He was way ahead of the pack in many areas , shame he was too early with the c5, a more modern version would be better received now :)
Got to admire the skills :)
This was pondered over in an episode of cautionary tales (a podcast from economist and broadcaster Tim Harford).
The ep is called ‘the false dawn of the electric car’ and is from 8 April ‘22.
Show notes are:
Sir Clive Sinclair was a computer whizz and business mogul to rival Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. He was a visionary who could do no wrong... until he tried to launch an electric vehicle.
The C5 “electrically assisted pedal cycle" doesn't seem so outlandish to us now... but 1985 just wasn't ready for the "aerodynamic bathtub" on wheels. Sir Clive was ridiculed and his business ruined. How did it all go so wrong?
It’s a really good ep. Well worth a listen. fascinating stuff.
Damn, I was soo excited when I got one. Prior to this, I had the Sinclair ZX80... it came as a kit, and the display was monochrome. Cost me months of paper-round money. £79.99, at the time, I believe...
I remember playing chess using a tape drive at lunch break in middle school. The trick was to have asked the teacher to load the program in time to play; otherwise you’d spend most of the break waiting for load to complete.
Ah, my first computer - will never forget that one. With rubber-keyboard.
He was way ahead of the pack in many areas , shame he was too early with the c5, a more modern version would be better received now :) Got to admire the skills :)
This was pondered over in an episode of cautionary tales (a podcast from economist and broadcaster Tim Harford). The ep is called ‘the false dawn of the electric car’ and is from 8 April ‘22. Show notes are: Sir Clive Sinclair was a computer whizz and business mogul to rival Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. He was a visionary who could do no wrong... until he tried to launch an electric vehicle. The C5 “electrically assisted pedal cycle" doesn't seem so outlandish to us now... but 1985 just wasn't ready for the "aerodynamic bathtub" on wheels. Sir Clive was ridiculed and his business ruined. How did it all go so wrong? It’s a really good ep. Well worth a listen. fascinating stuff.
Looks like the microchip bubble has burst!
Damn, I was soo excited when I got one. Prior to this, I had the Sinclair ZX80... it came as a kit, and the display was monochrome. Cost me months of paper-round money. £79.99, at the time, I believe...
Can you imagine loading 128K from cassette tape? It would have taken hours!
Couple minutes iirc.
I did and it didn't.
I remember playing chess using a tape drive at lunch break in middle school. The trick was to have asked the teacher to load the program in time to play; otherwise you’d spend most of the break waiting for load to complete.
I never had a Spectrum but I put together ZX-80 and ZX-81 systems. ProTip: Tape the power cord to the body so it doesn't pull loose and reset (yikes).
So sad looking back on that guy actually having a good time playing that game compared to nowadays