Silicon Insider: Burning Questions

Sept. 4 -- Editor's Note: Summer comes to Silicon Valley and sends columnist and Forbes ASAP editor-at-large Michael Malone to fairer climes, putting his weekly commentaries on a brief hiatus. But don't fret fans. In the coming weeks, his colleagues offer up answers to intriguing questions about business, technology and whatever else strikes their fancy. Enjoy!

QUESTION: What was the one of the earliest inventions of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard?

An automatic urinal flusher.

QUESTION: What has proved to be the most inaccurate prediction in technology?

Without question, the prediction of a paperless office. According to the PaperCom Alliance, a nonprofit that studies the future of paper-based products, electronic communications actually increases paper use in virtually all market sectors. As a side note, the very upstarts that promised to take advantage of electronic efficiency, e-commerce companies, have consumed massive amounts of paper with their direct-mail, catalogs and print advertisements to build brand awareness.

QUESTION: What is the greatest product of the digital age?

You probably thought we'd say the Internet browser, and you'd be wrong. It's the Intel 8080 microprocessor. It wasn't the first microprocessor (that was the 4004) or even the first with eight bits (8008). But it was the first true single-chip microprocessor with a modern architecture still in use today. Without it, an Internet browser wouldn't be able to browse. And by the way, there are only 400 million people browsing the Internet, compared to 2 billion microprocessors.

Michael S. Malone, once called “the Boswell of Silicon Valley,” is editor-at-large of Forbes ASAP magazine. His work as the nation’s first daily high-tech reporter at the San Jose Mercury-News sparked the writing of his critically acclaimed The Big Score: The Billion Dollar Story of Silicon Valley, which went on to become a public TV series. He has written several other highly praised business books and a novel about Silicon Valley, where he was raised. For more, go to Forbes.com. And you can talk back to Silicon Insider via e-mail.