Electronics

Marty Levine, 82, a former electronics technician in the computer engineering department of The Inquirer, died of complications from neck surgery on Sunday, May 12, at his home in Mount Laurel. Mr. Levine worked for The Inquirer from April 1978 to December 1995. Born in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Levine graduated from Tilden High School there and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Long Island University, his wife, Roberta, said in an interview Monday.

James C. Billups, head of the electronics department at Delaware County Community College and a tennis instructor, died Wednesday. He was 55 and a resident of West Philadelphia. Billups had been an electronics teacher at Delaware County Community College since the school opened in 1965 and at the time of his death was head of the department. He taught tennis at the West Park Tennis Club in Fairmount Park, where he was a member. For several years he also taught the game at the community college.

Only a fool strolls into an electronics store to buy a TV, VCR or other gadget without having done some homework. With so many models, styles and prices to choose from and so many salespeople eager to make a deal, any babe in the woods had better beware. For a quick refresher course in video and audio products, the March issue of Consumer Reports offers a "Guide to the Gear" that can't be beat. Published by the watchdog group Consumers Union, the magazine's product reports and evaluations are a touchstone for the cautious shopper.

This is not a concert, but an event: No fists-in-the air or Elvis pelvis here. Members of Orbital are almost hiding behind their computer-driven instruments, which look like something out of WarGames. And the audience, well, the audience doesn't much care about what is going on onstage. People seem more interested in watching others. Using the measure of a traditional concert, Orbital's full-house visit to the Trocadero Wednesday night - as an opener for industrial-dance act Meat Beat Manifesto - gets a thumb-and-a-half down.

Stephen Murr, 65, of Valley Forge, a former electronics technician and businessman, died Wednesday, Oct. 17, from complications of acute myeloid leukemia. Mr. Murr a South Philadelphia native, was born to a close-knit Italian American family. He attended St. Paul's School, where he served as an altar boy. He was "a throwback type of gentleman," said his sister, Rose Murr. "Steve was just incredibly generous, dedicated to his work, and honest," she said. "He was very down to earth and took pride in the small things that he loved.

I am pursuing a B.S. in electrical engineering technology at Temple University and already possess a bachelor's degree in literature. What is the job outlook for electronic technologists (as opposed to full-fledged engineers)? Also, what's the outlook for technical writers? - S.N., Philadelphia. I think I see what you're trying to do - combine your interest in literature with a skill in electronics. However, you'd better do one thing at a time. You are embarking on a totally new four-year program aimed at positions in electro-mechanical manufacturing and quality control, production, electronic testing, sales and service, power systems, and development and research.

Like the John Cage and Morton Feldman festivals in recent years, Network for New Music's Third Space festival of electronic music revealed numerous pieces that shouldn't need a festival in order to be heard, but don't fit (sometimes physically) into typical concert halls. The venues of the Friday-through-Monday concerts told much of the story: Small studios and theaters at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Community College of Philadelphia were chosen for their technological resources.

Russell J. Roth Sr., 83, of Sellersville, who retired as an electronics manager in 1992, died Tuesday, Jan. 10, of pulmonary fibrosis at Grand View Hospital. Born in Rochester, N.Y., Mr. Roth graduated from high school there. He served in the Navy from September 1945 to April 1949 and again from 1950 to 1952. His daughter, Cynthia Mannes, said he served in shipboard fire-control units in the Mediterranean, then was recalled to duty during the Korean War. Mr. Roth earned his bachelor's degree at Rutgers University after night classes in the late 1960s, while he was a quality-control manager for Philco-Ford in Philadelphia.

I'D RATHER talk pad thai, but iPad is on my menu, and I'm just asking for a digital middle digit. All those I asked about their iPads gave me three words: "I love it!" (That's how I feel about pad thai.) Micki Bjork, the Daily News' sweet high-tech Jill of All Trades, who keeps me from leaping from the tower - took five words: "I love it very much . " (But not as much as her goldendoodle dogs.) Unlike undeserving ex-wives, Micki doesn't lie to me, but let's start with my suicidal impulses.

Montgomery County police are looking for a man who went on a pre-Christmas shopping spree after he allegedly stole another man's identity and purchased more than $30,000 in high end electronic devices. A West Goshen man informed police his personal information was used to open up instant credit at numerous stores in Deptford, New Jersey on December 19. Along with the electronics, jewelry was also purchased. Clerks at the store told police the suspect provided a Pennsylvania driver's license and other identification to make the sales.

Marty Levine, 82, a former electronics technician in the computer engineering department of The Inquirer, died of complications from neck surgery on Sunday, May 12, at his home in Mount Laurel. Mr. Levine worked for The Inquirer from April 1978 to December 1995. Born in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Levine graduated from Tilden High School there and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Long Island University, his wife, Roberta, said in an interview Monday.

Like the John Cage and Morton Feldman festivals in recent years, Network for New Music's Third Space festival of electronic music revealed numerous pieces that shouldn't need a festival in order to be heard, but don't fit (sometimes physically) into typical concert halls. The venues of the Friday-through-Monday concerts told much of the story: Small studios and theaters at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Community College of Philadelphia were chosen for their technological resources.

Dreams of musical utopia have yet to materialize in the electronic-music world, but Network for New Music's Third Space Festival, running from Friday through Monday, is out to show mainstream audiences that the music's ethereal landscapes can be gorgeous. "It's been wrongly perceived as being ugly or crunchy, when it can be a beautiful extension of acoustic sound, with greater expressivity and emotional range," said Linda Reichert, Network's artistic director. "Some of these pieces are coming out of the world of Debussy - beautiful textures that could only be done electronically.

John Martorano Jr. spends each day amid pallets heaped with junked computer towers and monitors, burned-out TVs, vacuums past their sucking prime, and old police scanners that have squawked for the last time. Recycling electronic waste is this South Jersey entrepreneur's preoccupation, one that took root in far different environs: in the meadows and forests of the Medford Wildlife Management Area, as he was accompanied by his dog at the time, Archie, on a tranquil walk. Tranquil, that is, until Martorano's blood started to boil about something on the cedar-lined trail.

WASHINGTON - Although the number of pending veterans' disability claims keep soaring, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Sunday said he's committed to ending the backlog in 2015 by replacing paper with electronic records. Veterans receive disability compensation for injuries or illness incurred during their active military service. About 600,000 claims, or 70 percent, are considered backlogged. The number of claims pending for more than 125 days has nearly quadrupled under Shinseki's watch.

THERE'S a good chance that SEPTA riders will not throw shoes at the transit agency's board of directors when public hearings on proposed fare increases are held in April. Before becoming SEPTA chairman in 1999, Pasquale "Pat" Deon remembers board members being pelted with footgear by riders angered by a previous chairman's habit of hiking fares steeply after waiting too many years to raise them. But "cloudy with a chance of flying leather" has not been the public-hearings forecast for more than a decade, not since Deon and the SEPTA board began modest, cost-of-living-based fare hikes at regular three-year intervals.

Computer mistakes like the one that produced incorrect prescriptions for thousands of Rhode Island patients are probably far more common and dangerous than proponents of electronic medical records believe, says Drexel University's Scot Silverstein. Flawed software at Lifespan hospital group printed orders for low-dose, short-acting pills when patients should have been taking stronger, time-release ones, the Providence-based system disclosed in 2011. Lifespan says nobody was harmed.

  When patients insured by Independence Blue Cross are discharged from the hospital, discharge reports are added to medical records at their primary doctors' offices less than 50 percent of the time. It's a common example of the gaps in information-sharing among hospitals, doctors, and others in the health-care system. "A physician caring for a patient is sometimes not aware of all of the care that's been provided, not aware of all the medications the patient is taking, or aware of the lab tests that have been done, or of the results of those tests," said Richard Snyder, chief medical officer at Independence Blue Cross.

Montgomery County police are looking for a man who went on a pre-Christmas shopping spree after he allegedly stole another man's identity and purchased more than $30,000 in high end electronic devices. A West Goshen man informed police his personal information was used to open up instant credit at numerous stores in Deptford, New Jersey on December 19. Along with the electronics, jewelry was also purchased. Clerks at the store told police the suspect provided a Pennsylvania driver's license and other identification to make the sales.

LAS VEGAS - Forget for a moment all the fantastical new devices on display at the Consumer Electronics Show. If you're a home-theater aficionado or just have loads of cash to burn, you may want to rush out and buy an Ultra HD TV - ignoring that there's hardly any content yet available to take advantage of the advance. But the good news is that CES 2013 also showcases trends that are welcome news for the rest of us, technophiles and technophobes alike. Here are three quick picks: Focus on simplicity.