Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

Garco on Juke Box Jury (1954)

Garco the robot became Garco the music critic for the May 29, 1954 episode of Los Angeles TV’s Juke Box Jury. Hosted by Peter Potter, the show appeared on KNXT (now KCBS) and featured a panel of celebrity judges who would critique the latest music releases. On this particular episode Garco appeared with Ann Robinson,…

Tech News Matt Novak

A Trip Through Space for Boys and Girls (1954)

While flipping through the 1954 book A Trip Through Space I was struck by one aspect of the interstellar story that I’ve never noticed in a pre-Apollo book… a girl in space! Here at Paleofuture we’ve looked at quite a few books that told children of the 1950s and 60s about the wondrous world of…

Tech News Matt Novak

The Roads Not Taken

Readers of the Wall Street Journal may have noticed a familiar byline in the May 23rd edition of the newspaper. For their special report on the future of transportation I looked at retrofuturistic visions of how we’d get from Point A to Point B. It was a fun spread to put together and I’m only…

Tech News Matt Novak

Futuristic Products, After the War (1945)

American companies during World War II often stressed sacrifice in their print advertising. If we can all just be patient, they promised, we’ll have more televisions and personal helicopters and push-button kitchens than you can shake a rocket car at. After the war, the sun will power our homes. After the war, we’ll have plastic…

Tech News Matt Novak

Urban Airport of the Future (1926)

The fine people at Popular Mechanics recently published a book that deserves a prominent place on every retrofuturist’s bookshelf. The Wonderful Future That Never Was by Gregory Benford looks at technological predictions that appeared in the pages of Popular Mechanics from 1903 until 1969. The prediction below was an attempt to address what was seen…

Tech News Matt Novak

Push Button Lunch (1903)

This Professor Jyblitts cartoon from 1903 imagines an “automatic luncheon” similar to the automats that began popping up in the early 20th century. In newspaper articles of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s — not to mention the first issue of Paleofuture Magazine — we’ve seen quite a few interpretations of what efficient food of the…

Tech News Matt Novak

Government of the Future (1981)

Children of the 1980s were presented with two possible futures for government in the book World of Tomorrow: School, Work and Play. The first scenario is a nightmarish dystopia where governments track their citizens’ every move and computers are curtailing freedoms across the globe. The second possible future is a utopia nearly achieving some form…

Tech News Matt Novak

Fast Mail of To-morrow (1919)

Here at Paleofuture we often take a look at the most fantastical visions of the future: jetpacks, flying cars, meal pills, robot gigolos… More rarely do we look at understated depictions of the future in history, simply because they tend to appear quite ordinary to modern eyes. This illustration by Harry Grant Dart — a…

Tech News Matt Novak

Talking of Tomorrow (1962)

Talking of Tomorrow is a short animated film that was produced for Bell Labs and released in either 1960 or 1962. Directed by Jetsons writer Chuck Couch, the film tells the story of a business executive from the future who works for an “interspace engineering company.” This executive works in a soundproof room attached to…

Tech News Matt Novak

Construction Begins on the Space Needle (1961)

Fifty years ago today construction began on the Space Needle in Seattle. Just a year later, the 605 foot (185 meter) tower, which featured a revolving restaurant and observation deck, would be the crown jewel of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Dubbed the Century 21 Exposition, the Fair planners were eager to showcase American ingenuity…

Tech News Matt Novak

Giant Babies of the Future (1937)

Many people in the 20th century assumed that the average citizen of the 21st century would be taller. However, a smaller (and for our purposes admittedly more entertaining) contingent assumed that advances in chemistry would breed hilariously super-sized babies. Having tipped the scales at ten pounds and ten ounces when I was born, it may…

Tech News Matt Novak

Pet Horse of the Future (1905)

The dawn of the Automobile Age made a lot of people wonder what would come of the horse. In the year 1900 author John Elfreth Watkins even predicted the complete eradication of all animals, aside from the few that we might keep in zoos. Some thought a new era of machines would quickly make animal…

Tech News Matt Novak

Picnics on Mars in the Year 2012 (1962)

We’ve looked at a lot of the ways in which advertisers have positioned themselves as being in touch with “the future.” The future’s been used to advertise appliance stores, power companies, airlines, phone companies, aluminum, TVs, beer and refrigerators, refrigerators, refrigerators; pretty much any consumer product or service you can think of. By associating their…

Tech News Matt Novak

Tour the Birthplace of the Internet (Obscura Day 2011)

Do you live in Los Angeles? Join me April 9th at UCLA for Obscura Day! I’ll be hosting an event with Brad Fidler and Leonard Kleinrock in the room where the first Internet message was sent in 1969! Reserve your tickets today! Come be one of the very first to rediscover the room where the…

Tech News Matt Novak

Marriage 100 Years From Now (1933)

In the year 1933 physician Ira S. Wile made some wild predictions about what marriage would look like 100 years in the future. And although it’s not yet 2033, we can still be thankful that his predictions for our world just 22 years from now were wildly off the mark. Dr. Wile imagined a bureau…

Tech News Matt Novak

Paleofuture Magazine (Issue 1: Food)

The first issue of Paleofuture Magazine is now available for purchase! The print version will set you back $11.99 and includes a free PDF download that looks great on your futuristic computing machine. Or you can download the PDF version alone for just $1.99. Paleofuture Magazine’s first issue is all about food, with 42 pages…

Tech News Matt Novak

Ebert’s Art Film Revolution (1987)

OMNI magazine interviewed Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert about the future of movies for their June, 1987 issue. Ebert makes some bold and accurate predictions about how a revolution in the delivery and distribution of movies will open up the “art film” market, allowing people greater access to movies that may not make financial sense…

Tech News Matt Novak

Push Button Farm of the Year 2000 (1958)

This 1958 cartoon appeared in a magazine for college students studying agriculture at Kansas State. It depicts the farmer of the year 2000 tending ever so leisurely to his hyper-futuristic push-button farm. While it’s clearly tongue-in-cheek, none of the technologies depicted are that far off from very sincere predictions of that time. Weather control, radioactive…

Tech News Matt Novak

Lunar Crawlers (1964)

For the 1964 World’s Fair in New York General Motors hoped to create the same sense of wonder that it had achieved with its Futurama exhibit of the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Futurama II expanded upon the highways, cities and conveniences of tomorrow to include lunar and sea exploration. The photo above shows manned…

Tech News Matt Novak

Coming to America: Alpha the Robot Hops the Pond (1934)

February, 1934 Practical Mechanics (image: http://www.davidbuckley.net/) In 1932 American newspapers started publishing wildly exaggerated stories about a British robot named Alpha that allegedly blinked to life, rose to his feet, and shot his inventor. Some of the stories quoted the inventor, Harry May, as saying that he knew Alpha would turn against him one day.…

Tech News Matt Novak

Matt Novak

Garco on Juke Box Jury (1954)

A Trip Through Space for Boys and Girls (1954)

The Roads Not Taken

Futuristic Products, After the War (1945)

Urban Airport of the Future (1926)

Push Button Lunch (1903)

Government of the Future (1981)

Fast Mail of To-morrow (1919)

Talking of Tomorrow (1962)

Construction Begins on the Space Needle (1961)

Giant Babies of the Future (1937)

Pet Horse of the Future (1905)

Picnics on Mars in the Year 2012 (1962)

Tour the Birthplace of the Internet (Obscura Day 2011)

Marriage 100 Years From Now (1933)

Paleofuture Magazine (Issue 1: Food)

Ebert’s Art Film Revolution (1987)

Push Button Farm of the Year 2000 (1958)

Lunar Crawlers (1964)

Coming to America: Alpha the Robot Hops the Pond (1934)

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