paleofuture

The Original ASCII Art Was Just This Guy and His Typewriter

In 1922 Hobart Reese enjoyed a brief period of fame for his portraits of famous people. What made his work so special? Reese created his art using nothing but a typewriter. Fans of computer art are no doubt familiar with ASCII art: representational pieces created using nothing but the characters on a computer keyboard. But…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 23

12 More Viral Photos That Are Totally Fake

Can you spot the fakes? Hundreds of amazing images wash over our greedy eyeballs each and every day, clogging our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Many of them are fakes, lies, or both. Like these! No, Nikola Tesla wasn’t a swimming instructor. And Teddy Roosevelt never rode a moose. https://gizmodo.com/7-more-fun-fact-photos-that-are-total-lies-1480737089 But did John Lennon ever…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 21

RIP The Professor of Gilligan’s Island and His Jetpack Fuel

Actor Russell Johnson died yesterday at the age of 89. He was best known for his role as The Professor on the hit TV show Gilligan’s Island from 1964 until 1967. In honor of the actor, Mental Floss has compiled a list of the good Professor’s greatest inventions —greatest inventions that never were. From a…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 17

In 1961 The Future of Firefighting Was Heat-Seeking Missiles

Need to put out a forest fire? Why not bomb it with chemical-filled missiles? At least that was the plan in 1961. The September 17, 1961 edition of Arthur Radebaugh‘s Sunday comic strip “Closer Than We Think” imagined that in the future, firefighters would rain down missiles from the sky. Needless to say, it’s hard…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 16

15 Technologies That Were Supposed to Change Education Forever

Every generation has its shiny new technology that’s supposed to change education forever. In the 1920s it was radio books. In the 1930s it was television lectures. Here in the second decade of the 21st century, it seems the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) is the education tech of tomorrow. Let’s hope it pans out…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 15

Fast Food Restaurants Were Supposed To Be Completely Automated by Now

In the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part II, the food of 2015 looks incredibly familiar — it’s just prepared a bit differently. Toss a miniature Pizza Hut pizza onto a pan, stick it into your Black & Decker Hydrator, tell the machine how you want it cooked, and three seconds later your pizza…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 14

The Weirdest CES Gadgets Of All Time (That Never Came Out)

The tech industry is riddled with vaporware — those products that get a big public announcement, but never actually find their way to stores. And it’s always been this way. Just ask investors who were throwing tons of money at airship companies at the turn of the 20th century. Sometimes the people tasked with building…

Gadgets Matt Novak Jan 10

The Blizzard-Fighting Monster Machine We Deserve But Never Got

The Eastern seaboard is getting some serious snow, and even though we live here in 2014—the future—we’re still reduced to shoveling. Ugh. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

Tech News Eric Limer Jan 3

The Most Exciting Time Capsules Being Opened This Year

Time capsuling is hard. Most capsules from the 20th century are lost, damaged, or simply forgotten. But with any luck, these eleven time capsules — all intended to be opened in the year 2014 — will find their way safely above ground sometime this year. From the computer parts buried by California high school students…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 3

17 High-Tech Gizmos From 1927’s Version of CES

Back in the 1920s, the New York Electrical Show was a bit like the Consumer Electronics Show of its day. New Yorkers could head down to Grand Central Palace to check out the latest in high-tech gadgets — gadgets that were becoming increasingly popular as more and more Americans got electricity at home. Everything from…

Tech News Matt Novak Jan 2

TLDR: 9 Paleofuture Stories From 2013 You Swore You’d Finish Later

From the story of Upton Sinclair’s failed utopian community in New Jersey to that post about DARPA actually trying to build Skynet in the 1980s — these were the longform stories that you swore you’d finish one day but never got around to. Well, here’s your second chance. Nobody Walks in L.A.: The Rise of…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 31

“Sputnik Girl” Was Ready to Blast-Off On New Year’s Eve 1958

December 31, 1958 — Five-year-old Linda Chapman of Kent stands in costume beside her toy rocket at New Year’s Eve celebrations at the Gillingham NAAFI Club. [Getty Images]

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 31

This 1901 Cartoon Takes a Humorous Look at the Future of New York

The folks over at Ohio State University’s Cartoon Library and Museum have posted a fantastic cartoon from 1901 that takes a humorous look into the world of tomorrow — specifically that far off, futuristic year of 1987. Drawn by J. Campbell Cory for the New York World newspaper, this “prophetic vision of the 20th century”…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 31

Drunk Driving and The Pre-History of Breathalyzers

Drunk driving combines two of America’s favorite pastimes: getting absolutely hammered and driving an automobile. But before the invention of the modern breathalyzer in the 1950s, determining if someone was too intoxicated to operate a motor vehicle was incredibly subjective. It took decades for law enforcement technology to catch up with one of our most…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 31

The Top 10 Time Capsules of 2013

It was an exciting year for time capsules! Am I allowed to say without getting my lunch money stolen and then violently stuffed into a locker? The oldest known message in a bottle was discovered in Canada. We finally found the long-lost Steve Jobs capsule in Colorado. And a time capsule even left the solar…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 27

7 (More) Fun Facts That Are Total Lies

Did Nikola Tesla actually work as a swimming instructor? What’s the deal with that famous photo of Albert Einstein and his therapist? Did they actually make radiation-aged bourbon back in the 1960s? Nope! A few weeks ago we looked at nine “fun fact” photos that were totally lying to you. Today, we have seven more…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 26

The Coolest Toys from the 1911 FAO Schwarz Catalog

Smithsonian’s Around the Mall blog recently dug up an awesome FAO Schwarz catalog from 1911, found over at the Internet Archive. It’s filled with some pretty fantastic toys, including airship-themed board games, Kodak cameras, and carriages led by sheep. But these gifts didn’t come cheap. Even the board games were expensive. That airship-themed game (complete…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 24

This Was An Electronic Christmas Card In 1960

Imagine being able to send a Christmas card electronically. Sounds crazy futuristic, right? Well that’s what this Sunday newspaper comic promised to the good people of 1960. Though it was a bit more complicated than the e-cards and emails we send today. The December 25, 1960 edition of Arthur Radebaugh‘s “Closer Than We Think” showed…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 20

Forget Die Hard. Brazil Is Actually the Best Christmas Movie

Terry Gilliam’s 1985 cult classic Brazil is a wonderfully dark examination of bureaucracy in a brutally oppressive future. But its backdrop — the lead-up to Christmas — makes it one of the best Christmas movies of all time. Unlike Die Hard. Which is a bullshit choice for a favorite Christmas movie. Remember when scenes of…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 19

Anti-Pollution Makeup for the Woman of 2000

In 1968, model Vicki Dunlap was featured in newspapers around the country as the face of the future. But that stylish makeup of tomorrow wasn’t just for show. It was to protect from L.A.’s smog-filled air. From the Associated Press about this “woman of the year 2000”: A Los Angeles engineer thinks women living in…

Tech News Matt Novak Dec 19

The Original ASCII Art Was Just This Guy and His Typewriter

12 More Viral Photos That Are Totally Fake

RIP The Professor of Gilligan’s Island and His Jetpack Fuel

In 1961 The Future of Firefighting Was Heat-Seeking Missiles

15 Technologies That Were Supposed to Change Education Forever

Fast Food Restaurants Were Supposed To Be Completely Automated by Now

The Weirdest CES Gadgets Of All Time (That Never Came Out)

The Blizzard-Fighting Monster Machine We Deserve But Never Got

The Most Exciting Time Capsules Being Opened This Year

17 High-Tech Gizmos From 1927’s Version of CES

TLDR: 9 Paleofuture Stories From 2013 You Swore You’d Finish Later

“Sputnik Girl” Was Ready to Blast-Off On New Year’s Eve 1958

This 1901 Cartoon Takes a Humorous Look at the Future of New York

Drunk Driving and The Pre-History of Breathalyzers

The Top 10 Time Capsules of 2013

7 (More) Fun Facts That Are Total Lies

The Coolest Toys from the 1911 FAO Schwarz Catalog

This Was An Electronic Christmas Card In 1960

Forget Die Hard. Brazil Is Actually the Best Christmas Movie

Anti-Pollution Makeup for the Woman of 2000

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

I Regret to Inform You That the Artemis II Astronauts Are Having Lots of Screen Time

The First ‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Reactions Are Most Solid

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Let us help find what you are looking for...