4 replies to this topic

[mr-happy-pants]

I recently perused an old copy of The Australasian Post
March 2nd 1950

5 years after WWII; before headphones & iPhones were even in Science Fiction.

Today's cover picture...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]40496[/ATTACH]

"Beach radios have gone to Americas head - but it's all in the good casue of family harmony.
The radios are installed in helmets, each of which has its own aerial.
Now, all can listen to that favourite programme without interfering with the other's pleasure"

What articles 'before computers' have you got?

Graham

Edited by mr-happy-pants, 27 January 2012 - 03:18 PM.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

It'll take me awhile to locate it, but I read an old issue of Radio TV & Hobbies (which later became Electronics Australia) a few years back.

The date was 1948.
In the 'Newsbriefs' section.

The words went (to paraphrase):

Bell Laboratories have annouced the development of a new amplifying device. Gain figures are low, operating powers are very low and opertating Voltages are limited. We can see some use for this new device in the area of portable radios and the like. Other than that, it is unlikely to be all that much use. Bell Labs have named the device the Transfer Resistor (later called Transistor).

[caddisgeek]

I had a Better Homes and Gardens from the early 60's which had an article on the home of the future, in this they talked about a "electronic command centre", from where the man of the house could do the banking and the little lady could do the shopping and send correspondence. The article also described gaming consoles and a whole bunch of other stuf I dont recall, but which blew my mind

[mr-happy-pants]

You realise a picture tells a thousand words!?
Well, it certainly helps put this stuff in context.

I look forward to the pics...

Graham

[Ralph]

I have a 1935 encyclopaedia with a 12(!) page entry on Broadcasting.
In it are these gems:

"The future will see technological improvements, making a set which ... will be able to be operated by quite unskilled persons".

"The wire is the engineer's solution to the problems inherent in a wireless distribution technique. But rural areas will continue to be served by wireless, and one foresees the use of a relatively few very powerful long-wave stations for this purpose."

"Television may come, but probably more in terms of expensive wire circuits than by wire"

Some things haven't changed -
"American broadcasting is run basically as a means to advertise commercial products of all kinds"

RalphH