Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

Tomorrow’s TV-Phone (1956)

The November 23, 1956 Pasadena Star-News (Pasadena, CA) ran this picture of the “TV-Phone” of the future. If I’m not mistaken, that looks like Dick Clark on the screen. The phone of the future will fit in the palm of the hand and enable a caller to hear and see the other party in color…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 10

GTE’s Classroom of the Future (1987)

GTE’s 1987 concept video Classroom of the Future envisions a bright future for voice synthesis, speech recognition and insanely small monitors. Will’s acting career, however, holds less promise. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 This post originally appeared at Paleofuture.com.

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 9

Atomic Power Plant of the Future (1939)

The October, 1939 issue of Amazing Stories published this painting of the atomic power plant of the future. The image can also be found in the book Out of Time by Norman Brosterman. If you look closely you can see the streamlined cars and trains of the future driving by. As noted in the book,…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 9

The Future is Now (1955)

The 1955 short documentary The Future is Now showed viewers what technological changes they could expect in the near future. The clip below demonstrates home video, videophone and electronic music. What do you wear to answer the phone? What difference does it make? None, today! But tomorrow, if videophone comes, as well it might, then…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 8

Space Age Lunch Boxes (1950s and 60s)

The Smithsonian has an online exhibit which includes these lunch boxes from the late 1950s and early 1960s. The satellite lunch box from 1958 shows a torodial space station, which is featured prominently in the short film Challenge of Outer Space. Excerpts from the Smithsonian website appear below each picture. Satellite Lunch Box (1958) The…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 5

Instant Baby Machine (1930)

This scene from the 1930 film Just Imagine shows how babies will be made in the futuristic world of 1980. The clip directly follows the scene we looked at a few months back about meal pills. https://gizmodo.com/just-imagine-1930-512629681 Thanks again to Amy Macnamara for this paleo-futuristic classic that hasn’t yet been released on VHS or DVD.…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 4

Paleo-Future in the Wall Street Journal

If you read today’s Wall Street Journal you may have seen a piece by Lee Gomes, which mentions the Paleo-Future blog. Another way to follow evolving social attitudes about computers is through the “concept videos” made by computer companies. Analogous to Detroit’s concept cars, these videos are designed to show a company’s visionary idea about…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 3

The Future of Personal Robots (1986)

The May-June 1986 issue of The Futurist magazine ran an article titled, “The Future of Personal Robots.” An excerpt appears below. Robots can already be used to entertain young children. Their entertainment value for older children and adults, however, is for the most part limited to the intellectual challenge of programming them. But future robots…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 3

All the Music of the Centuries (1908)

The article below appeared in the January 3, 1908 Des Moines Daily News (Des Moines, Iowa) under the title, “The Poor Past Centuries.” The piece describes a ceremony in Paris where phonographic records were buried beneath an opera house, to be opened in 2007. Sadly, I have not heard if this treasure has been unearthed…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 2

Chuck Klosterman on Tulsa’s Time Capsule

The August 28, 2007 issue of Esquire ran a piece by Chuck Klosterman on the Tulsa time capsule we examined a few weeks back. An excerpt appears below and you can read the entire story here. In June of 1957, the community of Tulsa buried a Plymouth Belvedere in a downtown concrete bunker beneath the…

Tech News Matt Novak Oct 1

Classroom of the Future (Part 3, 1987)

Without further ado, the third and final part of the 1987 concept video, Classroom of the Future. See also:Classroom of the Future (Part 1, 1987)Classroom of the Future (Part 2, 1987)Homework in the Future (1981)The Answer Machine (1964)The Road Ahead: Future Classroom (1995)Closer Than We Think! (1958-1963)Connections: AT&T’s Vision of the Future (Part 7, 1993)

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 28

The Disease of the Future (1970)

The August 3, 1970 issue of Time magazine profiles Alvin Toffler and his book Future Shock. An excerpt appears below but you can read the entire article here. What brings on future shock, according to Toffler, is a rate of social change that has become so fast as to be impossible for most human beings…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 28

Classroom of the Future (Part 2, 1987)

Part 2 of the 1987 concept video Classroom of the Future is fairly accurate in depicting what the Internet would eventually allow people to do. Again, the voice synthesis and recognition seem superfluous. See also:Classroom of the Future (Part 1, 1987)Homework in the Future (1981)The Answer Machine (1964)The Road Ahead: Future Classroom (1995)Closer Than We…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 26

Pop Culture and the Space Age

Today’s New York Times has a very interesting piece about the effect of the Space Age on popular culture. An effect was much more than simply a spillover from the silvery streamlining of the space program. It was an increasing preoccupation with the future and technology that helped change not only the country’s look in…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 25

Boy’s Flying Machine of the 20th Century (1900)

This image ran in a supplement to the December 29, 1900 Minneapolis Journal called The Journal Junior. The caption reads, “A look to the future: The boy of the present has a glimpse of the twentieth century boy.” Minneapolis Journal cartoonist Charles Lewis Bartholomew, better known as Bart, drew it. My nerd-excitement was off the…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 24

Libertarian Paleo-Future

Reason magazine has a very interesting article by Katherine Mangu-Ward about the paleo-future. The piece can be found in the October, 2007 issue and an excerpt appears below. If this is the future, someone forgot to stock it properly. Where are the personal service robots, the moon vacations, the self-contained cities rising out of the…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 22

Closer Than We Think! Poor Man’s Yacht (1958)

The July 20, 1958 Chicago Tribune ran this Closer Than We Think! strip. Not only will every family of the future have their own yacht, it will be powered by the family car! The luxury of yachting may be within the reach of almost everyone in the world of tomorrow. Mass production of low-cost plastic…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 21

Technology and Man’s Future (1972)

The introduction to the book Technology and Man’s Future has a tone appropriate for 1972. The words seem to offer a first glimpse into true disillusionment with early 20th century futurism. And yet, the book nurtures remnants of optimism; of hope that the future may hold some version, however imperfect, of that shiny, happy future.…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 21

Classroom of the Future (Part 1, 1987)

The 1987 GTE concept video Classroom of the Future demonstrates videophone technology as an essential tool in making people more productive. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like kids of the future are any more intelligent. Check out part one of this paleo-futuristic gem. See also:Homework in the Future (1981)The Answer Machine (1964)The Road Ahead: Future Classroom…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 19

Futuristic Hairdo Hits Women Like New Atom Bomb (1948)

As we see over and over again, the abstract concept of “the future” has been sold many different ways over the years. An article from the September 27, 1948 Daily Register (Harrisburg, IL) titled, “Futuristic Hairdo at $35 Per Do Hits Women Like New Atom Bomb,” seems to describe post-War hopes and anxieties for the…

Tech News Matt Novak Sep 18

Matt Novak

Tomorrow’s TV-Phone (1956)

GTE’s Classroom of the Future (1987)

Atomic Power Plant of the Future (1939)

The Future is Now (1955)

Space Age Lunch Boxes (1950s and 60s)

Instant Baby Machine (1930)

Paleo-Future in the Wall Street Journal

The Future of Personal Robots (1986)

All the Music of the Centuries (1908)

Chuck Klosterman on Tulsa’s Time Capsule

Classroom of the Future (Part 3, 1987)

The Disease of the Future (1970)

Classroom of the Future (Part 2, 1987)

Pop Culture and the Space Age

Boy’s Flying Machine of the 20th Century (1900)

Libertarian Paleo-Future

Closer Than We Think! Poor Man’s Yacht (1958)

Technology and Man’s Future (1972)

Classroom of the Future (Part 1, 1987)

Futuristic Hairdo Hits Women Like New Atom Bomb (1948)

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