Old Computer Adverts
I’ve looked at some old adverts from computer magazines before but this time I thought I’d take a look at some old adverts for computers themselves. I’m not entirely sure what sort of magazine would run an advert for a computer boasting about its ability to control missile systems but I suppose if you were buying this magazine for the computer adverts back whenever it was published you probably also had the spare barn to store the machine in and the kind of massive-barn-jealousy from others that may necessitate a ballistic defence system. Are you one of those people who think everything the Apple has ever done has been evil? Six hundred and sixty six dollars and sixty six cents! That’s the dollar value of the beast if my memory of the bible is correct. This Tandy colour computer advert brings back a lot of memories. I never had the computer itself and seeing those magic words “Cuthbert In The Mines” reminds me why. Don’t search for images of that game if you value your eyeballs. A touch-sensitive computer not much different in size from a book. We came a long way from the barn-sized Univac to the Sinclair ZX80 and we’ve come not very far since. Progress! There’s an old rule in computer advertisements: humour and kids sell. It’s a bad rule. And that’s why these computers from AMT using a child Charlie Chaplin led to the company folding with crippling losses six minutes after publication. Possibly. I haven’t checked. The Texas Instruments Home Computer gives you a tutor, an accountant, a librarian, a file clerk, and a pro football team in your own home. This wasn’t a reference to the sort of software that you could get with the computer as many people assumed but a promotion that also helped to house some of society’s most unwanted homeless people. If you’ve still got your original file clerk it could be worth a small fortune on eBay these days. Sure, a computer and acoustic coupler and monitor that fits in a briefcase sounds good but firstly the briefcase was the size of a Fiat 500, and secondly it weighed as much as a Fiat 500 overloaded with Digi-Log machines. At least it was difficult to get mugged. Sources for these images and further inspiration or adverts can be found through the following links: http://www.aresluna.org/attached/computerhistory/ads http://www.theregister.co.uk/Print/2011/04/04/osborne_1_30_years_old/ http://www.vintagecomputing.com/ http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/vintage-tech-ads/ http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads-1960s http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/topics#exhibition http://www.pcmuseum.ca/computerDetails.asp http://blog.modernmechanix.com/ad-computer-operation-in-real-time/...
The Daily Mail Explains The Supermoon
You should always take what you read in the Daily Mail with a pinch of salt. Maybe a vat of salt. A large one. If you’re after news then it’s not exactly the most reliable source in the world. And it’s not just news where the Daily Mail fails to provide accurate information as demonstrated by this promotion for a piece of news on the science section of their website. Now I’m no astronomer but when it comes to supermoons I expect to see an explanation that involves regular...
Bigfoot And The Soup
America has TV programmes dedicated to discovering Sasquatch or Bigfoot (but not the Yeti, of course, because everyone knows that the Yeti doesn’t exist. Silly!) This is because America has bad TV programmes. But America also has good TV programmes and one of them that I like – although I still can’t find anyone else in the UK who watches it – is The Soup on E! channel. The really good thing about The Soup is that it takes the time to find all the bad American TV programmes, take the piss out of them, and alert me to their presence so I can avoid them or, like I’m doing now, write about them. It’s a public service. Some of the recurring targets for a verbal assault from host Joel McHale include those aforementioned programmes about the imaginary creature – Finding Bigfoot and 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty. It’s great to see some overt scepticism in an entertainment programme, delivered with wonderful sarcasm and humour. The Soup is well worth catching if you can. Programmes about Bigfoot… less...
Portsmouth, Alien Invasion – Collaborators
Collaboration with the enemy is probably an inevitability. In war some people do what they can to survive even at the cost of their neighbours’ lives; it’s understandable and difficult to forgive without the buffer of time to consider all the reasons. In 1920 there was no buffer of time as the people of Portsmouth were into their fifth year fighting off the Squirmy Munge and collaborators were looked upon with utter contempt and dealt with quite brutally. We saw in a previous article on the alien invasion of Portsmouth that the subject of collaboration with the enemy was a sore subject for the locals. For a couple of years before 1920 collaborators – people who passed information onto the Squirmy Munge or who were even deemed to fail to resist with typical Pompey spirit – would quietly disappear in the night but when a small group of pro-invaders supporters started to voice opposition to the war and advocated capitulation a more public demonstration of what it meant to be a Portsmouth citizen was needed. In March of 1920 the first public centrifugion of collaborators took place. Traitors were tied by ropes to the “Spinning Stick” (better names were sought but there was a war going on and catchily-titled execution methods were in short supply) and spun to death. That year was particularly warm on the south coast and these public displays, though grisly, provided a cooling breeze as they operated making them very...
Traci Lords Triple
Traci Lords! She’s quite possibly well known for any number of other things but the two I’m going to concentrate on are her singing and her acting as I present three videos from the, er, singing actress. Now, I have to warn you that all three of these videos are erotic in different ways – very different ways; so different, in fact, that you may not even think they’re erotic at all – but none of them are pornographic. Not that there’s anything wrong with pornographic videos. I think I’ve mentioned porn and videos and Traci Lords enough now. Can’t imagine why I’m doing that. The first clip is Control from her 1995 album 1000 Fires. I bought this album, I liked this album, I played this album a lot, and this was the stand out track from it for me. Handy then that it got released as a single and a video was made for it. The second video is an excerpt from the 2009 movie Princess of Mars. If you’ve not seen this movie – and many people haven’t – but you have seen the big budget film John Carter then it’s definitely worth catching this to compare. I actually really enjoyed both movies. That’s right! I’m the person who liked both of those films. The princess in the film’s title is played by Traci Lords as you probably could have guessed. I’ve saved the best and most erotic of the Traci Lords videos to last. Prepare yourself for an audiovisual treat the likes of which you’ll never forget as long as you live. Warm Up With Traci Lords is an exercise video featuring the actress and singer. It also has incredible music and rhymes from Traci. It’s truly...
Recent From Retro
-
The Women Of Kilobaud Computing Sep 26, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent From Entertainment
-
Dance Music Triple Nov 19, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent Comments