Tickle Me Elmo Doll

Creativity provides spark for popular electronic toys

The end result might be fun, but designing electronic toys is anything but child’s play.

Ask Charles and Sally Albert, the husband and wife owners of San Carlos’ Creativity Inc.

They manage the complicated task of bringing together electrical engineers, programmers, sound engineers, musicians, voice actors, game designers and lots and lots of project managers who can create today’s digital playthings.

“We like to point out that most of the electronic toys we work on have more powerful processors than the equipment that put a man on the moon,” Charles Albert said.

His expertise as a musician and sound engineer ...

Eras die; new ones begin - LA Daily News

The Daily News entered the interactive age in the mid-1990s, with the launch of a website that enhanced its coverage of the San Fernando and neighboring valleys.

In addition to local news, the paper featured front-page stories about the tragic Oklahoma City bombing, the devastating equestrian accident that paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve and the stunning acquittal of O.J. Simpson.

This installment in the Daily News' Centennial series features excerpts of select stories from 1995-96:

Family adds 5 bundles of joy

Fate dealt Marcella Quezada a rare hand Thursday, as she gave birth to a full house - three girls and two boys.

The quintuplets were born 7-1/2-weeks premature, but healthy.

The 26-year-old West Hills woman, who had taken fertility medication, was resting Thursday evening at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills -- and husband Ramon Quezada, a restaurant cook, said he was ready for the challenge with help from the couple's families. (Feb. 10, 1995)

Suspect seen as lonely man who craved recognition of skill

Federal agents know him as "Condor," a hacker who eluded authorities for years and whose exploits, they say, poked holes in the electronic safeguards around the world's largest computer networks.

But Harriet Rosetto knows him as Kevin D. Mitnick, an alienated man from Calabasas whose sole connection to the world was tied to the tricks he played at a computer keyboard ... Over the years, Mitnick, 31, has been convicted of stealing things other criminals might have left behind: telephone company manuals, software, security programs and telephone codes. (Feb. 16, 1995)

LAPD rookie, 59, turns in badge after 4 months

Less than four months after hitting the streets as the LAPD's oldest-ever rookie, Edward Olivares has quietly turned in his service pistol and badge.

"I did my best. I took my best shot at it and put my best effort and then some," said Olivares, who joined the Los Angeles Police Department at age 59 after a 30-year career in aerospace and training at the famed Cordon Bleu cooking school. (March 7, 1995)

Thieves laying waste to recycling program

They come mostly at night, slipping quietly through residential neighborhoods to scavenge from yellow recycling bins and turn trash into cash before the city of Los Angeles can do it ... Scavengers, many of whom work in motorized fleets, are draining an estimated $25,000 a month away from the city in recycling earnings and, in some instances, have turned to violence to protect their turf.

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Age of propaganda, the everyday use and abuse of persuasion