computers with recycled parts but still selling the 723 00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:55,560 Speaker 1: computers as if they were brand new, and comback actually 724 00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:58,000 Speaker 1: filed a lawsuit and stated that this was a case 725 00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:02,520 Speaker 1: of unfair competition. An EC would later settle this lawsuit 726 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:04,719 Speaker 1: out of court, but the damage was done in part 727 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:09,320 Speaker 1: because Packard Bell executives consistently argued that using recycled parts 728 00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:11,160 Speaker 1: really wasn't that big a deal and why are you 729 00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:14,879 Speaker 1: so upset man. On top of that lawsuit, there were 730 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:18,480 Speaker 1: these new budget like low cost PC companies that were 731 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 1: coming out, like E machines. Do you guys remember the 732 00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:28,239 Speaker 1: machines that also cut into Packard Bell's game by Alagam 733 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:30,880 Speaker 1: and n AC were no longer seeing eye too. I 734 00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:34,920 Speaker 1: remember NYC came in and essentially bought Packard Bell. So 735 00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:39,520 Speaker 1: Alagam either left or was forced to leave Packard Bell. 736 00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:42,080 Speaker 1: He would go on to become a real estate guy, 737 00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:44,400 Speaker 1: and he spent the last couple of decades trying to 738 00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:48,520 Speaker 1: build tall condos in Beverly Hills, California, not too very 739 00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:52,399 Speaker 1: much success. An EC kept pouring money into Packard Bell, 740 00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:55,880 Speaker 1: but was on the losing side, dropping a couple of 741 00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:59,560 Speaker 1: billion into the venture overall, before they finally made the 742 00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:04,400 Speaker 1: decision to shut down US operations entirely and thus only 743 00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:08,839 Speaker 1: sell Packard Bell branded machines in Europe. So in two 744 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,720 Speaker 1: thousand we saw Packard Bell go away. In the United States. 745 00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:16,600 Speaker 1: In two thousand six, NBC sold Packard Bell to the 746 00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:22,160 Speaker 1: person who used to own Drumroll Please E machines. Packard 747 00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:25,760 Speaker 1: Bell was folded under a holding company called PB Holdings, 748 00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:29,880 Speaker 1: and Lenovo actually entered into talks to acquire this holdings 749 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:32,920 Speaker 1: company and thus the Packard Bell brand the following year 750 00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:35,440 Speaker 1: in two thousand seven, but they were beaten to the 751 00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:39,880 Speaker 1: punch by another company. A Sir so Acer took on 752 00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:44,160 Speaker 1: seventy ownership of PB Holdings, the company that owns the 753 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:47,839 Speaker 1: brand Packard Bell. Acer was trying to prevent Lenovo from 754 00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:51,120 Speaker 1: getting a foothold in the European market. Now recently here 755 00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:53,520 Speaker 1: in the United States, a holding company called p b 756 00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:57,640 Speaker 1: X Holdings purchased the Packard Bell I p and you 757 00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:01,399 Speaker 1: can actually find very cheap computer with the Packard Bell 758 00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:05,440 Speaker 1: branding on them again in the United States, but these 759 00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:10,760 Speaker 1: have no connection to any of the previous Packard Bells, 760 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,240 Speaker 1: including the personal computers of the nineteen eighties and nine nineties, 761 00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:19,520 Speaker 1: apart from the name. Now, this again reminds me of Atari. 762 00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:22,840 Speaker 1: Atari was a company that got really big, collapsed in 763 00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:28,040 Speaker 1: on itself, then essentially had its parts sold off, including 764 00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:31,120 Speaker 1: the names, and after a while, the names were the 765 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:34,919 Speaker 1: only thing that really remained. There were no other components 766 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:38,680 Speaker 1: from the companies that actually remained with it. It was 767 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:41,160 Speaker 1: just the brand name. And you have to ask yourself, 768 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:45,359 Speaker 1: is that really the same thing? If all that's left 769 00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:47,879 Speaker 1: is the name is does it have any meaning to it? 770 00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:51,120 Speaker 1: And I guess you could argue that for marketing purposes 771 00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:55,400 Speaker 1: it still does. But that is the Packard Bell story, 772 00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:59,640 Speaker 1: a really confusing, weird one that is continuing kind of 773 00:48:59,719 --> 00:49:03,960 Speaker 1: but really it's like we keep seeing a different James Bond, 774 00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:08,040 Speaker 1: right exce that every single James Bond has absolutely no 775 00:49:08,080 --> 00:49:10,680 Speaker 1: connection with any other James Bond. That's kind of how 776 00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:13,960 Speaker 1: it works. I hope you guys learned something and enjoyed 777 00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:16,640 Speaker 1: this episode. Like I said at the beginning, if you 778 00:49:16,680 --> 00:49:19,600 Speaker 1: have suggestions for future topics, reach out to me. You 779 00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:22,759 Speaker 1: can let me know on Twitter or on Facebook. The 780 00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:25,960 Speaker 1: handle for both is text Stuff hs W. You can 781 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:30,239 Speaker 1: follow me at John Strickland, j O N S, t R, I, 782 00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:33,440 Speaker 1: C K, l A, and D on Twitter. I welcome 783 00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:36,279 Speaker 1: you and make lots of bad jokes and I'll talk 784 00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:44,360 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I 785 00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:47,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 786 00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:51,480 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 787 00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:53,080 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.