On October 12th, 1983, Bill Landreth called his friend Chris in Detroit to chat. Chris frantically explained that the FBI had raided his house. “Don’t call me anymore,” Chris said in what would be a very short conversation. Bill didn’t know exactly what was happening, but he did … | Continue reading
Today, tech nerds are obsessed with high-tech encryption. But if you ever send snail mail, you might want to take a tip from America’s intelligence community. The CIA sends out letters that are secured with a specific type of tamper-proof tape—think of it like low-tech encryption … | Continue reading
Napoleon Hill is the most famous conman you’ve probably never heard of. Born into poverty in rural Virginia at the end of the 19th century, Hill went on to write one of the most successful self-help books of the 20th century: Think and Grow Rich. In fact, he helped invent the gen … | Continue reading
Fifty years ago today, on October 29, 1969, the internet was born. It was a humble beginning—a single login from a computer terminal at UCLA in Los Angeles to the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in the Bay Area. But it was a tiny baby step that would eventually catapult the wo … | Continue reading
Amazon was founded on July 5, 1994, and launched its online store in 1995, letting people buy books from the comfort of their homes. Twenty-five years after its inception, Amazon now sells everything from taco holders shaped like dinosaurs to tongue brushes that humans can use to … | Continue reading
Later this month, some of the original videotapes that captured the first Moon landing will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. But they’re not being sold by NASA. Incredibly, these tapes were sold to a random NASA intern back in the 1970s who had no idea at the time that he’ … | Continue reading
Almost every country in the world uses metric measurements. Every country except for the United States that is. It’s usually not a big problem. But there have been some close calls throughout history when people used metric instead of imperial, or vice versa with disastrous resul … | Continue reading
On October 12th, 1983, Bill Landreth called his friend Chris in Detroit to chat. Chris frantically explained that the FBI had raided his house. “Don’t call me anymore,” Chris said in what would be a very short conversation. Bill didn’t know exactly what was happening, but he did … | Continue reading
If you’ve never been to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, you have to go. And there’s no better time than this year, as the museum opens up a new exhibit of vehicles from TV and movies that looks cool as hell. | Continue reading
Apple Computer was an innovative and nimble company in 1987, so it makes sense that people at the tech giant would imagine a world dominated by Apple ten years into the future. And that’s precisely what it did when it released this goofy video from the perspective of the year 199 … | Continue reading
Flying can be an excruciating experience these days. The CEO of United Airlines recently admitted that by the time passengers sit down on his planes, they’re already “pissed at the world.” But plenty of airlines have tried to make things more fun over the years, even if they were … | Continue reading
In the early days of radio broadcasting, there was no easy way to tell how many people were listening to the soap operas and prestige crime dramas, and, subsequently, how many were actually hearing the radio ads for tooth powder and name brand coal for your furnace—information th … | Continue reading
A horrifying magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit Japan on September 1, 1923, killing over 140,000 people. And while news of the devastation reached newspapers around the world by the next day, there was no way to get film footage from Japan to the United States that quickly. But that di … | Continue reading
Facebook announced its new Portal hardware today, a limited-purpose device that allows users to video chat on Facebook almost exclusively. And there’s something strangely retro about the concept: This is the standalone videophone device that George Jetson had in the 1960s and tha … | Continue reading
You’re probably familiar with the old sayings, “where’s my flying car?” and “where’s my jetpack?” But the most depressing question for plenty of space nerds from the 20th century might be, “where’s my vacation on the moon?” And I just got really depressed reading a paper from 198 … | Continue reading
The world of invention is famous for its patent disputes. But what happens when your dispute wasn’t with another inventor but whether the Patent Office saw you as a person at all? In 1864, a black man named Benjamin T. Montgomery tried to patent his new propeller for steamboats. … | Continue reading
If you ever wanted to own a piece of Apple Computer history, now’s your chance. Provided you have a spare $300,000 lying around. | Continue reading
Alvin Toffler, who died in 2016, will be remembered for his many contributions to the work of futurism. Toffler was a prolific writer, most notably the author of the 1970 best-selling book Future Shock, and a man who became friends with important figures across the political spec … | Continue reading
What will real estate agents of the future look like? That’s what a video from 1991 was trying to find out. | Continue reading
Before the invention of the car, jaywalking wasn't a recognized concept. Want to get across the street? Then just walk across the street—nobody's going to stop you. But the rise of the automobile posed a new problem for people of the early 20th century. While the median s … | Continue reading