Old commercial shows just how far we’ve come

 Posted by on 27 November 2009  Vintage/Retro
Nov 272009
 

I love watching old ads (I’m deep into Mad Men, partially for this reason) and I got a kick out of this one, for a calculator:

That’s $345 in vintage money — worth probably over $1,000 today — for functionality that is thrown in for free with every cell phone. Heck, I think my ipod has a calculator. You can buy standalone calculators at the dollar store.

Now, prediction time: What expensive technology today will be ultra-cheap in 30 years?

Grant Hamilton

  • thebanana

    Everyone will have their own nuclear powered home costing us next to nothing for heat and lights. Cell phone plans will still suck.

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com Amy Breen

    “World’s smallest electronic calculator.”

    And it’s huge!

  • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

    I wouldn’t be surprised if every home had its own power plant, actually, along the lines of everyone having their own furnace and hot water tank. Lots of cities (even Brandon, btw) had centralized steam heating in the early days (and lots of places still do). But it turned out that individual furnaces were more convenient.

    I suspect that we’ll still have a power grid, though — and you’ll be able to sell your excess power to the grid, if you want to, turning your ‘hydro bill’ into a ‘hydro paycheque.’