Boing Boing » retrofuturism http://boingboing.net Brain candy for Happy Mutants Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:00:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 The Ur Roomba (1959) http://boingboing.net/2013/05/31/the-ur-roomba-1959.html http://boingboing.net/2013/05/31/the-ur-roomba-1959.html#comments Fri, 31 May 2013 15:50:29 +0000 Mark Frauenfelder http://boingboing.net/?p=233531 Shorpy: "Anne Anderson in Whirlpool 'Miracle Kitchen of the Future,' a display at the American National Exhibition in Moscow." Kodachrome by Bob Lerner for the Look magazine article "What the Russians Will See."]]> From Shorpy: "Anne Anderson in Whirlpool 'Miracle Kitchen of the Future,' a display at the American National Exhibition in Moscow." Kodachrome by Bob Lerner for the Look magazine article "What the Russians Will See."

]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/05/31/the-ur-roomba-1959.html/feed 13 The men who designed space colonies http://boingboing.net/2013/02/27/the-men-who-designed-space-col.html http://boingboing.net/2013/02/27/the-men-who-designed-space-col.html#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:21:51 +0000 Maggie Koerth-Baker http://boingboing.net/?p=215808 Veronique Greenwood writes about these artists and the lasting impact they've had on science and science fiction. ]]> http://boingboing.net/2013/02/27/the-men-who-designed-space-col.html/feed 9 Vision of the future, from 1969 Japan http://boingboing.net/2012/07/13/vision-of-the-future-from-196.html http://boingboing.net/2012/07/13/vision-of-the-future-from-196.html#comments Sat, 14 Jul 2012 01:01:45 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=171202 Matt Alt in Tokyo, following up on a recent BB post about a 1979 American view of the future, shares this wonderful scan.]]>

Matt Alt in Tokyo, following up on a recent BB post about a 1979 American view of the future, shares this wonderful scan. He says:

This is 1969's view of 1989! It's from Shonen Sunday Magazine, a weekly comic compilation. Beautiful, groovy art. Hey, at least they got the "Roomba" right (even if they were off by a few decades!)

]]> http://boingboing.net/2012/07/13/vision-of-the-future-from-196.html/feed 33 Hot tip from 1979: the living room of the future will be filled with computers http://boingboing.net/2012/07/10/hot-tip-from-1979-the-living.html http://boingboing.net/2012/07/10/hot-tip-from-1979-the-living.html#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:02:04 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=170427 ]]>

Click for larger size.

From the book "Future Cities: Homes and Living into the 21st Century," 1979, by Kenneth William Gatland and David Jeffries.

Source: v.valenti's Flickr stream, via the Boing Boing Flickr pool. ]]> http://boingboing.net/2012/07/10/hot-tip-from-1979-the-living.html/feed 50 A futurist prediction that came true http://boingboing.net/2012/02/08/a-futurist-prediction-that-cam.html http://boingboing.net/2012/02/08/a-futurist-prediction-that-cam.html#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:37:21 +0000 Maggie Koerth-Baker http://boingboing.net/?p=142926 Sure, it's fun to post old pages of mid-century science magazines and make fun of the predictions that never came true—flying cars!]]>

Sure, it's fun to post old pages of mid-century science magazines and make fun of the predictions that never came true—flying cars! Weather control!

But it's equally, if not more, enjoyable to read predictions for things that actually happened. These are the things that remind us that the world we live in today is pretty goddamn amazing. Teacher Michael Poser sent me one such prediction that he and his students found in The Science Year Book of 1947, a sort-of proto-aggregator that compiled reprints of stories in science magazines. This quote came from a Scientific American article entitled "Microwaves on the way":

In peacetime microwaves are slated for an even more spectacular career… Private phone calls by the hundreds of thousands sent simultaneously over the same wave band without wires, poles, or cables. Towns where each citizen has his own radio frequency, over which he can get voice, music, and television, and call any phone in the country by dialing. Complete abolition of static interference from electrical devices and from other stations. A hundred times as much “space on the air” as is now available in the commercial radio band. A high-definition and color-television network to cover the country. And, perhaps most important of all, a nationwide radar network to regulate all air traffic and furnish instantaneous visual weather reports to airfields throughout the land. By such a system, every aircraft over the United States or approaching it could be spotted, identified and shown simultaneously on screens all the way from Pensacola to Seattle.

What an awesome find! I don't know about you, but I pretty much take for granted all the things that short wavelength radio waves (i.e. microwaves) do for me every day. It's amazing to see something that has become so blase talked about like the wonder of technology it actually is.

Image: mercury m3 sunbury microwave mast, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from osde-info's photostream

]]> http://boingboing.net/2012/02/08/a-futurist-prediction-that-cam.html/feed 16 Motorola "House of the Future" ads from the 1960s, painted by Charles Schridde http://boingboing.net/2011/12/07/motorola-house-of-the-future.html http://boingboing.net/2011/12/07/motorola-house-of-the-future.html#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:01:56 +0000 Cory Doctorow http://boingboing.net/?p=133130 The artist who painted these gems is Charles Schridde (who just passed in May of this year).  These ads and other vintage television ads can be had (at Amazon for an astonishing low price of 30¢, not a typo) in the book Window to the Future: The Golden Age of Television...]]>
Vintage Ads group participant write_light has posted a fantastic gallery of Charles Schridde Motorola "House of the Future" ads, along with some interesting background on the series:

The artist who painted these gems is Charles Schridde (who just passed in May of this year).  These ads and other vintage television ads can be had (at Amazon for an astonishing low price of 30¢, not a typo) in the book Window to the Future: The Golden Age of Television... by Steve Kosareff.   Further ad paintings by Schridde are HERE and HERE at Paleofuture.com

CONTEST ENTRY: Motorola's House of The Future ]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/12/07/motorola-house-of-the-future.html/feed 16 1930s newsreel predicts fashion in the year 2000 http://boingboing.net/2011/11/25/1930s-newsreel-predicts-fashio.html http://boingboing.net/2011/11/25/1930s-newsreel-predicts-fashio.html#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:15:56 +0000 Cory Doctorow http://boingboing.net/?p=131586

This brief, 1930s UK newsreel predicts the future of fashion, asking "famous fashion designers" to predict the garb of the year 2000. Pretty much everything worn in this video could be worn, somewhere, in the contemporary world (if only Burning Man), but it's hard to say that any of this really nailed Y2K's sartorial look-and-feel.

1930s Futuristic Fashion Predictions (Thanks, germy shoemangler!) ]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/11/25/1930s-newsreel-predicts-fashio.html/feed 23