“An electronic substitute for the fountain pen” is not exactly how I’d pitch a new invention in 1980. The replacement for the fountain pen was the ball point. On the other hand, if any investors are interested in my new digital replacement for the 8-Track cassette, you know where to find me.

Hand-held Microwriter

If you can’t type, yet want to write perfect letters or memos without the help of a secretary, Microwriter could be the answer. It resembles a large pocket calculator, but has only five main keys, which fit the relaxed finger positions of your right hand. Individual alphabet letters are formed by an easily learned finger code, in which one or more keys are pressed for each character.
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the case of the disappearing data

There’s Norman L. Battle, who needs the information on a computer tape in a hurry.

There’s Nancy Havens, who went to the tape vault and was never heard from again.

There’s Horace Cotton, who thinks he saw the tape in the hands of Don Walters, but won’t swear to it.
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RECONSTRUCTS EXTINCT DODO BIRD
Familiar as a figure of speech is the dodo bird— but no one living ever saw one, until Prof. Homer Dill, of the University of Iowa Museum, set out to re-construct the strange bird for modern eyes. After a search of many years, in which he examined crumbling old manuscripts and gathered information and measurements, he has just completed a restoration of the dodo. Read the rest of this entry »

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Learning to live with The Sonic Boom

By Claude Witze

With newer, faster supersonic planes, the sonic boom will become as inevitable and unavoidable as thunder. Since we can’t escape it, the next best thing is to understand it. This article, condensed with permission from “Air Force-Space Digest,” official journal of the Air Force Association, tells the story.
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The $149.95 personal computer.

Introducing the Sinclair ZX81 If you’re ever going to buy a personal computer, now is the time to do it.

The new Sinclair ZX81 is the most powerful, yet easy-to-use computer ever offered for anywhere near-the price: only $149.95* completely assembled.

Don’t let the price fool you. The ZX81 has just about everything you could ask for in a personal computer.

A breakthrough in personal computers The ZX81 is a major advance over the original Sinclair ZX80—the world’s largest selling personal computer and the first for under $200.
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Flying Bombs Being Perfected to Deal Death in Next War

THE advantages to be obtained from flying bombs are self-evident and the various nations of the world have been trying to develop these mechanically controlled, death dealing planes for the past many years. Every so often an article appears in a newspaper which indicates that France, England, Italy, or some other country has perfected an airplane which takes off, flies through the air for an appreciable time and lands without human hands touching either the airplane or engine controls. Read the rest of this entry »

Given that the current consensus is that the universe is around 13.75 billion years old that was a pretty good guess. Although with the exception of the Big Rip, most scenarios for the ultimate fate of the universe give us trillions of years at a minimum.

We’re Living in Exploded Universe

THAT the universe can never burst because it has burst already, perhaps ten or twenty billion years ago, and is now in the midst of the most gigantic explosion ever conceived by man, is the suggestion of Sir Arthur Eddington, distinguished English astronomer. What the universe was like before it exploded no one knows. The entire origin and history not merely of man but of the earth have happened during the explosion and probably billions of more years will be available for further evolution before the explosion is over.

Daddy’s cool, like a salad!

How to make Father pop… with pride!

Surprise him with some of the handsomest, best-looking sport shirts he’s ever seen. Best of all, they’re made of super-cool, handkerchief-weight cottons which will admit every peewee breeze that blows.

Take your pick of whites, man-sized checks, cool-looking solid colors, and plain colors, with small, neat patterns. Every shirt colorfast and “Sanforized,” plus the famous Arafold collar for new smartness and comfort. $3.95.
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STRUCTURE & DESIGN

Compassionate hospital design for Philadelphia
Ruthless removal of trees in Europe
The Economist’s new mews in London
How to figure inflation in construction
Skyscrapers assume new forms

Editor Walter McQuade, A.I.A.
Research Associates Mary Jane Lightbown Jeanne Krause

A Hospital Designed to Comfort the Patients

The starchy, sanitary quality of the architecture of most hospitals often makes them oppressive to the sick. A warm and welcome corrective to this tendency will soon rise in Philadelphia, where a $4,200,000 hospital for the care of cancer patients has been designed deliberately to create a humane and appealing atmosphere. Read the rest of this entry »