Month: November 2006

Now you’re playing with power!

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NOTE: This is a special guest blog written by honorable son Eric:

 

17 years before Nintendo’s motion-sensing Wiimote/Nunchaku, there was the Power Glove for the NES. An interesting early experiment in gaming technology, it was a barely functioning “glove” that sensed your arm and finger motions and let you control games with them.

In stark contrast to the Wiimote’s small and slim sensor bar, the Power Glove required that you place these three somewhat bulky sensors on the corners of your TV. It sold fairly well due to a successful marketing campaign, but it was totally impractical to use when compared to the normal controller.

The Power Glove was immortalized in the 1989 movie The Wizard, starring Fred Savage and a ton of Nintendo product placements. The clip above contains the infamous scene!

“I love the Power Glove. It’s so bad.” That quote can be taken in several different ways, don’t you think?
 

Continue reading Now you’re playing with power!

Dam Them All

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Meet the whole Dam family! This is from 1905, and I think it’s very funny.

In 1905 Little Nemo in Slumberland first appeared, Teddy Roosevelt began his first term as President, and Albert Einstein published his Theory of Relativity.

It boggles my mind to realize that as much time has passed since I was born, as between this movie and when I was born! Maybe Baby Dam is still alive.

Picture This

Edna Mae Horner

The history of radio technology is clearly understood. There is little doubt as to who did what technically, and who did what to whom. Television has a much muddier picture, because there were many people working independently on its creation.

Edwin Armstrong made AM radio practical and he invented FM radio. Philo Farnsworth invented purely electronic (as distinct from mechanical) television. Both men were destroyed by David Sarnoff, a founder of RCA and its longtime chairman. More about “General” Sarnoff later.

AT&T — the original Ma Bell — had one of the labs that was trying to come up with a working TV system. In April, 1927, two months before my late mother was born, AT&T demonstrated mechanical television with 50 lines of resolution. Click here to read a bit about it, and see a simulation of how the picture may have looked. The photo above is of Edna Mae Horner, “one good-looking girl with fluffy hair,” who appeared on camera during the demonstration.

In the Still of Night

The Dobbster, the Western Massachusetts blogger, once again features Bill Pratt (Boris Karloff) in a movie still from his collection. Vincent Price was the young man in that group! But Peter Lorre wasn’t all that much older. Mike’s scans are big, so be sure to click the preview images to see them full-size.