Obscure Technology

Furby, the official toy of uneasy feelings since 1998. These toys were once the rage during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Every kid wanted one and every parent had to get it. Although they are unsettling to some, they are quite an interesting toy and very advance for their time, which most likely contributed to such high demand for them. The brilliant minds behind the Furby were Dave Hampton and Caleb Chung. They developed the Furby in 9 months and they spent an additional 9 months coming up with a design.They attempted twice to license the Furby concept until Richard C. Levy pitch the product to Tiger Electronics who would later show off at the American International Toy Fair. The initial sales price for Furby was $35 and became the must have toy of the 1998 holiday season. The resale price of Furbies was skyrocket to several hundred dollars as supply could not meet the demand. In a twelve month period, Furby would go off to sell over 27 million units. This would not be the last...

AM broadcasting, the official device of listening to the Boston Red Sox game in the car during a family trip to grandma’s house. AM broadcasting, believe it or not, did have its peak from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was known as the Golden Age of Radio and it was the way to get any form of entertainment at home. This was perfect for people living in rural area to get their entertainment and for politicians to reach the ears of millions with one microphone. It has established a new way for people to listen to the latest news and music, until FM and eventually televisions would take it’s spot. Many early radio attempts could only transmit radio signals a short distance and most just transmitted Morse through them. The first radio broadcast was done by the US Navy and its many stations on January 1 1905. Later France and the United States would establish a small market of receiver lines for jewelers to obtain the accurate time, which sparked the interest of many due to not only be ...

LaserDisc, The official device of every videophiles in the early 1990s and late 1980s. This video format is the definition of being ahead of its time. It was grand device in almost every way, for the time, but there was one factor that brought it down like for most revolutionary devices... the price. The players and the discs themselves were quite expensive compared to other formats at the time like VHS. Another contributing factor was the inability of the LaserDisc to record shows and other such things and the people unwillingness to change. Which really is such a sad thing because this is not exactly a bad format, the video and audio from these dinner plates of a disc are truly amazing compared to the stone age VHS. LaserDisc came out to market 2 years after the VHS in December 15, 1978 and 4 years before the CD (which was based on LaserDisc technology). It was released as DsicoVision by MCA and was commonly referenced as “video long play” due to the size of the disc. Pioneer El...

Most people know instant cameras as Polaroids which was a well know brand of instant cameras here in the United States. The instant camera was first invented by an American scientist named Edwin Land, who invented instant cameras to answer his daughter’s question on “Why can’t I see them now”, which I find very sweet. He created the Polaroid Model 95 in 1948, creating a huge success, and selling out in the first day. Polaroid would soon enter into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2008 and would cease to produce film and cameras (it is not until recently Polaroid started up production again). As you maybe have guess the increasing use of digital cameras brought the temporary end to the beloved instant cameras. Instant cameras, the official device of making every moment count, because it could be costly. This reminds me of a quote by one of the most famous Great Depression photographers, Dorothea Lange, in which she states, “One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’...

Floppy disk, the official device of size does not matter and the symbol of every saving icon known to man. Much how the death of Jesus became the symbol of saving us from our sins in trade for His blood on the cross, the floppy disk eventually died off and became our symbol of saving files and document. Sure that may be a very odd comparison to some, but there has to be a reason why this old tech is still remembered in an age where physical media is on the decline and most of our files, photos, videos, etc are in the cloud. No other piece of technology is so recognizable, yet so unknown to many. The floppy disk was first introduced commercially in the late 1960s and these disks were 8 inches in size! These disk were mostly used by IBM computers in 1971 and were later produced and improved by IBM and other companies such as Memorex. The floppy disk got it’s name from… you guessed it… because they wobbly and flexible, even though IBM originally called it “Type 1 Diskette”, creative...

Overhead projectors, the official device of puppet shadows and markers and spray bottles. These projectors though simple and prehistoric, uphold an image of higher position. Even by it’s blocky and dull aesthetics gives these projectors a sense of authority. It is like George Orwell in his essay “Shooting an Elephant” in which he had to look calm and had a mission to uphold his power in front of the natives, even though deep down inside he hesitated shooting the beast down. Maybe it is because of context in which these overhead projects are portrayed in, or much how we expect and officer to uphold the law. We expect these devices to teach us as much as the teacher operating them. “For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life trying to impress the 'natives,' and so in every crisis he has got to do what the 'natives' expect of him... A sahib has got to act like a sahib; he has got to appear resolute, to know his own mind and do definite things.” - Geo...

Record players, the official device of sitting down after a long day of work and just listening to Imagine, while sipping on a nice cold beverage. There is no other iconic symbol like a vinyl record. Much how we associate a floppy disk with saving data, we associate the vinyl record as the symbol of music. Some may argue that a cassette could bring the same symbolic meaning, which I disagree with. A cassette could also mean a voice recording or, in other countries, a form of storing computer data. While with a record you get the sweet melody of music. The record player had its humble beginnings with the invention of the phonautograph by Leon Scott in 1857. Basic what it did was write wavelengths from sounds on a piece of paper with the help of a diagram that would vibrate with sounds. He merely did this just to examine these wavelengths with no intention of listening to them. It was not until 2008 when the world finally got to hear Scott’s recordings. Later on in 1877 Edison wou...

VCR the official device of 1st birthday home videos and loud “coming soon to own on dvd & video” previews. VCR stands for videocassette recorder and was introduced to the world by JVC. VCR came about due to the demand in which people wanted to watch or rewatch movies without the need of leaving home and sitting down in a movie theater full of anonymous people. So in 1975 this ignited the famous “format war” which would be later called. This so called war was set between Sony’s Betamax (do not worry not a lot of people know what this is) and good old JVC’s VHS in the show of dominance over which format will people set as the standard in their living rooms. Even though Betamax had superior recording capability… that is all it had going for it, and to add salt to the wound, people could not even tell the difference between the quality of the recording. While on the other hand VHS had lengthier record times with its 2 hour recording or, if you do not mind colored static, 4 hour record...

We live in a world in which if we had the desire to listen to a song or album while we jog or while we wait for the bus, we would just look it up on our phones really quick without hesitation, but not in the 80s. Before then the only real way to listen to music was through a “portable” radio or cassette deck. This is a time in which portability did not mean if a device could fit in a purse or pocket. The definition of portability in 70s and 80s meant if it ran on batteries it was considered portable (most of the time batteries would take up 30% of the device), so people would lug generator-sized radios in order to just listen to music somewhere else other than their house. Plus most of the time these bricks of a music player did not have a headphone jack, so this makes listening  to music by yourself impossible. Thus the Walkman by Sony came on the scene, it provided actual portable and was constructed just for people who just want to listen to music casually by them self without ...

Oh those big, black, boxy television or if you want to get scientific CRT, such fond memories most of us have of these things. Watching things such as Saturday morning cartoons, the news, or great movies, you know the ones, on those also big, black, boxy VHS with the equally big, black , boxy VCR that would be a chore to set up, having to rewind the tape and all and that's not even mentioning the anxiety one would get wondering if the VCR got a bit famished and decided to nibble on your favorite copy of The Little Rascals, but that's a blog for another day. Now CRT televisions were once a commonplace for many, but now the only people who have them are grandparents who say that they only need a flip phone, because “smartphones are too complicated.” CRT stand for Cathode Ray Tube, and due to these cathode ray tubes is the reason why these televisions are so bulky. The technology behind this is very quite interesting. The majority of the CRT is a vacuum tube is which has one or...

With the the Apple's recent announcement of the new series 3 Apple Watches, it seems appropriate to mention its geekier, unattractive, older brother the calculator watch. At first glance the Apple Watch out wins a calculator watch in almost all categories, like processing power, functionality, and in most cases designs (unless you are talking about something like the HP-01 which makes the higher end Apple Watches look like kids toy). Some may view the calculator watch as just that, a watch with a small number pad and some addition and subtraction buttons to do calculations with. And you are correct about that, but there is always that special feeling about using something that isn’t practical. Much like how many still use and collect records and cassettes (topics I might cover on a later basis), even though there is a bigger library with much better sound on your phone. To understand these mathical devices, we must travel back in a time where air conditioning in cars ar...

Thanks for stopping by and reading this blog. Well a little about me, I am 17 years old and I find how things function quite fascinating and have a strong appreciation of simple and creative designs. In this day of age of technology where we basically can not live without it, it is easy to overlook how impressive what many devices do for us. I also have a greater appreciation for older technology due to them being constructed with the limitation of that time. How many of these older devices are stepping stones for many devices we know and love today. I have a greater appreciation for older obscure technology that not too many people know about because they tend to be quirky and very interesting which many time are the reasons in which they are obscure The first item I would introduce would be is the granddaddy of all recordable media, Edison’s cylinder phonograph. This device was birthed in 1887 by... you guessed it Thomas Edison. Although Edison was n...