Retro Thing

Ride A Vintage People's Liberation Army Motorcycle

The CJ 750 sidecar motorcycle is based upon the 1938 BMW R-71. These vintage Chang Jiang military bikes are restored by the 30 person Yiqi Motorcycle Company at a 3000 square foot factory in Beijing. The company also runs the CJ Sidecar showroom in Shanghai. They offer versions with left or right-hand sidecars, and even a solo model. Custom paintwork is available in a variety of styles, although WWII military recreations are their biggest sellers.

The company site mysteriously states,"Though the Shanghai Government has stopped to register the license of CJ Sidecar Motorcycles, we can get authentic license of other provinces of China. So foreigner customers can ride their motorcycles in Shanghai with our license.

We provide a written contract with our customers when they come and pick up their bikes that guarantees  the bike we sell to the customer has a real legal motorcycle plate, and the customer can use it in shanghai. If because of the plate, the customer got fined by the policemen or something like this, then our company will take full responsibility.

The reason why we sign a contract with our customers is because many foreigner who bought some illegal bikes in Shanghai from some small companies. The policemen caught them, and kept their bikes, or fined a lot. Some customers do not even dare to drive their bikes on the street."

 
Sounds like there are some interesting stories to be told. One thing's for sure, I probably wouldn't be willing to risk my life on one of these old army workhorses - even after restoration.

CJ Sidecar Motorcycles [via The Red Ferret Journal]

Exploded Atari 2600 T-Shirts

Exploded diagrams are always things of great beauty, especially when they present vintage 8-bit console guts. This $17 American Apparel tee features a glorious 2-color screen print that measures 9.5 x 7.5 inches. Want.

Exploded 2600 Clothing

A Nation's TiVos On A Disgraceful Death March

March 29th of 2009 saw the second international Earth Hour. All nations of the world are invited to show solidarity with conservation efforts by turning off unused house lights for an hour. I myself saved a couple of pandas by turning off all of our lights (I'm usually pretty miserly anyway, I don't keep superfluous bulbs burning). Earth Hour is a fine gesture, but we need to be doing a lot more.

Over the past six months or so I have found ten TiVo DVRs thrown out in Chicago alleys. I've never had a TiVo before (I couldn't warm up to the notion of paying my VCR to record shows for me), so I took them all home to see why they were dumped. After powering them up, I saw the problem. These TiVos were all branded to work with a specific cable satellite provider. Once the customer changed providers, the TiVo was suddenly rendered useless.

I was alarmed by this because a TiVo is a sophisticated device.  These 10 units I found have plenty of life left in them, yet they were all garbage. These TiVos suffer from being a nigh useless appliances without that specific satellite service and a subscription. I was surprised that I couldn't at least use the TiVo like a programmable VCR.

So these expensive, functional, and technically capable devices are now landfill. I was frankly shocked at the wastefulness of the whole enterprise. My attitude doesn't stem from the renewed focus on environmentalism or the need to be financially responsible more than ever... the pitching of these TiVos is simply abhorrent to me.

I detest when a device is retired prematurely, especially when it's just all about marketing. This isn't good for the consumer nor good for the planet. It's bad enough that this summer will see a profusion of television sets (some estimates are as high as 99 million) in the rubbish bin, but it looks like more and more TiVos will be rendered useless because of limited forethought and selfish design.

In my dream world, the TiVo would have been designed with a “simple” mode that would let you use it as a VCR-style recorder. I realize that TiVo's business model relies on the subscriptions they collect, but I still can't get past how wrong it is to create a device that is crippled purely for marketing reasons. Aim those RF “blaster” thingies at a DTV tuner and you've got a perfect DVR for a second TV in your house. Are these ideas so crazy, TiVo?

On a sociological note, I was amused at the programming still on these TiVos. It was pretty easy to guess at the the family makeup by the shows recorded on the TiVo's hard drive. Most of the decks were pretty varied, but I did find a couple that were distinctly “his” and “hers” units. I don't like to make broad generalizations like that, but what else can I think when one TiVo had season passes for every morning trash talk show & HGTV, while the other was choked with professional wrestling and Headbanger's Ball (that's still on?!)?

Oh, and in case you're wondering... I did ameliorate the situation at least a little bit. I removed the hard drives from each of the TiVos and am using them in a variety of other devices. Let's just hope that there are some pro-environment hackers that will find a way to squeeze some extra performance out of these abandoned TiVos that will soon be littering the alleys of the rest of the world.

related:
Philips N1500: Dawn of the Timeshifting Age
Looking Back Fondly At The First Video Format War
The World's First Commercial VCR

Attack Of The Giant Vinyl Atari Cartridges

These 2-foot tall sewn, vinyl game cartridges based on classic Atari games will be shown at Giant Robot San Francisco's "Game Over/Continue?" The opening reception is tonight between 6:30 & 10 pm @ 618 Shrader Street. The exhibit runs through April 15, 2009.

 Snaggelina tells us, "The impact and inspiration of videogames will be represented through a wide assortment of styles and genres provided by top artists in the fields of illustration, painting, sewing, and indie comics. In addition, the Artxgame collective, a collaboration of Attract Mode and Giant Robot, is developing four custom videogames. These exclusive games will be available for play at the show's opening."

Snagg's Giant Sewn Atari Cartridges flickr set

Getting Online: The Hayes Smartmodem

The Hayes Smartmodem took the market by storm in 1981, connecting thousands of computer enthusiasts through online bulletin boards systems (BBSs) and online multi-user networks such as CompuServe. Back in the late 1970s, modems were expensive and communicated over phone lines at 300 bps - well below reading speed. They also used bulky acoustic couplers which required users to dial a number and place the handset into a pair of cushioned ports on top of the modem.

Dennis Hayes and Dale Heatherington set out to change all that. Their Smartmodem was a clever little box containing a Z8 microprocessor that communicated with a home computer using the industry standard RS-232 serial port. It could be programmed to answer calls and dial numbers without manual intervention using a simple string of control characters passed from the computer. Introduced at a price of $299, the Smartmodem quickly became the industry standard.

The $699 Smartmodem 1200 arrived in mid 1982, followed by the $549 Smartmodem 2400 in 1985. Intense competition from clone makers pushed prices down rapidly in the late 1980s, and modems became commodity products. Hayes gradually slipped into obscurity, unable to reestablish itself as a leader in the high speed modem market of the 1990s. The company bet its future on the emergence of digital ISDN technology and lost, declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1994.

A 1984 review from Analog magazine
Modem image from John Davin's Antique Computers collection

Nintendo Introduces the Virtual Console Arcade

Nintendo unveiled a critical Wii firmware update during Satoru Iwata's keynote speech yesterday at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Users can now save games downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel on affordable SD flash cards, rather than having to rely on the Wii's cramped 512MB internal storage.

Why does this matter to Retro gamers? Because it allows Nintendo to dramatically expand the Wii Shop Channel back catalog. To celebrate, the company introduced the Virtual Console Arcade. For $5 or $6, you'll be able to download classic arcade titles such as Gaplus (Galaga 3), Mappy, Tower of Druaga, Space Harrier, Solvalou and Star Force. Namco Bandai has plans for over two dozen more titles in 2009.

Games can be launched directly from the card, but the Wii first has to transfer the game data from the SD card into the system's internal memory, meaning you'll still need sufficient free space in the machine. The process adds under 20 seconds to a game's load time, but that's a small price to pay for adding as much as 32 GB of SDHD storage to your little white pixel box.

Update: I just installed the new firmware and downloaded Gaplus onto an SD card. There's a short delay when starting the game, but nothing major. The game itself seems to be an emulated version of the original arcade experience. Players are required to "buy credits" before playing. While authentic, this seems like a needless extra step. The vertically oriented playfield is presented in pillarbox format, wasting a lot of screen real estate on a 16:9 set. Virtual Console Arcade titles support the Wii Remote, Classic Controller and GameCube controller.

Virtual Console Arcade announcement trailer [Joystiq]

The Ultimate Barhopping Accessory?

Ladies, this just isn't a good idea. On the surface, the $44.95 Yubz phone handset might seem like a clever icebreaker for wallflower types. While you're bound to get dozens of free girlie drinks with little umbrellas, you'll also have to suffer countless deliveries of "Hey sweetie, wanna try my handset for size?" from the kind of guy who still lives in his grandma's basement.

As our office pep chant goes, "Just say no to fake retro!"

Boeing Unveils Budget Stealth Fighter

Times are tough everywhere these days. If you're having trouble balancing the nation's air defense budget, check out Boeing's shiny new F-15 Silent Eagle -- ideal for emerging and near-bankrupt nations (Iceland, I'm looking at you).

The F-15 Eagle first took to the skies in July, 1972. Since then, over 1200 of these versatile tactical fighters have served with a half-dozen air forces around the world. Its aggressive styling ensures your neighbors will be green with envy when you park a squadron or two in front of the presidential palace.

From Boeing's press release: "The F-15 Silent Eagle is designed to meet our international customers' anticipated need for cost-effective stealth technologies, as well as for large and diverse weapons payloads," said Mark Bass, F-15 Program vice president for Boeing. "The innovative Silent Eagle is a balanced, affordable approach designed to meet future survivability needs."

Boeing has completed a conceptual prototype of the CFT internal-carriage concept, and plans to flight-test a prototype by the first quarter of 2010, including a live missile launch.

Boeing F-15 Stealth Eagle [via Gizmodo]

Exclusive Video: Atari Flashback Portable

While at the Midwest Gaming Classic in Milwaukee, Retro Thing shot exclusive video of the prototype Atari Flashback Portable. This pocket-sized game has a built in screen, and plays your favorite Atari 2600 ROMs downloaded into its internal memory. Marty Goldberg tells us about plans to bring the Portable to market in the near future.

The Ultimate Science Kit

From Oak Ridge Associated Universities: "This was the most elaborate Atomic Energy educational set ever produced, but it was only only available from 1951 to 1952. Its relatively high price for the time ($50.00) and its sophistication were the explanation Gilbert gave for the set's short lifespan. Today, it is so highly prized by collectors that a complete set can go for more than 100 times the original price.

The set came with four types of uranium ore, a beta-alpha source (Pb-210), a pure beta source (Ru-106), a gamma source (Zn-65?), a spinthariscope, a cloud chamber with its own short-lived alpha source (Po-210), an electroscope, a geiger counter, a manual, a comic book and a government manual 'Prospecting for Uranium.'"

Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab [via Boing Boing]

One Of A Kind Ural Gzhel Motorcycle Auction

The Gzhel is a unique Russian-made Ural Tourist motorcycle hand painted in traditional 14th century pottery style by Svetlana Zyryanova. By day, Svetlana toils in the factory's paint department where she's often responsible for less awe-inspiring camouflage patterns. However, she's spends her spare time as an artist. This obsession led her to spend hundreds of hours hand painting a special Ural Tourist in the traditional Gzhel folk art style.

This meticulously decorated machine is roadworthy, too; the body is clear coated for protection from rocks and stray bullets. Ural's Madina Merzhoyeva tells us that, "Since 2005 a lot of changes have been made to bring the quality and functionality of a Ural up to the modern standard, while keeping untouched (almost) its retro look."

Even back in the late 1930s, BMW made great motorcycles. In fact, they were decidedly better than those the Soviets had to suffer with. In a moment of strategic stupidity, the Germans gave blueprints and casting molds for BMW's out-dated R71 motorcycle to the Russians. Over the course of WWII, thousands of these bikes were manufactured for the Red Army.

By the 1950s, the Irbit Motorcycle Works was producing Ural motorbikes for civilian use. They survived the breakup of the Soviet Union, and now operate as a privately held company. You can buy one new in North America or Europe quite easily for around $10,000.

As for the Gzhel, this one of a kind machine will be auctioned on eBay, starting at noon on April 3, 2009. The motorcycle will be delivered to the dealership closest to the winning bidder, who will also receive a bottle of Gzhel vodka with at least some of the contents remaining. A portion of the sale proceeds will be donated to the Irbit Children's School of the Arts.

IMZ Ural Gzhel Motorcycle

Thomas Dolby Releases New CD + DVD

2009 is shaping up to be a big year for Thomas Dolby. He's working on a brand new album in his lifeboat studio, and EMI is slated to release a 'best of' CD + DVD set entitled The Singular Thomas Dolby this spring.

Thomas reminisces, "EMI is not all a-buzz the way it was when I first walked in there around 1980. The atmosphere was quite mellow, to say the least. Still, it was an interesting sensation, being back in the offices of a major label, staring at tiny transparencies on a light box through a loom. Outtakes from old photo sessions where the picture commonly used was the only one I remembered; and entire sessions I’d forgotten about completely. And there were some nice surprises too: rolls of stills taken during video shoots. Paparazzi snaps of me palling around with my then label-mates Queen, Duran Duran, and Spandau Ballet. One aspect of getting older is, while I’m still picky about the way I look from different angles and with different expressions… the old shots all look pretty damn good!

Retro Deal: $17 Casio Calculator Watch

Yes, it's geeky. It's also incredibly useful. The $16.45 Casio CA53W-1 calculator watch includes an 8-digit calculator, dual time zones, stopwatch, alarm, 5 year battery and automatic perpetual calendar. There's no backlight, but I suspect that's how Casio is able to keep the price so low.

Available from Amazon with free shipping on orders over $25

Channeling Captain Kirk

Few of us have the immense presence that catapulted William Shatner to fame as Star Trek's intrepid lead. However, you could easily build a replica of his command chair to help while away your evenings making phaser sounds and bellowing orders at the cat.

From the New York Times: "Mr. Veazie, 27, was not yet born when the show first went on the air in the 1960s; even his parents were only teenagers. During his childhood, there were Star Trek spinoffs on TV with more sophisticated special effects than the original, and a more contemporary sensibility, and there were also movies featuring the old show’s actors aboard updated versions of the Enterprise. But Mr. Veazie, who watched endless reruns of the original series with his mother in the 1980s, was never drawn to those later incarnations.

'The original show was the first one I saw,' he said. 'It was so idealistic. A lot of us kids wanted to be Captain Kirk - and part of that was the chair.'

Mr. Veazie, a manager at Underwriters Laboratories, built the chair himself last year, and has been gratified to find, since installing it in the living room in May, that 'when someone comes in, it’s the first thing they comment on.'"

Getting Their Kirk On [New York Times]

Two New XGameStation Retro Consoles

Nurve LLC's Chief Scientist Andre LaMothe just introduced us to the latest XGameStation retro gaming boards. He says, "We developed two new AVR and PIC development boards in collaboration with Atmel and Microchip respectively. The two kits are very complete, come with everything users need including power supply, programmer, API, printed manual and more. They use retro gaming and graphics technology to keep the user's interest as he/she learns the processors."

The new game systems include NTSC/PAL video, VGA, Serial Ports, Micro SD card slot, PS/2 Port, Game Ports, Expansion Ports, Dual 3.3/5V Power Supplies and more. Both kits include a 300+ page book that guides the user into the depths of the system.  APIs for graphics, sound, I/O and interfacing are provided to speed game development. Nurve also developed a high performance XGS BASIC for each system, allowing users to choose from C/C++, assembly or BASIC when coding.

The Microchip-based XGS PIC 16-Bit Development System (256K flash, 16K SRAM, 40+ MIPS processor) retails for $159.95, while the Atmel-driven XGS AVR 8-Bit Development System (64K flash, 4K SRAM, 20+ MIPS processor) goes for an even more reasonable $139.95. Let me know if you get your hands on one and create the next big retro game!

Explore the XGameStation Site