Laser-Emitting Dress

I see Paul's electric dress and raise him the laser-emitting dress of Moritz Waldemeyer, modeled at Hussein Chalayan's catwalk show in Paris, 2007.

More info: dezeen.com

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jan 17, 2022 - Comments (6)
Category: Fashion, Technology, 2000s

Artwork Khrushchev Probably Would Not Have Liked 41

The artist's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 16, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Fashion, Technology, 1950s, Asia

Taste-O-Vision

A Japanese researcher, Homei Miyashita, has created a screen that, when licked, imparts the flavors of food. From Reuters:


Miyashita explains that he "hopes to make a platform where tastes from around the world can be downloaded and enjoyed by users, much like music is now."

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 14, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Food, Inventions, Technology

Mystery Gadget 99

What tha--?

Answer is here.

Or after the jump.



More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 12, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Technology, 1940s

The Microsoft Hinged Box

Microsoft received its first patent in 1986 (Patent No. 4,588,074). By this time it was already a huge company, having released Microsoft Windows the previous year. But its first patent wasn't for anything related to computers or software. Instead, it was for a kind of hinged box designed to store and support books and articles.

It then didn't receive any more patents for another two years.

I'm curious about the backstory of this hinged box. What inspired its invention? Did Microsoft ever attempt to manufacture or sell it? And why did the company feel compelled to patent it?

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 06, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, Technology, 1980s

Earth’s Black Box

On an empty plain in Tasmania there now sits a metallic structure filled with storage drives that is recording "every step we take" toward climate-change catastrophe. Its creators — marketing communications company Clemenger BBDO in collaboration with University of Tasmania researchers — describe it as "Earth's Black Box".

Perhaps I'm too cynical, but I predict that the project is abandoned within 20 years and this turns into an architectural curiosity sitting in the middle of nowhere. I was going to say 10 years, but I'll be charitable.

More info: cnet.com, EarthsBlackBox.com

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 04, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Architecture, Armageddon and Apocalypses, Technology

Rejuvenique Facial Toning Mask

Still being made and sold! Get yours via the Amazon link below!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 04, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Body Modifications, Inventions, Technology, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century

Ads between telephone rings

I can only imagine how annoying it would be to have to listen to advertisements between rings whenever you phoned someone. And unfortunately the technology to do this has been developed. Neil Sleevi was granted a patent for it in 1989 (Patent No. 4,811,382), and Bell Atlantic promptly bought the rights to it.

Omni - Dec 1991

Faced with public outcry, Bell Atlantic subsequently claimed that, even though they did buy the rights to the patent, they never had any intention of inserting ads between telephone rings, dismissing the entire notion as a silly rumor. But I'm pretty sure they would have done it if they had thought they could get away with it.

Baltimore Sun - Dec 14, 1991

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 02, 2022 - Comments (5)
Category: Technology, Telephones, Advertising, 1990s

Merry Christmas 2021!

Have a wonderful holiday!

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 25, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Holidays, Christmas, Music, Technology, 1970s

The Mailomat

Very handy for Xmas rush!

Article source: Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California)10 Dec 1939, Sun Page 59

Another good article here, with more pics.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 24, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Inventions, Technology, 1930s, 1940s, Postal Services