Better known as Woz, Steve Wozniak was born on August 11, 1950 in Sunnyvale. Little known of his biological mother but the son of a Lockheed engineer, Steve had a dream. A dream that no one could take from him no matter what they said or did. Although, he has apluthra of accomplishments, Mr. Wozinak has found time for a family of six, where three are his biological kids from his second marriage and the other three are his half from his present and third marriage. Even as a child, Steve diligently spent his time developing and working on computers. He was blessed with the knowledge of the computer and he clearly states,” It was all self-done; I didn’t ever take a course, didn’t ever buy a book on how to do it. Just pieced it together in my own head.” Building and developing computers was not a job for Steve but more of a hobby. In an article, he says,” I loved doing it, because when we were in elementary school and junior high school and even high school, it was neat to have other friends in electronics down the block. We would run house-to-house wired intercoms and somebody would build a neat little sound maker, and we’d go down to Sunnyvale Electronics and buy the parts. That was a big part of my life. That was how we had our fun.” (Wolfson)
Steve Wozniak had a fetish for Tom Swift books which aroused his love for technology and science. The books told of a young boy who was an engineer would could design anything. His father’s occupation increased his love for his craft in which he [his father] would help him complete his electrical science projects. His teachers recognized his talent, praised him for being smart which resulted in him wanted to be even smarter in the field. In the sixth grade, Steve received his Ham Radio License. Ham radio operators are licensed by the United States Government and enjoy a far more priviledges of radio operation than "CB" radio operators do. With a Ham license, there are obligations and rules for the operation of an amateur radio station. More importantly, there are a few things that hams, which is the name they call themselves, are not allowed to do:
-Hams are not allowed to do anything with their radios that makes them money in way.
-Ham radio operator cannot `broadcast' to the public. This means that ham radio transmissions are meant to be received by other ham radio operators. While a short-wave radios or scanners will allow you to listen to the ham radio bands, what you will hear is hams talking to other hams and not music or other radio programs of `general' interest.” (Wolfson)
However, within these (and other) guidelines, hams are empowered to do just about everything that government and private radio stations are allowed to do.
After realizing his aptitude of knowledge, Steve continued to invent and develop things for the betterment of the technology world. He has a vast amount of accolades that are listed below but is most known for his recognition in the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his 666 dollar Apple II. This computer combined the central processing unit, keyboard and the disk drive in one unit. (Vermatt) Little known fact, in 1977, Steve passed out the dynamic commercial design for the apple computer and three years later it went public and Mr. Wozniak became worth millions of dollars. Besides from his popular creation, Steve was recognized for the following:
1972: University of Colorado, EECS: Electrical Engineering Computer Science program
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1976: Designed Hewlett Packard calculator with chips(a minute slice of semi-conducting material, such as silicon or germanium).
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1979: designed early Apple computer products
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1983: sponsored the first three USSR space bridges
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1990: sponsored computers for schools in USSR
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1996: Computer support for Los Gatos United (school LAN(Local Area Network) planning and wirings)
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Blue box whistle from a Captain Crunch box that generated tones able of making telephone calls.
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1984: Macintosh Computer
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After an
early plane crash in 1981 and speedy recovery, Mr. Wozniak took a leave
of absence from Apple and decided to devote himself to his family
community projects and education. If any advice, he would say,” Believe
in encouraging free thinking and creativity for youngsters, counsel them
against forced of conformity and drugs which leave them “not the
master” of their fate.” (Woz. org)
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