Word: words
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...That is correct. Now spell extra." Or, if the speller has made a mistake, the machine says, "Wrong. Try again." The sentences are lifelike, and the pitch of the voice rises and falls in a normal way. Two wrong attempts bring the correct spelling, spoken aloud, and a new word to try. After ten words, another little tune plays, and the machine gives the speller's score, with special congratulations if all ten have been spelled correctly...
There are varying word lists-some repetitions, some new words-at each of four levels of difficulty. In addition, the machine plays word games, and can put messages into code. (It also spells any word aloud, when the proper buttons are pushed, and children discover quickly that when improper buttons are pushed, bad words are spelled. The shock value is considerable when the pleasant mechanical voice pronounces "Eff, You, See ...") Speak & Spell, which sells for $64.95, was dreamed up by a Texas Instruments products engineer named Paul Breedlove, who had worked in voice synthesis and thought that the concept might...
...chess ability of the reprogrammed chip is high enough to make any parlor wood-pusher loosen his collar and roll up his sleeves, and it is the machine's distinctly machine-like speech that is the dazzling gimmick. Turn the doodad on, and it says, dropping each word like a cinder block, "I- am- Fidelity's - Chess - Challenger - your -computer - opponent." The speech is by no means as friendly and natural sounding as Speak & Spell's, but it is meant to intimidate adults, not encourage children. The voice has no great utility, except as a signal that...
...This film about a Hollywood Hills song writer, his hokey girlfriend and perverted neighbors is, in one word, terrible. Dudley Moore--of Good Evening fame--limps along mightily, running into Beverly Hills cops, the back of his telescope and, finally, the beautiful Bo Derrick. The woman is a "14" but, for some reason, her hair dresser thinks she's a Rasterfarian...
...will weigh in with two hours, 10-11 p.m. on the 28th and 29th, called "The Seventies: A CBS Retrospective." Harry Reasoner, who, in the course of that decade, has gone from CBS to ABC to CBS, will narrate. NBC Sports, continuing its annoying habit of making one word out of every show title, has come up with "Sportsyear '79: The year of the Champion," the 22nd from 4-6 p.m. If it is anything like "Sportsworld," best advice may be to stayaway...