Table of contents:

* 1 - D.C. Court Rejects FilmOn X Claim to Compulsory License - Neal
  McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
* 2 - History--Automatic Electric Co. advertising - HAncock4
  <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
* 3 - Errors in transit cell phone app cause riders to miss trains -
  HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>

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Message-ID: <95ed8d1f-68da-42d1-8e55-541c25fc8957@googlegroups.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2015 07:17:01 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
Subject: D.C. Court Rejects FilmOn X Claim to Compulsory License

Meanwhile, on the East Coast: D.C. Court Rejects FilmOn X Claim to Compulsory
License
By Kevin Goldberg, CommLawBlog, December 16, 2015

But District Court decision could be key to a return to the Supreme Court for
Aereo-related issues.

FilmOn X's fortunes have taken a turn for the worse. But for FilmOn X, that
might not be a totally bad thing.

Longtime readers will be familiar with FilmOn X, the Aereo doppelganger. When
Aereo burst on the scene several years ago with its Internet-based,
tiny-antenna approach to the delivery of over-the-air television programming,
FilmOn X followed suit with its own, near-identical system. Parallel copyright
litigation ensued, Aereo duking it out with broadcasters in New York while
FilmOn X faced off against broadcasters in Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Aereo started strong, winning key victories (in both the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York and the Second Circuit), while FilmOn X
didn't. But in 2014 Aereo's streak ended in the Supreme Court, which reversed
the Second Circuit's decision upholding Aereo's approach. The Supremes seemed
swayed by the fact that Aereo looked for all the world like a cable TV
operation -- not a mere equipment provider (as Aereo urged) -- and,
accordingly, the Court concluded that Aereo was retransmitting copyrighted
content, for which it needed a license that it didn't have.

http://www.commlawblog.com
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/o39y38l

Neal McLain


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Message-ID: <1e374991-da30-44c6-b6af-ec6a968af763@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 08:27:44 -0800 (PST)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
Subject: History--Automatic Electric Co. advertising

Fading from our memory is the once large Automatic Electric Co,
a competitor to Western Electric and major supplier* to the
Independent (non-Bell) telephone companies.  AE was also
a popular supplier of PAX--private automatic exchanges.

In the 1950s, AE ran ads in Computers & Automation magazine
for their line of relay and stepping-switch products.  Some
are copied and appear below.

Unlike today, the ads focus literally on the "nuts and
bolts" of the product--down to how the bare metal
is formed and assembled.  Other ads talk about
the chemical and physical properties of the raw
iron used in a relay core to make the relay fast
acting.

Perhaps if some readers here had experience with
AE exchange or station equipment, they might offer
some observations.


* Back then, AE focused on step-by-step switchgear, which
was the primary mode used by small independent telephone
companies it served.  AE was a descendant of the original
Strowger invention.  It was later acquired by General
Telephone, a major Independent company (GTE).  GTE later
merged with Verizon.


Unfortunately, the illustrations and graphics of
the ads, such as boldface and large type, cannot
be reproduced here.  The magazine is available to
view on the bitsavers.org archive site.


[ad #1]
 New Series PTW Polar Relay replaces WE 255A
 ... and costs less!

 Since Western Electric announced their polar
 relays are no longer available, many relay users
 have been looking for a suitable replacement.

 Look no longer! Automatic Electric's new PTW
 Polarized Relay is the complete equivalent
 of WE 255A relays in data transmission
 circuits. And the PTW series offers outstanding
 advantages over the relays you have been using.

 Lower cost, for one thing. Less maintenance,
 for another. A new concept of relay design assures
 adjustments that stay put practically forever.
 It's small ... fast ... sensitive. Adaptable
 for new or existing installations.

 More good news-we can supply PTW series
 in practically any quantity-and on short notice. If
 you'd like a complete briefing before you order,
 write for Circular 1821. Automatic Electric
 Sales Corporation, Northlake, Illinois.
 In Canada: Automatic Electric Sales
 (Canada) Ltd., Toronto. Offices in principal cities.

 AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC
 A member of the General Telephone System-
 One of America's great communication systems.



[ad #2]
 STANDARDS THAT DETERMINE RELAY QUALITY
 trouble-free coil windings

 Solderless splice
 ends failures two ways

 The two chief causes of relay coil
 windings going open in service are:
 (1) electrolysis, and (2) breaking
 at the terminal. Automatic Electric
 prevents these difficulties with
 a winding termination technique
 that is vitally different.

 We do not attach coil endings of
 fine wire directly to the terminals.
 Instead, we carefully strip the insulating
 enamel from several inches
 of the coil, endings and tightly
 twist this length of wire with
 strands of bare tinned copper wire.
 This strong solderless splice is then
 insulated with a special film sheet.

 Because we make terminal connections
 over a long section of
 stranded wire, electrolysis has no
 single point to attack. And this
 flexible connection will never snap
 under temperature extremes or
 other stress-producing factors.

 In every step of relay design
 and manufacture, we take extra
 pains to prevent trouble before it
 starts.

 AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC
 A member of the General Telephone System-
 One of America's great communication systems.



[ad #3}
 STANDARDS THAT DETERMINE RELAY QUALITY
 contact points that stay on for keeps

 Superior attachment
 technique guards against
 insecure welds.

 When you find a relay that sheds
 its contacts, you usually have a relay
 that's suffering from "cold
 welds"; this means that when the
 contact spring was made, the contact
 and the spring did not really
 weld together. When that happens,
 the contact is likely to fall off at any
 time.

 We prevent that, here at Automatic
 Electric, by making contacts
 from a continuous length of precious metal
 wire. In one combined operation,
 we weld the end of this wire
 to the spring blank (using very accurate
 control of time and voltage),
 pinch it off so as to provide exactly
 the right amount of material for the
 contact, and finally form it into a
 dome of the contact metal. Result:
 a contact with a polished surface,
 welded to the spring for the life of
 the relay. This is one more reason
 why Automatic Electric relays set
 performance records of 200 to 400
 million operations without a failure!

 This superior method is typical of
 the painstaking care that goes into
 every relay we make.

 AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC
 A member of the General Telephone System-
 One of America's great communication systems.


[ad #4]
 Be sure the rotary stepping switches YOU use have this
 "free-floating" pawl

 Automatic Electric Rotary Stepping Switches
 ensure bind-free operation

 Look at the pawl in the small illustration above. Automatic
 Electric's Type 44 and 45 rotary stepping switches can't
 bind. Automatic Electric has eliminated the old-style pawl
 stop block that jammed the pawl and caused binding.
 Instead, Automatic Electric uses a unique ufree-floating"
 pawl, and a set of stopping teeth on the end of the armature.
 These teeth engage the ratchet wheel smoothly,
 without jarring or jamming. They stop the wiper assembly
 positively, and position it exactly right on the
 bank contacts.

 Automatic Electric offers many exclusive advantages
 over older type rotary stepping switches:
 * Pawl breakage is eliminated
 * He-adjustment of armature stroke is never required
 * There's no possibility of pawl binding, even at very
   low temperatures
 * There's no possibility of double-stepping or overthrow

 No wonder more and more design engineers are choosing
 Automatic Electric rotary stepping switches!

 Plan now to use the Automatic Electric Type 44 or
 Type 45 rotary stepping switch in your products.
 For complete information, write for Circular 1698.


[ad #5]
 NOW!
 dependable relays for printed circuits

 Maybe you, too, have been awaiting availability of a
 good relay for direct insertion into printed circuits. Now
 Automatic Electric can solve your problem with a miniature
 relay that is just right.

 120 million operations, without a single readjustment
 or relubrication! That's what you get from. this rugged,
 improved Series SQD Relay, because it features a special
 heavy-duty bearing and bearing pin. Also a recess in the
 bearing plate retains an adequate supply of lubricant
 for long-term lubrication of the bearing pin.'

 Consider these additional advantages:

 1. The sections of the terminals that insert into the
    printed circuit board are NOT brazed or welded
    into place, but are integral parts of the coil terminals
    and contact springs-thus preventing IDternal
    loss in conductivity or continuity.

 2. Terminal design permits direct plug-in of the relay
    into a printed circuit board, ready to be secured-in
    place with any acceptable soldering technique.

 Usually the desired contact spring combination, or
 pile-up, is sufficiently large so that additional mounting
 (support) of the relay is not necessary.

 SQD Miniature Printed Circuit Relays are available
 with many different contact spring arrangements, and
 for a multitude of applications. Springs can be made of
 phosphor-bronze, ((Bronco" metal, or other specialpurpose
 materials, as required.

 Of course the long life, heavy-duty features of the
 improved SQD Relay can be had in the conventional
 type of plug-in relay, if regular sockets are preferred for
 use, whether in printed circuitry or other applications.

 To get complete details, write: Automatic Electric Sales.

 RELAYS SWITCHES
 PRODUCTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENT OF
 AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC
 CHICAGO


[ad #6]

 TO THE ENGINEER
 who can't tolerate a lapse of memory

 If you're working on a think machine that
 can't afford to break its train of thought,
 consider AE's pint-size, fast-stepping OCS
 switcher. Unlike electron tubes and relays,
 this sophisticated device won't lose stored
 memory in the event of power failure or
 circuit interruption.

 Besides, it can do the work normally assigned
 to whole banks of relays.

 The AE Series OCS will follow or initiate a
 prescribed series of events or cycles at 30
 steps per second impulse-controlled, or 65
 steps per second self-interrupted. Any pro-
 gramming sequence can be set up on one to
 six cams with as many as 36 on-and-off steps
 per cam. And each cam will actuate as many
 as six contact springs.

 In any event, if your designs involve relays
 or stepping switches, AE circuit engineers
 may be able to save you a pretty penny. Or,
 if you'd like to leave the switching to us,
 we're equipped to supply prewired and
 assembled, custom-built control units, or help
 you develop complete control systems.

 To explore the matter, just write the Director,
 Control Equipment Sales, Automatic Electric,
 Northlake, Illinois. Also ask for Circular
 1698-H: Rotary Stepping Switches; Circular
 1702-E: Relays for Industry; and our new
 32-page booklet on Basic Circuits.

 AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC (General System)
 Subsidiary of
 GENERAL TELEPHONE & ELECTRONICS


* * * *


While Bell System publications liked to focus on its
crossbar developments, in reality Bell was a major
step-by-step user as well, and step-by-step grew
in the Bell System, finally peaking in 1974 with
about half of the lines served by it.  Common control
systems like crossbar and ESS weren't economical
for small exchanges until the cost of electronics
dropped in the late 1970s.


------------------------------
Message-ID: <af345c3a-6be2-41dc-85da-f23e575b0ebb@googlegroups.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2015 11:20:55 -0800 (PST)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Errors in transit cell phone app cause riders to miss
 trains

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that a digital tool
designed to make riding the regional rail more convenient seems
to be having the opposite effect as SEPTA [Philadelphia transit
carrier] unveils its big schedule changes. Several colleagues
at the Inquirer reported late trains and, possibly worse, missed
stops because of incorrect information on SEPTA's smart phone app.

"There are some issues between what's on our web site and what's
on the app and we are working to correct those," said Richard
Burnfield, SEPTA's deputy general manager.  SEPTA officials gave
two examples of the incorrect information that's been turning up
in the app. The included wrongly labeled train times and stops
that were either ommited or listed for trains that no longer
stop at those stations.


for full article please see:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs


SEPTA operates buses, streetcars, trackless trolleys, subway-
elevated trains, and commuter rail in the Philadelphia area.


side article:  future of Philadelphia's streetcars:
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20151213_Hed_W_Initial_Caps.html


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End of telecom Digest Fri, 18 Dec 2015