The Computer Chronicles - CES (1991)

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[@sternkrieger1950]

Imagine whipping out your Game Boy to check the time and date to your next business appointment.

[@MiguelRodriguez2010]

Ah the nostalgia 😊

[@kz1000ps]

My goodness, Paul Schindler finds a way to out-corny himself every single time XD

[@straightpipediesel]

He's from MIT, it's totally expected.

[@tylermorris84]

everything about this is aging well- right down to the comments!

[@sideburn]

I love how his predictions and opinions are always wrong.

[@kz1000ps]

@@straightpipediesel Can confirm, am a former Berklee nerd who spent way too much time partying at MIT dorms on Bay State.

[@originalm3233]

18:14 *This was the NEOGEO before Fatal Fury 1 came out. Soon after multiple legendary fighting games came out for it!*

[@chopsuey70]

20:25.....Those Nintendo dancers 😂😂😂

[@jesuszamora6949]

Little did Bushnell know just how right he was about where consumer electronics were going.

[@perihelion7445]

But the CDTV was a catastrophic failure.

[@straightpipediesel]

I don't think so. Everybody learned to use a computer so all the computer-like appliances died. People don't use TVs other than to play games and watch video. When you want to look at an encyclopedia, buy something, or do home banking, everybody gets on a computer or a smartphone. Even little kids have computer laptops (Chromebooks), something that would be way too expensive in the 1990s.

[@cauldronofstardust4113]

When Bushnell is talking about computer chips being in everything, he’s right. He’s also right about the dangers of it being too complex. My thermostat has a computer chip in it. There’s all sorts of wonky things like programming schedules, & times of day for it to go off & on. And what days you want what temperature programmed it to have. And all these nifty little touch screen buttons. Thing is I JUST WANT TO SET THE DARN TEMPERATURE & I can barely figure out how to do it. I only know I did it right if it eventually goes on or not. I hate it. I hate that computerized thing to death. I miss my old thermostat: Heat. Cool. Off. Dial temperature setting control. So simple & easy. No wondering if I did it right, because if the wonderful simplicity of it. No freezing my butt off in the winter thinking “did I program the heater correctly, or is is programmed to start going on in two weeks from now on Tuesday at 5 o’clock?” My car’s dashboard controls have the same problem. I car’s touchscreen as well. No I don’t want to synchronize a Bluetooth or get GPS directions in to the nearest donut shop given to me in Cambodian. Just put the stinkin radio on!

[@jesuszamora6949]

@@cauldronofstardust4113 Bruh, you ain't even wrong. TVs are the worst suspects. Used to be you adjusted the tint and maybe the vertical position. Now you gotta worry about cool vs warm tones, separate color and tint settings, what apps your TV supports (if you don't use a Fire stick or Chromecast), whether your TV works with your digital antenna that always seems to cut audio at the slightest interference, backlight separate from the brightness, and so on. Oh, and don't forget to turn on game mode so you play that console you spent two hours setting up without wondering why it takes a full second after you hit the button. Oh, hope you got the right HDMI cable.

[@prepperry3498]

back then CES & COMDEX its was excitement to go and visit because new technology are coming unlike now a days miss those days of 1990s

[@nitramluap]

20:07 - Who knew that Sonic the Hedgehog music was first developed for a baseball game! :-D

[@pnkflyd66]

Umm it’s football 🏈

[@lokostill]

Soccer

[@fordxbgtfalcon]

Baseball? Wtf?

[@infinitecanadian]

It was probably a nearby system.

[@sfrb]

YOOO OMG PROOF SONIC WAS DEMOED IN VEGAS YOOO

[@Fuzy2K]

19:37 -- "OHH! My gawd!" :P

[@Panthers1521]

lol

[@WiseGuy02]

Someone is having a good time behind the curtain.

[@xtreamerpt7775]

this made my day!! thank you for all this amazing historic videos

[@wallacelang1374]

I have always wanted to attend the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) just to see what electronics gadgets were going to be coming out over the next number of months. However I have never attended the CES at all so I feel like I have been denied such amazing wonders.

[@AcornElectron]

10:40 nice glove. I always use similar gloves when handling my 1980s optical media…. But only on one hand, just like the professionals.

[@TomiTapio]

Handling the film negatives when scanning photos.

[@PedroSilvahf]

For a second i was waiting for a retro squarespace ad

[@andresbravo2003]

21:19 that is the one since I was looking for this prototype found by the Hidden Palace Team. Also Side-Note at 21:07, that was a different point of development that never seen at CES 1991.

[@hang10wannabe]

$9500 for a 33 mhz 486 cpu! My goodness the times we live in!

[@lindaoffenbach]

Not sure what happened but it was in 1991 when we bought two towers DX/2 66 both with screens and Tseng labs SVGA card at 1,100 DM each, including DOS 6.22 and Win 3.1 in Germany (with international Qwerty keyboard though). No soundcards in them I should add.

[@adamberndt4190]

These were all million dollar ideas and products that are now $3.50 items at goodwill!

[@TomiTapio]

Yup, one 50€ Android phone does a thousand things and that $400 ebook dictionary does one thing

[@nofx714]

All these products seem like they were way ahead of their time. I’m absolutely stunned on how these products seem like they never got the attention they needed.

[@straightpipediesel]

It's the cost! The CDTV sold for $1000, equivalent to $1875 today. With that in mind, you can see why it was a failure. This was true most of the other gadgets. Another example: Photo CD cost $3 an image to scan, plus $400 for the player.

[@doomtomb3]

Truth is these products sucked, there were no software updates, would all end up in sock drawers a year from the date of purchase.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

It took a few extra years before CD-ROM became mainstream in the PC world but it eventually shook the industry up to free itself from floppy distribution limitations, plus created synergy with 16 bit sound cards and eventually 3D graphics in the later 90s. 1991 was a little too early for all this to unfold.

[@WiseGuy02]

RIP Kate Megargee.

[@vintagecapgunsatyourmomshouse]

These are great! These are agreed window into a time I was too young to experience.

[@flirtwd]

Sharper Image! RIP...

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

21:30 WTF...Mario in disguise playing SEGA???

[@cauldronofstardust4113]

LOL! Hah! Even plumber boy knew which video game company had the superior system, & the better mascot, who starred in the better games bank in the early 90s. And it wasn’t his company, it wasn’t him, & it wasn’t his games. Genesis & Sonic ftw, baby! 😎

[@virtualfantome1248]

Footage of a Sonic 1 BETA at 21:08.

[@andresbravo2003]

that was a different point of development that never seen on CES 1991.

[@LYB4]

@@andresbravo2003 they never said it was??

[@LYB4]

@@andresbravo2003 they just said it was of a sonic 1 beta

[@flirtwd]

Bushnell said Atari didn’t go under because ET the video game flopped. He said they couldn’t get people, to buy a new Atari system. As you know, the trick is to make ever more complicated games the old system can’t handle. Which in turn forces one to buy the latest, albeit more powerful system. Gimmicky as hell.

[@javidThoman]

Also still a common practice today by video game companies.

[@flirtwd]

Wow! That camera cost about $1450 back in 1991. Now an entry level iPhone takes better video than that. Damn!

[@oldtwinsna8347]

Entry level iphone? Try a low end phone from 15 years ago.

[@InflatableConan]

Wow, my man @ 3:52 was waiting for the launch of the PS1 since 1991. That's a hardcore gamer.

[@stargamer777]

23:41 - Yeah because adults would want to use a Game Boy as a business tool (also translator/PIM/travel guide/ect).

[@cauldronofstardust4113]

@16:20 “...the Powenote Laptop is neither a portable computer, nor a pocket type personal organizer, but a hybrid.” Ah yes, I understand. So its an El Camino. A spork. A 1970s era AstroTurf multipurpose sports stadium. Boxer-brief underpants. A misguided fusion of 2 different things with a naive belief that you’ll be getting the best aspects of both together in one, but instead getting nothing but 100% absolute fail. I’m sure this thing will do well🙄

[@nrdesign1991]

15:28 linear predictive coding at its best!

[@user-rs1lw2gg8l]

Cool!

[@sfrb]

19:59 Games in Vegas

[@JAFOpty]

Laptop battery life hasn't change much in 20 yrs

[@Unlocktube]

The amount of power used in said laptops has.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

I don't recall laptops back then getting 6-8 hours of usage, at least not any laptop that had a backlight on it, which is essentially a lightbulb being left on.

[@JLLockwood]

Tech marketing was weird back in the day.

[@lindaoffenbach]

Interestingly, the CDTV was nothing more than a repackaged Amiga 500 still banking on ancient OCS/ECS technology with limited colours and rather lagging behind low resolution compared to SVGA. That same year we bought two towers DX/2 66 with Tseng labs SVGA complete with screens, each at 1,100 DM. Rudementary sound on board though. But still, Commodore times were clearly over as Amiga based tech was so ancient by then.

[@DavePoo2]

They then later re-packaged the A1200 as the CD32. 1991 was the beginning of the end for Commodore.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

It didn't fool anyone to realize you were far better off to get a computer for what it sold for, and a PC computer at that. What's worse is how the introduction of this machine alienated the existing Amiga computer users as they felt neglected like a bastard child. For example, the CD-ROM was never offered as a peripheral for the Amiga computer lineup. An absolute insult and slap in the face to the users who supported Commodore. By 1992 many ended up leaving the platform for the far more affordable PC lineup that blew away the 1985 spec heritage the machine still clinged tightly to.

[@fordxbgtfalcon]

The blonde at the beginning was beautiful!

[@jeremyjohnson8844]

Agreed! Stunningly.

[@meamadam]

She's going to be 66 six this year.

[@MTRZ97]

3:53 Looks like Sony isnt the only one with a PS1

[@KabelkowyJoe]

I'm curious who was in charge in IBM in late 80s early 90s because saw everything they made then was a failure. Ps2,Ps1,Os2, and letting Microsoft develop Windows 3(Win16) and Windows NT(Win32/OS3) using their financial technical support

[@KabelkowyJoe]

But also Intel to develop Pentium and dominate while IBM/Motorola/Apple was left 1 year behind. This Wintel thing in meantime killed Atari,Amiga,almost Apple, and IBM dominance except for laptops. Because these were expensive business machines. And they were good at expensive machines

[@MTRZ97]

@Moogle Midgar and they released a smaller model called the PSOne, either way, its the PS1. It seems that you cant accept a comment from anyone, if you get triggered about something small like this. I didn't know it was a hate or federal crime to abbreviate something. You must be someone who says the Federal Bureau of Investigation, instead of the FBI.

[@deltaray3]

Or a PS2

[@fcukugimmeausername]

@ 20:40 Is that Mario playing a SEGA?

[@MiguelRodriguez2010]

Ha!

[@MCopulos]

who else is here for sonic 1

[@AcornElectron]

21:03 how times change…

[@ultimatelyit]

Don't worry my dear, I don't think anyone ever set their VCR clock :D

[@unnamedchannel1237]

What if you wanted todo timer record ?

[@SkuldChan42]

Oh Commodore you weren't fooling anyone

[@kingcrimson234]

3:52 If you close your eyes, it's Ted Cruz talking.

[@telesniper2]

man there sure were lots of crappy products back then

[@ichigokarasu]

Hahahahahha, "Called Neo Geo, or "new land" " LMFAO

[@jaynadian]

21:02 thank me later sonic fans

[@dangevin]

18:20 - No. Nobody ever referred to this as "New Land."

[@deltaray3]

6:30 Holy crap Nolan Bushnell looks so out of place being there for Commodore. Didn't he have better things to do?

[@oldtwinsna8347]

@6:38 "we really didn't want to build a computer". Yes, Commodore, you clearly didn't care to build a next generation computer (AA chipset in particular) to compete in the market at this point in time and instead recycled 1985 technology with a CDROM drive (which wasn't even available to the Amiga as a peripheral - ridiculous) and tried to fool people this was going to be the hottest new gatchet to get. It didn't work, and all that wasted money spiraled the company towards bankruptcy not long after.

[@infinitecanadian]

You shouldn't need a Spanish translator. Everyone should just learn English.