Computer

SunGard Data Systems is a Fortune 500 company with 20,000 employees and $5 billion in annual revenue. But for a group from Teen Tech Camp visiting its Broad Street data center Tuesday, the number that really stuck may have been one that tour guide Wayne Martin revealed after asking the 10 campers to guess the facility's monthly electric bill. "Maybe $5,000?" one ventured. "How about $10,000?" another asked. Eyes widened at Martin's answer: $500,000, largely to keep the site's thousands of servers and network and storage devices running round the clock for clients that rely on SunGard for "mission-critical" aspects of corporate data management, including the disaster-recovery services the company pioneered three decades ago, when it was spun off by Sun Oil Co. "I'm impressed by how much power they use," said Zamir Brown, 15, a ninth grader at Philadelphia's World Communications Charter School who is plainly well-suited to the camp's T-shirt logo: "Techie in training.

New computer programs dealing with Homer's Odyssey and Shakespeare's Hamlet soon will be added to the resources of the New Hope-Solebury School District. The programs are included in a $45,000 package of computer-related spending approved Monday by the school board. The district will acquire eight new IBM computer terminals for the math- science lab at the high school and one Macintosh computer for the elementary school. It is buying software dealing with, among other subjects, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Christopher Columbus and Shakespeare's plays.

Sony Corp. yesterday unveiled a book-sized portable computer with no keyboard that can read letters handwritten on its screen in English or Japanese. Sony described the PalmTop PTC-500 as a significant breakthrough that could make personal computers as common as Walkman portable stereos. "This machine has historical significance," said Toshi Doi, director of Sony's microcomputer group. "The product is targeted for a far wider range of potential users in the coming era of a computer for everyone.

You say Cmdr. Data, that walking, talking, thinking android with a neuron computer for a brain on Star Trek: The Next Generation is only fiction? Well, OK, he is . . . for now. But watch out. There is a neuron computer at the University of Pennsylvania that does a lot of dazzling Data-like - make that, human-like - tricks. It can recognize images and sounds and generalize about them, just as you do when you recognize a friend's face - or voice - and say hello. Sure, you can run into somebody who looks or sounds so much like your friend, you're mistaken.

Once, while among a group of knowledgeable personal-computer types who were observing a demonstration of some new software, I innocently asked, "What's the difference between a data base and a spreadsheet?" And while my naive query and obvious computer illiteracy drew some snooty raised eyebrows, a kindly college kid (wearing a T-shirt with a drawing of a vampire saying "I want a byte") took me aside and explained, in simple English, the answer to my very basic question. I wish to report that I have since become savvy.

Edward Godfrey, 32, sat before his Gold Star PC in the Gloucester County College computer laboratory in Deptford and struck a command key. The computer gurgled. In quick succession, Godfrey typed a series of strokes: A/ ENTER. A/1 - ACCOUNTING PROGRAM, the computer wrote on the screen. And then it spoke to Godfrey. "You have entered accounting program A slash 1," it said in a gravelly, male, mechanical voice. A menu appeared on the screen, and the computer recited each listing.

As the election nears, it keeps track of donors and volunteers, spits out Federal Election Commission reports and thank-you letters, targets key precincts and analyzes poll results. In short, "Campaign Manager," a popular political software package that costs $750, can perform many of the functions of its human counterpart - with the help of a personal computer and a computer-wise operator. "The computer is the equivalent of 30,000 volunteers sorting file cards," said John Phillips, president of Aristotle Industries Inc., the program's manufacturer.

I'm a strong supporter of our Technological Age, taking delight in all the new toys these advances have brought us. Computers, cable TV, satellite dishes and the like are all wonderful things. You know what they say: He who dies with the most toys wins. Well, I'm gonna win! But some of these advances have, in certain situations, taken the place of common sense. Let me relate a recent experience. I have fallen behind on my mortgage on occasion - not enough to be in danger of foreclosure, but enough to really tick off the mortgage company.

Step-Saver Data Systems Inc., a Bala Cynwyd computer company, said yesterday that it had filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The seven-year-old company, which provides computer systems for medical and law offices both directly and through franchisees, reported losses in 1987 and 1988. The company said it intended to present a reorganization plan "that will place it in a better position to compete effectively in the rapidly changing computer markets.

Eric's passion is computers, and he can spend many hours happily absorbed in computer games. He also likes doing his schoolwork on the computer. This 9-year-old's second-favorite activity is playing outdoors, especially riding his bike. When he is inside, he enjoys watching cartoons and playing with his toys. Often sweet and caring, Eric is working on controlling his frustration level. He is doing very well in the third grade in a school where he receives special services.

When floods of data - linking patients to doctors, gadgets, images, and medicines - used to surge through two aging computer centers near Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals' Walnut Street headquarters, senior director Paul S. O'Connor Sr. worried his network could be "one waterpipe-break away" from paralysis. That's why, over the last two years, Jefferson contracted two off-campus computer-server operators to link its network to Verizon, Comcast, and a half-dozen specialty telecom carriers.

In 2013, having access to the Internet seems to be the norm, but for nearly half of Philadelphians, that's not the case. They can't surf the Web, connect with friends online, or check their e-mail because they don't have Internet at home. Research has indicated that more than 41 percent of city residents lack Internet access, and on Monday FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn announced at the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia that she is frustrated with this digital divide.

THERE WON'T BE any computers for Barry Jones to fix in prison. At least, there won't be any for him to pretend to fix. The 67-year-old Philadelphian, former president of Mara Management Services, of Haddonfield, N.J., which had contracts to service Philly municipal computers, was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison after admitting to a four-year scheme to defraud the city of $1.2 million in unearned wages. From July 2004 to June 2008, Jones' firm held contracts to maintain computers at several city agencies, including the revenue and water departments and Community Behavioral Health.

Most quality electric shavers adapt to different electrical voltages for charging during international travel, but they usually require adapters for different-shaped wall outlets. The diminutive new ShaveTech shaver doesn't need any of that rigmarole. It charges via a standard USB port. About the size of a cellphone, the shaver has a flip-open USB plug, so you can charge it anywhere via your computer (although the computer itself may need an adapter). Many hotel rooms contain desks with built-in USB ports, and some have ports for U.S. appliances, though wattage is usually restricted.

D EAR HARRY: I am a recently hired regional manager for a large franchising company. My job requires thatI own and know how to use a computer to submit daily reports from remote locations. My computer is a Mac, and I had some problems getting it synchronized with the company's large-capacity PC. As a result, the company shared with me the cost of a PC laptop. My tax preparer said that there was just no way I could get a tax deduction for it, even if my boss says it was required and will support that statement in writing.

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Coast Guard Academy has disciplined a service member and five civilian employees for allegedly engaging in sex acts on campus and using government computers to send sexually explicit and other inappropriate content, an academy spokesman said Wednesday. All six people misused computers at the academy in New London and some of them participated in consensual sex acts on school grounds during the workday, academy spokesman David Santos said. Two of the civilian workers resigned and three were disciplined.

What entrepreneur Yasmine Mustafa didn't know definitely hurt her. What Mustafa didn't know was the basics of coding - a problem, considering that her blog marketing business, 123LinkIt, relied on coding. "It cost me time and money and a lot of stress," she said. "If I would have been able to code, it would have helped me a lot. " That's why, in April 2011, Mustafa founded the Philadelphia chapter of Girl Develop It, an international nonprofit organization based in New York that provides low-cost tech instruction to women - or, as they are called in the GDI world, nerdettes . Since then, 750 women have taken classes in Philadelphia.

A Tredyffrin Township man has been cleared of charges that he used software to spy on his wife. While the couple were divorcing, Jay Anthony Ciccarone, 39, allegedly installed the program Web Watcher on her computer to read her e-mails. His attorney, Ellen Brotman, argued that prosecutors could not prove why Ciccarone used the software. At a pretrial proceeding last Friday, Chester County Judge James P. MacElree II dismissed charges of unlawful use of a computer, intercepting communications - both felonies - and unlawfully accessing stored communications, a misdemeanor.

DEAR ABBY: My elderly uncle and aunt have a son-in-law who - to put it mildly - spins tall tales. "Tom" has been everywhere, done everything and insists on telling anyone who will listen all about it. He speaks many languages fluently (until someone addresses him in one of them) and has had countless adventures in various countries, although he can't locate them on a map. My uncle and aunt have bought two cars for their financially unstable daughter and this phony. Both times, Tom insisted on maintaining them himself (another of his legendary skills)