Modern computerisation projects, in contrast, tend to have far more in common with Babbage's ill-fated attempt to build a mechanical computer, which cost a fortune and was eventually abandoned.
Aspiring to become a successful tech business CEO, she is switching from chemical and mechanical engineering to computer science.
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The report also found that communication majors had a lower unemployment rate than mechanical engineers and computer science majors.
What was once chemical and mechanical is now electronic and computer-rendered: a series of JPEGs being riffled through a drive.
An airline official said it was not a mechanical problem, but a computer error on the electric brake system controls.
That suggests that, even had Babbage succeeded, a Victorian computer revolution based on mechanical technology would not necessarily have followed.
In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that software was, indeed, patentable, but only in the context of some mechanical entity, whether it be a steel plant, a computer system or even (unbelievably) a CD-ROM disc.
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This has led to a resurgence in the popularity of higher-quality mechanical keyboards, which were commonplace in the early days of the computer industry.
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And there are fewer mechanical parts to go wrong, and less open ports to trap dust inside your new portable computer.
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Research by Panos Ipeirotis, a computer expert at the Stern School of Business at New York University, estimates that Mechanical Turk alone engages 500, 000 active workers in more than 100 countries, with workers heavily concentrated in two countries: the United States (with 50 percent of the total) and India (with 40 percent).
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After graduating from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering, Cheah added a business management certificate from Stanford, and then worked for a series of electronics and computer companies including Sun Microsystems in California.
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