Atari

Nolan Bushnell can boast of some notable achievements in his remarkable career. He helped start Atari and Chuck E. Cheese.  But almost as important: Atari famously hired the young Jobs in 1974, a time when the future Apple founder was in his heavy spiritual exploration phase, shaving his head, traveling to India. Not the button-down corporate type by any measure.  Eventually, Jobs would leave and start a little company called Apple. But he remained friends with Bushnell over the years.

  Join Times Dodgers blogger Steve Dilbeck and Angels writer Mike DiGiovanna at 11:30 a.m. to discuss the horrible start each team is off to. The Dodgers lost to Washington, 6-2, Monday night, and as Times writer Kevin Baxter wrote , "That ended a two-game winning streak and left the Dodgers winless in eight consecutive games against teams not from Miami. So with eight of their next 11 games against teams a combined 21 games over .500, things could get worse before they get better.

In the new West Los Angeles corporate offices of Atari Inc., the desks are mostly empty and the walls are mostly bare, but there's a red neon logo in the lobby that almost anyone would recognize. It's the perfect home for the once-leading video game company, which carries a name known around the world. The company is trying to rebuild itself after years of chaos, false starts and financial losses. Most people remember Atari for helping to create the video game business in the 1970s with titles such as Pong and Asteroids, as well as the first popular game consoles that let people play at home.

Now, if you promise you won't do this in front of your boss, I'll let you in on a nice video game secret today: Go to Google image search , type in "Atari Breakout," and, well, see what happens. Yes, that's right, now you can play the old arcade and Atari 2600 hit "Breakout" on your computer, with the Google images becoming the bricks you must destroy. This year is the 37th anniversary of the game, which has had many variations since its initial release, but there's still something magical in the original.

My experience over the years is that Nolan Bushnell, the guy who founded Atari  and once hired Steve Jobs, doesn't talk to the press much. So when the opportunity to talk to him came up, I jumped at it. "I basically look at PR as something you do if there's an object in mind," Bushnell said during a phone interview this week. "But my ego doesn't need it. " Fair enough. But Bushnell does have an object in mind. In fact, two of them.  The first is a documentary that's going to be airing on various PBS stations over the next few weeks called, "Something Ventured: Risk, Reward And The Original Venture Capitalists.

Now, if you promise you won't do this in front of your boss, I'll let you in on a nice video game secret today: Go to Google image search , type in "Atari Breakout," and, well, see what happens. Yes, that's right, now you can play the old arcade and Atari 2600 hit "Breakout" on your computer, with the Google images becoming the bricks you must destroy. This year is the 37th anniversary of the game, which has had many variations since its initial release, but there's still something magical in the original.

The home computer manufacturer's April withdrawal from the upcoming Summer Consumer Electronics Show had fanned speculation that the firm might be having difficulties getting its new "ST" computer to market. Sigmund Hartmann, president of the Atari software division, confirmed that Atari has rejoined the trade show and said that it has cleared FCC requirements to sell the product in the United States.

Officials at Atari Corp. said Monday that they worked with federal agents on a sting operation to seize 2,000 pirated video game machines and accessories from a Canoga Park importer, the first such seizure in the United States. The target of the operation was PSD Inc., which Atari officials said was raided by federal agents Dec. 8. Federal authorities were unavailable for comment.

In a landmark lawsuit settlement, Atari, once the nation's leading manufacturer of video games, has agreed to distribute more than $600,000 in back pay to about 500 former employees who lost their jobs in a massive layoff in 1983. The case stemmed from Atari's announcement on Feb. 22, 1983, that it was firing 1,700 California employees and moving most of its manufacturing to Hong Kong and Taiwan to lower production costs.

Atari, a personal computer and video game company that has struggled to persuade retailers to sell its products, has agreed to buy the Federated Group chain of consumer electronics stores for $67.3 million in cash. The acquisition would give Atari, which has been on the mend since being discarded by Warner Communications three years ago, the Federated retail network of about 65 stores in California, Arizona, Texas and Kansas.

Nolan Bushnell can boast of some notable achievements in his remarkable career. He helped start Atari and Chuck E. Cheese.  But almost as important: Atari famously hired the young Jobs in 1974, a time when the future Apple founder was in his heavy spiritual exploration phase, shaving his head, traveling to India. Not the button-down corporate type by any measure.  Eventually, Jobs would leave and start a little company called Apple. But he remained friends with Bushnell over the years.

NEW YORK -- Band of Outsiders creative director Scott Sternberg showed the label's fall 2013 women's collection Saturday during New York Fashion Week. Inspiration: "I was listening to early '40s Billie Holiday and sort of researching that era," Sternberg explained backstage after the show. "I was working on [a] men's Atari [collaboration] for the forthcoming holiday collection, and I didn't have any prints for my '40s collection, and somehow it seemed very logical to go to Atari for that.

Atari is now bankrupt in two countries. A day after its American unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection , Paris-based Atari S.A. on Monday took a similar measure under Book 6 of that country's commercial code. U.S.-based Atari Inc. contains most of the French parent company's operations and is actively seeking a buyer while under Chapter 11 in order to continue operating as a private entity. Atari S.A. did not make any indication about its future plans, though with few assets outside of its American subsidiary, it will quite possibly sell off parts of the company and dissolve.

The U.S. operations of iconic but long-troubled video game maker Atari have filed for bankruptcy in an effort to break free from their debt-laden French parent. Atari Inc. and three of its affiliates filed petitions for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York late Sunday. Its leaders hope to break the American business free from French parent Atari S.A. and in the next few months find a buyer to take the company private. They hope to grow a modest business focused on digital and mobile platforms, according to a knowledgeable person not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

My experience over the years is that Nolan Bushnell, the guy who founded Atari  and once hired Steve Jobs, doesn't talk to the press much. So when the opportunity to talk to him came up, I jumped at it. "I basically look at PR as something you do if there's an object in mind," Bushnell said during a phone interview this week. "But my ego doesn't need it. " Fair enough. But Bushnell does have an object in mind. In fact, two of them.  The first is a documentary that's going to be airing on various PBS stations over the next few weeks called, "Something Ventured: Risk, Reward And The Original Venture Capitalists.

About 15 minutes into a phone conversation regarding her new collection "Lixiviation: Ciani/Musica, Inc. 1969-1985," electronic music composer Suzanne Ciani tossed out a surprising musical factoid. In her youth as a busy session player in New York City, her mastery of early portable synthesizers resulted in as many as four gigs a day. It also landed her a guest spot on David Letterman's old daytime show and provided an opportunity to make the tones, moans and Vocoder-enhanced voice of Bally pinball's android seductress Xenon . But her best-known creation arrived when Ciani was hired by producer Phil Ramone in 1975 to craft an electronic sound effect for group called the Starland Vocal Band.

The gig: Creative director at Naughty Dog Studios in Santa Monica. That makes Hennig, 45, the person in charge of all creative decisions, including writing, casting and design, at the video game company, which is owned by Sony Computer Entertainment America. Her most recent game -- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, released in October -- has sold more than 2.5 million units worldwide and garnered 15 nominations for Interactive Achievement Awards, the video game industry's Oscars, the most of any title this year.

Edward Zuckerberg pulls his iPhone out of his jeans pocket and hits the familiar blue Facebook icon. He's eager to show off his latest effort to market his suburban dental practice. The man known as "Painless Dr. Z" is offering a free teeth bleaching kit to the first 10 patients who use their smartphones to tell their Facebook friends that they've stopped by his office. On the receptionist's desk, a blue sticker exhorts clients to "'Like' us on Facebook. " The effort has paid off. The dental practice has more than 1,100 fans.

In the new West Los Angeles corporate offices of Atari Inc., the desks are mostly empty and the walls are mostly bare, but there's a red neon logo in the lobby that almost anyone would recognize. It's the perfect home for the once-leading video game company, which carries a name known around the world. The company is trying to rebuild itself after years of chaos, false starts and financial losses. Most people remember Atari for helping to create the video game business in the 1970s with titles such as Pong and Asteroids, as well as the first popular game consoles that let people play at home.