1981 news report on getting the newspaper on your PC

[HarryKeogh]

Ha! What cavemen we were back then!

...or visionairies?!

5WCTn4FljUQ

Fun to watch as long as you don't think about how old or dead everyone in the story must be by now.

[JFrankA]

Wooo hooo!!

They were using a Radio Shack Color Computer!!!! I've still got mine! ...I don't use it, but I still have it.... it was a great computer for it's day.

I also love the graphic "Richard Halloran Owns Home Computer" lol

The funniest bit was the narrator saying something to the effect of there's text but no pictures or ads. :D

*sigh* no ads. The golden age of computers...... :D

[Monketey Ghost]

Who would have believed that we'd have these little boxes on our desks that would allow us to access worldwide newspapers, and references of all types? If you'd told my five-year-old self that, I'd've laughed and laughed.

[alfaniner]

...
The funniest bit was the narrator saying something to the effect of there's text but no pictures or ads.

I don't mind ads, as long as they are static. It's those animated gifs and Universe help me, video (with sound!) that really bug me when trying to read a news article. The worst ones are those you can't scroll off the page.

(Of course, no one is ever bothered by an animated gif on a Forum page, right? Right???)

[elgarak]

(Of course, no one is ever bothered by an animated gif on a Forum page, right? Right???)I hate those crawling antsy ones. Gives me the creeps. Far too realistic. But jumpy cuddly blue alieny thingies are very OK :)

[NewtonTrino]

Anyone running firefox should just run the adblocker plugin. I rarely see ads as it just doesn't load them. Is nice!

[Bell]

It took two hours to recieve the text. Heh, just like the JREF forum :)

[WildCat]

Ha! What cavemen we were back then!

...or visionairies?!

5WCTn4FljUQ

Fun to watch as long as you don't think about how old or dead everyone in the story must be by now.
@ the :25 mark - an actual dial-up connection! :D

[WildCat]

It took two hours to recieve the text. Heh, just like the JREF forum :)
That's only when Darat doesn't put the JREF server phone handset over the modem juuuust right.

[jmcvann]

Two hours to upload. $5/hour. No competition. HA! My newspaper friends fear for their jobs every day now.

[chefpeon]

Newspapers on the web are beginning to rob me of my few remaining pleasures. Coffee and the PRINTED newspaper in bed on a Sunday morning. My beloved Seattle Post Intelligencer is up for sale, and unless a buyer is found, my beloved P-I will be no more.

I do so many other things on the computer, the LAST thing I want to do is read a newspaper on one. The printed page is so much easier on the eyes.......

[jmcvann]

chefpeon: soon the NYT will be everyone's hometown paper.

[chefpeon]

chefpeon: soon the NYT will be everyone's hometown paper.

Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! I've never even BEEN to NY!

[Blue Bubble]

@ the :25 mark - an actual dial-up connection! :D

Yep, 1200 baud acoustic coupler. Bah, he was lucky - we had 300 baud acoustic couplers - 1200 baud, such luxury. :D

[phaed]

Who would believe back then that 20 years on, the masses would compile an encyclopedia with four times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica...in just 7 years! EB took 200 years to compile. Imagine where WP will be in another 7 years.

Who would believe that this encyclopedia would be free and easily accessible from anyone's home?

While we have fallen behind many predictions, information technology has raced ahead of anyone's expectations, and should continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

There are whole blogs dedicated to examining historical predictions about the present. Paleo-Future (http://www.paleofuture.com) is a good one.