David Caminer worked at the Lyons tea company in Britain in the early 50’s and developed the first commercial computer, the LEO, to manage the company’s 200 tea shops. He was an organizational genius who, according to many experts, could have beat IBM to the punch had his company capitalized on his efforts.

“In today’s terms it would be like hearing that Pizza Hut had developed a new generation of microprocessor, or McDonald’s had invented the Internet.” — The New Scientist 2001

The first LEO is interred at the Science Museum in London.

From Caminer’s New York Times obituary:

…Mr. Caminer drew up a flow chart to show how the different job requirements related. The charts became the basis of the computer code. Mr. Caminer has been called the first corporate electronic systems analyst…”

“The finished LEO, which had less than 100,000th the power of a current PC, could calculate an employee’s pay in 1.5 seconds, a job that took an experienced clerk eight minutes. Its success led Lyons to set up a computer subsidiary that later developed two more generations of LEO, the last with transistors, rather than the noisy vacuum tubes used in the first two models.

LEOs were sold to the Ford Motor Company, tobacco companies, a steel maker, South Africa, Australia, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, among other buyers. When the British government chose the last LEO to handle its telephone billing system, Tony Benn, postmaster general, praised Lyons for “standing up to and beating on its own merits” the competition from overseas.

But the Lyons computer operation merged into a succession of companies, which chose to use American technology, not least for its universality. Many have compared LEO’s experience with that of the de Havilland Comet, which was the first commercial passenger jet in production but which lost out to Boeing jets…”

When LEO was finally shut off in January 9, 1965, the Daily Mail ran an obituary for LEO. Prince Phillip was a fan of the sound the LEO made while running.

Technorati Tags: computers, IT, J. Lyons & Co

Share This

This just in from our MyHome2.0 Tech Guru, Brian Albert:

There are two things I want to do build: cool inventions in family’s homes — and ride roller coasters. There is a guy in Indiana, John Ivers, that built his own roller coaster and I have been dying to meet him, as my goals in life are to build a backyard amusement park with a working roller coaster!

I would love to interview him and talk to him about his invention. Go to his site to get his info and look at what this dude is currently doing — he’s building another one!

Technorati Tags: MyHome2.0, Roller Coaster

Share This

Jeremiah Rosen, our Director of Accounts and a Campfire partner, married his partner, Karen Gerdes, this weekend in Stone Ridge, NY. For those of us who attended it was an extraordinary event, beautiful setting, including a 250 year old house where it is reputed that George Washington slept with a ghost. Food was top notch, but for me, I most enjoyed the aura of Jeremiah and Karen over everything, including the speeches from their siblings.

Technorati Tags: Celebrity, Events, New Journalism, Weddings

Share This

The Tikis have arrived on the third floor of 62 White Street, and what is now affectionately known as “the crappy conference room” will soon be transformed into the fabulous Bora Bora Room.

More as the situation progresses…

Share This

Check out Twittering Teddy on MyHome2.0 - Brought to you by Verizon’s FiOS

How’s it done? Teddy uses Twitter and a Ustream feed to provide live video of Teddy speaking your tweets. Created by our own Tech Gurus, Lloyd Emelle and Alison Lewis. Build your own in a few quick steps, see the DIY

Technorati Tags: Campfire, FiOS, marketing, MyHome2.0, Social Media, Twitter, Verizon, Viral Marketing

Share This

Campfire was featured in London’s Creative Review Magazine in an article called “The Rise and Rise of the New Mad Men”. The piece, written by Eliza
Williams, speaks about the resurgence of the New York advertising scene, which thanks to a handful of independent shops with a greater focus on marketing beyond the traditional, has “brought New York back”. The piece explores the new advertising environment and how shops like Campfire are helping brands to explore alternative and effective ways to reach the new consumer audience.

the rise and rise of new mad men
“New York is really the centre in terms of new marketing.” agrees Steve Wax of brand entertainment agency Campfire, which aims to create ‘interactive stories’ for its clients, rather than traditional campaigns. “A lot of young people who came out of art schools, did independent films and then needed to earn a living are now in marketing here. And a lot of young people at agencies left and started their own agencies. It was so quiet here, and suddenly it exploded in frustration.”

Here’s a link to the whole piece

(more…)

Share This

Our Verizon Fios Gurus transformed an animatronic bear into a social networking, live streaming phenomenon.

BoingBoing

Gizmodo

CNET

AdRants

Share This

The New York Times reported in its “Most Wanted” section today that American Airlines’ website led all other travel sites in sticky time, an astounding 57.06 minutes! I looked at the site and no, AA is not running episodes of The Wire. Something else is going on. As the Times says, “The time users spend on a site probably has less to do with popularity than with its efficiency.” Could people be spending this much time looking for an aisle seat?

Technorati Tags: American Airliines, New York Times

Share This