Retro Thing

Fairlight CMI - A Musical Revolution

Music of the early 1980s was strongly influenced by computer technology. We saw the arrival of the revolutionary Linn LM-1 drum machine, along with digitally controlled synthesizers and effect units. But the most radical innovation was the Fairlight Computer Music Instrument (CMI).

Created in Australia by Kim Ryrie and Peter Vogel, the 1979 Fairlight was originally envisioned as a computer-based music synthesis system. But the Fairlight had other more influential tricks up its sleeve: it was the first digital sampling instrument, capable of recording snippets of real sound and playing them back at different speeds. This meant that incredibly complex and realistic sounds could be captured and performed by musicians.

Sleek Swiss Pocket Watches

Mention pocket watches, and most people envision something out of the Victorian era: Ornate and fragile. Modern pocket watches are anything but.

If you prefer not to wear a wristwatch or you want to try something different, take a peek at Wenger's lineup. Their Swiss-made quartz movements are accurate to 1/10 second per day and include an alarm and date display. My favorite feature is the funky lanyard with quick-release clip. Oh, they're also water-resistant to about 100ft (30m) -- in case you're overcome by the sudden urge to go diving fully clothed. Street price is around $150.

Wenger 73000 Pocket Watch (via Amazon)

Back To The Retro Future

Retrofuture is a site dedicated to answering a simple question: "What happened to all that futuristic stuff which was supposed to change our lives by the year 2000? Stuff like rocket belts, flying cars, food pills and inflatable homes."

It doesn't look like the site has been updated for several years, but there's some nifty stuff here. They explore 2-way wrist radios, Jetson-like skyscraper utopias, flying cars, and even the apparently-taboo topic of sex in space.

Welcome to the Retro Future (retrofuture.com)

Newfangled CD Storage: Jewelboxing

It's hard to believe the compact disc was introduced over twenty three years ago, in 1982. One thing I fail to understand is why the music industry never bothered to re-engineer the infamous jewel case package that most CDs arrive in. The tiny hinge tabs always break at inconvenient moments, and they crack ridiculously easily.

Well, Jewelboxing heard my silent plea. They make a fantastic line of do-it-yourself CD cases that are perfect for short run music CDs, software, graphic design, press kits, and even mix discs (if such a thing even exists in the modern MP3-enabled world). They cost around $2.50 each and can be bought in packages of 20 and up.

The Jewelboxing System

End Of The Television Age

While looking around my neighborhood this morning, I realized there were no TV antennas poking out from the rooftops. They were replaced by cable TV or little round satellite receivers in the blink of an eye.

I suppose this is another sign that the Television Age is well and truly dead. Thirty years ago we were limited to a small handful of off-the-air programs. If a good movie or show was on, half of the neighborhood was watching. Now viewers are faced with the daunting task of choosing from hundreds of boutique channels. And -- worst of all -- we have to pay a significant monthly fee for the privilege of watching commercial-splattered shows.

All is not lost. You can still pick up an excellent analog TV antenna such as this futuristic $99 Radio Shack model (right). It can be installed in your attic so your neighbors don't make fun of your old-fashioned ways. And -- best of all -- there's no $30 per month access fee.

Perhaps even more exciting: the introduction of digital broadcast TV means that people in metropolitan areas will be able to receive great looking (and sounding) digital TV with sleek little indoor HDTV antennas, like this $50 Terk unit.

It's cool to think that digital TV will encourage the rediscovery of almost-forgotten antennas.

A plethora of TV antennas

Everything From the 70s

Fosfor Gadgets is running a short blurb about a site full of trendy pictures from the 1970s. You'll find a garish variety of muscle cars, globular houses, poddish plastic chairs, platform shoes and feathered hair, along with more than a few shots of Jane Fonda in Barbarella.

Seventies Design - A collection of 70s pictures (via Fosfor Gadgets)

Let There Be Light!

The incandescent light bulb is usually attributed to Thomas Alva Edison. This is probably because he was the first to successfully market them through his wee startup company, General Electric. Reality is not that simple; dozens of inventors produced (and patented) incandescent light bulbs in the 1800s, and Heinrich Goebel created the first modern carbon-filament bulb in 1854. Somehow, this little fact is omitted from most history books.

Incandescent bulbs are simple to make, but they waste a lot of energy as heat. White LEDs (light emitting diodes) are being hailed as potential successor - they're tiny, robust, and extremely efficient. The C. Crane Company now offers a range of ultra-efficient VIVID LED light bulbs which use a small fraction of the power required by their incadescent cousins. They're also really expensive, starting at $34.95. Such is the price of progress.

VIVID LED light bulbs (C. Crane Company)

The World's First Color Portable: SX-64

Strangely enough, the world's first color portable computer came from Commodore. The SX-64 was a luggable 23 lb version of their smash-hit Commodore 64 desktop. Sadly, the SX-64 didn't fair well in the marketplace, probably because Commodore was better known in gaming circles than in the boardroom. And who wants to play games on a tiny 5" diagonal screen?

The SX-64 shared many specifications with the Commodore 64: A MOS 6510 processor running at a blazing 1MHz, 3 channel SID chip sound, 64K memory, and an internal 170K 5 1/4" floppy drive. It listed for $995 when introduced in at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January, 1984. At that same show, Commodore announced they had sold over $1B worth of personal computers in 1983 -- becoming the first company to break the billion dollar barrier in the home PC market.

Commodore SX-64 Portable Computer (oldcomputers.net)

Strange Flying Things: Gyrocopters

Canadian gyroplane manufacturer Rotary Air Force has just rolled out a new website for their classic flying machines. They've been in business since 1987, and their RAF 2000 is touted as the world's most advanced gyroplane. It's powered by a 2.2 L or 2.5 L Subaru automotive engine and cruises around 70-90 mph (112 - 144 km/h). It's capable of landing in under 10 ft (3 m), as well.

Gyroplanes (or gyrocopters or autogyros) were invented in 1923 by Spanish aviator Juan de la Cierva. Propulsion comes from the small propeller sitting behind the pilots. They can take off and land in significantly less space than conventional aircraft and -- despite the unconventional looks -- have a reputation for being extremely safe.

The RAF 2000 is available as a kit, starting at US $24,900.

RAF 2000 Gyroplane (Rotary Air Force)

The Technological Dark Ages

There was a grim warning about the future of digital media published by the Canadian Press on Sunday. Mark Federman at the University of Toronto is worried that in 50 years we won't be able to read the digital photos and movies we're shooting today. Many of us no longer print out our digital photos, preferring to email and view them online instead.  He warns that "CDs don't last forever," and suggest people transfer their data from one CD to another every five years to reduce the risk of data loss.

My thoughts? The 1950s through 1990s were the "snapshot years," when millions of photographers took billions of photos. In many cases, the original negatives were lost or tossed and people are left with fading and aging prints. Before that, relatively few photos were shot and very few were preserved properly. So this isn't a particularly new problem -- digital has just made it easier than ever to lose stuff. So back up your hard drives and make some prints, folks!

Impact of digital photography on culture not clear, one expert thinks it could mean "dark age" (Canada.com)

Laser Sighted Slingshots

I purchased my first slingshot at the tender age of ten. I remember promising the shopkeeper that I wouldn't use it in town -- an easy promise to keep, since I lived half an hour down the road. Back then, the idea of a cheap battery powered laser was the stuff of science fiction. In 2005, everything is laser equipped; laser-sighted carpentry tools are everywhere and annoying little laser pointer keychains are available for next to nothing.

Obviously, the time was right to equip slingshots with laser sights. Precision Shots offers the $49.95 PS-52 -- apparently accurate enough to hit a pencil from 20 feet (not that 20 ft is particularly far).  Twenty dollars more gets you the PS-55, which offers adds a red-dot sight to make targeting even more accurate.  Just remember: never shoot anything at your sister. I did, and she won't let me forget it.

Laser Slingshots (via ruidoso and productdose)
[For some inexplicable reason you'll be forced to endure a cheesy version of the Peanuts theme tune as penance for visiting this site. Don't say you weren't warned.]

Retro Gaming: Hotter Than Ever

Tom's Hardware posted an interesting article about Retro video gaming last week. While modern games are shiny works of art, vintage games offered simplicity and novel game play. As the article suggests:

"Almost all retro games come with a simplicity factor and in these days of high stress, busy lifestyles, this is proving to be a major contributory factor in more and more folks "turning retro." Retro titles are also much quicker to load, they make great party games after a few beers and - the most significant factor of all - they don't require the player to sit and read a novel-like manual before playing."

My favorite retro site is Abandonia; a fantastic collection of forgotten software that is no longer marketed. Many of the companies that produced these titles are extinct and their ownership is in limbo.

 

Venerable Voigtlander Cameras: Under $100

On October 9th, 1959, my grandfather walked into a camera shop on New Bond Street in London and picked up a shiny new Voigtlander Vitomatic II. He took good care of it, and it was passed on to me about a decade ago. I admired it and fiddled, but without instructions I couldn't even make the shutter fire. Zeiss/Voigtlander had stopped making cameras in 1972 and I was unable to find a manual. Luckily, I recently found an excellent free source for old manuals and brought the Vitomatic  back to life.

The Voigtlander name was eventually licensed by Cosina and reintroduced in the late 1990s. The Voigtlander Bessa L was the lowest cost model in the lineup; it has been discontinued so you can pick them up for as little as $100 (without lens). These cameras don't include a built-in eyepiece; they're designed to accept Leica-mount wide angle lenses which include detachable viewfinders (as shown in the photo).  This simple design has its advantages; the optics are simpler, the cameras are smaller, and the film is closer to the lens (for sharper images). A brilliant way to get into wide-angle photography.

$99 Voigtlander Bessa L clearance (Camera Quest)

Tricked Out Tricycles

There's a slightly crazy-looking old lady who rides around my neighborhood on an elderly tricycle with an enormous wire mesh basket hanging from the back. I've never seen anything in the basket, and I've always been too scared of getting run over to ask what it's for. Why am I telling this tale? To point out that tricycles are not -- usually -- hip and happening transportation.

The Aerorider might make me change my mind. At first glance it appears that a tricycle, a raindrop, and a fighter plane got muddled up in a matter transporter -- like Jeff Goldblum's experience in The Fly, except with a happy ending. This little machine is electrically assisted: you pedal and the Aerorider's 600W electric motor helps out. It has a respectable maximum speed of 45 km/h and a useful range of between 25 to 50 km, depending on local terrain.

Aerorider can be registered as a moped in many countries. In fact, the factory can easily limit the motor's output so it can pass as a motorized bicycle in the USA. It's biggest flaw? Unlike the similar-looking Twike, there's room for only one under the hinged canopy. Unless you're really good friends.

Aerorider ultralight hybrid electric trike (Aerorider)
Twike 2-passenger hybrid (FINE Mobile GmbH)

Truly Tiny Houses

The Tumbleweed Tiny House Company makes impressively small homes. We're not talking semi-detached or bungalow starter houses - these abodes are barely larger than a garden shed.

Jay Shafer has been making and living in little houses since 1997. He says "My decision to inhabit just 100 square feet arose from some concerns I had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because I just do not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space. ... Since completing the construction of my first house, I have continued to make little buildings. How each house gets used depends on its occupant’s particular needs. What one person would enjoy as a quiet studio in their backyard, another couple might choose to inhabit as a full-time residence."

Shafer's designs start at a mere 40 square feet (3.7 square meters) and range up to the whimsically named B-52, which tops out at 500 square feet  (46 square meters). His site is worth a visit -- if only to make you aware of what's possible in so little space. Prices range from $15K to $40K.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company (via Treehugger)