Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 7:03AM People really enjoyed last week's peek into the world of the 1987 Summer CES, so this week we head to Las Vegas, circa 1983. Probably the most interesting thing in this news clip is the manner in which the show is framed against a sluggish economy, high unemployment, and a slowdown in housing and the financial industries, while electronics sales are soaring. Sound familiar?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 7:04AM You are in for a real treat today. Usually our RTT finds highlight one memorable(or sometimes forgettable) piece of technology. Well thanks to the miracle of YouTube, today we're headed to the 1987 Summer CES. Yes, there was not just one, but two CES shows back in the day.
So sit back, relax and enjoy as Art Vuolo takes us through a bevy of ridiculously large gadgets, and equally ridiculous fashions. My favorite part? The Sony rep trumpeting that his remote has "no less than 63 buttons!"
Enjoy.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 7:03AM It's been awhile since Apple (or any other tech company, for that matter) has really used the power of their computers as stand-out selling point. Today we go back to where it all began. You may think your MacBook Pro is powerful, but have you ever controlled a 50-story building with it? You really should pick up an Apple IIc if you need that kind of power, at least according to this commercial:
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 7:06AM As noted by someone last week, this really could be called Retro Tech Commercial Tuesday, and I couldn't agree more. There's just something about the unbridled joy/excitement of these ads that the slick/hip/cool ads for today's systems just can't touch. Case in point: This ad for some "upcoming" ColecoVision games. I think it would be fair to call it the GameCube of its time, as the ColecoVision was always a distant third to the Atari and Intellivision in terms of sales. Original ColecoVisioners, we salute you:
And a bonus ad: (Just for the record, precious few seconds of this one are actual gameplay.)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 7:12AM Oh John Hodgman and Justin Long.. For years you entertained us in the U.S. (and Canada) with your banter. PC, you were always doing those silly PC-ish things, and Mac you were able (most of the time) to walk the line between helpful and smug. It turns out though there were more than two actors to portray Mac and PC with localized versions of the commercial appearing in other parts of the world. Here's three versions of the same ad for comparison. (Apparently the hipster sweatshirt translates across languages.)