It was before the web, before the personal computer, before the cell phone, before voicemail and answering machines.

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Some were left as messages on friends' answering machines while Banhart was living in Paris seeking out the French music he loves.

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He was inspired by the messages left on answering machines, by the courage and nobility of their final words of reassurance and love.

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His parents often found household appliances (remote controls, answering machines) gutted.

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That included suing Apple, Sprint, Nintendo, and more than 20 other companies for violating patents on fax-on-demand, paging, cordless answering machines, video game technology and sound synthesizers.

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So it is that the world of silicon chips divides itself into two camps: the all-purpose ones that power desktop computers, and the fast, specialized, cheap ones that run cellular phones, answering machines or car engines.

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That inspired me to try other new products, like the first wireless telephones, the first telephone answering machines, the first air purifiers, and eventually this led to a full color catalog of new technology products, and later, 200 retail stores.

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Henderson, who runs companies that have sued many of the largest technology companies over patents on everything from answering machines to video game technology, needed to convince patent officials that he had invented the device before another patent covering similar technology was granted.

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