All language subtitles for remux-The.Eighties.S01E07.WEBRip.x264-ION10_track3_[eng]

Winston: Since we have
intelligent machines

creeping into our daily lives,

it's going to be
a new world out there.

Man: The popularity
of these video games

is nothing short
of a social phenomenon.

Jennings: Personal computers,
walk-around stereos,

automatic cameras,
mobile telephones.

Man: A major moment
in the history of flight.

Norville: The experts tell us
all of this is just the tip

of the iceberg of what's
to come.

Woman: There's literally
a hyper culture

that is developing.
It's almost a cult.

Man: We're no longer
on the verge

of the personal computer
revolution,

we're right in the midst
of it, thank you.

Jensen: The average
family home --

Corey practices her violin,

Christian plays with his cars,

and Mike and Carol
worry over the bills.

Maney:
We went into the 1980s

with pretty much
the same technology

that had been in place
for a couple of decades.

The typewriter,
calculators, TV, oven,

the car.

You listen to music
on a big old stereo system

with a turntable.

Maybe you had a digital watch,

and that was the only thing
that was gonna be digital

that you actually owned.

[ Telephone rings ]

Man: Hello. I'm not here now
but my faithful machine is.

Hanks: There was a handful
of technology at that time.

One was the telephone
answering machine.

[ Beep ]
Woman: Jimmy!

Hanks:
You'd be driving home,

and you'd say, "I can't wait
to check my messages."

You know, it had become part
of the day.

"Let me -- shh, qui-- honey,
I'm checking my messages."

[ Horns honking ]

Goldberg: From the noisy streets
of New York,

to the laid-back tranquility
of California,

Americans are tuning out
and tuning in.

Connelly: When I think
of technology in the 1980s,

I think of the Walkman.

The Walkman was huge.

Goldberg:
It's the latest fad --

tiny stereo cassette players
with featherweight headphones.

Man: It's like carrying
your stereo with you,

you know, on your head.

Pogue: The Walkman
took listening to music

from a fixed location
in your home, to mobile.

Man: You are witnessing
the ultimate miniaturization

of the cassette player.

Never has so much genius

been coached
into so little space.

In all of the great
bursts of innovation,

there is always some kind
of scientific breakthrough

that has to happen first.

And none of this stuff

could have happened
in the 1980s

without the transistor

being invented
in the late 1940s.

And Japan,
and Sony in particular,

really understood

that this technology could make
things smaller, more portable,

and more personal.

Sony was the brand name

that really mattered
in the 1980s in technology.

All: I'll take the Sony.

Hanks: The original
Sony Walkman was so solid,

it was a pleasure to hold.

It had density, it had heft.

The cassette --

pop it in, close it,
a very satisfying sound.

Not just a click, click,
it was a kachunk!

It was a gorgeous,
gorgeous machine.

It provided you
with a soundtrack to your life.

Transformers
and Cabbage Patch dolls

may be the two top
toy sellers this year,

but for adults,
there's only one hot item --

the VCR.

Greenfield: Christmas
shoppers have again made

the video cassette recorder

one of this year's
hottest gifts for grownups.

They're selling at a rate
of a million units a month.

But the VCR's a lot more
than a popular Christmas gift.

It's an invention
that some say is changing

the whole idea of television.

There are so many inventions

where you can
trace their success

back to the smashing
of a limitation.

And the VCR
smashed the limitation of time.

Most people use VCRs

for what they call
time shifting.

Let's say this Sunday

is your parents'
50th wedding anniversary,

but you can't miss the Steelers.

What you do is set the timer
on your recorder, pop in a tape,

and watch the Steelers
when you get home.

It just changed
the paradigm of television.

Graham:
The makers of TV programs

and movies
shown on television

claim their films
lose their rerun value

when they're recorded
on home video tape recorders

and then played later.

The movie studios said this
violated the copyright laws,

and they sued
the home recorder manufacturers

for allegedly
instigating widespread

in-the-home law-breaking.

You cannot have
high-class entertainment

if 50 million taping machines

are out there
in an unauthorized fashion,

with no compensation to owners,

taking from them
what rightfully belongs to them.

The Supreme Court today

answered a multi-billion-dollar
business question

affecting the wallets
of millions of Americans

and one of the nation's fastest-
growing forms of recreation,

home video taping.

The court ruled five to four
that use of a home machine

to tape programs is legal
and violates no copyright law.

Not only did the movie
industry lose that one,

but they were totally wrong.

The VCR turned us into a nation
of movie nuts!

Jensen: It may be
the fastest-growing business

in America -- the sale
of video cassette tapes

that people buy,
or more often rent,

to play at home on
their video cassette recorders.

Greenfield: More
than 24,000 retail outlets

across America now sell or rent
tapes of all kinds.

Now you go to a video store

and, like, pick something
out that you missed.

In the old days,
if you'd missed a movie,

you had missed the movie.

Kenyon: And the market's
not restricted

to blockbuster films.

Jane Fonda,
through her workout tapes,

has shown one can make money
with a product

geared specifically
to the home video market.

The success of camcorders
marks the second phase

of the video revolution --

not just taking movies home,
but making them at home --

and anywhere else
you happen to go.

Pogue: I was a kid
who had a camcorder.

It was the size of Kentucky,

and it had to be
because it played VHS cassettes.

Mayer: The setup can be used
by just about anybody.

Its advantage over film is about
to revolutionize the industry.

Pogue:
There's no developing.

You could rewind
and record over it

if you didn't like the take.

I mean,
that is an enormous shift.

Jamieson:
Americans buy billions

of dollars
of electronic equipment,

but just when you think
you've bought the latest

in audio and video, there's
a new generation of gear,

which has clearer pictures
and better sound.

This camera,
using a simple little tape

like that, is just possibly
the wave of the future.

Pauley: Like them or not,
video games are

the youth phenomenon of our day.

Quarter by quarter,
$6 billion got fed

into video game slots last year.

That's double what Americans
spent to go to the movies.

Ah! [ Laughs ]

Macrae:
People flocked to them,

because the arcade game

could afford expensive hardware
at the time.

And the hardware
had enough power

to do things
we'd never seen before.

Bushnell: There was
essentially an arcade

in every mall
or in every street corner.

The lunch money was not safe
if there was an arcade around.

Macrae:
Arcade games at the time

were the first machine

that we could really
interact with.

We could cause a world
to do something.

So, we'd grab a joystick
and move a character around,

or fire something
at a spaceship.

We'd never had an experience
like that before.

Bousquet: The popularity
of these video games

is nothing short
of a social phenomenon.

"Pac-Man"
is seemingly everywhere.

♪ Pac-Man fever ♪

Manillo: Retailers can't keep
the home version stocked.

One dealer describes the demand.

Phenomenal.

Telephones ringing
every five minutes --

it's Pac-Man mania.

[ Pac-Man death theme plays ]

Pogue: My big memory
of the '80s was my best friend

got this $300 console
that connected to your TV.

You just played this thing
forever.

And it was the first time
anyone had ever seen anything

but TV on a TV.

And I thought,
"Wow, this is technology!"

Vaughan: The imaginary
rockets are controlled

by the same chips the U.S.
Army used

in their defense programs.

But the significance of the chip
does not only lie in gadgets.

Her whole future will be changed
by the silicon chip business.

Maney: It was discovered
that you could actually

etch a whole lot of transistors
onto a piece of silicon,

which was basically
a cheap substance

that could be mass manufactured.

Safer: These chips
can control the flow

of electrical current that,
in effect,

enables them to store
and remember zillions of bits

of information on a surface

just a little bit thicker
than an eggshell,

and smaller than a fingernail.

Goldberg: This silicon chip
supplies the brain power

for a thousand and one
electronic gadgets

from wrist watches
to microwave ovens.

Man: The mushrooming industry
gives birth

to a new high-tech cult

and a place called
Silicon Valley.

Bushnell: The magic part
of Silicon Valley

is that there was this
boiling pot of people

who were involved in technology,
involved in science.

Silicon Valley
was HP, SRI, Xerox Park,

and Stanford University.

That was a hell
of a powerful combination.

So there were these two
cultures: engineers with PhD's,

and hobbyists.

It was a time when there was
a lot of social ferment

in and around the Bay Area.

There was a lot
of counterculture people.

So you had cheap
semi-conductors,

you had people
that would look at things

differently than what
the conventional person was,

and that's what
the technology needed then.

Kay: One of the things
that was really hard

about making a computer
was now on a chip.

And so, all of a sudden, people
who had a thirst for this stuff

would go out and buy
a Homebrew Computer.

You could make them yourself.

Wozniak: There's a lot of
this kind of revolutionary theme

with a lot
of the technical people

who were in at the changes
in technology

and how we were a part of it.

Even though at our companies,
we were generally

the fringe element,
we had the genes,

and we're not the managers
and the leaders.

But, boy --
and just a clever design

on its own had value.

Heilemann:
You have these guys

like Steve Jobs
and Steve Wozniak

and Bill Gates and Paul Allen,

who'd been messing around
on the edges

of what would become
the personal computer industry.

But no one in corporate America

and no one in most
of the homes of America

thought that
the personal computer

was anything
that would ever have --

would ever even happen,

let alone have
any relevance to them.

Catmull: For all of us,

the computer revolution
was really exciting.

It was like,
"Wow, this is wide open!"

It was a group of people

who wanted to make
a change in the world.

Maney: And, eventually,
the two forces

in Silicon Valley --
the hobbyists

and the button-down
business guys --

ended up coming together
when the chip makers

realized that these things

that the hobbyists were doing
could lead to this whole

new kind of product
called the personal computer.

Pogue: It was
at a Homebrew Computer Club

where Steve Wozniak
and Steve Jobs

first displayed the computer
they'd been working on,

and it caused a sensation.

Jobs:
We had absolutely no idea

what people were gonna do
with these things

when we started out.

Matter of fact, the two people

it was designed for
was Woz and myself,

because we couldn't afford
to buy a computer kit

on the market,
and we got it working.

We showed some of our friends.
And, of course,

immediately everybody
wanted one.

Pogue: Woz was
the technical genius,

and Jobs
was the marketing genius.

Maney: And you needed
both of those kinds of mind-sets

to actually make
this new technology work,

and create this company
out of thin air, called Apple.

Kashiwahara: Since
the Apple Computer Company

was founded five years ago,

its sales have skyrocketed
from about $100,000

to more than $100 million,
with the most popular

typewriter-sized computer
on the market today.

Stephen Jobs
is now 26 years old,

and he sees
his computer's future

as the future of mankind.

I mean, how many calculators
do you own?

Two, maybe.
Right.

And you use the automatic
bank-telling machines?

Sure.
So life is already

seducing you
into learning this stuff.

It's not gonna happen
at once,

and it's certainly not
a 1984ish vision at all.

It's just gonna be very gradual
and very human

and will seduce you
into learning how to use it.

Random access memory
is internal memory

that's built inside
of this computer.

Maney: These new computers
were rough, big, ugly, difficult

to use inventions
when they first came out.

Macrae: It would crash,

and you had
to figure out what to do.

It would not always
create the right results.

So it really did take a mind-set

of someone willing
to cut it some slack.

Man: Take little steps,
don't take big steps.

Okay.

Kay:
Everybody kind of agreed

that this could be
the next great thing

after the printing press,
if we do it right.

Cat.

It's not just
having a machine.

The world needed
to be made better.

Those are the things
that actually can lift a society

into a new way of thinking.

Industry experts say
we're no longer on the verge

of the personal computer
revolution,

we're right in the midst
of it, thank you.

And it's gathering steam
with more and more people

jumping aboard every day.

Catmull: In the early part
of the '80s,

the general image
of the computer

was always this giant machine
with little things all over it.

The mind-set was the computer
as the brain,

and it was
a threatening concept.

Heilemann:
The 1980s is a period

of time when the big,
impersonal, giant machine

that lives in a huge air-
conditioned room someplace

suddenly becomes something
that sits on your desk.

Man: Something is happening
out there.

Something that's expanding
your world.

Small computers are happening.

Winston: As soon we have
intelligent machines

creeping into
our daily lives,

into our factories,
into our hospitals,

into our businesses,

then it's going to be
a new world out there.

Dow: Computer stores
have become

the neighborhood soda shops
of the binary generation,

the disciples, young and old,
of smart machines.

Maney: Companies
that were starting

to build personal computers --

companies like Atari and Tandy,
Commodore or an Apple --

began to see them
as a home market,

and it was starting to seep
into the public consciousness.

Dow: Personal computers
have become the business

of at least 25 manufacturers,

with three companies --
RadioShack, Apple,

and Commodore -- grabbing
3/4 of the market.

This personal computer
costs about $1,400

and fits nicely
on a desk corner.

Duplicating its performance
just five years ago

would have cost $75,000

and involved a unit the size
of a large refrigerator.

Maney: When the average
American thought computer,

they thought IBM.

It made these mainframe
computers

that ran pretty much everything.

Heilemann: IBM was one of
the most powerful corporations

in America,

and in technology, it was
the most powerful company

that had ever existed
in technology.

Maney: Because of this activity
in personal computers,

it started to make IBM look

like it was somewhere
behind the eight ball.

Heilemann: They'd look
at the Apple II and say, "Huh.

We can make one of those.
We built the computers

that put America on the moon.

We'll get in that business,
squash these guys, no problem."

IBM, International
Business Machines,

has entered
the small-computer market

for the first time.

Peterson: The idea
of the small computer

has become so big

that the giant
of computers companies, IBM,

is busy marketing
its new small computer.

Varney:
It will, they say,

give credibility
to home computers.

They'll no longer
be just another new gadget.

Man:
IBM has set an objective

to build the office
of the future.

Maney: Before IBM came in,
companies

would not think
about buying personal computers.

But, suddenly,
when IBM's selling one,

now it becomes a safer decision.

Varney: IBM's personal computer
is designed for office, school,

or home use.

It's aimed at exactly the same
market as its competitors.

Maney: When IBM
started developing the IBM PC,

it needed an operating system.

And this young guy
named Bill Gates

had started this tiny
little company called Microsoft.

Brands: Bill Gates
was that unusual combination

of a tech guy who was as good
as the best tech guys.

But he also had
a business sense,

and he had a business vision.

Pogue:
At the time, everyone

was making it up
as they went along.

There was nothing
that came before it,

there was no personal
computer industry.

So when Gates said to IBM,

"How about this, we'll write you
an operating system for your PC,

and we'll get a cut
of every machine you sell."

Brand:
And in addition, he made sure

that it was not
an exclusive license,

that he was gonna be able
to sell the software to IBM,

but he was also gonna be able
to sell the same software

to the other people,
because Gates

intuited that
there were gonna be people

who would build
knock-offs of IBM,

you know, the PC clones.

Heilemann: It was a genius move
on the part of Bill Gates,

who was still in his,
like, early 20s

when he makes this decision.

And you've got these guys
at IBM in their blue suits

and dark ties who are looking
at this company, Microsoft,

and saying like, "Who cares?

Like, you know, software?

Who cares about software, man?
We build these big machines."

Maney:
IBM did not realize

that it was essentially
handing all this power

to this little nerd.

Pauley: If you had stayed
at Harvard a few more years,

would this computer revolution
have passed you by?

Perhaps.

Things move very quickly
in the industry,

and it was really
the urgency

to get out there
and be the first one

to put BASIC
on the microcomputer

that caused me
to drop out.

If you don't have one,
you will be amazed

what these little gadgets
can do.

The idea was that
ordinary people

might have a use for computers.

Now, it took a while
to figure out

what those uses might be.

Bushnell: The main thing
was spreadsheets

and word processing.

The computer was the best
typewriter you could ever have.

It gave you
a new way to write.

You could change things
around and check your spelling.

And it would always
look perfect!

Man:
Bottom line numbers.

Macrae: My dad had the large
ledger sheets,

done them all by hand.

And I remember taking a computer
to show him a spreadsheet.

And, suddenly,

he understood the value
of a personal computer.

There was
a drastic mind-set change

in the whole country
about what a computer was,

and it happened in
a very short period of time.

Gather around and we'll tell you

a little bit more
about the system.

Safer: Here at the
West Coast Computer Fair,

the speed of development
in this industry is so great

that each fair virtually
outdates the previous one.

Jennings: Well,
it is lower prices

that have helped
the tremendous boom

in home computer sales.

About one home in 10
will have a computer

by the end of this year.

By 1990, the number
could be two out of three.

Cooper: We knew
that the personal computer

was getting serious
when the competition started,

because when
you have competition,

innovation gets stimulated.

Man: Compaq.

Atari Home Computers.

KayPro gives you
a complete computer.

This is the one.

Higher resolution, more storage,

and greater expandability
than IBM's PC.

Connor: IBM's entry heated up
an already volatile market.

One industry innovator,
Osborne Computer,

was forced into bankruptcy court
last month,

and Apple, the industry's
number one in small computers,

had to concede
it was now number two,

behind IBM.

All of a sudden, you were
in an old-fashioned
competitive business

in which you really had
to be better than the other guy.

Man: There are 150 microcomputer
companies,

and all of them want
10% of the market.

And that just
isn't gonna happen.

Potter: This is the newest
kind of office in America,

and this is the telephone
which will ring in it.

Man:
Hi, buddy, is John around?

Hanks: The big thing
was the phone in the car,

which was like...

we are now officially
in the modern era.

-Hi, Judy.
-And the first thing

you always said was, "Hey,
I'm calling from the car!"

Maney: When these things
were first starting to pop up

in the mid-1980s,

the customers were people
that had a business reason

for having these things --

or some super-rich dude
who just, you know,

wanted to show off.

The big breakthrough
idea was this idea

of "cellular systems."

Mendelson: It's called cellular
because your car phone

is tied into
different radio transmitters,

each one called a cell.

And as you travel,
the signal from your phone

travels from cell to cell.

This was something
that had never been done before.

Mendelson: If you don't have one
now, you probably

will have one in a decade,
say the phone makers,

as the price comes down

into the range
of other high-tech toys.

There were people
that understood,

even in the early days,

that being trapped
in a car was not freedom.

People are fundamentally,
naturally mobile.

I like to say that technology
will go from a phone

in the car to a phone
in the briefcase,

to, finally,
a phone in your pocket.

Potter: And this is it.

This is a portable
cellular phone.

You'll be able to take this
to any American city

and call virtually any place
in the world.

And its maker, Motorola,

says a smaller version than this
will be on the market next year.

Pogue:
The first cellphones

looked like Soviet Army
field telephones.

They're just these huge lunch
boxes you hold up to your head.

Maney: This was just the birth
of this industry.

All inventions start out
in a very rough state.

Hello?

Maney: And whether it's
computers or cellphones,

it took a while to refine them

and make them into something
that all of us could use.

You look at the bottom
of this screen and it says,

"Please press 'Return'
or type 'Go menu.'"

Rather: To befriend
the computer has become

a national mania,

and we're told,
miss the electronic boat,

and you're sunk.

In the future,
everything's probably

gonna be computerized,

so you're gonna have to know
how to use computers.

Man: My son just took a computer
class in school,

and he's only 8 years old.

So I figure I'd just as
soon be as smart as he is.

For all you hear
about friendly,

they aren't really,
except for playing Pac-Man.

Safer: A small snag
in computer marketing

has been what is called
technophobia --

fear of these bloodless
little wizards.

The manufacturers
are trying to overcome it

by making them
what they call user friendly.

Oh, isn't that pretty?
Now what do I do?

Making computers
"easy enough to use

for a beginner,"
it wasn't always true.

People had never
encountered this stuff.

Woman: Hold down shift
and press...

You messed up.
[ Laughs ]

So there was a great disconnect
between the ambitions

of the Apples
and the Microsofts

and the realities of people
trying to use these things

for the first time.

Person: God! Dag!

Jobs: Right now,
if you buy a computer system

and you want to solve
one of your problems,

we immediately throw
a big problem

right in the middle
of you and your problem,

which is learning
how to use the computer --

a substantial problem
to overcome.

Once you overcome that,
it's a phenomenal tool.

Pogue:
Steve Jobs thought

that a computer should require
no technical skill.

He thought
that it should be capable

of generating artistic endeavors

and not just number-crunchy
business things.

Man: Is there anything
that you'd like to see it do?

Well, we'd love
to have it in a book right now,

you know, about this size,

but that's technically
impossible.

Heilemann: Steve's like, "I want
to make a friendly computer,

a computer that comes from
a different kind of place,"

that owes its inspiration
to people

who are thoughtful and creative
and human and humane.

Morning, Fred.

Man: This is an experimental
office system

at the Xerox Research Center
in Palo Alto, California.

Anything else?

Well, what flowers?

My anniversary.
I forgot.

Maney:
Xerox, in the 1980s,

was one of the most
exciting companies in America.

Xerox had this booming
copier business.

It wasn't a personal
computer company,

but they opened up this lab
called the Palo Alto

Research Center.

Xerox Park was Xerox's
think tank.

They were working
on all these crazy,

out-there ideas,
which included the mouse

and overlapping windows
and fonts

and graphics
on a computer screen,

just to see
if they could do it.

Maney: Steve Jobs
hears about some of the work

going on at this lab,
and he wants a look.

Xerox Park
was an invention place,

Apple was an innovation place.

Steve was very visual,
and he could see right away

the graphical user interface

was different and more
communicative than anything

that he had seen before.

He knew that it was effective,

because it was affecting him.

Maney: Jobs realizes
this is the future of computing.

This is a whole different kind
of computer to be built --

famously, a computer
for the rest of us.

Man: Today, we celebrate
the first glorious...

Connelly: 1984 --

the Ridley Scott commercial
for the Macintosh.

Man: We are one people.

It depicted a very
thinly-disguised representation

of IBM's scary 1984ish leader
on a big screen.

Man: One cause...

Pogue: Saying that this tiny
little company, Apple,

is going to destroy
the reigning power.

Man: We shall prevail.

Announcer: On January 24th,
Apple Computer

will introduce Macintosh.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Aug: The personal computer war
heated up today.

Apple Computer officially
unveiled its new Macintosh.

I'd like to let Macintosh
speak for itself.

Computer:
Hello, I'm Macintosh.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Heilemann: The introduction
of the Mac was an event.

Steve Jobs
really did think of the Mac

as a thing
that would change the world.

Lefevre: Apple is betting
$100 million and,

admittedly, it's future
to make inroads against IBM.

Connelly: Apple felt
like a rock band.

It had the same kind of spirit.

They seemed to be going up
against "the man" in IBM.

Man: It is aimed
at a largely untapped market

of managers, professionals,
and students.

While they make up about 75%
of the white-collar workforce,

less than 5% now use computers,

mostly because of
their complexity.

Macintosh is designed
for simplicity --

using a palm-sized unit
called a mouse.

Maney: It was the first time
that a machine was personal,

it was simple, it was friendly.

It took the computer
out of the exclusive domain

of geeks and nerds

and people who had memorized
those commands,

and put it on the desk
of everybody -- untrained,

non-technical people.

Petersen: Stores
around the country

put them on sale today,
and analysts say it's a good bet

that Macintosh could soon
be the biggest apple

of the industry's eye.

Hertzfeld: It's got
its best years far ahead of it.

Eventually I want to be able
to carry my Mac around with me.

You know, I could walk away
with it in my pocket.

-Pocket computer?
-Yeah.

You really do
like that Mac.

Would you trade it
for an IBM?

Oh, are you kidding?

Pogue: As material
sciences progressed,

more and more circuitry
keeps getting put

on smaller and smaller chips,
circuit boards.

And so the closer
together elements

on a chip are, the faster

the motion
of signals between them.

Brands: There was something
called Moore's Law,

named for Gordon Moore,

one of the engineers
who worked at Intel.

Basically, it was an observation
that the computer engineers

are getting to the point
where they can,

essentially, double
the computing power

of the computer chip
every 18 months or so.

Maney: And this was what really
made the power of computers

explode in the 1980s
because every 18 months,

these things were
getting twice as good.

Cheifet: If you could basically
get that whole computer

on a chip, it was less expensive
to manufacture.

So you had smaller,
which led to faster,

which led to cheaper.

Pogue: Under any other field
of consumer products,

things get more expensive
over time --

milk, gasoline, houses --
but not technology.

Brands: One
of the striking things

about the development
of especially hardware

during the 1980s, was the fact
that it was getting

so much more powerful
so rapidly,

that there developed
a strong tendency

on the part of people
who are about to buy a computer.

Should I buy the computer today?

No, in fact,
if I wait six months,

for the same money,
I can get twice the computer.

Gassee: The reason
why we are attracted to computes

is because it is a power tool

that gives me power
that I feel I should have had,

but nature left me without.

And I can now explore more
of my potential with a computer.

If all goes according
to plan, Columbia,

this nation's
first space shuttle,

will soar like a skylark
next March.

Dean: If the shuttle
program works the way

it's been designed to work,

it will be a technological feat
rivaling America's visit

to the moon --

a major moment
in the history of flight.

Covey: The space shuttle
had new systems, new technology.

The primary thing is
the fly-by-wire system,

which is you don't have
pulleys and cables.

It's all done by electronics.

All the commands
go through a computer.

Dean: It was built
as the world's first

reusable spaceship,
one that would commute to space,

carrying scientists
and satellites.

The most important thing
was the digital revolution

of faster,
more powerful computers

with complex software.

Downs: Computers
are absolutely necessary

to fly a spacecraft
like the shuttle.

It's the most sophisticated
and most complex system

that has been
put into space yet.

Covey:
First time I saw Columbia

and got close to it,
my whole thought was,

"Oh, my God, it's big."

And this was gonna go
17,500 miles per hour?

Miller: More
than half a million people

crowded the beaches
around Cape Kennedy this morning

to witness firsthand
the first space shuttle launch.

Man:
T-minus 10, nine, eight,

seven, six, five, four.

We've gone
for main engine start.

Buzzard: We added
a giant fuel tank

to it and two solid
rocket boosters

that are the largest
pop-bottle rockets

on the planet.

And when you light that puppy,
it's going somewhere.

Miller: The launch of America's
first space shuttle,

and the shuttle
has cleared the tower.

Columbia, Houston,
you're going 40.

Buzzard: I am in the mission
control center,

but it's only after the fact

that you get into orbit
that your mouth drops

and you calm down
and you go, "Wow!

That's amazing!"

Crippen: Man, this vehicle
is performing like a champ,

like all of us
that have worked so long

on her knew that she would.

I think we've got something
that's really gonna mean

something to the country
and the world.

Waters: The astronauts have
about 14 more hours in space

before they touch down tomorrow
in California's Mojave Desert.

Hanks:
We were in L.A.,

and we heard the sonic boom.

[ Crowd exclaiming ]

"That was it! That was it!
It's coming down."

Man: There it is.

You're right
on the glide slope, Columbia.

Covey: Putting that all together
in a technology to make it fly

and then landing
is remarkable --

nothing like it had ever
been done.

-Touch down.
-Yeah, they're down.

I said, "It worked.
The damn thing worked."

The day will come,
according to NASA,

that a launch will be so routine

that the press and television
won't even bother to cover it.

Lewman: 30 weeks later,

after Columbia had been returned
to the Kennedy Space Center,

astronauts Joe Engle
and Dick Truly few Columbia

into space again.

Buzzard: The space shuttle
was like a large truck

that could deploy satellites,
and it had robotic arm

so that you can repair
and upgrade spacecraft.

Man: And liftoff
of the orbiter Challenger

in the sixth flight
of the space shuttle.

Brinkley: This was
the birth of space travel,

not just space missions.

We're talking
about setting a laboratory,

almost like
a university in space.

And it started feeling like
anybody could be an astronaut.

The countdown
is under way tonight

at Cape Canaveral towards
Sunday's scheduled launch

of the shuttle,
Challenger, a liftoff

that will carry America's
first teacher into space.

McAuliffe:
It still doesn't seem real

that I'm gonna
be able to go --

go with these guys.

I'm excited.

Mintier:
The ice is cleared away,

and Challenger should be
going away very soon.

Let's go down
to the Kennedy Space Center

and take a look at Challenger
sitting on the pad

as they continue the countdown.

Hayward:
The Challenger flight

in January of '86 was the 25th
flight of the space shuttle.

But it was an especially
notable one

because hundred of thousands,

if not millions of school kids
around the country

were tuned into the launch.

It was the first mission

I wasn't in
the mission control center.

I was outside,
standing next to the families.

Man:
T-minus 10, nine, eight,

seven, six...

Crowd:
...six, five, four,

three, two, one.

Man: Liftoff of the 25th
space shuttle mission,

and it has cleared the tower.

[ Cheering ]

Roger roll, Challenger.

Man: Good roll, flight.

Covey: My responsibilities
for that flight

was I was a spacecraft
communicator, Capcom,

was the one actually
communicating with the crew.

Man: Engines throttling up,
three engines now at 104%.

Challenger,
go with throttle up.

Scobee: Roger that,
throttle up.

Covey: I was looking
at my screen, and...

I turned...and looked,

and I did not understand
or recognize what I saw.

It didn't make sense to me,

because it was this fiery mess.

Man: Flight, do you see
we've had negative contact.

Buzzard: There was
this angry red glow,

and this wail...

...from the hearts
of the family

'cause they knew what I knew,

that Challenger crew was gone.

Pres. Reagan: Today is a day
for mourning and remembering.

The future doesn't belong
to the faint-hearted,

it belongs to the brave.

The Challenger crew
was pulling us into the future,

and we'll continue
to follow them.

There will be more
shuttle flights

and more shuttle crews
and, yes, more volunteers,

more civilians,
more teachers in space.

Nothing ends here.

Our hopes and
our journeys continue.

To honor our fallen,
we have to find this and fix it

and fly it again.

Covey:
Within a matter of days,

we knew it was
a solid rocket booster joint

that had failed.

The O-ring was a flawed design

that had led to the loss
of the Challenger.

Hauck: During the 30 months
since the Challenger accident,

there have been hundreds
of hardware changes

to not only
the solid rocket booster,

but also to the orbiter,

and the large liquid
rocket fuel tank.

Numerous software changes
have been implemented.

All have been tested
exhaustively.

I wanted the opportunity

to fly on
that first return flight,

and I was fortunate being
assigned to that crew.

Man: Start --
three, two, one, zero.

We have liftoff!
Liftoff!

Americans return to space.

I tell you, I held my breath
for two minutes,

until the solid rocket
motors came out.

I just went [sighs]
"Thank God."

And we continued on into orbit.

Covey: Let us remember
the Challenger crew.

We can say at long last
to Dick, Mike, Judy,

to Ron and El,

and to Christa and Greg,
dear friends,

we have resumed the journey

that we promised
to continue for you.

[ Electronic vocalizing ]

Lee: This is Topo,
created by Androbot in San Jose.

Manufacturers predict
that within a few years,

robots like these
will liberate us from mundane

and time-consuming
household chores.

Bushnell:
They'll guard your house.

He will be your companion.

He'll bring you a soft drink
out of the refrigerator.

You, under
no circumstances,

mean to tell us
that this is a necessary piece

of equipment --
this is just a fun item?

Well, things
always start out, you know,

whether you're talking
about telephones

or whatever, they always
start out as a luxury,

and then they turn
into a necessity.

I did a robotics company
that failed.

Damn it.

And I believed

if you can envision it
in science fiction,

and if you can do it, of course

we're gonna have robots
running around the house.

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

Cheifet: Why is somebody
gonna buy this thing?

It's one of the problems
with the engineering mentality.

"We're gonna build it
because we can."

Michael: Watch out --
some items have more functions

than you might dream --

like the Samsung microwave
oven color TV security system.

Originally
they invented microwaves

to get you out of the kitchen --
now you never have to leave.

This is the first
in-dash portable car

video system.

-For the car?
-For the car, right.

Pogue: In the big picture,

it's really frustrating
and exhilarating

to watch
the way technologies evolved.

Tessler: The home minder
has a memo pad,

and it would beep
to tell us what's going on.

We're just gonna spend
the rest of our lives

hanging around
a television set.

Right.

[ Laughter ]

Pogue: Almost nobody can say
we're gonna take technology

to this point.

It's much more chaotic.

Things rise and bubble,

and fall back,
and great ideas pop out,

but nobody can find
a use for it, so it goes away.

It's a confluence
of developments

that are all happening
at the right time.

Rogers:
Small and portable are

the watch words for the '90s,
according to manufacturers

showing their wares
in Chicago this week.

Sony has a new camcorder
that fits into your hand

and a combination TV/VCR
that goes into your purse

or briefcase.

If you have one of these,

and you have one of these,

but you don't have one of these,

you're missing half the fun
of owning a computer.

This is a modem,

and with it you can turn
your computer

into a window on the world.

I remember the first time
I went online on CompuServe

with my TRS 80 --
slow as it was,

'cause there was no Internet.

But it was like the first time
I had SCUBA dived.

It was, "Oh, my God, there's
this whole world out there."

You can see
there's 23 people

now with us in the lobby.

We can type a message
like, "Hi."

It comes down at the bottom
and simply press Return,

and it'll be broadcast
to everybody in that room.

Does anybody ever say
anything meaningful

or useful in these things?

There is a lot
of just very social banter.

It really is an area
for people to just meet friends

and talk about
whatever their interests are.

Some of which are --
-Well, we've heard

about people falling in love
and getting married online.

Absolutely.

I remember my
very first time...

[ Imitates modem screeching ]

You know, the modem dialing.

And then here was a chat room
with 12 other people

typing in real time from
wherever they happened to be --

blew me away.

Lewis:
There's tremendous demand.

If you look at
all the online services,

the bulletin boards,

the user groups,
the various things,

there's literally a hyper
culture that is developing.

It's almost a cult.

Pogue: Those early
information services

greatly multiplied the power
of what a personal computer was.

Norville: Since
they joined Prodigy,

a computer service
accessed by telephone,

the Iermans do everything
from checking the weather map

to shopping online
for Christmas gifts.

They even buy and sell stocks.

The experts tell us
all of this is just the tip

of the iceberg
of what's to come.

Bushnell: There were all kinds
of crazy ideas

that really foreshadowed
the next explosion

of technology.

Greenfield: A human being
drives through Aspen

by touching the TV screen.

Is it reasonable

to assume that our children
will have such devices?

Well, I think
it's reasonable to assume

that you'll have
all these things in your home

within a short amount
of time.

Heilemann:
The thing about decades

is that they don't often
actually arrive on time,

but when it comes to the world
of technology, it really did.

The world fundamentally
changed in the 1980s,

and the world we now live
in was really born,

in some ways.

This was the decade
in which technology in general

made our personal lives just
that much richer and easier

than they had been before.

At least, those of us
who could figure out

which button to push.

Kay: We went from invention
to innovation.

Innovation is taking an idea
into a product.

These concepts
of digital random access,

mobile, portable,

and cheap had started
to catch on.

Cheifet: Different ways
to run a business,

different ways to communicate
with your friends,

different ways
to experience virtual worlds.

I don't think we've ever seen
a decade like that, frankly.

There was realization
that this kind of technology

was going to be
part of our lives.

It's where our work
and entertainment

and all that is going to reside.

Toffler: I believe
that what is happening today

is truly a revolution in the
deepest sense of the word --

that 30 or 40 years from now,

it's going to be hard
to recognize the way we live.

Bushnell: Technology
can make our life better.

And technology means that
anything's possible.

It is a fascinating future,

but one which
computer scientists

themselves are beginning
to question.

For example, with a free flow
of information,

can someone tap
into my home computer

and invade my privacy?

Will electronic mail eventually
lead to electronic junk mail?

Will the stores,
as we know them today,

eventually disappear,

and don't many shoppers really
like squeezing the tomatoes?

Will we wind up with a cashless,
paperless society?

And do we really want one?

These are the kinds
of social questions

which the scientists say
society should answer.