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Intel The Almighty Buck The Media IT

Moore's Law Original Issue Found 248

Daemon writes "BBC News reports that a copy of the original issue of Electronics magazine in which Moore's Law was first published has been found under the floorboards of a Surrey engineer's home. David Clark had kept copies of the magazine for years, despite pleas from his wife to throw them away." Intel, it seems, has its bounty fulfilled.
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Moore's Law Original Issue Found

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  • Wow... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Loco3KGT ( 141999 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:36PM (#12314878)
    That's going to be one hell of a return on investment for him.
  • See.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by ShaniaTwain ( 197446 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:36PM (#12314881) Homepage
    THATS why I never throw anything away!

    One day its going to pay off big!
  • True geek! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by garcia ( 6573 ) *
    Until last Wednesday, when his RSS news reader popped up with headlines from various websites with the news of the reward.

    He uses an RSS feeder for his news yet he stores 30 year old magazines in garbage bags under his floor boards.

    Nice :)

    On a slightly related topic... He said he's using the $10k to pay for his daughters weddings. I want to know where they are getting married and how I can afford a wedding for 5k or less :)
    • Re:True geek! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by grommit ( 97148 )
      Well, there's two options:

      One, he's using the $10k to pay for *some* of the wedding expenses.

      Two, his daughters aren't having weddings that consist of needless expense.

      I like the latter option personally. Total cost for my wedding was under $1k.
      • I like the latter option personally. Total cost for my wedding was under $1k.

        Hello and welcome to city hall. Courts dates to the left, marriages to the right. Be sure to get a list of days events on the table.

    • by nacturation ( 646836 ) <nacturation&gmail,com> on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:44PM (#12314974) Journal
      On a slightly related topic... He said he's using the $10k to pay for his daughters weddings. I want to know where they are getting married and how I can afford a wedding for 5k or less :)

      one flight for two from UK to Las Vegas: $1600
      two disposable cameras with processing: $30
      two bottles of champagne: $200
      shotgun wedding from Elvis with the works: $350

      pocketing the leftover money to spend on geek toys: priceless
    • Re:True geek! (Score:5, Informative)

      by maotx ( 765127 ) <maotx@@@yahoo...com> on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:47PM (#12315023)
      how I can afford a wedding for 5k or less

      A marriage license cost is minimal. Cost to have someone wed you is minimal. Local church would more than likely be happy to have you wed there. All of this for under $5k. I've done it. However from experience I can say that the real expense is the bride and then their is not much one can do about that...
      • by kfg ( 145172 )
        Cost to have someone wed you is minimal.

        Approximating $0 if you have it done where you got the license.

        . . .the real expense is the bride and then their is not much one can do about that...

        Just say, "No."

        KFG
      • by Shky ( 703024 )
        Buy one domestically?
      • Cost to have someone wed you is minimal.

        Well, let's see. I first had to impress her with my good looks and fashion sense. That was a few hundred dollars. Then I had to get her gifts and flowers for no reason. Several hundred there. Then I had to take her out to dinners and entertainment. A few thousand dollars there. Then I surrendered all my freedom and dignity, God knows how much that is worth, probably priceless.

        All this to get someone to consider marrying me. So I'll say it's going to cost yo
      • by Dolda2000 ( 759023 ) <fredrik.dolda2000@com> on Friday April 22, 2005 @02:05PM (#12316083) Homepage
        A marriage license cost is minimal.
        Yeah, but that is for the GNU Free Wedding License (which you can, of course, also get completely free if you find the right place).

        95% of the industry today tends to use MicroSoft Wedding 2005, however, and last I checked, the Home version was around $5K. As recently seen on Slashdot, they recently pulled their Homo version, though -- I dunno which one you might be needing.

        While many argue that the GFWL is more flexible and robust than MS Wedding (such as compatibility with gdivorce and gabortion and the equivalent open standards), many girls actually tend to like the lock-in of MS Wedding. That is often the largest setback many men see, but they are often happy to get a license at all -- especially those on Slashdot.

        • by kabz ( 770151 )
          Sadly, the GNU Wedding license will only let you marry Richard Stallman.

          This is a showstopper of a drawback for most people.
    • Re:True geek! (Score:5, Informative)

      by karnal ( 22275 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:49PM (#12315045)
      My wedding (04/30/05):

      2000$ - Gazebo (sp?) and reception hall, including catering for 65 guests.
      250$ - Cake
      350$ - DJ
      850$ - Pictures
      500$ - Wedding Bands
      150$ - Ordained Minister
      650$ - Flowers

      We still have to get wine for the reception, as well as dole out money for the rehearsal dinner. But other than that, it's under 5k - and you can even cut things that we didn't, like use silk flowers for 250$ instead of $650... etc....

      There are other little expenses I didn't include. Like the invitations - we made them ourselves, probably to the tune of 100$ or so in paper/ink/stamps/envelopes etc...

      So yea, maybe I'll come in at 6k once it's all said and done. But you can do it for under 5. All you really need to do to get it under 5 is to have a smaller "party"....
      • ... except that we got the site for $250. The site we chose was the Borges Ranch [walnut-creek.ca.us], owned by the City of Walnut Creek. It's quiet, has lots of space, and is up in the hills. Nice & quiet.
        I was about to blow about $500 on the catered BBQ, though.. ;)

        Photos? A photographer cousin volunteered. We weren't going to do a DJ, just iTunes & an mp3 collection. Hey, we were kinda broke at the time.. ;)

        (sidenote: Girl & I didn't get married, but are now just good friends.)

        The *new* girlfriend might be a b
    • Re:True geek! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by RealAlaskan ( 576404 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:52PM (#12315080) Homepage Journal
      I want to know ... how I can afford a wedding for 5k or less :)

      Here's a serious answer to your semi-serious question: spend $50 on a justice of the peace.

      For us, the cost of the marriage license included having a judge perform the marriage (I think: it was 14 years ago, now, and some of those trivial details are starting to fade.). We went out to a nice restaurant with my parents and friends, afterwards. Total cost was under $200.

      If you do it right, this will be your first and last marriage, so you want to do it right. Just remember that spending money, having a big party, having fancy clothes, and all that expensive jazz, has nothing to do with ``doing it right.''

      Your wedding celebration may be the last wedding you'll ever have, but it's just the first of many celebrations you and your wife will have together.

      • Re:True geek! (Score:3, Informative)

        by garcia ( 6573 ) *
        Here's a serious answer to your semi-serious question: spend $50 on a justice of the peace.

        Just so you know... They are $250 now.
        • Just so you know... They are $250 now

          I may be confusing you with someone else, but I thought you lived in Minnesota. It can't possibly have gone up that much (or can it, he asks darkly): I was married by a judge a year ago in Dakota County, MN and it only cost $75.
    • Re:True geek! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by oyenstikker ( 536040 )
      I'm planning one now. Here's what I'm looking at:

      Church + pastor + organist: $200
      Food for 100: $1000
      Cake: made by my mother: free
      Shoes for myself and my groomsmen [sha-sha.com]: $400
      Material for dress (to be made by her): $100
      photography: $1400
      rehearsal dinner food (to be made by friends): $50
      paying a women's group at the church to help out: $100
      wine: none, church won't allow it.
      some hokey gifts for people: $200
      wedding bands: $200
      total: $3650
      that leaves $1349.99 for a band to stay under 5k.

      oh yeah: getting a '75 beetl
    • I'm sorry, but a true geek would have had each of his beloved Electronics magazines soaked in a deacidification solution, carefully and lovingly dried, and then hermetically sealed in Mylar bags (with acid-free cardboard inserts, which he would have changed out every 3-5 years) and then stored in a cool, dry, dark basement.

      A "true geek"? No, my friend, he certainly was not!
    • Well, if they marry each other then the whole thing could be done for 10k. :O

      ~D
  • hmm (Score:4, Funny)

    by Turn-X Alphonse ( 789240 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:37PM (#12314888) Journal
    Now we have an excuse to keep porn when they invent robot girlfriends for us!

    "But darling, someone could want it in 10 years time amd get us alot of money"
    "...not all stuck together like that they won't!"
  • by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:37PM (#12314892)
    was probably worth more than the money, by a long shot.
  • If i were him (Score:4, Insightful)

    by FidelCatsro ( 861135 ) <fidelcatsro@gmaDALIil.com minus painter> on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:37PM (#12314894) Journal
    I would auction them off at Christies with a starting Bid of 10K , let Intel fight for them as im fairly sure they could be worth a fair bit more than intel is offering as a colection and if not then intel gets them for 10 grand.
    Cough or he could do the moral and ethical thing of giving them to the local library for nothing
    • Or, just don't get greedy, take the money and run. Just cause Intel is ready to give 10k does not mean the rest of the world is.

      What is with the moral/ethical thing of giving it to the local library? Is it not moral to sell the book to a collector? Yes the library really needs a collectors magazine that will get used and abused (or stolen). They could, for informational purposes, use a reprinted version.
    • Just to end all all the "OMG YOUR WRONG" posts that have been occuring , I was meaning that with not the upmost seriousness (IE a joke).
      The moral and ethical thing to do as i mentioned would be to give the collection to a library(not local , national preferably) so the colection could be enjoyed by all , for the life of me i have no idea what intel wants to do with it, but i assume its not to put it up for display in the national librarys.
    • This probably is not the only copy. Is it? There might be somebody else (perhaps the guy who stole the copy from the library) with a copy and Intel won't even bother with auctioning for it.
      What is so immoral about what he is doing? He did not steal it from someone. Money is money. I fail to see how this could be immoral.
    • Cough or he could do the moral and ethical thing of giving them to the local library for nothing

      Ha. He could give it to the Grainger Engineering Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [silicon.com] where a copy was stolen this week.
    • That he got the magazines from a library which was throwing them out. Why would they want them back (other than to claim the $10000 prize.)
    • Re:If i were him (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Kazoo the Clown ( 644526 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @02:57PM (#12316796)

      No, they're actually not all that rare. The only reason you haven't seen any on eBay so far, is similarly dated issues haven't garnered much interest, and nobody was aware of any special interest in that issue. Someone probably paid $1 apiece or less for a batch of dozens of similar issues including that one within the last year, neither the buyer or seller realizing that issue was in any way special. Now that this story has surfaced, I'll wager you'll see bunches of them crop up on eBay over the next several months. Be patient, and you'll probably be able to get one for less than $50 once the feeding frenzy wanes-- IMHO the demand relative to the supply in this is significantly smaller than there is in Playboy #1 which went for about $2700 on eBay in the last week.

      Sure, the vast majority of old trade magazines got tossed, but there are more than a few packrats who've saved them-- probably far more than have an interest in acquiring this particular issue. DISCLAIMER: These opinions are based on decades of back-issue magazine collecting and trading, YMMV.

  • if only... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:38PM (#12314902)
    playboy did something similiar, I'd be all set.
    • by Gzip Christ ( 683175 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @01:21PM (#12315402) Homepage
      if only playboy did something similiar, I'd be all set.
      Ah yes, the famous "Hef's Law" prediction: your penis will double in size for every 18 issues you buy. It sounds good in theory until your realize that logistical limitations will eventually force you to grow a dual-core penis.
    • if only playboy did something similiar, I'd be all set.

      How curious. You don't happen to have a copy of the Nov. 72 Issue that features Lenna [wikipedia.org], do you?
  • Women..... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by WilyCoder ( 736280 )
    Not too different from the pleas of my friends mom. Except he had comic books, such as Spiderman #1. His mom tossed them long ago as they were a "fire hazard". Pfffft. Women.
  • Plea to UIUC student (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:38PM (#12314906)
    Can you please return your copy of the magzine to the library?

    The reward has been claimed and there is nothing for you to profit off of now.
  • Old news (Score:2, Interesting)

    by updatelee ( 244571 )
    This was reported on CBC Radio last week.
  • by TheScottishGuy ( 701141 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:40PM (#12314917)
    maybe she'll be a bit more ok with my packrat qualities.
  • Heh. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by James A. Y. Joyce ( 877365 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:41PM (#12314930)
    Imagine how many fortunes have been burned or tossed out on landfill because of whiny mothers tossing out old comics and magazines.
    • Re:Heh. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by menace3society ( 768451 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @01:00PM (#12315171)
      Actually, the fortunes are created because of this. If every kid who ever bought Action Comics #1 or any of those old comics still had his copy, they'd all be hardly more than a novelty collector's item (like an issue of TIME from the same period). The same goes for baseball cards, etc. The very fact that these things are now seen as "valuable investments" and saved means that, most likely, they never will be.
    • Yeah, and if it weren't for all those destroyed/lost copies, the surviving copies wouldn't be rare and thus wouldn't be worth anything either.
    • Like, 3 or 4, at least, I would think...
  • by alphakappa ( 687189 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:41PM (#12314931) Homepage
    when there are umpteen copies in libraries all over the world? It is not as if only ONE copy survived!
  • in the Archives and Collections [intel.com] section of the Intel Museum [intel.com] soon.

    Or maybe they'll put it among Moore's other images [intel.com] (doesn't show up currently).

  • by EnronHaliburton2004 ( 815366 ) * on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:42PM (#12314949) Homepage Journal
    I don't get it.

    There are several of these on eBay [ebay.com].

    Is there something extra special about this one issue found under the floorboards?
    • First one looks barely okay (look at the spine,) while the second one has been removed and put in plastic. Perhaps the first one was not in a good enough condition for Intel's liking? Perhaps the owner of the first one chose to auction it (perhaps in hopes of raising more than the $10,000) instead of submitting it to Intel for the reward. Who knows?

    • by bobbis.u ( 703273 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:56PM (#12315127)
      Neither of the ones on eBay are in "mint" condition, which was one of the requirements laid down by Intel.

      Those high bidders are going to be pissed when they realise they have shelled out $450+ when the prize has already been claimed. Do they really think Intel will lose it again?

    • Just for the record, I can only find 1 on eBay - that one. That one has also been taken apart and each page is in a binder sleeve.
    • The headline clearly says this one is the original. :)

      (Alternatively, maybe this one developed AI and hid under the floorboards. After all, it was found, rather than remembered.)

      Seriously, the difference is likely quality (I suspect the edition found is likely to be mint or very close, the versions on e-bay probably aren't) and authentication (e-bay is OK, but if you're throwing $10,000 around, you want to be a little more sure about what you're getting - or if you're getting).

  • by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:42PM (#12314951)
    that now he has a few quid hes throwing the wife away.
    • Now that her husband wants a divorce, she's asking a lot more than $10k for alimony.

      "You know how much the Department of Sanitation charges just to remove all the garbage my soon-to-be -ex husband collected?"
  • by OgGreeb ( 35588 ) <og@digimark.net> on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:42PM (#12314952) Homepage
    I think I'll keep a copy of this posting. You never know when it might be useful.
  • the libraries are safe until Intel want the next issue.
  • by Tackhead ( 54550 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:46PM (#12315003)
    > "David Clark had kept copies of the magazine for years, despite pleas from his wife to throw them away."

    Me: That stash of magazines under my bed... It's not what it looks like!

    Dad: Well, I hope not. Because it looks like you're masturbating to a 35-year old copy of Electronics magazine!

    (Credit due to bash.org [bash.org].)

  • ... to my fiancee! She has been driving me nuts to get rid of my comic book and playboy collection, but just think about how happy she would be with $10,000! (Notice I say she, I would never see a dime...)
  • by ryanvm ( 247662 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:46PM (#12315010)
    Fool! He should have held onto it. Moore's Law Law postulates that magazine issues referencing Moore's Law double in value every 18 months.
    • "Moore's Law Law postulates that magazine issues referencing Moore's Law double in value every 18 months."

      No it doesn't, and I'm getting sick and tired of this showing up on Slashdot.

      All Moore's Law predicts is that the amount of money Intel has to spend on stupid things like this will double every 18 months. The fact that it HAPPENS to correspond to an increase in Intel's offered reward has been true for some time, but there's no guarantee that the two will continue to scale at the same rate!
  • Dear Intel (Score:4, Funny)

    by Letter ( 634816 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @12:50PM (#12315058)
    Dear Intel,

    I have Hardcore Pornstars issue 1 (Willamette on cover, Jan. 1970) in pristine condition and in its original shrinkwrap. I thought you might be interested.

    Wait -- you said "dual core processors," not "Hardcore Pornstars." Nevermind.

    Letter

  • Causing that kind of media frenzy about how they were right once fourty years ago is priceless. Great job on some PR firm's part.
  • by kagelump ( 812908 )
    ...what i should do with those pokemon cards i kept.....

    what....? they used to be popular...!
  • the Jan. 1975 Popular Electronics [ebay.com] have been selling for over $50 for a long time.

  • by Aggrav8d ( 683620 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @01:06PM (#12315211) Homepage
    "Honey, why do you keep all that old junk?"

    "... I keep you, don't I?"

  • Darn... My wife just said that I can't use this to hoard my old PC and electronics magazines under the floorboards...

    **sighs**

    I'm afraid guys... its off to the recycling center.

  • Pack Rat's Law (Score:3, Insightful)

    by objekt ( 232270 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @02:15PM (#12316189) Homepage
    Keep something long enough and it will eventually be worth $10,000 to someone.
  • by Herbmaster ( 1486 ) on Friday April 22, 2005 @02:36PM (#12316475)
    This is why I print out hard copies of slashdot every day. I'm waiting to cash in on my original edition of CmdrTaco calling the iPod lame.

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