The Macintosh computer launched in 1984 with a mouse, a graphical interface and a famously skeptical press. Here’s how it almost failed — and what saved it.
office technology
The 1970s personal computer revolution began as those ingenious devices that put men on the moon, revolutionized science, and perplexed millions were finding their way into the home.
Take a look back this collection of old office cubicles and company layouts from the 1970s to see what it was like to work in America’s corporate 9-to5 world a few decades ago.
When you look back at how people talked about and used computers in the 1960s, it’s easy to get a feel for how exciting the technological advances were at the time. It was a whole new wild frontier.
These vintage touch-tone phones – featuring push buttons, speed and musical tones – represented a totally new signaling system, and opened the way to increased versatility in communications.
Old paper welders were small metal presses that essentially embossed two or three pieces of paper together – no staples or paperclips needed. Here’s a look back!
To help you remember the heyday of the Xerox, check out some vintage copy machines here – and be grateful that email and scanners have made running a business nowadays so much simpler.
Reel-to-reel tape recorders hit the commercial market in the 1940s — and their evolution was boosted by the financial support of none other than Bing Crosby, who saw great potential in the technology.
This classic advice from the 1970s helped consumers choose and take care of audio cassette tapes.
In the world of modern technology, it’s easy to take the humble typewriter completely for granted. But have you ever wondered who invented the typewriter – and how it introduced a new role for women in the workforce?
The Picturephone, an electronic moving picture device that debuted in the late 60s, let you video chat long before the internet, and way before Zoom, Google Meet, Facetime et al.
1980s Microsoft was still growing in 1982 — see how its early software, tools and ads helped shape the future of personal computing.
If you lived through the seventies and eighties, you can probably immediately remember the sound that these vintage dot matrix printers used to make. See and hear them again here!
The AMSTRAD Word Processor was compact… for the time! One box held the whole shebang – the monitor, keyboard and printer, plus word processing software.
These vintage 980s personal computers weren’t just expensive, but some had hard drives so small that just one of these old PC ad images would have maxed them out.
Electric typewriter history from Edison to IBM’s Selectric — how a humming office machine with a golf ball print head came to dominate American workplaces.
What was vintage ’80s tech like? The Good Guys were a big consumer electronics specialty retailer selling brand-name audio and video gear. See the hottest retro TVs, stereos and more from 1987!
Even back when telephones had rotary dials, advances were made in these old office telephone systems that worked like mini-switchboards. See some here!
Back in the late ’80s we were happy for some of the first laptop computers, despite being big and heavy with tiny hard drives and huge price tags.
Here’s a classic timesaving, money-saving dictating machine – the vintage Dictaphone Time-Master – plus other old dictation devices.
What was the Canon Cat? They called it a Work Processor. It could help write and edit, communicate and calculate. It would even dial a phone.
Vintage 1980s cordless phones were the essential step between wired pushbutton phones and today’s modern cell phones. Here’s a look back at the top telephone tech from the 80s!
In the ’50s, they wanted to know what secretary wouldn’t prefer a job that included one of these vintage IBM electric typewriters? Compared to manuals, they were so easy to use.
In meetings or in the classroom, a vintage overhead projector would help you show charts, diagrams, reports and drawings to the entire group at once for a simple and dramatic visual presentation.
Fax it! That phrase became as much of a cliche in the ’80s as ‘We’ll do lunch.’ Look at how vintage fax machines quickly outgrew fad status.
