-
Tech News
Retrofuturistic Buildings of the Former Soviet Union For Comrade Jetson
Some of the more flamboyant architecture of the former Soviet Union had this strange mix of brutalism, gothicism, and googie. Looking at these buildings makes me wonder what a Soviet version of the Jetsons would’ve been like. Meet George Jetsonov… https://gizmodo.com/googie-architecture-of-the-space-age-512620908 https://gizmodo.com/five-crazy-buildings-that-were-actually-made-by-russian-1468557202
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Responding to this situation on a ‘medivac’ hopper, two other lunar base crew members employ a portable CAT-scan device, a holographic display, and helmet-mounted heads-up displays to determine the severity of the injury. – 1992 vision of future lunar missions [Illustration by Pat Rawlings for NASA]
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Editorial From 1925 Predicted Decline of Coal, Rise of Atomic Energy
Coal has been keeping our lights on and our houses warm for centuries. But coal’s inherent messiness — both in mining it and burning it — has always been a problem. So it’s no surprise that many people today advocate for cleaner alternatives. What may come as a surprise, however, is that some people were … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
It’s Probably Good GM’s Gas-Guzzling “Leisure-Mobile” Never Got Made
Illustrated by Richard Arbib in 1972, this enormous “leisure-mobile” of the future was called the GM Bonanza. It looks like it wouldn’t have done very well during the 1970’s oil crisis. Or at any time when fuel is more than $.03 per gallon, really. [Image scanned from the 2006 book Driving Through Futures Past.]
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
What I Bought With the Last $5 I’ll Ever Give Blockbuster
Last night I walked into my local Blockbuster and bought their “Next Register Please” sign. They were selling it for $5. The whole process felt like buying a corpse. Or, at the very least, a corpse’s cufflinks. As my wife and I stood in line to pay for the thing, we could overhear one of … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The “Highway of Light” That Guided Early Planes Across America
The dusty landscape of the American West is dotted with enormous concrete arrows. They look like cryptic messages from a primitive civilization — a civilization that was obsessed with westward expansion. And that assessment wouldn’t be altogether wrong. But these enormous arrows pointing west tell only part of the story. Because at the dawn of … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
This Week in Time Capsules: One Direction, Keggers, and Capsule Keepers
This week in our time capsule round-up, something the kids call “One Direction” (I’m guessing it’s a designer drug) finds its way into a new time capsule; a beer keg from 1988 is cracked open at the University of North Carolina; and some “Capsule Keepers” responsible for guarding a 400-year capsule look for a new … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The computer of tomorrow will be about the size of a cube of sugar. Science News magazine thinks we may be able to place the computer inside our hats. The computer would tell us what to do around the house and the office all day. – July 5, 1983 Anderson Daily Bulletin in Indiana
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
6 Predictions For the Coming Video Revolution (of 1986)
Remember 1986? My memories of the time are a bit hazy, since I was just three years old and all. But apparently, the poor saps of the mid-1980s didn’t even have streaming HD movies pouring through their internet tubes. The horror! The September 28, 1986 edition of the Doylestown Intelligencer in Pennsylvania published an article … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The Hindenburg Had a Smoking Room. Yes, That Hindenburg.
Did you know that the notoriously flammable Hindenburg airship had a smoking room? Passengers could only get to it through an airlock door. But yes, the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg had a special room where people could set sticks of tobacco on fire. (1937)
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
New York’s Futuristic Central Vacuum System That Never Was
New York City at the turn of the 20th century was a pretty pungent place. Piles of garbage, millions of people cooking food, and about 2.5 million pounds of horse manure emptied into the streets per day will do that to a city. And don’t forget the 420,000 gallons of horse urine flowing through the … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
The Trapped Generation: Like Millennials, But With Real Problems
Think Millennials got it bad? You Gen Xers feeling the financial pinch? How are you Baby Boomers getting along these days? Well, you’re all a bunch of whiners. Just be thankful you weren’t part of the Trapped Generation. The June 20, 1965 Independent Press-Telegram in Long Beach, California ran an article about just how miserable … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Back When We Wanted to Weaponize the Weather
Palm trees and lower heating bills in Chicago? Bikinis and orange blossoms in Duluth? Back in 1958 these miracles were the promise of tomorrow, thanks to the hot new science of weather control. And once we learned to harness these forces that were once thought beyond humankind’s reach, there was only one question left: would … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
This Comic Predicted the First Robot Suicide Over 40 Years Ago
The internet is abuzz with a Daily Mail report on the world’s first robot suicide. A family in Austria claims that after performing its daily duties, their Roomba robot somehow “reactivated itself” and met its demise on a hotplate. The sullen machine started a fire in their apartment and after burning for nearly an hour, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsDesign
I Want to Live Inside This 1960 Painting of a Monorail Station
This 1960 painting of a never-built monorail station is so beautiful, such an amazing example of sleek, midcentury design, that I really wish I could just step inside it and live there. Or, at the very least, blow it up as a giant photomural for my apartment like in Stardust Memories. Back during the planning … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
41 Century-Old Predictions for Our 21st Century Socialist Utopia
Mail via pneumatic tube? Weather control? A three-hour workday? These sound like futuristic predictions straight from the 1950s and ’60s. But proving yet again that there’s nothing new under the sun, these predictions are actually over a century old. And unlike the more libertarian-tinged versions of these ideas that would emerge after World War II, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
17 Better Ways to Waste Your Money Than On This Crowdfunded “Flying Car”
Every six months or so we hear that Paul Moller’s flying car is just a few years away! Too bad we’ve been hearing that for the past 40 years. Moller is back in the news this week after starting a crowdfunding campaign to get his flying car off the ground. But do not — I … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Incredibly Rare Jetsons Animation Art Goes Up For Auction
Most original artwork that went into making the original Jetsons TV series of just 24 episodes found its way to the trash heap. But if you’re dying to own some classic ’60s Jetsons art, now’s your chance. Animation cels from the original 1962-63 Jetsons TV show are incredibly rare. Why? Because the animators at Hanna-Barbera … Continued
By Matt Novak