Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

Sports Fans of the Year 2000 (1967)

The August 20, 1967 Progress-Index (Petersburg, VA) ran a piece titled, “Hard Times Facing Joe Fan,” about the overcrowding of sports stadiums that was sure to come with exponential population growth. My favorite quote of the article comes from the only source, real estate developer Joseph Timan: “With unprecedented leisure time on their hands, millions…

Tech News Matt Novak

Animals Must ‘Pay Their Way’ (1926)

It is astonishing how many predictions of the early 20th century assumed animals (that is, all animals) would eventually be extinct simply because they were not needed by humans. A piece by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. in the December, 1900 Ladies Home Journal predicted that there would be, “no wild animals except in menageries.” The…

Tech News Matt Novak

‘Brain Wave’ Music Possible (1949)

The August 28, 1949 San Antonio Light (San Antonio, TX) ran this article and cartoon about the “brain wave” music of the future. The piece quotes heavily from electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott. CHICAGO, Aug. 27 – (AP) – Some day composers won’t write music, and musicians won’t play it – yet fans will enjoy…

Tech News Matt Novak

Bucky Fuller’s Dymaxion Car on Display

From the June 15, 2008 New York Times: Buckminster Fuller’s 1933 Dymaxion, a streamlined pod on three wheels, is one of the lovable oddballs in automotive history. Three were built, fawned over by the media and by celebrities, but the car pretty much disappeared after one crashed, killing the driver. Other streamlined designs have followed…

Tech News Matt Novak

Torpedo Boat of Tomorrow (1943)

This Alex Tremulis-designed torpedo boat of the future appeared in the January 20, 1943 issue of Yank – The Army Weekly (New York, NY). His design for a personal helicopter of the future was from that same year. See also: Future War Tank (1939) Will War Drive Civilization Underground? (1942) Nazi Paleo-Futurism (1941) Word Origins:…

Tech News Matt Novak

Shopper Hoppers (1959)

The August 2, 1959 Chicago Tribune ran this Closer Than We Think strip about personal flying platforms of the future. It’s in an image like this that I realize how fundamentally different our world would be had the flying car ever become a reality. You just can’t beat an “over the rooftops” perspective. A kind…

Tech News Matt Novak

Wernher von Braun’s Blueprint for Space (1950s)

This clip from the DVD History of Spaceflight outlines Wernher von Braun’s vision for the colonization of space. Be sure to check out footage of von Braun from the rarely seen film Challenge of Outer Space. See also:Wernher von Braun’s Space Shuttle (1950s)Challenge of Outer Space (circa 1950s)Man and the Moon (1955)

Tech News Matt Novak

Border Surveillance of 1990 (1977)

The November 26, 1977 Tucson Citizen (Tucson, AZ) imagined the border and facility surveillance technology of 1990. Special sensors designed to look like rocks, plants and other natural objects could be seeded along borders, and transmit via satellite the sounds of voices, footsteps and vehicles of potential illegal aliens and smugglers. See also: The Road…

Tech News Matt Novak

Is This a Real Picturephone? (1939)

This (most likely doctored) photo of a picturephone in 1939 or 1940 is featured in the book Exit to Tomorrow: World’s Fair Architecture, Design, Fashion 1933-2005. The weird thing is that I haven’t been able to verify the authenticity of this photo outside of this book. In fact, it is rare to find mention of…

Tech News Matt Novak

Final Date of the Earth: August 18, 1999 (1973)

I don’t know whether Criswell believed his own predictions or not. I only know that he was wrong. A lot. An excerpt from the January 11, 1973 Oakland Tribune (Oakland, CA) containing Criswell’s prediction for our last day on Earth appears below. His rubicund countenance aglow with camaraderie, Criswell said the predictions in [his book]…

Tech News Matt Novak

Bubble-Top Car (1948)

Leo Rackow’s 1948 illustration of a bubble-top car of the future appears above. Its sleek, uber-streamlined design can be found in the book Out of Time by Norman Brosterman. You may observe that there doesn’t appear to be cord coming from the driver’s phone. Is Mr. Future just listening to the ocean inside that handset?…

Tech News Matt Novak

Official Guide Book: 1939 World’s Fair

The motto of the 1939 New York World’s Fair was, “Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms.” And you wonder why 1930’s America was afraid of automation! It was practically the theme of the ’39 Fair that Man would adhere to the will of whatever Science and Industry dictated. An international fear of robots in the…

Tech News Matt Novak

The Technotopia of 2000 (1962)

In 1962 the French weekly l’Express postulated about a technologically advanced utopia in the year 2000. By the year 2000 all food will be completely synthetic. Agriculture and fisheries will have become superfluous. The world’s population will by then have increased fourfold but will have stabilized. Sea water and ordinary rocks will yield all the…

Tech News Matt Novak

“Modern Inventions” Production Art (1937)

Jeff over at 2719 Hyperion has some amazing production art from the 1937 Donald Duck short film Modern Inventions, including this sketch of our one-eyed robot butler. A clip from the short appears below. The entire short can be found on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD set The Chronological Donald, Volume One. See also:Donald Duck’s…

Tech News Matt Novak

Buck Rogers Rocket Ship (1934)

This 1934 Buck Rogers rocket ship toy appears in the book Ray Gun by Eugene W. Metcalf and Frank Maresca. The photography is by Charles Bechtold. See also: Ray Gun book (1999) Jet Flying Belt is Devised to Carry Man for Miles (New York Times, 1968)

Tech News Matt Novak

Moon Tourism (1988)

This image of “moon tourists [discovering] the pleasures of this Moon beach,” is from the 1988 book The Earth’s Moon (Isaac Asimov’s Library of the Universe). Imagine seas on a terraformed Moon! By creating an atmosphere on the Moon, we could capture sunlight and turn the Moon into a celestial tourist trap. This would be…

Tech News Matt Novak

A Glimpse Into 2056 (1956)

The March 10, 1956 Ames Daily Tribune (Ames, IA) ran this story about a local play called Futurama 2056. The entire piece appears below. Food in capsules, clothes you can throw away – these are a few of the features of the future to be seen in the play, “Futurama 2056,” which will be presented…

Tech News Matt Novak

Luggage Blowers (1961)

Given the recent American Airlines decision to charge for your first checked bag, it seemed appropriate to look at this Closer Than We Think strip from the February 12, 1961 Chicago Tribune. I fly out on US Airways tomorrow morning and would much rather be paying the extra 15 bucks. Luggage Blowers As our airliners…

Tech News Matt Novak

Apocalypse Soon (1980)

The March 5, 1980 Daily Press (Escanaba, MI) ran a piece about prophecies of the apocalypse. An excerpt appears below. Billy Graham, since the beginning of his evangelistic ministry, has been telling his followers that the Second Coming is near, although he no longer pinpoints the date as he did in 1950. “We may have…

Tech News Matt Novak

Movies to be Produced in Every Home (1925)

The September 5, 1925 Charleston Gazette (Charleston, WV) ran an article titled, “Expect Movies to be Produced in Every Home,” in which Cecil B. DeMille predicts not only home movies of the future, but the rise of the amateur filmmaker as a force in the film industry. Alongside D.W. Griffith’s 1923 prediction of future private…

Tech News Matt Novak

Matt Novak

Sports Fans of the Year 2000 (1967)

Animals Must ‘Pay Their Way’ (1926)

‘Brain Wave’ Music Possible (1949)

Bucky Fuller’s Dymaxion Car on Display

Torpedo Boat of Tomorrow (1943)

Shopper Hoppers (1959)

Wernher von Braun’s Blueprint for Space (1950s)

Border Surveillance of 1990 (1977)

Is This a Real Picturephone? (1939)

Final Date of the Earth: August 18, 1999 (1973)

Bubble-Top Car (1948)

Official Guide Book: 1939 World’s Fair

The Technotopia of 2000 (1962)

“Modern Inventions” Production Art (1937)

Buck Rogers Rocket Ship (1934)

Moon Tourism (1988)

A Glimpse Into 2056 (1956)

Luggage Blowers (1961)

Apocalypse Soon (1980)

Movies to be Produced in Every Home (1925)

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