Blackberry REACT March 2010 NewsletterQuick ClicksSteampunk is out, Art Deco is in
Someone took a gorgeous old Zenith cathedral-style radio cabinet and put their computer in it. Beautiful wood and ornate dials that have nothing to do with computing, but they’re such a pleasure to look at. There are 14 Web pages of details so scan the contents menu and pick the ones you like.
When computers were steelFascinating look at the Navy’s fire control computers: how to aim your cannon on a moving ship at another moving ship or aircraft using completely mechanical, hand-driven computers. The use of cams, gears, shafts, and more is sheer genius. Wow! Almost all of TV is filmed in front of green screensAll those exterior shots of Monk in San Francisco? Shot in a studio in front of a green screen. Shots of CSI in Times Square? Studio green screen. It's all fake! Sob! Free iPhone app from NASANASA has made available its second app. This one tracks sunspot activity, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. First air-to-ground radio transmission was in 1910Unfortunately, the transmission is not repeatable in a family newspaper. A cat stowed away on the first dirigible to have a radio on board, and it was the subject of the first transmission. Toothbrush case
Next time you’re flying somewhere, use this as your toothbrush holder in your carry on bag. Kodak Bantam Special
Occasionally I post photos of old radios from between the two World Wars which have beautiful design. Here’s a camera from Kodak in 1936, with the same design and detail as the radios. The body is machined die-cast aluminum with an enamel finish, and the lens’s controls and markings are exquisite. Die-casting is the forcing of molten metal into mold cavities under high pressure. The molds are called dies, and they in turn were machined into their form – hence, machine die-casting. It appears the camera was designed by Walter Dorwin Teague. He was hired by Kodak to design cameras, which he did from the Twenties to the Fifties. He also did the interior design of the Boeing Stratocruiser and Texaco’s streamlined gas stations. Better photos of the Bantam Special (and other Kodak’s Teague designed) are here, and a photo of his Texaco design lives here. Popular Science Magazine archives are onlineAll of them. The entire 137 years of publication. Free. With the original ads. Events
UpdatesNone ProgramsTo be announced. |
