Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

Vitamins and Exercise to Replace Girdles by 2007 (1957)

The June 26, 1957 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner ran an article titled, “Vitamins and Exercise Will Replace Girdles in 50 Years, Says Designer.” An excerpt appears below, while the article in its entirety can be read at right. The corset people are in a dither because a fashion designer says the woman of the future won’t…

Tech News Matt Novak

Tommy Edison Builds Secretary Knox a Robot (1909)

The only thing I might love more than robots of the 1920s and 30s are robots from before the word “robot” was coined in 1922. Now, I won’t pretend to understand what’s going on in this illustration. Like most editorial cartoons that I stumble upon while searching newspaper archives, I have no idea what’s happening…

Tech News Matt Novak

The Streamlined Car of 1960 (1948)

Popular Science produced short films in the 1940s and 50s that showcased technology of the near and distant future. This short was released theatrically on May 21, 1948 and featured “streamlined marvels on wheels.” The narrator cheerfully proclaims of the second car (pictured above), “If you’re looking for a 1960 model, this may well be…

Tech News Matt Novak

Follow-The-Sun House (1959)

Today we have yet another panel from Arthur Radebaugh’s excellent Closer Than We Think series of comic strips. Though the strip often ran on Sunday, the more eagle-eyed amongst you (read: nerdy) may notice that this particular strip was published in the Toronto Star Weekly on Saturday, May 2, 1959. Before alternative energy policy became…

Tech News Matt Novak

Dr. Smith’s Flying Machine (1896)

The September 1, 1896 San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA) ran this image of inventor Dr. C. A. Smith’s flying machine. Apparently Smith had a model of his airship propped up on two stools in a shop on Market Street in San Francisco. The functional version of the machine was to be 105 feet in…

Tech News Matt Novak

Robert McCall (1920-2010)

With Robert McCall‘s recent death at the age of 90 it seems fitting we take a look at the artist’s statement he wrote for his 1981 show at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, A Vision of the Future: The Art of Robert McCall. You’ll notice that he uses the word “artist” quite often. Apparently…

Tech News Matt Novak

Sport in the Year 2000 (1986)

The March, 1986 issue of Omni magazine featured a quiz readers could take to test their knowledge of what sports would be like in the year 2000 and beyond. The thing I find funny about this was that the “correct” answers were determined by one man, Peter Ueberroth, the commissioner of Major League Baseball. While…

Tech News Matt Novak

Private Planes of the Future (1944)

The July, 1944 issue of Popular Science contains this private plane of the future, as imagined by Douglas Rolfe. Previously on Paleo-Future: Personal Helicopter (1943) Torpedo Boat of Tomorrow (1943) Passenger Air Travel (1945) Gryoscopic Rocket Car (1945) Commuter Helicopter (1947) Word Origins: Imagineering (1940s)

Tech News Matt Novak

Until the Millennium! (1930)

The November 24, 1930 Jefferson City Post-Tribune (Jefferson City, MO) ran this advertisement for an insurance company which assured readers that there would be no need for their services in the future. But until that day comes — when traffic officers have nothing to do but knit, the flaws of human nature have vanished and…

Tech News Matt Novak

Strange Ships That Sail In The Skies (1897)

The May 9, 1897 St. Paul Globe (St. Paul, MN) ran an interesting article titled, “Strange Ships That Sail In The Skies.” The article describes proposed flying vessels of the future, as well as newspapers around the United States that had were printing questionable accounts of flying machines already in use. Many of the illustrations…

Tech News Matt Novak

Lunar Colonies of the Future (1969)

The May, 1969 issue of Science Journal features an article by Dr. Rodney Wendell Johnson about lunar colonies of the future. Dr. Johnson was the Advanced Planner for NASA’s Advanced Manned Mission Program Office. The illustrations by Roy G. Scarfo that accompany the article are pretty amazing. (Please excuse the semi-blurred scans. The magazine is…

Tech News Matt Novak

Disaster Response Vehicle (1960)

The September 11, 1960 edition of Arthur Radebaugh’s Closer Than We Think envisioned a type of disaster response vehicle that could seemingly accomplish many of the things people still complain about whenever governments respond to crises. With a decimated infrastructure those “terra tires” (crushing cars, mind you) would certainly come in handy. It’s interesting that…

Tech News Matt Novak

Science on the March (1952)

This illustration by Alexander Leydenfrost appeared in the fiftieth anniversary issue of Popular Mechanics (January, 1952). It depicts “science on the march” and even includes a chart explaining the various elements of the image. This post originally appeared at Paleofuture.com.

Tech News Matt Novak

Another Frigidaire Space Age Advance (1966)

Last month we looked at this photo in a book of 1960’s advertisements. It’s not immediately clear what women in space helmets have to do with refrigerators, but like we’ve discussed, positioning a product as “futuristic” means that as a consumer you’re able to “buy tomorrow.” Own a piece of the future… with our widget.…

Tech News Matt Novak

Flying Machines Allow Your Lover a Quick Escape (1901)

It doesn’t get much better than saucy French futurism, does it? These illustrations of futuristic flying machines from 1901 are quite similar to both the German and French personal flying machines we’ve looked at from this era. I find the electric lights adorning her hat and dress quite beautiful. Early electric light and the way…

Tech News Matt Novak

Travel to Nearby Stars (1963)

As you might recall, the booklet 2063 A.D. was sealed in the General Dynamics time capsule in 1963 and contains predictions about what advancements we will see in space by the year 2063. Today we have the (rather succinct) predictions of Dr. William H. Pickering, President of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: My…

Tech News Matt Novak

The Super-Safe World of 2002 (1981)

The 1981 children’s book World of Tomorrow: School, Work and Play accurately predicted the rise of debit cards, but may have overstated how much safer we would be in the futuristic world of 2002. The phrase, “in tomorrow’s world computers will be able to guard over us,” might seem humorous, given our current fears about…

Tech News Matt Novak

Robots Will Kill Music! (1930)

With every important technological innovation a vocal group of people become alarmed that their industry will be adversely effected by it. People are understandably terrified when it seems like a new technology will put them out of a job. However, throughout the twentieth century, we’ve seen that the people who succeed in times of transition…

Tech News Matt Novak

Rastus Robot, the Mechanical Negro (1931)

I love humanoid robots from the 1920s and 30s. They were going to fight our wars, drive our cars, and be gigolos for lonely women. In the early 1930s Westinghouse created a robot named Rastus, the “mechanical Negro.” And what was Rastus going to do? Nearly take an arrow to the eye, it would seem.…

Tech News Matt Novak

Enjoy Your Privacy; It’ll Be Gone In A Few Years (1967)

The August 17, 1967 Salina Journal (Salina, KS) ran a headline that caught my eye: “Enjoy Your Privacy; It’ll Be Gone In a Few Years.” Someone from the year 2010 might look at this headline and expect to read an article with rather prescient predictions of how a vast network of computers might allow for…

Privacy & Security Matt Novak

Matt Novak

Vitamins and Exercise to Replace Girdles by 2007 (1957)

Tommy Edison Builds Secretary Knox a Robot (1909)

The Streamlined Car of 1960 (1948)

Follow-The-Sun House (1959)

Dr. Smith’s Flying Machine (1896)

Robert McCall (1920-2010)

Sport in the Year 2000 (1986)

Private Planes of the Future (1944)

Until the Millennium! (1930)

Strange Ships That Sail In The Skies (1897)

Lunar Colonies of the Future (1969)

Disaster Response Vehicle (1960)

Science on the March (1952)

Another Frigidaire Space Age Advance (1966)

Flying Machines Allow Your Lover a Quick Escape (1901)

Travel to Nearby Stars (1963)

The Super-Safe World of 2002 (1981)

Robots Will Kill Music! (1930)

Rastus Robot, the Mechanical Negro (1931)

Enjoy Your Privacy; It’ll Be Gone In A Few Years (1967)

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