The Digicast#8482; project

Computers have been consumer products since 1975 (1). Individuals involved in the consumer computer industry estimate that there are 50,000-200,000 general-purpose digital computers installed in peoples' homes. Thus far, these have been exciting, educational, challenging toys--to the extent that they have been used for non-commercial, non-tax-deductible purposes. Their primary use as a consumer product has been in non-arithmetic or minimal-computation applications. One difference between their being an exciting toy, and making them into an obviously useful consumer product, of value to the general public, is the ability to attach them to large data bases of interest and use to the general public. The Digicast Project purposes to provide one of the first such "attachments" for personal computers.