Internet marketing
The science-fiction dream of videoconferencing is finally grim, merciless reality, but tech companies have wanted to foist it on us for decades and this business-to-business marketing video for AT&T’s early-1990s solution makes for amusing viewing.
They hired David Fincher to do TV ads for AT&T about the same time. They don’t depict the VideoPhone itself, but the world AT&T hoped would come about because of how wonderful AT&T was. It’s an interestingly conservative-yet-dreamy depiction of how we imagined the internet would change communications, as promoted by AT&T in the last hour of daylight before the internet and the web were things the general public knew about. It’s quaint, yes, but its depiction of simple internet appliances—tablets, dashboard GPS screens, touchscreens on full-size TV sets—is smarter now than it seemed to be just a few years ago.
Helped get Fincher a real job, too!
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Internet marketing
A NYC subway ride to Coney Island in 1987
The New York Subway isn’t like this anymore, but the sheer decrepitude and negligence of it in the 80s is always amazing to behold. This video shows a ride to Coney Island in 1987. Londoners like me will sometimes get a bit snooty about this sort of thing, but the London Underground was about as… READ THE REST -
Internet marketing
New Netflix movie about the Chicago 7 trial, starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman
In 1968, political activists and Yippies Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner were charged with conspiracy to incite riots and other alleged crimes during protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Their months-long trial was one of the most bizarre, hilarious, upsetting, and theatrical… READ THE REST -
Internet marketing
Aviation museums’ “most wanted list” of cool aerospace artifacts lost to history
Aviation historians and museum curators like those at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum go gaga over any photos, correspondence, or curiosities related to Amelia Earhart. And of course her lost aircraft is at the top of many aviation museums’ wish lists. But there are many more unusual aerospace artifacts that they’d love to… READ THE REST -
Internet marketing
MATLAB is computer science for legit scientists, but you can learn it too with this training
If you’ve never heard of MATLAB or think it sounds vaguely like certain TV shows from the ’80s, you’d be forgiven. Because even in a tech sector chock full of intricate, complex programs and systems that routinely leave lay people scratching their heads, MATLAB is science tech for the serious, SERIOUS scientists. Since its humble… READ THE REST -
Internet marketing
These super-soft bamboo sheets now have a secret weapon: pockets
Every once in a while, you stumble across a new twist on an old idea and ponder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” It’s often a concept so simple that it feels like it’s been staring you in the face your whole life. It’s that sense of “duh” that the Bamboo 6-Piece Smart Pocket Sheets… READ THE REST -
Internet marketing
FogBlock solves the glasses-mask problem with a single spray
Glasses can be difficult at any time, but with a mask on, it seems like you can’t go more than a few seconds without an errant exhale blowing up into your face, fogging your glasses entirely. The only upside is the tiny bit of sweet revenge against everyone who called you four-eyes when they try… READ THE REST
