Matt Novak, Author at Gizmodo

Walt Disney Explaining the Carousel of Progress to General Electric (1964)

Disney produced attractions for many companies during the 1964/1965 New York World’s Fair. One of these attractions was the Carousel of Progress for the General Electric Pavilion showing, "how life has changed through electrical energy." Below is a clip from a short promotional film Disney produced. The film was not intended for the public but…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 26

In 1980 Americans Will Eat Less Beef (1926)

I just finished Warren Belasco’s book Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food and it is truly astounding how many people believed that humans would be vegetarians by necessity at the end of the twentieth century. Looking at this prediction from 1926, it is interesting to see that per capita pork consumption…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 26

No One Will Walk – All Will Have Wheels (Brown County Democrat, 1900)

And you thought the Segway was a new idea! This image ran in the Brown County Democrat (De Pere, Wisconsin) newspaper on December 28, 1900. There were all kinds of predictions in 1900 of what the 20th century would bring. The “Footomobile” manufactured by the “Electric Monroe Co.” appears to be just one such idea.…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 24

Bill Gates on Charlie Rose (1996)

Remember Interactive Television? Neither do I. I found a great 1996 Charlie Rose interview with Bill Gates. In 1996 they were already talking about the failure of interactive TV. You can cut to that part of the interview here. On a related note, while the Apple TV looks pretty cool, it’s still a ways off…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 24

Aluminum from Canada (1958)

This 1958 advertisement for aluminum from Canada was featured in the book The Golden Age of Advertising – The 50s.

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 22

Animal Life on Mars (1957)

In the 1957 Disneyland TV program and subsequent theatrical release of the film, Mars and Beyond speculated what astronauts would eventually find on the red planet. There were some interesting predictions of what animals future humans could find. You can view a clip of the program here and you can find this program on the…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 22

The Population Bomb: Scenario 2 (1970)

Continuing our look into the future as presented by Paul Ehrlichin in his 1968 book The Population Bomb, today we examine his second scenario. Due to what Ehrlich believed to be over-population and inevitable famine the world has digressed into utter chaos. Again, this is excerpted from the 1970 edition of the book. “In 1979…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 21

Russian Paleo-Future (circa 1900)

BoingBoing has a link to the blog Dark Roasted Blend and some great Russian paleo-futurism. While I take issue with Blend’s contention that these are, “…probably one of the very first truly ‘Futuristic/Urban’ series of images ever published,” it is an amazing set of images. See also: Unrealized Moscow (1930s to 1950s) 7 March 2007

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 21

Feminine Beauty (New York Times, 1909)

“Most interesting of [Jules Bois’s] predictions, perhaps, is that the present ideal of feminine beauty will have ceased to be held by the majority of the Caucasian race. Physical weakness, extreme delicacy of physiognomy, and acquiescence in a mere secondary position in the social organization will have given palce to a type in which beauty…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 20

100 Miles per Gallon! (1992)

The end of the article says it all: “…sometime in the near future, you will be able to go to your local dealer and buy a car that incorporates much of what you see here. And it will get 100 miles per gallon.”

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 20

Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967)

Lately, there have been a lot of posts on different blogs about the Monsanto House of the Future. The house of the future featured the great conveniences of 1986. Opened in 1957 in Disneyland and closed ten years later it has become the house of the paleo-future. Above, I’ve linked to video of this incredible,…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 19

Westinghouse (1964)

This ad for Westinghouse from 1964 is featured in the book The Golden Age of Advertising – The 60s.

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 19

Hoverboards Are Real! (1989)

Paleo-Future reader Chris mentioned that as a 13-year-old he watched a "Making of" documentary for Back to the Future: Part II. In it the director, Robert Zemeckis, claimed that hoverboards were real. I tracked down the clip. (And to be honest, I can see how a 13-year-old might believe that the hoverboard was real. I…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 16

Jet Flying Belt is Devised to Carry Man for Miles (New York Times, 1968)

The New York Times article from 1968 titled, “Jet Flying Belt is Devised to Carry Man for Miles,” describes the device pictured above as a Buck Rogers flying belt. Oh, how close to the future New York Times readers must have felt on June 28, 1968. Little did they realize that jetpacks would be relegated…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 16

The Road Ahead: Future Homes (1995)

We already saw what the classroom of the future would look like. Let’s take a look into the home of the future. The 1995 book The Road Ahead by Bill Gates included a CD-ROM with video of just such a look. "The interactive hit, Jurassic Park 6.1" may be my favorite line of the entire…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 15

Flying Car Patent (1991)

An excerpt from the patent abstract: “The combustion engine is also geared to vertically oriented ducted fans (40) and a horizontally oriented ducted fan or propeller (76) for providing the vehicle with the capability of travel through the air. Pressure jets (62), supplied with compressed air from a compressor (66) driven by the combustion engine,…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 15

Plant Life on Mars (1957)

We looked at how Disney portrayed humans living on Mars in the 1957 Disneyland TV show "Mars and Beyond" but the depiction of possible plants on Mars may be even more imaginative. According to Steven Watts in his book The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life (p. 309): "[Mars and Beyond]…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 15

A Hundred Years From Now. (New York Times, 1909)

“Mr. Bois believes that motor cars will in a hundred years be things of the past, and that a kind of flying bicycle will have been invented which will enable everybody to traverse the air at will, far from the earth. Pneumatic railways and flying cars and many other means of quick transit will be…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 14

Motorola Television Revisited (1961-1963)

Today we have more Motorola television ads from illustrator Charles Schridde. If you recall, this series ran in Life Magazine and the Saturday Evening Post from 1961 until 1963 and was immensely popular for its elegant, futuristic look. According to the book Window to the Future by Steve Kosareff the ad pictured on the right…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 14

Westcot (1991)

In 1991 the Walt Disney Company announced plans for a 470-acre expansion of its presence in California. This expansion was to include an “EPCOT West” or Westcot. The proposal is interesting if only for its ambition. Westcot was to be a “World’s fair-type attraction in Anaheim,” with the featured attraction being a 300-foot-tall Spacestation Earth,…

Tech News Matt Novak Mar 14

Matt Novak

Walt Disney Explaining the Carousel of Progress to General Electric (1964)

In 1980 Americans Will Eat Less Beef (1926)

No One Will Walk – All Will Have Wheels (Brown County Democrat, 1900)

Bill Gates on Charlie Rose (1996)

Aluminum from Canada (1958)

Animal Life on Mars (1957)

The Population Bomb: Scenario 2 (1970)

Russian Paleo-Future (circa 1900)

Feminine Beauty (New York Times, 1909)

100 Miles per Gallon! (1992)

Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967)

Westinghouse (1964)

Hoverboards Are Real! (1989)

Jet Flying Belt is Devised to Carry Man for Miles (New York Times, 1968)

The Road Ahead: Future Homes (1995)

Flying Car Patent (1991)

Plant Life on Mars (1957)

A Hundred Years From Now. (New York Times, 1909)

Motorola Television Revisited (1961-1963)

Westcot (1991)

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