“Who’s Tops in Telephones? It’s U.S.”, Bell Telephone System, 1948
☛ LIFE hosted by Google: “Who’s Tops in Telephones? It’s U.S.” advertisement for Bell Telephone System, July 19, 1948, p. 3. Large format retrieved from Graphic Mania. From the text, we learn that in 1948 (according to Bell Telephone System) there were more telephones in New York City than in all of France: There are [...]
First Gigabyte Hard Drive: The IBM 3380 HDA
☛ The University of Auckland – Department of Computer Science: Removable 1GB Hard Drive Assembly (HDA) from the IBM 3380 storage device series, announced in June 1980. Another image is available at Wikimedia Common. See also the video embedded below. The photo shows a single hard drive assembly (HDA) used on the IBM 3380 Direct [...]
Earlier maps of worldwide telegraphic lines
☛ Boston Public Library / Norman B. Laventhal Map Center: “Carte générale des grandes communications télégraphiques du monde” (“General Map of Worldwide Telegraphic Communication”) by the International Telegraph Bureau (Bern, Switzerland), 1901. Call number: G3201.P92 1903 .B87x. A hi-res version can be downloaded at the link (7265 × 5119, 36.4MB). • • • From Jean-Luc Nancy’s book [...]
“Commandments in the Atomic Age” by Günther Anders, 1957
Your second thought after awakening should run: ‘The possibility of the Apocalypse is our work. But we know not what we are doing’. We really don’t know, nor do they who control the Apocalypse: for they too are ‘we’, they too are fundamentally incompetent. That they too are incompetent, is certainly not their fault; rather [...]
