WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: The AT&T Story - Part Three 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.240 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:16.919 John in Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.079 and a love of all things tech, and it is 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:23.599 time to conclude our classic episode Trifecta about A T 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.400 and T. Yes, we're about to listen to the A 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.480 T and T Story, Part three, which originally published back 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.760 on November eleventh, two thousand thirteen. If you have not 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.680 listened to parts one and two, those published the previous 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.600 two fridays, so you can check those out, and let's 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.680 check back in with two thousand thirteen tech Stuff. The 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:45.680 deal was that A T. T Was getting out the 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:51.160 local telephone business and concentrating solely on on providing service 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:53.159 for a long distance as well as getting into the 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.720 burgeoning computer industry, right, which would be very important or 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.280 will be very important for this current episode that we 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.360 are about to embark ponds. This is uh. I titled 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.399 this in my notes as part three, getting to the 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.560 bit that we're in now because I'm great at titles. 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.839 So that brings us up to three. When A T. 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.800 T opens the first commercial cellular telephone system in the 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.840 telephone system. That was an interesting embossis on that salable 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.920 in the United States in Chicago under Ameritech, which was 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.760 soon to be divested from A T and T according 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:26.880 to those rules that we talked about laid down in 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.000 the nine settlement of the antitrust lawsuit. But at that 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.080 time in Merritech was still under A T and T 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:36.760 because again, it takes time to actually act upon these 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.679 these judgments. So here we have the first cellular telephone 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:44.480 system for commercial use, and uh yeah, the cellular approach 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:49.520 was uh something that really made mobile telephones possible because 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.840 if you remember from our last episode, A T and 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.080 T had created mobile phones, but they would connect to 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:57.560 a specific radio antenna and you had to be within 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.240 range to use it, and if you moved out of change, 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.200 that was it. Your call would just end. Um. Cellular 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.160 telephones had a bunch of towers that will allow you 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.639 to move within an out of range of various towers. 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.240 There's kind of a handshake and electrying to handshake involved 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.000 where you would continue to get service even as you 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.919 moved out of one tower's operating area into another. And 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:19.240 all of this technology was thanks to advancements that came 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.480 out of a T and T Labs. Basically the it's 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.400 it's that that handshake that Jonathan is is talking about. 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.920 You know, let's let's the cells automatically transfer call from 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:30.919 one tower to the next as as a caller moves 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.560 through them. And Yep, that came out of what was 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.320 formerly or I guess currently at that very moment, still 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.480 Bell Labs, but would very soon become a T and 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.480 T Labs. Yeah. So it's um one of those one 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.360 of those crazy developments that gives us the ability to 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:47.840 use technology the way we do today. Just imagine if 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:49.480 we had not come up with that, if a T 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.000 and T and not come up with it, let's say that, 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.280 you know, it had been delayed several years, we'd be 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:56.200 in a very different world right now. So it was 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.920 pretty amazing stuff that that same year, a researcher at 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.440 A T and T named Beyond strew Strip, which I'm 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:05.960 sure I mispronounced his name term. I did not look 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:07.239 it up. I didn't even write his name in my 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:09.440 notes because I was unwilling to try to pronounce it. 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:13.200 He debuted C plus plus. Yeah, yeah it was. It 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.000 was so much better than C. It got two pluses. 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.160 But yeah, C plus plus is an object oriented programming 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.200 language that came out of the Bell Labs development laboratory. 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.600 So that's a little more redundant. In January one four, 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.320 it's early, y'all. So in January one, that's when Bell 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:34.040 system ceases to be Yes, this is the official end 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.840 of everything that that needed to end according to those 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:40.800 agreements from right. So now we've gotten the boy where 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.680 A T and T is divested of those other companies 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.240 and is its own entity. Uh. It retains long distance 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:49.960 operations as well as the R and D labs and manufacturing, 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.520 so all of that belongs under the umbrella of A 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:54.680 T and T. And then all that local services handled 0:03:54.680 --> 0:04:00.600 by those seven divested regional and that year will access 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.960 carrier selection begins, which is a ruling by the FCC 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.520 said that all telephone customers should be given a choice 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:09.760 as to which long distance company they would use when 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:14.080 dialing long distance numbers. So, uh that you know, now, 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.359 the regional operating companies, even though they used to be 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.080 part of A T and T, could not give a 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.040 T and T preferential treatment. They could not say, this 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:24.600 is the company that you have to use if you're 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:26.120 going to make long distance they had to give you 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.240 open access to all competitors. So A T and T 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.560 at that time also begins to lower long distance rates. 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.719 Um and they said that. They said that it was 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.400 improvements in their infrastructure that lowered costs and that allowed 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.359 them to lower the rates. Really, what I think was 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:44.960 happening was that because they had I mean, A T. 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.440 T went from having nearly fifty billion in assets before 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:53.039 the breakup to thirty four billion after after this mob 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:54.960 Bel to Baby Bell breakup, which is a seventy s 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.600 drop an asset value, which is pretty alarming when you're 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.719 a giant company. Um and so, so competitors at the time, 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.200 like Sprint and m c I were pricing to undersell 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.800 A T and T pretty seriously. You guys might remember 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.480 some of the commercials that were coming out around that 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:15.640 time of just the crazy backbiting price war stuff that 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.000 was going on. And remember, you know, m c I 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.080 was the company that had led the charge against A 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.680 T and T back in the seventies that eventually evolved 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.480 into that antitrust lawsuit. So this is you know, A T. 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.839 T said that it's because of improvements and service, but 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.200 in reality, I think we can say that This was 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.039 so that they could remain competitive now that it was 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.279 more of a level playing ground in the long distance space, 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.120 and if they didn't lower their prices then they had 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.760 a real risk of losing their customers. The you know, 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.520 these these two competitors and and others as well, would 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.600 would take huge gnawing bites out of A T and 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.200 T over the next several years. But um but a 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.760 T nonetheless would see a six increase in long distance 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:02.920 calling between now and now being over the next fifteen years. 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.919 So you know, long distance was still a very major 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:10.680 thing because wireless didn't exist. We then really moved on 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.640 to a post long distance world. I can't remember the 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.680 last time I was charged for a long distance call 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:20.080 that wasn't, say, an international call. It was about two 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:24.320 thousand one for me. Wow, So did everyone just move 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.520 near you? Or was that when things changed? That's when 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:28.400 I got a cell phone? Oh? Got you? All right? Yeah, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:30.440 that's about when I did too, I'm sure, I think 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:32.560 maybe a little earlier. It's hard for me to remember 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.880 years ago by so quickly. Alright, So between four and 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.840 nothing happened. Actually, I just didn't find anything that I 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.840 thought was stuff happened. I just didn't find anything I 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.440 found particularly noteworthy to add in my notes. Me neither, 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.520 So let's go to excellent. That's when A T and 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.920 T lays down the tapped eight, the T A T eight, 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.800 which was another transatlantic telephone cable. This one made a 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.719 fiber optics Yeah, so across the Atlantic obviously, and could 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.320 carry ten times the number of calls the earlier copper 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:08.200 cable could handle. Now remember the originally we were talking about, 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.320 you know, copper cable able to handle thirty or forty 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.600 calls at most. The earliest one is only able to 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:18.720 handle one time. By this time, so you think, oh, 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:20.840 ten times the number, why is it like so it's 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:22.960 a hundred calls. No, by this time they had improved 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:27.000 the technology significantly. We're talking forty thousand simultaneous calls. So 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.280 when all of your buddies want to call all of uh, 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.520 you know, each other across the pond. This is what 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.440 makes it possible without getting a signal saying sorry, all 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.960 lines are busy. Uh in T Labs began working on 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.600 h D t v UM, specifically on the kind of 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.480 high speed signal processing problems that arise when a computer 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.200 needs to you know, receive de code and display a 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:53.360 large amount of data in real time. But this is 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:57.720 pretty impressive for those of you who are HDTV enthusiasts. 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.239 Here in the United States, HDTV had a fairly late start. 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.960 It got earlier start in Japan, uh and it took 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.200 a while for there to be an agreed upon set 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:12.120 of standards guiding HDTV because obviously you need to be 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:16.120 able to have all the different players involved working on 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.360 those same set standards. The delivery of the quality of 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.280 the signal needs to be correct. The manufacturers need to 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.640 be working on a similar approach. So this was very 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:27.800 early on. Then A T and T was looking at 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:29.480 this is saying, this is going to be a thing. 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:31.120 It's not a thing now, It's probably not gonna be 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:32.959 a thing for maybe ten years, but we need to 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.240 work on it now. It would also turn out to 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.280 be pretty forward thinking for them, because they would wind 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.560 up getting pretty seriously into the cable industry in just 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.880 another few years. Right forward thinking man. For some reason, 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.240 I love that phrase. Bell Labs also was working at 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.640 that time on a speech actuated manipulator also known as 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.040 SAM oh. Right, yeah, and that that would that would 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.760 become kind of important another couple of years as well. Yeah, 0:08:57.760 --> 0:08:59.880 it's kind of neat. This was like an early pre 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.800 to trying to create a robot that could respond to 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:08.400 natural language commands, so things like turn left or lower 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:10.920 your arm, that kind of thing. Uh, And it was 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.160 just really the early days sort of a proof of 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:17.400 concept to create robots that could do. This also meant 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.800 that they were working very hard on improving just natural 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:25.160 language recognition, which is that's incredibly difficult. It's hard to 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.000 teach a computer that, you know, we can say the 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.440 same command a hundred different ways. For the computer to 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.079 be able to interpret all one hundred of those variations 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.800 as a single command and differentiate it from every other 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.640 command is phenomenal. Yeah, especially in English, which is pretty 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:44.000 messy in really wonderful ways. When we start adding an 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:47.640 idiom that's really like wave it around like you just 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.040 don't care that robot is going to have some trouble. 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.520 First of all, it doesn't care. Robots don't care. They 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:56.920 don't that robot to pretend to care. Yeah, that's about 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:58.320 as good as we can get. I mean it's yeah, 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:00.400 I've known some people that way too, So I'm not 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.920 going to speak down to romost too much. Um. Now 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.160 moving on to nine one, that's when A T and 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:12.240 T acquired in CR Corporation, which is a computer manufacturing company. 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:14.880 I think with this they were really hoping to start 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.160 hopping that that software hardware divide or or I guess 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.200 it's the networking hardware divide more so they again we're 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.560 looking forward to too yeah, to really get in that 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:27.079 because I mean that that was one of the things 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.520 that they were allowed to do now after that nineteen 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.840 two judgment. Uh, and this was kind of a real 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:38.360 serious move into that space. UM. In two, they unveiled 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:43.160 the Voice English Spanish Translator or VEST, which was first 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.199 developed back in nine but it was first unveiled in 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:48.960 ninety two, so they're still working on those improvements to 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.960 voice technology. He could recognize about four hundred fifty words 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.920 and around a billion different combinations. And the way it 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:59.199 would work is that you would speak into the microphone 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.120 the saw off where would first attempt to identify what 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.000 language you are speaking, either English or Spanish. At that point, 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.240 when it had identified the language, it would then translate 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.240 what you were saying into the other language, so English 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.280 Spanish or Spanish to English via text. What it would 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.320 do is break down your sentences into little basic component 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.679 parts and then translate those component parts, which anyone who 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.559 has done any translation knows is not a you know, 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.720 full proof way of translating, because sometimes if you break, 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.360 can involve multiple parts of a sentence. Again, especially in 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.840 English where your ward order is not perhaps as structured 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:36.480 as it might be in other languages. I mean, I 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.000 would love to see this in action, just because it 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:43.880 again is tackling one of those fundamentally difficult problems for 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:49.520 human computer interaction. A T and T merged with maccaw 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:53.560 Cellular Communications Incorporated, which at that time was the largest 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:57.800 provider of cellular service in the United States. So that 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:02.439 acquisition eventually means the the entity that was McCaw Cellular 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:07.080 Communications becomes A T T Wireless along with another company 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.320 will mention in a bit. But that same year A 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.880 ten T also introduced the Model seventy video phone. Yeah, 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:17.240 that was kind of a video teleconferencing hardware. And you 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.200 know that they had had such rousing lack of success 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.360 with their picture phone that that but but but they 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.240 realized that people were more willing to do this a 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:27.760 and an work environment and be on a computer than 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.880 they were on a phone. Yeah, so this was allowing 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:37.000 simultaneous video transmission, so that it kind of predecessor to 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.679 the video software we used today for things like Skype 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:43.440 or other Google hangouts, those kind of video hangout things. 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:47.000 It also would allow some limited use of letting, like 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.800 the person who's calling you manipulate files so you can 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.120 open the files within it and have so it's kind 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.520 of like a video conferencing system very early on. So 0:12:55.760 --> 0:13:00.319 pretty impressive considering. Yeah, I mean, you know, that's we're 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.600 still talking like this is still the very early days 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:04.600 of the World Wide Web. Keep in mind out that 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:06.960 that really hadn't even launched till nine two. So seeing 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.240 some video communication stuff in ninety three was exciting. You know, 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:12.640 I can remember the first time I ever saw any 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:16.080 kind of video communication. I remember exactly what I was doing. 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.880 What what were you doing? I was at the Experimental 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:23.000 Prototype Community of Tomorrow or EPCUT as it is called now, 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.319 it's no longer known as its full name. So they 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:30.920 used to have these consoles mounted on columns where you 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.480 could walk up to the consoles. Yeah, hellttle touchscreen interface. 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:36.360 You press a button and then you would get greeted 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.320 by a cast member who would ask what what you needed, 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:41.160 and you could ask them anything that had to do 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.440 with the parks. Eventually you could do things like even 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.360 make uh dining reservations. That way, you could say I 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.120 would like to eat at Mexico at noon, and they 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:53.200 would they would make that Mexico being the pavilion in 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.920 the World Showcase. It wouldn't actually to me now we 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.439 still don't have that technology. I'm waiting on it. I wouldn't. 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:02.680 I wouldn't put it past Disney to just have that 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.800 in the back pocket. But yeah, but it must have 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.080 been right around this same time, all right, right in 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:11.240 the early nineties, right, speaking of names no longer meaning 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:13.640 that long drawn out thing that they used to mean 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.640 in that's when A T. T legally changed their name 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.680 from the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation to just a T. 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.239 T corp Or corporation. I mean the corporation stays the same, yeah, 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.080 but it was just a T and T. So now 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.120 it's as telegraphs were no longer a thing, kind of 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.160 like when you look at certain names that used to 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.280 mean one thing, now it's just the initials. So you 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.600 might ask, like, what does AMC mean? And it used 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.240 to me in American movie classics. Now it's just a 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.800 m C. That's just the name, so same sort of thing. 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.600 So moving up to that's when A T and T 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.960 restructures into three separate companies. So one of them is 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.400 a T and T. That's the services company. It's the 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.240 one that we all know and are familiar with. The 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:59.080 second one becomes Lucent Technologies. Now that is a products 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:03.240 and systems company. Ah, it's really kind of a manufacturing 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.640 company for certain types of electronics. And the third is 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:10.000 a computer company that returns to the NCR name. You know, 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.600 they purchased NCR just a few years earlier and loosen NCR. 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.520 Eventually both spin off as their own companies. Uh the 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.600 following year. In fact, we got a little bit more 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.040 we want to say about the following year. But before 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.720 we do that, let's take a quick break to thank 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.080 our sponsor. You've probably tried Hulu dot com. Now with 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.280 Hulu Plus, you can watch your favorite shows anytime, anywhere. 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:32.920 Hulu Plus lets you watch thousands of hit TV shows 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.480 in the selection of acclaimed movies on your television or 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:37.760 on the go with your smartphone or tablet, and it 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.640 all streams an HD for the best viewing experience. With 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.120 Hulu Plus, you can watch your favorite current TV shows 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.800 like Saturday Night Live, South Park, Supernatural. You can also 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.680 check out exclusive content, including Hulu originals like The Awesome 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:54.000 starring snl Seth Myers and moon Boy starring Chris o'dwald 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.320 from Bride'smaids. Whlu Plus also offers a great selection of 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.640 acclaimed films for only seven dollars and nine since a month. 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.160 You can stream as many TV shows and movies as 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:05.960 you want wherever you want. Right now, you can try 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.400 Hulu Plus free for two weeks when you go to 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.760 Hulu Plus dot Com Forward slash Tech. That's a special 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.680 offer for our listeners. Make sure you use Hulu Plus 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.119 dot Com Forward slash Tech so you get the extended 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.280 free trial and they know that we sent you. Go 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.840 to Hulu Plus dot Com Forward slash Tech. Now. One 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.320 show that I recommend checking out at least the first 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:31.320 season anyway, is Heroes. It was one of those takes 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.920 on television of creating a superhero show if superheroes were 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.600 somehow grounded in our real world. And that first season 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.240 has a lot going for it that I really enjoyed, 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:44.800 and uh, that's something that I will watch, you know, 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.000 I'll just do a marathon session, sit down and just 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.760 watch episode after episode, and it really becomes a challenge 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:52.920 to figure out when I'm going to turn it off, 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.680 which is a great problem to have. Go check it out. Alright, 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.960 so it's back to nine six. That's when the Telecommunications 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.480 Act of nine becomes law. You know, I was going 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:04.400 to make a joke about how they wanted to call 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:08.639 the Telecommunications Act of nine the Telecommunications Act of but 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:10.480 it published in nineteen nine, and they thought I would 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.200 confuse everyone. But then I realized I made that joke 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.880 in the last episode. Well good, I'm glad that you're 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.919 growing as a host. Thanks. Yeah, it doesn't stop me 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.280 from making jokes. It just it just it just prompts 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.600 me to explain why I'm making the same joke twice. 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.080 I know, I'm I'm lame. It's okay, I've dealt with it. Okay. 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.720 So this so this Act was an FCC attempt to 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:36.680 to regulate the industry to promote greater competition. Right, yeah, 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.399 again it was Yeah, because again it was it was 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:43.800 a growing industry. This is another example of how technology 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.360 evolves faster than the legal system can necessarily handle. So 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:51.439 we get these big leaps in technology relatively speaking, and 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.920 then the legal system says, you know, this has outgrown 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.480 the parameters for what we had envisioned because the technology 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.280 can do more than what we what it used to 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:03.720 be able to. Right. Previously, you know, cable and telephones 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.640 and data had all been very separate, and this brought 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.120 them all under one umbrella. Right, So similar to how 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:14.240 we see cable companies that do both the transmission of 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.320 data and they provide some of that data as in 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.280 they create content that would also become you know, another 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:25.520 challenge that they were still struggling with today because you know, 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:29.199 it's it's getting very messy. If one person owns all 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.359 the roads but allows everybody to play on those roads, 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.679 net neutrality is maintained and everyone's happy. But if everyone 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.159 owns all the roads and also owns a lot of 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.320 the buses they go on those roads and then decides 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:42.720 to let those buses get the express lane and everyone 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:44.480 else gets the slow lane, that's when you start getting 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.639 the problems. So the Telecommunications Act was sort of a 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.720 predecessor to some of the Acts and some of the 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:56.520 proposed legislation that would follow to try and maintain net neutrality. Um. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:58.679 And of course that's, like I said, that's a battle 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:03.080 that's still ongoing to this day. Absolutely. That's when A 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.359 T and T signs a merger agreement with t c I, 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:07.600 which was a cable company. Yeah. They were also working 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.040 at the time on converting their entire network from analog 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.720 to digital data delivery. So yeah, in nine if you 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.159 remember from our last podcast, this is actually when that 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.800 final electro mechanical switch was switched over to computer I switch. 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.600 I bet there was a big ceremony. I hope that 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:27.320 electro mechanical switches enjoying retirement. But A T. T also 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.520 went back to the consumer local telephone business because it 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.880 introduced a residential service in New York. So first time 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:36.520 A T and T gets into the local telephone service 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:40.240 since it had divested itself of those regional bell companies 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.160 back in two write Um. They also completed that merger 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.679 with t c I and started looking to acquire a 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:49.719 second cable company called Media one. Yeah, they're really serious 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.480 about now. And they also rolled out the largest DSL 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:56.160 initiative in the industry for broadband customers. I was never 0:19:56.200 --> 0:20:00.000 a DSL customer. I was always a cable modem customer, 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:02.480 but I've got a lot of friends who used DSL 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.280 for both voice and data, and yeah, that was that 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:08.879 was a big deal back then. Oh sure. Well, at 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:11.200 the time, long distance revenue was decreasing for a T 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:14.320 and T at a rate about twenty each year due 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:16.760 to these these changes in the way that the world 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.400 was working, in the way that people were accessing information 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:23.200 and telecommunications, and uh so, you know, they were although 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.119 they were working and they had spent some hundred billion 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.240 dollars on acquiring these cable TV companies, they were still 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.239 pretty dependent on long distance as as a profit, and 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.920 so they were kind of they were kind of scared. Yeah, 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:37.600 they had to look at other means of generating revenue 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:41.679 because with the the threat to long distance looming and 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.600 getting getting worse each year, they knew that if they 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:47.800 were to have any viability as a as a any 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:51.280 type of company, let alone a major, enormous company, they 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.879 had to get into new types of business. And so, 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:56.679 as you know, terror is a great motivator, as it 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.240 turns out, and they they really doubled down on the 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.840 broadband approach and it ended up paying off big time. 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.960 Also in that year in T and D started research 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:11.800 into something one of my favorite subjects because it's so 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:16.680