edison

Retromodo: Electric Light is Strange and Terrifying

You know, I thought electric light here in the 19th century was the devil’s work. In fact, I must say that when I walked into this room filled with the strange candle-less fire I almost soiled my pantaloons. Thankfully, Mr. Edison’s disclaimer on the wall put my mind at ease. [NextNature via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Tech News Sean Fallon Nov 5

Movies Will Replace Textbooks (1922)

The 2006 book Future Hype: The Myths of Technology Change by Bob Seidensticker is a fascinating read. From page 103: Schools have had a longstanding immunity against the introduction of new technologies. In 1922 Thomas Edison predicted that movies would replace textbooks. In 1945 one forecaster imagined radios as common as blackboards in classrooms. In…

Tech News Matt Novak Jul 7

Plastic Cup Gramophone Kit: Edison’s Invention Reproduced

Those of you amused by the Edison recording outrage will love this: a toy gramophone kit that lets you record and play back your voice from a plastic cup. Made by Gekken, a Japanese company that produces educational toys, it uses exactly the same principle as Edison’s, with the neat use of a plastic cup…

Gadgets Kit Eaton Mar 28

Earliest Audio Recording Resurrected, Scares the Genitals Off Us

Audio historian David Giovannoni and scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered and brought back to life the first audio recording ever made, 17 years before Edison’s patent. The ten-second snippet was made on a phonoautograph, a device that only recorded sounds but didn’t play them back, so they had to do some…

Tech News Jesus Diaz Mar 27

We Are Animals, Says Mr. Edison (1910)

The January 28, 1910 Decatur Review (Decatur, Illinois) ran portions of an interview with Thomas Edison titled, “We Are Animals, Says Mr. Edison: Inventor Predicts Cheaper Clothing and Less Manual Labor.” The entire piece appears below. In an interview published in the Independent, Thomas A. Edison speaks of future inventions and refers to the problem…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 27

Stepped Platform Railway (1890)

These images of a moving sidewalk of the future ran in an 1890 issue of Scientific American. A moving sidewalk very similar to this was actually built for the 1900 Paris Exposition. You can even watch film of the sidewalk in action, shot by Thomas Edison. The images below can also be found in the…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 20

Moving Sidewalk Mechanics (1900)

Edison’s film from the 1900 Paris Exposition is amazing, but it leaves you wondering how that moving sidewalk ….well, moves. Wonder no more. This French website answers a few questions via these great illustrations. See also: Moving Sidewalk (1900) Postcards Show the Year 2000 (circa 1900)

Tech News Matt Novak Jun 26

Edison Battery Solves Old Problems (1909)

Think gasoline engines are on their way out? We’ve been thinking that for about a hundred years now. This story ran in the June 27, 1909 Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California). The commercial value of the gasoline motor will then disappear. Vehicles charged with the new battery will be about as noiseless as it will be…

Tech News Matt Novak Jun 18

Moving Sidewalk (1900)

Below is film of the moving sidewalk featured at the Paris Exposition of 1900. The film is credited to Thomas Edison. The New York Observer ran a series of eight letters from October 11 until December 27, 1900 by a man named Augustus. He was reporting on the Paris Exposition and part two (October 18)…

Tech News Matt Novak May 29

Collier’s Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)

Today we have a follow-up to Monday’s post about Arthur Palm, the 14-year-old from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who in 1901 made predictions about what the world of 2001 might look like. The editors of the book Yesterday’s Future: The Twentieth Century Begins (Voices of the Wisconsin Past) suggest that Arthur Palm’s article in his school newspaper…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 4

The Predictions of a 14-Year-Old (Milwaukee Excelsior, 1901)

In the year 1901 Arthur Palm, a fourteen-year-old student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, published an article in his school newspaper (the Excelsior) describing the world of 2001. Below is an excerpt of his article as featured in the book Yesterday’s Future: The Twentieth Century Begins (Voices of the Wisconsin Past). “How it may appear a hundred…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 2

Retromodo: Electric Light is Strange and Terrifying

Movies Will Replace Textbooks (1922)

Plastic Cup Gramophone Kit: Edison’s Invention Reproduced

Earliest Audio Recording Resurrected, Scares the Genitals Off Us

We Are Animals, Says Mr. Edison (1910)

Stepped Platform Railway (1890)

Moving Sidewalk Mechanics (1900)

Edison Battery Solves Old Problems (1909)

Moving Sidewalk (1900)

Collier’s Illustrated Future of 2001 (1901)

The Predictions of a 14-Year-Old (Milwaukee Excelsior, 1901)

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