Thomas F. (hardtack) -
So, that's how it was done! Fascinating!
This is the American history and development of common items from ax blades to easy chairs, log cabins, bridges, plumbing, ship shapes, Model Ts and car fins (remember them?), cameras, record players, jukeboxes (which saved the record companies), airplanes, cruise ships, supermarkets and finally self-service. How many of you can remember eating at the Automat? I can.
And the emphasis is on design.... as that is how products were sold. Let's face it, if you were female and really wanted to be one of the social elite, you had a Princess phone.
I wasn't too interested in the final chapter, dealing with the development of telephones and computers. The telephone part was interesting---I still remember when you had to rent your phone from AT&T---but I was working with computers back in the 70s and used to get frustrated on a regular basis. Still, I was usually successful at what I did, and---at times---it was interesting, and sometimes fun. Now I really try to limit the time spent using my computer, and I'm not always successful.
What I did find amusing here---and this helps reveal the mindset of computer nerds---was what really got people interested in using computers was "automated external symbol manipulation." At least, that is what it was called at first, but it didn't help with the marketing. So they changed the name to "word processing."
Sorry, but this one is a keeper for reference.
This is the American history and development of common items from ax blades to easy chairs, log cabins, bridges, plumbing, ship shapes, Model Ts and car fins (remember them?), cameras, record players, jukeboxes (which saved the record companies), airplanes, cruise ships, supermarkets and finally self-service. How many of you can remember eating at the Automat? I can.
And the emphasis is on design.... as that is how products were sold. Let's face it, if you were female and really wanted to be one of the social elite, you had a Princess phone.
I wasn't too interested in the final chapter, dealing with the development of telephones and computers. The telephone part was interesting---I still remember when you had to rent your phone from AT&T---but I was working with computers back in the 70s and used to get frustrated on a regular basis. Still, I was usually successful at what I did, and---at times---it was interesting, and sometimes fun. Now I really try to limit the time spent using my computer, and I'm not always successful.
What I did find amusing here---and this helps reveal the mindset of computer nerds---was what really got people interested in using computers was "automated external symbol manipulation." At least, that is what it was called at first, but it didn't help with the marketing. So they changed the name to "word processing."
Sorry, but this one is a keeper for reference.
