Sounds like Cockroach news release to me.  I didnt see anything new or
different.  Just more of the same timed for DEMA probably.  Far as I know,
there is nothing new.  Just more of the same old stuff.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Bell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 2:01 PM
Subject: [SCUBA-SE] Cochran in the News ?


> Chuck, Russ, Joe, Did any of you see this article?  I blatantly lifted it
> from another list.
>
> Lee
>
> --------------------------------------
>
> The Dallas Morning News          2/4/01         by Cheryl Hall
>
> The man who gave the world the first computer-on-a-chip is taking his
> inventiveness to new depths.
>
> Michael Cochran, who co-invented the microcomputer at Texas Instruments
Inc.
> in the 1970s and then used this so-called miracle chip to build TI's first
> handheld scientific calculator, is now strapping powerful undersea
computers
> around the wrists of U.S. Navy SEALs.
>
> Last week, off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, members of the Navy's elite special
> forces unit made the first official computerized decompression dives in
U.S.
> military history using dive computers made by Cochran Undersea Technology,
a
> small company tucked in the industrial core of Richardson's tech corridor.
>
> The SEALs donned an "aggressive" version of a Cochran wrist-worn dive
> computer already being sold to scuba shops that allows recreational divers
> to go deeper, stay under longer and come up without getting the bends.
>
> Divers need to know how long they can stay down at specific depths and how
> to safely surface without forming nitrogen bubbles in their blood, which
can
> be painful or even cause paralysis. In very rare cases, the bends can be
> fatal.
>
> Once back on the surface, divers can download critical dive data into a PC
> to track their progress.
>
> But dive computers are no easy design feat.
>
> "The ocean is a fairly hostile environment. Computers very much don't like
> water," Mr. Cochran says in typical understatement.
>
> The units have to run on a small battery and withstand enormous deep-sea
> pressures, radical temperature changes and rough use - all in a package
> small enough to wear like a watch but large enough to be easily viewed
under
> water.
>
> "These contradictory requirements are a real challenge, which is what I
like
> about this field," says the 59-year-old founder of Cochran Consulting
Inc.,
> who, despite 70 domestic patents and several significant inventions, has
> worked in relative obscurity for most of his 39-year electronics career.
>
> "Wow," was his one-word response to news last week that his dive computer
> had passed several years of extensive testing by the Navy Experimental
> Diving Unit in Panama City, Fla., and is now officially approved for SEAL
> use.
>
> One last hurdle
>
> Capt. Frank Butler, biomedical research director for the Navy Special
> Warfare Community, says the new dive computers will enable the military to
> make quantum advances in vital decompression research.
>
> "If you get bent and I don't during a dive, we'll be able to use the
> computer to check out exactly why," says the former SEAL platoon
commander,
> who was in Hawaii to coordinate the inaugural dives. "Calculating
> decompression using tables and without a computer has been very difficult.
> This is a huge step for SEAL divers and SEAL submerged operations."
>
> Barring unforeseen problems during the next six months of actual ocean
use,
> the units would then receive the mighty stamp of approval from the Navy
and
> that would open up sales throughout the U.S. armed forces, as well as to
> NATO forces.
>
> "If all this comes to pass, this single product most likely will double
the
> size of the company in revenue and obviously dramatically increase our
> profitability," says Mr. Cochran. "That global military market could be
very
> significant for us as opposed to the highly competitive and somewhat
limited
> recreational market that we've been in."
>
> The company Mr. Cochran formed in 1986 is an unlikely hybrid: One half
> builds undersea software and equipment, and the other half does
intellectual
> property consulting. Combined revenue could be as much as $15 million if
the
> Navy business kicks in.
>
> In one wing, 15 electrical, mechanical and software engineers disassemble
> products, study detailed technical drawings and research the intricacies
of
> specific patents involved in infringement suits and licensing agreements.
>
> On any given day, the high-minded group might be "unbuilding," or
> reverse-engineering, talking toys, television sets, microwaves, PCs and,
of
> course, semiconductors for key clients such as TI, Motorola, Tandy and
> numerous Asian semiconductor manufacturers.
>
> The vast majority of infringement cases are settled out of court. But if
one
> actually goes to trial, Mr. Cochran and his staff testify as expert
> witnesses.
>
> The rest of the 20,000-square-foot building houses Cochran Undersea
> Technology, where a staff of 40-plus dreams up, develops and assembles new
> gizmos for the diving world.
>
> The intellectual property half generates the profits sucked up by
expensive
> research and development needs of the dive half. But that may be about to
> change as the undersea products take off.
>
> Mr. Cochran, who was smitten by the scuba bug while vacationing in the
> Bahamas 17 years ago, is pleased that his passion is about to become more
> profitable, but that's not how he gauges success.
>
> "Money is always good, but that's not what motivates me," he says. "It's
the
> opportunity to meet the challenge that gives me satisfaction."
>
> Patent No. 4,074,351
>
> Three patents hang in honor along the main hallway at TI's Forest Lane
> facility: one for Jack Kilby's integrated circuit, another to the team
that
> developed the first handheld calculator and the third, Patent No.
4,074,351,
> issued to Michael Cochran and Gary Boone, for inventing the microcomputer.
>
> On Feb. 18, 1978, The New York Times spotlighted Mr. Cochran for his role
in
> finding the elusive answer to putting more than 20,000 elements of a
> computer onto a single silicon chip. In the accompanying photo, he holds
the
> Times-dubbed "miracle chip" and TI's first commercial product, a handheld
> scientific calculator that Mr. Cochran developed on his off-hours.
>
> Rather than getting a big head about his 15 minutes of fame, Mr. Cochran
was
> slightly annoyed by the publicity because he had to wear a three-piece
suit
> for the photo.
>
> Michael James Cochran grew up in Daytona Beach, Fla., where he was bored
to
> death by high school, refused to do his homework and still graduated in
the
> top 10 percent of his class of 1959. What did get his mental juices
flowing
> was a job his senior year repairing TVs and radios for a neighborhood
store.
>
> So he went to technical school at the local junior college. He took his
> graduation finals a semester early so he could take a job with a missile
> project for RCA. For three years, he lived aboard ships tracking missiles
> launched from Cape Canaveral, followed by a stint working on monitoring
> equipment for the Gemini test flights.
>
> "It was 'bleeding-edge' technology - very challenging, no politics or BS -
> just damn the torpedoes and do it," he recalls fondly.
>
> In 1969, while working for a start-up in California, Mr. Cochran built a
> prototype of the world's first scientific desktop calculator, which could
do
> complicated algorithmic and metric functions and was about the size of an
> IBM Selectric typewriter.
>
> That invention won Industrial Research magazine's designation as one of
the
> 100 most innovative products in 1970, the same year that steel-belted
radial
> tires were honored.
>
> During this project, he'd worked with engineers at TI who were struggling
to
> build a microcomputer - a computer on a single silicon chip. "TI called
out
> of the blue and said, 'We want you to come help us get the ox out of the
> ditch,'" Mr. Cochran recalls. He joined TI in Houston and threw himself
into
> the microcomputer project.
>
> On the morning of July Fourth 1971, he looked into the microscope and
> discovered that one of his test chips actually worked.
>
> "It was really kinda funny, because it was a holiday and a Sunday, and
there
> was nobody to tell. So I called Joey," he says, nodding to his wife, who
now
> ramrods the day-to-day business affairs of their company.
>
> Silver-certificate dollar bills
>
> For that basic U.S. patent of the microcomputer - and for each of the
other
> 38 patents earned at TI during his 13-year tenure there - Mr. Cochran
earned
> a silver-certificate dollar bill.
>
> "If you get a patent like that today, it's big bucks. But it wasn't back
> then," he says. "When I had nearly 40 silver certificates, I said, 'Screw
> it,' and we went out and had a Mexican supper at El Fenix with them."
>
> There is an inexplicable seven-year gap between the invention of the
> microcomputer and the awarding of its patent to Mr. Cochran and his boss,
> suggesting that TI might not have realized what it really had. Mr. Cochran
> says only that it was a complicated procedure that got hung up at several
> junctures.
>
> There were other hang-ups that led to his departure from the company he
> still lovingly considers part family.
>
> In the early '80s, Mr. Cochran tried to steer TI into the cellular phone
> business, but his project was canceled. Then he made a breakthrough toward
> creating a high-speed processor.
>
> "But the world didn't need a faster processor - or so my boss said. The
> world needed artificial intelligence," Mr. Cochran says sarcastically. "It
> was frustrating, and I didn't see that changing. When I left TI, I was the
> company's Number 1 patent holder."
>
> He quit but didn't stay away long. In 1988, Mr. Cochran, who'd gone into
> consulting, ran into the head of TI's patent department, who needed help
> with infringement issues involving several of Mr. Cochran's patents.
>
> Mr. Cochran also had developed a bulky, underwater diver tracking system
> used by NASA to train astronauts in a massive swimming pool that simulated
a
> weightless environment. He figured if he could compress the system into
> something more portable, he could sell it to recreational divers.
>
> In 1989, he married his patent consulting with the underwater work, hired
> two employees and moved the company out of the couple's spare bedroom and
> into 600 square feet of industrial space.
>
> For the next four years, his patent consulting paid the bills while he
> worked on his miniaturized undersea computer.
>
> Learning process
>
> Finally, in 1993, Joey and Michael Cochran headed to the scuba industry's
> annual trade show with the first-ever wireless, wrist-worn dive computer.
> Their instant smash hit became an instant monumental problem because their
> manufacturer abruptly backed out of the deal.
>
> They had no experience in manufacturing, but Joey and Michael decided to
> make the intricate computers themselves.
>
> "It was a definite learning process," Joey says, laughing. "We hired a
> million people and made thousands of mistakes."
>
> The labor content was too high, the quality was poor, and the company
> experienced severe cash-flow problems. In the midst of this turmoil,
Michael
> suddenly needed a kidney transplant.
>
> Other than that, it was a walk in the park.
>
> "But you can't stop when you have a tiger by the tail," says Joey, casting
a
> knowing glance at her husband of 36 years. "Michael did his dialysis in
the
> office and worked full time until the day before his transplant."
>
> They never turned to outside money and steadfastly avoided "vulture
> capitalists." Today, they own the building and everything in it.
>
> The company has cut its workforce in half yet it produces three times as
> much as it did in the early days with a return rate of less than 1
percent.
> Most returned units come back because the diver has opened the case to see
> how it works, he says. "We call these curiosity failures."
>
> Rusty Berry, CEO of Scuba Schools of America, one of the largest dive
> retailers in Southern California, sells about 70 of Cochran's units a
year -
> largely the higher-end $1,250 model.
>
> "When it's a matter of life support, money is not much of an issue," he
> says. "Cochran is the very best diving computer in the industry."
>
> Cochran Undersea was booked up at last month's dive industry trade show in
> New Orleans with dealers from around the United States and Canada wanting
to
> carry its line of wrist-worn and console-mounted computers, which retail
for
> between $250 and $1,500, and other equipment and software.
>
> In the future, the name might expand beyond the sea. The company is in the
> early stages of developing a small computer system that will help
> firefighters monitor their air supplies and has a motion sensor that emits
a
> locator alarm if the firefighter becomes immobilized.
>
> "The opportunity is huge," says Mr. Cochran, "bigger than the undersea
stuff
> and easier in some respects, because it doesn't have to withstand the
> pressure of being 100 meters under water."
>