2000 iPhone Incites Exact Same Reactions as 2008 iPhone (7)
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Jesus Diaz (740)
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Thanks, Google, for putting up your 2001 search index because otherwise we wouldn't have found the true iPhone, a forgotten gem from the last century. Back then it wasn't made by Apple, but with its 56K Built-In Modem, high resolution display, QWERTY keyboard and 800-entry address book, it got a Best of CES award and provoked exactly the same reactions from haters and fanboys all over the world: functional and inexpensive by imagesbyamy, May 08 ...
Retromodo: Old Microsoft Ads Were Just As Odd As New Ones [Microsoft Ads] (3)
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Kit Eaton (285)
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Do a quick trawl through Microsoft advertising history and you find something interesting: as weird as the Gates/Seinfeld comedy duo Microsoft ads are—weird enough to get them set aside for the "I'm a PC" campaign—they're just following in the footsteps of earlier ads. Check out this one, dubbed "Soar," for Windows XP: what does it tell you about the software's capability? Not much. But the Madonna sound track isn't too shabby, and apparently using Windows ...
Giant Polaroid Flipbook Machine Holds 987 'Roids, Plays Your Short Film [Nickelodeon, Updated] (2)
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John Mahoney (418)
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Can it get any more adorably indie than a short film portrayed on 987 Polaroids that display flipbook-style on a giant drum inside a machine called the "Process Enacted Mutoscope"? I'm thinking no. The rig is pretty cool, though—letting you control the speed of playback frame-by-frame, as you can see in the video that follows. The obvious genre for films using the ol' Mutoscope, though, should be "Victorian Softcore." [The Chase Factory via Wooster Collective ...
Blackberry Design Evolution: O How Far We've Come? [Retromodo] (11)
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For any med students who coveted the original BlackBerry pager back in '98 almost as much as they can't wait for the Bold to drop on AT&T, CRN's evolution of the BlackBerry will bring joy to your heart. Within which we realize that RIM actually hasn't evolved their drug-metaphor-laden email device all that much. See, there's the legendary scroll wheel right there on the side of the Inter@ctive Pager 950, for instance, which is basically ...
Purchase Classical Works of Art, As Dreamt by a Young Steve Jobs [Retromodo] (5)
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John Herrman (307)
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Regulars might remember Adam's similar Photoshop contest a few weeks ago, but these amazing oil-on-canvas paintings were lovingly adorned with Macintosh SEs for a Sweden-only ad campaign all the way back in 1987. Erik Saxen produced these original works (inspired by a number of famous artists) for Apple's marketing, but is now seeking a (weird) collector to take them off his hands. Sure, they're masterfully painted, but more interestingly come from a time when Apple, ...
Firefighting Sprinkler Suit From 1931 (1)
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Back in 1931 Modern Mechanix magazine ran an article about an invention used by German firefighters to protect themselves from being engulfed in flames. The simple device consisted of a helmet with a built-in sprinkler system that connects with a nozzle on the hose. Using a hand lever, the firefighter could control the amount of spray needed for a given situation. Clever—but it seems that fighting a fire in something that looks like an old-timey ...
Firefighting Sprinkler Suit From 1931 [Retromodo] (2)
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Back in 1931 Modern Mechanix magazine ran an article about an invention used by German firefighters to protect themselves from being engulfed in flames. The simple device consisted of a helmet with a built-in sprinkler system that connects with a nozzle on the hose. Using a hand lever, the firefighter could control the amount of spray needed for a given situation. Clever—but it seems that fighting a fire in something that looks like an old-timey ...
Drawings of Early Microscopes Show Artistry in the Pursuit of Science [Retromodo] (3)
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Elaine Chow (391)
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Ah, where would science be if not for the contributions of the humble microscope? Did you know that the development of the world's first microscope began in 11th century Iraq, when scientist and polymath Ibn al-Haytham recorded all sorts of data about lenses, binocular vision, mirrors and observable properties of light his The Book of Optics? That would make this pioneering technology more than a thousand years old. BibliOdyssey has amassed a great collection of ...
Retromodo: Czech Photographers Cameras Made From Trash Still Capture Pretty Ladies Just Fine (17)
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No, this isn't an alternate Waterworld costume for Dennis Hopper—it's Miroslav Tichy, posing with one of his amazing trash cams, which he fabricated from paper towel tubes, thread spools, rubber bands and other bits of detritus and has used since the 1950s. Now in his 80s, Tichy and his works have only recently (as far as the art world goes) been discovered. And like all good photographers, he trained his intentionally imperfect camera rigs on ...
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Jordan said:
Crazy camera. The shots are kinda NSFW if, well, whatever. I know you'll look anyway, so you'll see.
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Matt said:
Dude this is absolutely amazing stuff -- DIY taken to the extreme.
Cigarette Umbrella Keeps Tobacco Torch Dry [Retromodo] (9)
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Mark Wilson (1155)
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If there were only a market for such intricate and fantastical smoking devices, maybe even I could become a Marlboro man. Who knew my smoking habits would so closely mirror those of English clowns from the 1930s? [Modern Mechanix via boingboing]
Czech Photographer's Cameras Made From Trash Still Capture Pretty Ladies Just Fine [Retromodo] (1)
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No, this isn't an alternate Waterworld costume for Dennis Hopper—it's Miroslav Tichy, posing with one of his amazing trash cams, which he fabricated from paper towel tubes, thread spools, rubber bands and other bits of detritus and has used since the 1950s. Now in his 80s, Tichy and his works have only recently (as far as the art world goes) been discovered. And like all good photographers, he trained his intentionally imperfect camera rigs on ...
CAT5 Wedding Bands Pronounce You Geek and Geek [Retromodo] (1)
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Chris Magor (0)
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Here's something from 2004 worth bringing up again as it circulates the blogs. I am guessing that wedding bands featuring male and female 8P8C Ethernet connectors have a somewhat limited demand. I mean, sure I have met geeks that would be right into this, but never a pair of them, though the fact that they are sold out tells me that they do exist. For those that do want to confirm their geekiness and love ...
RCA's 1969 Two Thousand TV Was Computerized Vision of Future, for $2,000 [Retromodo] (3)
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Back in 1969 RCA made an attempt at a high-end TV that was a vision of the sets of the year 2000. The Two Thousand was even made in a limited run of 2,000 and cost $2,000. That's around $12,000 in today's money, but for that price you got a 23-inch Hi-Lite tube that had "such a vivid, detailed picture" you could "even watch it in a brightly-lit room." There were even "computer-like "memory circuits" ...
RCA's 1969 Two Thousand TV Was Computerized Vision of Future, for $2,000 [Retromodo] (1)
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Back in 1969 RCA made an attempt at a high-end TV that was a vision of the sets of the year 2000. The Two Thousand was even made in a limited run of 2,000 and cost $2,000. That's around $12,000 in today's money, but for that price you got a 23-inch Hi-Lite tube that had "such a vivid, detailed picture" you could "even watch it in a brightly-lit room." There were even "computer-like "memory circuits" ...
Tattoo? Symbiote? What the Hell is That Thing On Olympian Kerri Walsh's Shoulder? [Retromodo] (33)
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For the longest time I thought the black sinewy thing on Olympic beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh's shoulder was either a confused Alien face sucker, a horny spider, a bad tattoo decision (a la Mike Tyson), or all of the above. Turns out I was way off, and it's actually Kinesio athletic tape from a company in Albequerque. And upon further inspection, the hype surrounding the $15 tape appears justified, and goes way beyond helping ...
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Adam said:
Tape or not, looks pretty cool.
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Tim said:
Beerlympics 2009 costume
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jon|k said:
so *that's* what it is!
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beggs said:
Great quote: "For the longest time I thought the black sinewy thing on Olympic beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh's shoulder was either a confused Alien face sucker, a horny spider, a bad tattoo decision (a la Mike Tyson), or all of the above."
Tattoo? Symbiote? What the Hell is That Thing On Olympian Kerri Walsh's Shoulder? [Retromodo] (2)
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Jack Loftus (292)
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For the longest time I thought the black sinewy thing on Olympic beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh's shoulder was either a confused Alien face sucker, a horny spider, a bad tattoo decision (a la Mike Tyson), or all of the above. Turns out I was way off, and it's actually Kinesio athletic tape from a company in Albuquerque. And upon further inspection, the hype surrounding the $15 tape appears justified, and goes way beyond helping ...
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Tim said:
Beerlympics 2009 costume
Abandoned NASA Trailer Found Roadside, Full of Retro NASA Awesomeness [Retromodo] (27)
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Since it came about in the 1930s as the Army's rocket research lab, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been a part of just about every major unmanned U.S. space mission to date. JPL also has a somewhat surprising history of running major missions out of modular trailers scattered around their Pasadena HQ, which are packed with all of the stuff you need to, oh, I don't know, monitor a spacecraft on its way to Mars. ...
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Aaron H. said:
Holy cow that is cool.
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Daniel said:
Vilken typografi på trailern. Vackert!
Gallery of 101 Vintage Computer Ads [Retromodo] (11)
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Sure, some of us remember using the Commodore 64, but do any of us recall what the ads for it were like? Boingboing has aggregated a wonderful collection of 101 classic computer advertisements by everyone from AT&T (yeah, I forgot they tried their hand in making PCs too) to Texas Instruments. Aah, to be back in a world where everything fit inside a bulky keyboard and displays were monochromatic. [Boing boing]
Mindblowing Fireworks Celebrate Olympic Games and 08/08/08 [Today In Tech History] (1)
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Jesus Diaz (740)
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Today is August 8, 2008: 8/8/8. A special day in history because of many reasons, starting with today's opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. I've been watching the ceremony live all morning here in Sweden, and it has been truly amazing at moments, like when the whole city lighted up with the biggest display of fireworks I've ever seen. And apart from the fact that the date itself looks cool (it ...
Retromodo: 'Sun Lamp Held In Hand Brands Babies' [Gadgets] (3)
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Jason Chen (312)
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Modern Mechanix found this 1938 issue of Popular Science with a really, really fun baby branding gadget designed to make sure hospital mixups were a thing of the past. Did it work? Oh, I'm sure it did. Did it eliminate hospital baby mixups? No, because somebody somewhere along the line though it was a bad idea. We say bring this back! I don't want to raise some dirty stranger's baby for five years before I ...
