Qualcomm founder loses laptop computer full of secrets SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The laptop computer of the founder of Qualcomm disappeared Saturday, putting the secrets of the San Diego-based wireless technology giant at risk. Irwin Jacobs said "everything" was on the IBM ThinkPad PC that vanished minutes after he spoke at a conference of business journalists in Irvine. The $3,700 computer held e-mail dating back years, financial statements and even personal mementos, he told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"Wherever I go, it goes," said Jacobs, Qualcomm's chairman and chief executive officer. "It's been around the world with me a couple of times."

About 100 members of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers heard Jacobs' speech, during which he used his laptop to give a visual presentation.

He turned off the computer and left it on a lectern when about 10 journalists clustered around him immediately after the talk. He said he was never more than a few feet away from the laptop, but it was gone when he turned to pick it up.

-- Doomzies-Be-Them (DoomzieDeBunking@TB2000uNCola.com), September 17, 2000