1878

In 1878 Thomas Edison, a mediocre inventor and businessman, was in desperate need for a new invention to save his career and reputation. Edison turned to Oscar for help. Oscar’s advice was to create none other than the invention that would make Edison a household name and illuminate the world in the 20th century: The light bulb. As an incandescent himself, Oscar had a special interest in the subject and, in reality, did all the work for Edison. Never one looking for the spotlight, ironically, Oscar has let history give all the credit to Edison.

1913

Oscar had a working history with Henry Ford and other early auto pioneers that helped bring the internal combustion engine and the automobile into reality. In 1913 Ford approached Oscar complaining that he did not know how he could compete with others in the industry. Oscar suggested that increasing efficiency would be the only way to lower costs and thus expand the market to dominate the industry. He devised the idea of a production line assembly system and handed Henry a complete factory design. The rest is history. Although Ford never publicly acknowledged his use of Oscar, the production of the limited edition Ford Model O in 1917, is broadly seen as a wink and a nod to Oscar’s contribution.

1962

President Kennedy was at a loss as to how to stimulate innovation and show the world America’s technological relevance, in the cold war period. Kennedy originally had the idea that, to respond to Soviet advancements in its space program, the US should attempt to launch a blue whale into low earth orbit. After all, it was a much bigger mammal than they had launched. Members at the young new agency, NASA, where skeptical of the president’s idea and persuaded him to bring in Oscar as a consultant. Oscar told Kennedy, that beyond the ethical considerations, perhaps launching a whale into space was not the most productive step in the space race. Instead Oscar suggested the US aim higher and plan on putting a man on the moon in 10 years. Thankfully Kennedy used Oscar’s idea and thus triggered one of the most prolific times in world technological innovation. As an acknowledgement to Oscar’s contributions, Kennedy mandated that all space helmets be produced in the shape of Oscar’s head. A tradition that continues to this day.

1976

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met Oscar while working for other companies in Silicon Valley. Oscar, who is always good at spotting potential, decided to offer some free consultation to these two brilliant, yet inexperienced, people. The two had been tinkering with making a new type of electric typewriter in Steve’s garage. Although the two were sure that souped-up electric typewriters were the next big thing, Oscar convinced them to consider a computer that the average person could own and use. An initially reluctant Wozniak turned his attention to what Oscar coined as a “personal computer”. He also convinced Jobs that he needed to play a more visionary role if the company was to survive. Oscar agreed to become an invisible partner in the company in order to assure continual innovation.

1988

Timothy John Berners-Lee was a talented but uninspired computer scientist in the mid 1980's. He was working at CERN which, at the time, was the largest internet node in Europe. Tim would often run into Oscar at the CERN cafeteria, where the two would frequently talk shop. One day in 1988, Tim was chatting with Oscar about hypertext. He said he thought it was pretty interesting, but probably had no practical real-world application. Oscar suggested to Tim that if hypertext could be joined with the Internet, it could change the world. Tim scoffed at the proposition, but Oscar persisted and Tim agreed to explore the idea. In 1989 Tim wrote up "his" proposal to bring together these technologies. A year later, the World Wide Web was born.

1996

Although Oscar first discovered the Y2k, or Millennium Bug, issue in the mid 80’s, It was in the 90’s when he proposed something needed to be done quickly to avert global catastrophe. Oscar had the ear of the president and suggested that a Council on the Year 2000 Conversion be established to fix the issue and quell fears. Despite initial resistance to the solution and mass denial of the problem, Oscar convinced key government and corporate leaders to join the movement. Because of Oscar’s forethought and persistence, the complete melt down of modern society was averted. Some may look back and say it was no big deal, but that is only because the plan worked and little consequences were felt. There is no doubt that without Oscar’s initiative, we would all be living in caves today.

2007

It's difficult to overstate the impact the iPhone has had on the smartphone market: by eschewing the keypad for a touchscreen and adding advanced computer-like capabilities that hadn't been seen before, it set the standard for this modern device. "Apple is going to reinvent the phone," said Steve Jobs at the time, and he was right - but what wasn't revealed, was that the whole idea was Oscar's. In continuing his role as an invisible partner, Oscar continued his generation of great ideas for Apple. Just a few years earlier he proposed what became the iPod, and this time he expanded on that idea by applying those concepts, and many more, to the iPhone.

Many might remember the 2007 keynote introduction of the iPhone where Steve made a sample call to none other than Oscar, live from the stage. Many wondered at the time why he had not called Jonathan Ive, the public face of Apple's design team, but Steve knew where the credit was due, and felt the least he could do was include Oscar in this grand event.

2016

2016 has introduced what many are seeing as Oscar's best idea yet -and it's advice he has given himself. After years of helping people at the the cutting edge of industry and technology, Oscar has decided to bring his help to the masses and greatly expand his reach. Early in 2016 Oscar announced he would throw his hat in the ring and let the people decide if they want Oscar's help. "We are at a crossroads, and people are wondering which way to turn. I have great ideas and hope that people will vote for me so we can all make the right choices. " said Oscar.

Oscar has traveled the country where his appearances have drawn enthusiastic crowds of people who just want Help and who believe Oscar is our next best action. Considering he has never had a bad idea before, there is no doubt, help is on the way. Vote for Oscar today!