AT&T Archives: Seeing the Digital Future (1961)

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  • čas přidán 19. 05. 2024
  • For more from the AT&T Archives, visit techchannel.att.com/archives
    In 1961, the digital future was just starting to come to fruition. And the Bell System had a number of products that had either just come onto the market, or were incipient, that implemented these new computer technologies. In December 1960, AT&T had just announced an investment of $2.5 billion for satellite communications and improving the network for data services and computer communication.
    In 1958, AT&T had just announced its first modem. Springing from technologies used for the computerized navigation of missiles, the modem, i.e. the Data-Phone, was rolled out in a few markets in the midwest. It would be made commercially available throughout the network by 1960. The Data-Phone could transmit at up to a bit-rate of 110 bits per second.
    This film breaks into approximately two parts - part I: the problems of the present, and part II: the way those problems could be solved by the technology of the future. This film not only serves as almost the birth of the information age, it also projects that technology far into the future.
    The commercial products that would allow this connected, computer-communicating network? They're basic, but at the time seemed radical:
    * The wireless Bellboy Pager, which was introduced commercially in 1962
    * The Data-phone, which was supposed to revolutionize business communications
    * The videophone-shown as a credit-card-reading vertical two-way television
    * The card-reading phone or automatic dialer, which would dial a number from small plastic punch cards, introduced in 1961
    * Oh, and package delivery via rocket (which had just been tested in 1959).
    Producer: Henry Strauss Productions
    Writer: Jerome Alden
    Director: Robert Wilmot
    Henry Strauss made a number of films for the Bell System, including Family Affair, and Manmade Troubles.
    Footage Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ
  • Věda a technologie

Komentáře • 1,6K

  • @HeatherGenia
    @HeatherGenia Před 8 lety +514

    This seems like an episode of the twilight zone

    • @ZnenTitan
      @ZnenTitan Před 6 lety +24

      Back then real life was the Twilight Zone.

    • @way2muchNFO
      @way2muchNFO Před 6 lety +18

      Voiced by Rod Sterling the very man:)

    • @CommunityGuidelines
      @CommunityGuidelines Před 6 lety +18

      The soundtrack sounds very much like it was composed by Bernard Herrmann, who scored The Twilight Zone.

    • @koilamaoh4238
      @koilamaoh4238 Před 5 lety +4

      @@ZnenTitan no wonder why I find the oldies soo creepyy. Glad we evolved out of it or have we...

    • @1964DB
      @1964DB Před 5 lety +5

      It's the music.

  • @MrROTD
    @MrROTD Před 8 lety +865

    The people who produced this never guessed I'd be watching a digital version of this film on a device that is a portable computer no bigger than a book and having more computing power than all computers then in existance worldwide LOL they got a lot of uses right but just didn't have any way to envision what the devices would actually look like

    • @OneofInfinity
      @OneofInfinity Před 8 lety +28

      Specially the time before Star Trek.

    • @orange70383
      @orange70383 Před 7 lety +12

      Don't kid yourself.

    • @JimInTally
      @JimInTally Před 7 lety +35

      Abdou, you overlook the fact that people are not always available to take your call. Text messaging is simply a way of leaving a sticky-note on their door. And, despite your assertion, I consider the smartphone to be one of the greatest advances of modern civilization. You have immediate access to a vast amount of crucial information that wasn't even a dream 55 years ago. In fact, you'd have been labeled insane for even suggesting that such a thing was possible.

    • @JimInTally
      @JimInTally Před 7 lety +12

      *****: I wasn't saying you WERE insane, I was referring to what people would say about a person 55 years ago if he had suggested the concept of a smartphone and that it was possible we could eventually have them. Sorry about the misunderstanding.

    • @DanaTheInsane
      @DanaTheInsane Před 7 lety +22

      Those damn kids, with their Hula hoops and rumble seats!

  • @JarOfRats
    @JarOfRats Před 10 lety +260

    "Rocket Deliveries" sounds SO much cooler than Amazon Drones.

    • @ChristopherUSSmith
      @ChristopherUSSmith Před 6 lety +7

      JarOfRats Just wait until teleportation becomes commonplace! :)

    • @user2C47
      @user2C47 Před 6 lety +3

      Too expensive. When transporters do become available in a few hundred years, they will likely be restricted to urgent aerospace and medical uses.

    • @jayneadanoff1876
      @jayneadanoff1876 Před 5 lety +2

      Christopher U.S. Smith Teleportation will just make clones of what ever it teleported. The original will be destroyed.

    • @sleekoduck
      @sleekoduck Před 4 lety +2

      Amazon is working on a rocket service. It will probably be used for business travel across the Pacific.

    • @AckzaTV
      @AckzaTV Před 3 lety +1

      rocket pizza? comet pizza? Qanon? wtf lol ATT you will

  • @bob4analog
    @bob4analog Před 9 lety +277

    "Can my machine talk to your machine?" Ooh Baby...what a pick up line!

    • @TheyRiseBand
      @TheyRiseBand Před 6 lety +6

      She's a cutie.

    • @julienielsen3746
      @julienielsen3746 Před 3 lety +5

      Sounds like on of Jim's answering machine messages at the beginning of The Rockford Files.

    • @rodferguson3515
      @rodferguson3515 Před 2 lety

      Sounds like soft Cyber porn to me...

  • @grendelum
    @grendelum Před 5 lety +65

    2:20 In case anyone wondered, this sequence was done with a water table made for filming or projecting... it’s basically a very shallow sink made with a transparent bottom, multiple small drains, multiple water sources and a really bright light shining down on it (or from below in the projection case). A camera is placed under the table and the equipment is that simple. The effects are made with acrylic flow paint and various solvents and oils (or water) flowing past the camera’s frame. It’s a *_lot_* of fun to play with but *_exceedingly_* messy... I had one on tour as the lighting director for a band for one tour...

    • @josephambrose2852
      @josephambrose2852 Před 2 lety +2

      Thanks for the bedtime story. I think I'll work great

    • @ashdallis6701
      @ashdallis6701 Před 2 lety +4

      that's AWESOME THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE!

    • @DebraSalamone
      @DebraSalamone Před rokem +2

      appreciate you

    • @plateshutoverlock
      @plateshutoverlock Před rokem +3

      It was strange seeing psycadelic imagry a few years before the hippie era.

    • @S.Clause
      @S.Clause Před 9 měsíci

      Ok, but did not care

  • @lunarotimas
    @lunarotimas Před 3 lety +10

    at 6:55 when she says "can my machine talk to your machine?" my heart MELTS

  • @jugglingembalmer
    @jugglingembalmer Před 8 lety +409

    Whoa! Did that guy just jack the other guy's pager?

    • @namafarm
      @namafarm Před 8 lety +23

      I saw that too!

    • @Kit_Bear
      @Kit_Bear Před 8 lety +19

      +jugglingembalmer In those days he would have demanded satisfaction, pistols at dawn.
      Today, we have lawyers, I'll settle for the pistol.

    • @Jail4u
      @Jail4u Před 8 lety +16

      +jugglingembalmer He did jack that pager. Funnest thing I seen all week.

    • @gilmartinez7186
      @gilmartinez7186 Před 8 lety +7

      Oh yes he did ;-)

    • @minorshan
      @minorshan Před 7 lety +7

      I want the end of that scene!

  • @bellabay2830
    @bellabay2830 Před 8 lety +183

    I work my pants to the bone, to find this kind of quality content.
    Worth every cent.

    • @1964DB
      @1964DB Před 5 lety +7

      I work my pants to the bone. What the hell does that mean? Oh, wait....

    • @billsteinly8105
      @billsteinly8105 Před 4 lety +7

      How could I be in when I'm out?

    • @luisreyes1963
      @luisreyes1963 Před 4 lety +3

      The guy who said that was actor Frank Marth.

  • @michaelwyres
    @michaelwyres Před 4 lety +36

    "...I work my pants to the bone..."
    That's some strange pants...

  • @yuppiehi
    @yuppiehi Před 4 lety +27

    9:15 My dad owned a business during the 1970s/1980s that repaired those pagers. And yes, dropping it in water was the most common problem, even back then.

  • @DataWaveTaGo
    @DataWaveTaGo Před 7 lety +188

    Rocket Delivery - Because money is no object when you need 12 Pate Boeufs a la Bergere ...

  • @turboslag
    @turboslag Před 9 lety +116

    Always extremely interesting to see how the future was predicted in the past. Just think, even the most futurist of minds back then could not have even imagined the present we now have. Just as we cannot imagine the future of another 50 years.

    • @kelvinhbo
      @kelvinhbo Před 8 lety +5

      +turboslag Tell that to Michio Kaku, He thinks he knows how the future is going to be, but I bet people in the future will look at his predictions as we look at this one.

    • @sleekoduck
      @sleekoduck Před 4 lety

      Singularity, and invest in real estate in Lagos. You're welcome.

    • @jdsguam
      @jdsguam Před 3 lety +3

      "we cannot imagine the future " - Of course we can. Our ideas may not pan-out; but, we certainly can imagine.

    • @stevesether
      @stevesether Před rokem +1

      I'm from the future. Back in 2015, lots of people had been saying for a long time that a global pandemic was a question of when, not if. 13 years before this comment we even had an outbreak of Coronavirus that luckily petered out.
      And now we're exiting that very pandemic that people imagined and warned about for decades.
      So I think the problem is not so much imagining the future, but knowing when it will come true. There were plenty of predictions of video phones in the 60s, but it took another 50 years for it to finally happen.

    • @windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823
      @windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Před rokem

      @@stevesether this wasn't even as serious as some of the others, tho.

  • @jobyd2000
    @jobyd2000 Před 7 lety +90

    It's also amazing how a presentation like this has changed just in form. This video has THREE MINUTES of introduction before anything happens. That would never fly today.

    • @goodmaro
      @goodmaro Před 7 lety +17

      That time's built in just to get the audience to sit down & pay att'n. Consider where a short like this was probably shown -- maybe to kids, maybe on a loop at a trade fair. You'll still see intros like that today on the most pretentious shorts, even CZcamss.

    • @marcosmota1094
      @marcosmota1094 Před 5 lety +5

      ​@Mdmchannel It has nothing to do with short attention span. Nearly two minutes of shrill sounds and explosions on YT videos is not acceptable. That or a host who blabbers. I watch "Forgotten Weapons", a gun channel, and Ian has a habit of being verbose, and insulting by repeatedly mentioning something that was understood the first time around. Yesterday, it was a lever that held the receiver open while a machine gun was upright. We could all *see* that the gun was upright and that the soldier had *both hands free* to work on the gun, but two minutes of the same sh!+?! Come on! Producers and content creators need to respect people's time, and think of how and where sound is reproduced for their audience. Gee, there I go explaining the obvious.

    • @BigDogCountry
      @BigDogCountry Před 4 lety +2

      @@goodmaro Movie theater, or quite possibly TV filler where 15 minutes was needed.

    • @sleekoduck
      @sleekoduck Před 4 lety +1

      The video was worth sitting through three minutes of Sputnik.

    • @laobok
      @laobok Před 3 lety +2

      The difference is that they are actually aesthetically pleasing. Not the digital eye cancer that it is today.

  • @websurf90
    @websurf90 Před 10 lety +34

    Technology is amazing. The Bell Labs of 1961 couldn't even dream of what we can do today. I can talk, stream, and even video call with anyone anywhere any time today whereas they were still getting their heads around the idea of pagers!

    • @slym3z949
      @slym3z949 Před 9 lety +2

      Even though this is a year ago *cough* awkward *cough* we now have computerized voices singing better than human beings (Vocaloid, try Eden- Atols

    • @sleekoduck
      @sleekoduck Před 4 lety +2

      Online shopping over the phone is a thing.

  • @hakemon
    @hakemon Před 10 lety +201

    What will they think of next? *jacks the pager*

    • @ZenPunk
      @ZenPunk Před 6 lety +24

      I was dying at that part. "Well, I'll be damned!" *pockets that shit*

    • @markfoster1520
      @markfoster1520 Před 6 lety +16

      ....for Research & Development.....

  • @bisket2003
    @bisket2003 Před 2 lety +27

    I can't get enough of these retro futurism videos. Why don't we make these now??

    • @luisreyes1963
      @luisreyes1963 Před rokem +5

      Come back in about 8 years, we may have enough material by then. ⏳

    • @Yoctopory
      @Yoctopory Před rokem +2

      Well... we do!

    • @robertd9850
      @robertd9850 Před rokem +1

      CZcams.

    • @sturmovik1274
      @sturmovik1274 Před rokem +7

      We make them every day. They just won't be "retro" for a few generations.

    • @Knochenbrigade
      @Knochenbrigade Před rokem +2

      Because we have no future anymore.

  • @paulbione5267
    @paulbione5267 Před 5 lety +13

    I love how the guy pockets the other guy's pager/beeper!!

  • @atlantic_love
    @atlantic_love Před 3 lety +9

    Man, I really miss the old days. I was born in 1972, but I distinctly remember watching television shows on black and white television in 1976 or 1977. The CGI and special effects weren't there, but the voices were just so much better.

    • @kentdean3882
      @kentdean3882 Před rokem +1

      You said it. Clear diction and no uptalk or vocal fry.

    • @peequod
      @peequod Před 3 měsíci +1

      Yes, mature voices marinated in scotch and his favorite brand of cigarette.

  • @MrJorgito89
    @MrJorgito89 Před 7 lety +72

    "This compact telephone console"😂😂

  • @DStyles2345
    @DStyles2345 Před 4 lety +125

    1961: there’ll be flying cellular phones
    2020: At&t bill comes out to $400 for 1 line with no international call and 4gb of data 🤦🏽‍♂️

    • @deserteddave1596
      @deserteddave1596 Před 3 lety +4

      @@joebidenofficialpotus I was there. Small town, still had party lines. Remember the old shows, when some would call the operator & ask for "Klondike" such & such number? It was really like that. Our number was CIrcle 5-4298, way back then. No area codes, had to ask for the long distance operator.

    • @calbob750
      @calbob750 Před 3 lety +3

      In the 70s a high speed data circuit was 56kb.

    • @SG-bp4lg
      @SG-bp4lg Před 3 lety +3

      4gb of data would arguably be more amazing than flying phones to those people.

    • @klausstock8020
      @klausstock8020 Před 2 lety +3

      That's because we live in the bright AT&T future where money is of no concern for anybody.
      "I don't care how much this clothing item costs, as long it's available in green. Here, take my credit card."
      "Should we check with our customer first before adding $28M for rocket delivery?" - "Why? He ordered Pate Boeufs a la Bergere without asking for the price, and we've got his account number."
      "Always the innovator, AT&T is the first telecommunications company in the world to print invoices in landscape format to accomodate larger numbers."
      "Mr Musk, Is it true that you founded SpaceX with the goal of flying to Mars?" - "No, I was just tired of waiting for the Concorde to deliver my Pate Boeufs a la Bergere."

  • @talesia
    @talesia Před 7 lety +135

    Those key punch cards at 7:06. I remember in high school in 1979 I told my office machines instructor it was crazy for us to be learning key punch because key card systems were going to be replaced by tape. She told me I was crazy, they could never get data into machines with tape at most businesses, it was just too expensive, only large institutions like banks could do that LOL. Not only were small / medium business on tape within 2 years of that, but 2 more years after tape they were on desktop smart computers (instead of dumb CRTs) and large floppy discs.. LOL.... the rest is history as they say.... Only wish I would have had the money to invest in what I saw coming back then...

    • @DataWaveTaGo
      @DataWaveTaGo Před 7 lety +18

      I recently met a guy who had a chance to invest in something called "Velcro", but his dad said "Not going anywhere, just do your paper route."

    • @charlesneely
      @charlesneely Před 6 lety

      My good friend why the hell didn't you not patent that idea they stole your idea. Now you'll never be a billionaire and have money to take care of your future heirs and descendants you could have left a legacy for years on end that would have benefited many of your family bloodline you could have been rich in the words of Rick James I'm rich bitch

    • @windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823
      @windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Před 5 lety +1

      Still have a Roland XP-80 with a small floppy drive from.1997 that still works, lol

    • @RADIUMGLASS
      @RADIUMGLASS Před 5 lety

      You're a fool!

    • @jonnelson9760
      @jonnelson9760 Před 4 lety +1

      I remember learning the Hollerith code in high school.

  • @rob098890
    @rob098890 Před 8 lety +29

    "There are plenty of rocket deliveries Thursday morning!"
    That had me in stitches haha

    • @kevinpatrickmacnutt
      @kevinpatrickmacnutt Před 7 lety

      House Music Everyday Yeah, back in those days international cuisine was an out there concept. I want "oriental food, get me Hong Kong!"

  • @AdrianCastillo-tp4ln
    @AdrianCastillo-tp4ln Před 9 lety +328

    Why does everyone from the 60's sound like Rod Serling?

    • @HOODYWOOD
      @HOODYWOOD Před 9 lety +12

      Lol! I was just thinking the same thing

    • @Abr3200
      @Abr3200 Před 9 lety +2

      Yeap, Barbarela's music

    • @bob4analog
      @bob4analog Před 9 lety +15

      That may have been Rod Serling! The whole presentation is from that era...even looks like it. "You've just entered, the twilight zone."

    • @jeffkardosjr.3825
      @jeffkardosjr.3825 Před 6 lety +3

      Because the language has changed that much.

    • @TheGreatOne16439
      @TheGreatOne16439 Před 6 lety +29

      Because they were all smokers!

  • @sleekoduck
    @sleekoduck Před 4 lety +7

    Fax machine: 20 years later
    Video phone: 50 years later
    Rocket bouffe delivery: still waiting 60 years later.
    I'm still impressed with what they predicted in the days before color was invented.

  • @mr.butterworth4216
    @mr.butterworth4216 Před 6 lety +67

    I see it now, I see a future of shitty customer service, 20 minute wait times, and unscrupulous billing practices. Thanks AT&T from the year 1961!

    • @calbob750
      @calbob750 Před 3 lety +5

      I worked for the Bell System for 33 years. The further along the breakup of the Bell System progressed the greater the degradation of customer service. Once upon a time all technicians in a location received the same training. Then someone discovered that training cost money and customer service was cheaper with flip charts and an overseas call center.

    • @johnalden5821
      @johnalden5821 Před 3 lety +1

      @@calbob750I totally get this. Bell System phones used to last literally for decades (thanks to the regulated rate base). You could drop them from head height and they would not break. Now they come out of the package as crap. Sound quality used to be set to a firm QoS standard -- now calls sound like ancient Sanskrit, when they are not dropping completely. And we pay a ton more for it all. Thanks, deregulation!

  • @pgestudio75
    @pgestudio75 Před 2 lety +3

    I love the concept of that first 'beeper' and how the guy said "what'll they think of next?". If he only knew what was to come...

  • @jedwards1211
    @jedwards1211 Před 9 lety +2

    I can't believe how much differently people talked to each other back then! Not just the accent but the way they express themselves.

  • @JohnAudioTech
    @JohnAudioTech Před 7 lety +301

    We're sorry your rocket delivery pizza will be a little late. The rocket blew up on the launch pad.

    • @deathstrike
      @deathstrike Před 7 lety +14

      Rocket blew up, just hand it to Google and it's drone fleet, bit slower and you have to hope the inner cities don't use it for target practice, but it will get there.

    • @jeffkardosjr.3825
      @jeffkardosjr.3825 Před 6 lety +6

      This is really what North Korea is trying to do.

    • @roadwolf2
      @roadwolf2 Před 6 lety +14

      dont you mean the lunch pad lol

    • @jppnet
      @jppnet Před 6 lety +4

      Oh God! Another rocket fuel toasted pizza!!! Third this month... :D

    • @ZeroGravityFloater
      @ZeroGravityFloater Před 6 lety +5

      Don't you mean lunch pad?

  • @Memorax
    @Memorax Před 7 lety +42

    vintage vocal sample heaven

    • @jogbon
      @jogbon Před 7 lety +4

      The narrators voice is perfect for the beginning or end of a song

  • @albertflanigan5935
    @albertflanigan5935 Před 4 lety +5

    Lol "can my machine talk to your machine" I love it😂😂😂😂

  • @chrome505
    @chrome505 Před 3 lety +5

    Fond memories of working at Lucent Technologies and AT&T back in the day.

  • @riceboy1701e
    @riceboy1701e Před 7 lety +48

    WHAT? Ordering food via telephone? Next thing you know we'll be using a computer to place orders! :-D

  • @I-Libertine
    @I-Libertine Před rokem +5

    The X207 was one of the best wrenches, ever. Our company sold all 30 of our only available stock-- in a single day!

    • @peterclemmet
      @peterclemmet Před 11 měsíci +1

      I just found mine in the shed, your welcome to borrow it for a day or two

    • @StrangeScaryNewEngland
      @StrangeScaryNewEngland Před 9 měsíci

      My company sold all 70 of our wrenches in stock in one day, too! Wonder if it was the same day??

  • @jeffr859
    @jeffr859 Před 6 lety +22

    7:29 "This compact Telephone console" its the size of the desk!

  • @RionPhotography
    @RionPhotography Před 6 lety +10

    "Alexa, call Mom." It's incredible how far we've come in such a short time.

  • @DieselDucy
    @DieselDucy Před 10 lety +45

    LOVE the Rocket delivery LOL!! Imagine where we will be 30 years from now.

    • @50605954
      @50605954 Před 10 lety +8

      Not too far from now. More contamination, abnormal insects, and of course, more expensive water. Imagine the rest.

    • @SmeddyTooBestChannel
      @SmeddyTooBestChannel Před 10 lety +1

      Julie Arana will there be Robo-Zombies?
      Please tell me there will be Robo-Zombies.

    • @50605954
      @50605954 Před 10 lety

      I hope so. A robo T-virus would be like an exploit :)

    • @dusterdude238
      @dusterdude238 Před 8 lety +1

      +DieselDucy were getting pretty close to that with the possibility of Drones making small deliveries.

    • @sweetypie28
      @sweetypie28 Před 6 lety

      DieselDucy uiwukvkskuvszfukgsafkjgsafkjgdsfhlsrgogidosfgidaflhdzblvklbkvdzb,v,bdzv,kbzsb.zcs.bzsfk.dzvb.bkzdvb.kdxv.nxdnvlzvdllzdl.nvd.nxzv.nzdv.,need., dad.ndv.n,d.,nd.vn,DZVLjdgDjsLjdzf.znegb.tklnrstklndsg.nkfxg.nfhk.nln.xfhln.bxx.lnfjdxgLJxdgNxg.ndxgn.cxbcxv.cxvxnz xzvxzv :, web,b zfdnzdfnzdnzdzdf z dzdf zf z zd zdnzxzbvzbvdb.zvbz.bv.bzvzn.vzb.vb.zvdzvn.znz.gz.nvzb.fn.zfdn.zxzfn.n.zzfn.n.zfn.zfn.zff.b.zhfzfh.nz.fb.zfN?DN?Ezb.dfahlzf ,nlsfnlsgnlsgnlsgn
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      scvfgfxfsgn.sgn.xng.x.lngln.xgxgn.,z,tni.x.ngl fnnffm, vnbv

  • @stevesether
    @stevesether Před rokem +5

    What fascinates me about this video is that people wanted online retail since at least 1961, and envisioned it in the near future. 30 years later, in 1993 there's ANOTHER AT&T "in the future" video where they imagine the exact same thing as happening in the near future. Of course, online shopping actually existed (albeit in primitive form) in 1993, so it wasn't so much of a stretch then.
    Which goes to show that the ideas of what people want, and when we actually get it are too different things.

    • @vincenthernandez1646
      @vincenthernandez1646 Před rokem +1

      Would you happen to have a link to the 90s video, or perhaps the title?

    • @stevesether
      @stevesether Před rokem

      @@vincenthernandez1646 It's on this same channel. It's funny since it imagines this future of voice recognition and voice control that never unfolded, but the obvious stuff that already existed like video calls and online shopping are "predicted".
      czcams.com/video/yFWCoeZjx8A/video.html

    • @oldtwinsna8347
      @oldtwinsna8347 Před 9 měsíci

      I recall online shopping in the mid 80s with compuserve and the like. It was of course nothing like today but it did exist in form and you could order legit things.

    • @stevesether
      @stevesether Před 9 měsíci

      @@oldtwinsna8347 I think that's also true.
      As early as 1985 Quantumlink, which would eventually become AOL had online news, realtime chat, etc. I don't recall if they had online shopping, but there's no technical reason they couldn't.

  • @robertlopez6092
    @robertlopez6092 Před 10 lety +95

    Gee mister so what you're saying is that in the future our lives will revolve around our telephones? Why, they would need to be some sort of "smart" teliphones! And machines communicating with other machines? Why, if you tried too hook all the machines up in the world wouldn't they get tangled up in a web?

    • @minorshan
      @minorshan Před 9 lety +11

      Hmm. I believe you've cracked the case. Phones were ALWAYS our future overlords! Thank god I've been with AT&T since 1999. Surely my early indoctrination will net me great dividends when the world order finally makes itself known.

    • @user2C47
      @user2C47 Před 6 lety +4

      Should have been with AT&T back in the 1960s.

    • @ThereWillBeNick
      @ThereWillBeNick Před 4 lety +6

      This is change. Startling? Perhaps. But where change once moved as the hour hand on a clock, it now refreshes with the 2.39 GigaHertz processor speed of an iPhone X

    • @Perktube1
      @Perktube1 Před 4 lety +5

      You're smarter than you look, kid. Youre going places.

    • @mjt1517
      @mjt1517 Před 3 lety +1

      They sure would, Bobby. A world wide web.

  • @desmisc9911
    @desmisc9911 Před 6 lety +6

    I used 8 1/2' floppy disks that were so thin they actually flopped when you wiggled them up and down. 80 MB hard drive weighed almost 100 pounds and used a motor and an actual rubber belt to make it spin. You could see it spinning and even hear it chatter when it was locating data on the single platter.

    • @josephgaviota
      @josephgaviota Před 4 dny

      I have one of those 8" floppys in a drawer.
      When you say "I remember the big old floppys," they think you mean the 5-1/2" floppys ... NO, OLDER THAN THAT.

  • @MrJruta
    @MrJruta Před 3 lety +6

    Damn, that secretary console with the blinking lights and rotary dial is so cool. Love to have that on my bench for the sake of nostalgia

    • @windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823
      @windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Před rokem +1

      I was thinking Mad Men, S1, E1. "Don't let all this technology scare you" (1961 IBM Selectric. Intercom and telephone w 6 lines.)
      The show starts in 1960. IBM didn't make the typewriter until 1961.

  • @calbob750
    @calbob750 Před 3 lety +6

    The Bell System was able to keep electromechanical switching from the 1920s chugging along until the early 70s in the network. That is why you had rotary dial telephones. Before Electronic Switching Systems connections were made using electromechanical Step by Step and Panel or Crossbar. There are videos on those vintage systems.

  • @MiguelRodriguez-zz3cw
    @MiguelRodriguez-zz3cw Před 4 lety +3

    Gotta love the sound effects from the the 60, and 70

  • @iiiDartsiii
    @iiiDartsiii Před 5 lety +2

    gotta love those hypnotic and creepy old music of the old television.
    many people don't realize that the internet was already in it's infancy back in the 60s and it was used in one form or another just it was finally made available to the population in the 90s.

  • @cinerama62
    @cinerama62 Před 4 lety +11

    " Welcome my son, to the machine ''

  • @billthompson2478
    @billthompson2478 Před 10 lety +11

    Amazing how prescient this is...but one thing that could not be seen from the world of 1961 is that as digital dependance grew, communication with other humans would dwindle to nothing.

  • @tengkusulaiman
    @tengkusulaiman Před 2 lety +2

    In 1998, I read a computing magazine, it says 32bit system memory limit is 4GB. It was a large value in 1998 for 4GB.

    • @scratchpad7954
      @scratchpad7954 Před rokem

      And yet, 4 GB of RAM is so pedestrian by today's standards that many _individual_ applications require that much RAM alone, forget the operating system.

  • @Fromard
    @Fromard Před 3 lety +5

    7:30 Buttons all over the console but they still have a rotary dialer. Hahaha

  • @donkeydan5996
    @donkeydan5996 Před 9 měsíci +1

    As a musician I love the eerie score music they used in this ❤❤

  • @TheFerrariGuy4588
    @TheFerrariGuy4588 Před 9 lety +16

    That Amazon prime drone thing is pretty close to the rocket thing :P

  • @KECOG
    @KECOG Před 10 lety +3

    What fascinates me is that one can hear the individual sounds in the beginning when you hear the modem . . . wow.

  • @jgrant5255
    @jgrant5255 Před rokem +1

    This brings back good memories. I remember seeing videos like this on public TV during the 1960s. These videos also shaped movies and TV shows and Disney.

  • @tubulartopher
    @tubulartopher Před 7 lety +13

    I was born in late August of 1995. I watch these videos for my amusement and for my education. I love gaining perspective and insight. I'll never truly fathom this digital day and age of ours. What a ride.

    • @cantcomeupwithausern
      @cantcomeupwithausern Před rokem

      I was just starting 8th grade in Aug 95, and was playing with computers and made that my career... It's ever changing, but I've seen how far things have come since the early 80s. It's crazy that you probably always remember growing up with a PC and cell phones around... And that's just a 14 year difference from me!

  • @holodoctor1
    @holodoctor1 Před 12 lety +2

    "the card dialer... an electric finger that dials for you". It's amazing how far we've come

  • @asdf9890
    @asdf9890 Před rokem +3

    As a guitar pedal builder, how I’d love to recover some components from those old devices!
    As a IT pro, it’s amazing how they envisioned the internet, based solely on telephones. They couldn’t see computers as becoming small enough for that…or the merging of phones and computers. Or they knew, just didn’t know how to say it or show it?

  • @deserteddave1596
    @deserteddave1596 Před 3 lety +2

    I remember a time before pagers. No one could get a hold of you until you got home or back to wherever you worked. And phone books...none of that fancy card-dialing nonsense. Finding a dime in the coin return of a payphone (in a phone booth, where you could close the doors for peace & quiet). Good times.

  • @peggyfranzen6159
    @peggyfranzen6159 Před 5 lety

    The movie'"!The President's Analyst"- cones to mind. I still love AT&T anyway.Thanks for great memories

  • @ernestgrouns8710
    @ernestgrouns8710 Před 5 lety +8

    I love the times we live in, here in the early 1960's. I've seen the future, and it's punch cards.

  • @seattlesix9953
    @seattlesix9953 Před 2 lety +13

    At the time of this film, all space telemetry calculations performed on a processor were verified by a person. Microwave ovens were 15 years away from public sale and the internet was a classified defense network. No matter what the future holds, we still will be as wrong now as we were then. All I do know is someone will make it happen. Who will it be?

    • @simonjones7727
      @simonjones7727 Před 2 lety +4

      Plus. even if aspects of the technological revolution were anticipated, the massive social chages (and within only a few years of the film) were almost entirely not foreseen). The future will be strange to us. Perhaps there will be no competitive sport, or no fashion? Perhaps we will not own anything? Perhaps travel beyond a few miles wil be extraordinary? Whatever it is it will be something beyond our comprehension.

  • @CamdenBloke
    @CamdenBloke Před 4 lety +4

    One of my dev jobs gave everyone desk telephones for some reason. One day, one of them rang. Everyone was like...'WTF?!?!'

  • @DataWaveTaGo
    @DataWaveTaGo Před 8 lety +13

    WOW! What a great future! I'm looking forward to being there!! ;)

    • @luisreyes1963
      @luisreyes1963 Před rokem

      Try traveling back in time...oh, but you can't? 😬

  • @JDonahue79
    @JDonahue79 Před 11 lety +4

    It's amazing that well, thousands of machines are communicating one another...through blutooth and internet.
    One thing that they didn't even mentined is that telephones may become obsolete in the early 21st century, which is kind of happening right now.

  • @cjandpalsbydanielmcintosh7281

    I find it amusing that I am watching videos like this on my cell phone, and wondering what happened to those telecommunication ideas, that were explained in the videos.

    • @cjandpalsbydanielmcintosh7281
      @cjandpalsbydanielmcintosh7281 Před 4 lety

      I just now realized "Picture phones" are pretty much like modern cellphones.. the sci-fi video telephones, are referring to today's iPhones, and cellphones with front facing cameras.

  • @smcnicoll
    @smcnicoll Před 10 lety +3

    Wonderful. Thanks for posting. Great to see The Bell Co planning for the future. Prescient yet hilarious too. Lovely stuff!

  • @MrWolfTickets
    @MrWolfTickets Před 9 lety +20

    8:03 'and look in to the Smuckers account. With a name like that, they've GOT to be good.'

    • @dusterdude238
      @dusterdude238 Před 8 lety +3

      +Ben Wolfram Ah yes the Smuckers Account, They were In a real Jam before all this new phone technology.

    • @Lovejazz01
      @Lovejazz01 Před 6 lety

      😄😄😄

    • @BBCHZ
      @BBCHZ Před 4 lety

      I wondered if that was the Smuckers guy!!!

  • @EarlyLAPunk
    @EarlyLAPunk Před 11 lety +2

    Thanks ATT for putting this up. Companies need to share these gems and not worry about today's message. Dig the real bell logo!

  • @ldchappell1
    @ldchappell1 Před 8 lety +34

    So when is that rocket delivery thing going to start?

    • @GOKHANMERSINLIOGLU
      @GOKHANMERSINLIOGLU Před 6 lety +2

      ldchappell1 drones will take the job over

    • @user2C47
      @user2C47 Před 6 lety +2

      It seems unlikely, due to the increased efficiency of jet engines.

    • @FidelCastro128
      @FidelCastro128 Před 3 lety

      When Moonbase Alpha ready.

  • @dennisjacob1081
    @dennisjacob1081 Před 4 lety +1

    I think it's good to watch this old films to learn the treasure trove of practical wisdom and knowledge left by our great grandfather's of the past since we are into the new decade.

  • @jeopardy60611
    @jeopardy60611 Před 8 lety +6

    It's interesting how they are showing primitive forms of faxing, modem transfer of data, and although video calling is possible on FaceTime, and we don't really do it for ordering stuff from a business, we do look at pictures of items on a web page and fill out an online form and give a credit card number to order something and have it shipped.

    • @oliviagomez815
      @oliviagomez815 Před 6 lety

      jeopardy60611 and it is still sometimes cumbersome.

    • @fredjones100
      @fredjones100 Před 6 lety +2

      That wasn't primitive faxing - "primitive" faxes were developed in the 1840s, over 100 years before this film!

  • @ArmpitStudios
    @ArmpitStudios Před 8 lety +19

    This was the golden age of technology films. People knew how to dream them. Now huge advancements in technology are so commonplace that a teenage kid expects a new phone every year and is ashamed when the camera on their phone can't take 3000 goddamned selfies a minute.

    • @patrikfloding7985
      @patrikfloding7985 Před 7 lety +1

      "Now huge advancements in technology are so commonplace that a teenage kid expects a new phone every year"
      Not sure I would call a new model with 10% faster processor and indistinguishable changes in the OS "huge advancements". But, yes, technology has advanced since the 1960s. The transistor was a big leap.

    • @ArmpitStudios
      @ArmpitStudios Před 7 lety +1

      A slightly faster processor isn't the only thing. Just on the iPhone alone in the past few years, they've added TouchID, 3D Touch, Retina displays, more cameras, improved cameras, to name only a few of the advancements.

    • @erinasherton8411
      @erinasherton8411 Před 6 lety +1

      Patrik Floding transistor’s have been Good In everything except amateur radio Transmitter amplifier’s where They Can’t handle high wattage Transmitting but Tube’s Can handle It quite easily but They Get hotter.

    • @Mxyzptlksac
      @Mxyzptlksac Před 4 lety

      Go back to your flip phone then

    • @ArmpitStudios
      @ArmpitStudios Před 2 lety

      @@Mxyzptlksac Hey, there’s a stupid response!

  • @kevinhoward9593
    @kevinhoward9593 Před 5 lety +3

    8:57 touch tone made that thing obsolete. Thumbs up for the guy stealing the dude's Beeper.

  • @neonwind
    @neonwind Před 10 lety +2

    Thank you for finding this video/film

  • @JubeProductions
    @JubeProductions Před 4 lety +1

    If you went back in time to this period and took a new Samsung Galaxy S10+ and showed them what you could do with it, and it magically could connect to our internet you would be hailed as a god of some sort. You would blow peoples minds with taking pics, movies, playing music and games and looking up info. It would be the single most important piece of hardware ever.

  • @eccremocarpusscaber5159
    @eccremocarpusscaber5159 Před 4 lety +3

    “Howard of Honk Kong?” My favourite designer!

  • @AnthonyGoodley
    @AnthonyGoodley Před 5 lety +7

    The amount of foresight displayed in this video is amazing. While they clearly got some concepts wrong like the rocket delivery system. Much of what they were working on in those early days did come to market eventually.

  • @neildickson5394
    @neildickson5394 Před 6 lety +2

    All that we take for granted today was already being developed in 1961, with some changes along the way. That's why, even though that was 50 plus years ago, it really doesn't seem that long. Changes being thought up now will come faster and faster, probably faster than humans can assimilate.

  • @stevarino1989
    @stevarino1989 Před 10 lety +5

    I love the trippy sound effects/music. :D

    • @comicconcarne
      @comicconcarne Před 10 lety

      Really? It's always sort of scared me, along with the lava lamp effects. The only time I liked it was the original Doctor Who themesong, and that might just be because it's easily recognizable.

  • @peep39
    @peep39 Před 3 lety +4

    Wow, I thought the world of today was confusing. Some of the stuff they had back then was truly esoteric

  • @musicom67
    @musicom67 Před 7 lety +37

    Surprised no one commented on the "Pate Boeufs a la Bergere". - 3 dozen, no less! I believe Quebec folk call it what we know as "Shepherd's Pie"

    • @alexandrebouvier7731
      @alexandrebouvier7731 Před 6 lety +4

      Haha, I was surprised by this reference to the french-canadian. Tremblay is realllllly common in Quebec :p. But it's "Pâté Berger".

    • @JamesQMurphy
      @JamesQMurphy Před 6 lety +14

      Eh, it’s some “foreign thing.”

    • @virginiataylor5593
      @virginiataylor5593 Před 4 lety +2

      I thought Shepherd's pie was made with lamb. Wouldn't it be Cottage pie if made with beef?

    • @catherinecook2046
      @catherinecook2046 Před 3 lety

      @@virginiataylor5593 better check with keith richards

  • @Starry_Night_Sky7455
    @Starry_Night_Sky7455 Před měsícem +1

    That intro is too good.

  • @gheffz
    @gheffz Před 4 lety +2

    Love all this old stuff of where our tech developed from!!!

  • @CiroSantilli
    @CiroSantilli Před 6 lety +3

    I like how everything in their vision is telephone-shaped.

    • @andresz1606
      @andresz1606 Před rokem

      Ironically, most of us are watching this on a "mobile telephone". They guessed right, the phone was the future.

  • @morockman6706
    @morockman6706 Před 10 lety +5

    I did really like the phone with the punch cards.
    It doesn't seem totally obsolete, I mean, I'm the type of guy who like physical objects, so it doesn't seem so bad using that instead of pressing down a lot of times on a modern telephone's built in number log.

  • @sabrinan4792
    @sabrinan4792 Před 4 lety +1

    Why am I just getting these ATT films in my feed now.

  • @suzannebennett8987
    @suzannebennett8987 Před 4 lety +4

    I must've missed the part of the mid-20th century where you get your groceries delivered direct from Paris by rocket!

  • @mmille10
    @mmille10 Před 12 lety +4

    The one thing they got right in this futurism was the pager. When they talked about machine-to-machine communication, I expected to hear a carrier signal. Instead it was dial tones...
    AT&T thought it was being futuristic, but from what I've read, their vision was limited. If you look up what Paul Baran at Rand Corp. tried to do, and how engineers at AT&T turned him down, you'll see what I'm talking about. Baran had the idea of a pure digital phone network 50 years ago!

  • @jafs65
    @jafs65 Před 6 lety +3

    The machine talking to the another machine it’s quite used today for example LG has the smart diagnosis system in many of it’s products. You just call to the number specified and get the phone close to your washer or fridge, and if it’s malfunctioning it sends the mechanic right away.

  • @DevilTravels
    @DevilTravels Před 4 lety +2

    At&t acid trip from the 60s.
    I Love these future prediction videos. So much comedy.

  • @rlicon1970
    @rlicon1970 Před 5 lety

    I feel weird because I like watching these videos. I winder how many of those people are still alive? And another 57 years from now how many of us will still be alive.

  • @jimmydean9204
    @jimmydean9204 Před 4 lety +13

    So this is what men and women actually look like. The voices of the men are deeper then what I hear today.

    • @Mitsuraga
      @Mitsuraga Před 4 lety

      I guess? I mainly notice that everyone here was probably like 15-20 years younger than they look.

  • @michaelbruns449
    @michaelbruns449 Před rokem +3

    Where were these now so fascinating short subject films originally shown and seen? like before movies in a theater? and or on little black and white televisions? or were they actually training films for employees?

  • @benh9350
    @benh9350 Před 11 lety +1

    Very neat to see the old technology! Thanks

  • @jackilynpyzocha662
    @jackilynpyzocha662 Před 4 měsíci

    Before Irwin Allen's "Lost In Space" 1965-68 television show. I now have the three seasons on DVD.

  • @translucentorb
    @translucentorb Před 4 lety +6

    Opening of this film: "In the future, public water supply will be routinely dosed with LSD... This is how it will all appear to you."

  • @Isaac-gh5ku
    @Isaac-gh5ku Před 8 lety +9

    05:50 Imagine if PCs (or Macs) were introduced far more earlier, like in the Sixties? File sorting and searching would be much faster and easier, with reliability of cloud computing.
    Imagine that? 😉

    • @pmgodfrey
      @pmgodfrey Před 8 lety +7

      +Isaac Adam
      Faster, yes...but I still can't remember which "New Folder" I put my files in. I have so many titled "New Folder", "New Folder 1", "New Folder 2", "Desktop junk", "More Desktop Junk".

    • @windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823
      @windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Před rokem

      I'd gladly live without it. People were better then.

    • @PiroKUSS
      @PiroKUSS Před rokem

      @@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Not at all.

  • @shopdog831
    @shopdog831 Před 5 lety +1

    The invention of digital telephone contacts and online purchasing was certainly trippy

  • @paulbunch8388
    @paulbunch8388 Před 9 lety

    I do enjoy the AT&T Tech Channel a great deal.

  • @michaelpothier
    @michaelpothier Před 4 lety +4

    So did every company have to make mini movies predicting the future back then?

  • @holodoctor1
    @holodoctor1 Před 12 lety +2

    The "compact" telephone console. love it.

  • @raudiaz6245
    @raudiaz6245 Před 4 lety +1

    Great Video AT&T. though it took some extra time for computers to be able to read hand print or cursor to be able to put it back into text, the rest came first. those dial data cards were used back then. My mom used to work for the phone company as a switchboard operator and they used those often though she said they still had the large manual switch board that calls came in and they would wire to out . probably from the 1920s.

  • @paulpuljic6025
    @paulpuljic6025 Před 6 měsíci

    John Draper used a Cap'n Crunch whistle to phone phreaking in the 60s and 70s...the whistle tone was at 2600hz and opened up trunk lines and made free long distance calls!