Meet Fred Barton - The Robotman

Fred Barton owns a Hollywood company called Fred Barton Productions, Inc., His company makes famous robots replicas from tv and movies. The company's robots are in a great quality that they are well sought by international collectors and museum. Some of the robots are: Robby, Tobot The Great, Gort, Robot B9, Silent Running Drones, and of course, R2D2 & C3P0. To read more about Fred Barton's bio check the "About Fred Barton". To see the awesome famous robots' replicas, go to "Robots". Of course, don't forget to check the rest of this well done site.


Fred Barton
http://www.the-robotman.com/

First Cell Phone TV Ad

This is apparently the first cell phone TV ad (1989) by a company called Centel.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptbJZ9HBw2k

The First Cell Phone

Remember the first commercial cell phone that came out in 1983? It was the DynaTAC 8000X and was invented by Martin Cooper. They were big and cumbersome but in high demand. Not only were they big, but they went for $3,995 here in the US. You can read about this inventor, and the invention of the first commercial cell phone here.

About the site, it is about vintage and rare mobile phones. You can find information about them, and purchase them as well for your collection.

Retro Brick
http://www.retrobrick.com/moto8000.html

Shhh, I'm Recording..

This site is basically about the recording machines' (such as answering machines, phonograph, recorders, 8-Track tapes, the Ipsophon and more) impact on our culture since 1890 to present. The site is basically splits into three topics: Technology, Industry and Culture. There is a lot of text (but they do have a handful of pictures too), but it's easy to read it and follow it. I recommend that you use the site map to browse around. I find it's easier to navigate that way. My favorite section is the history of the answering machine. The pictures, above are my favorite as well. These are pictures of an early answering machine, and a talking doll (she is kinda scary, isn't she?). Unfortunately, The site is incomplete, but worths checking since there is plenty to see.

The History of Recording Technology
http://www.recording-history.org/

Say, Where Are The Toys?

This store has three pages of vintage collectibles. Pretty cool stuff. They have toys, games books, cartoon characters glasses, dolls and figure items and more collectibles just to feast your eyes on. I can't speak for the store's itself, as I have never bought from them. But the purpose of posting this, is to look at the toys. I find that these type of stores, usually have pretty cool vintage toys even if you aren't interested to buy anything.

Where The Toys Are
http://wherethetoysare.com/character.html

Are You A Satisfied Consumer?

An "exhibition" from the Consumer Reports site of black and white items from 1936 - 1980. These images occasionally show the testers testing the product. Some of these items are pretty weird or inventive. Some items passed tests, and some failed them.

Consumer Reports Vintage Photo Gallery
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/aboutus/vintagephotos/19601969archive/index.htm

JOG A DOG Treadmills

This is a brand new clip from YouTube. It shows dogs from the Westminster Dog Show jogging on treadmills...




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMbIzUjtFR4

Have Fun With The Penny Machine

Even though there are several interesting sections here, it is the British museum section that caught my eye. I really like their pictures and the illustrations of these British machines. These are truly vintages from the the beginning of the 20th century and on.

I have not looked at the other sections though yet.

Penny Machines
http://www.pennymachines.co.uk/sitemap.htm

Flickr - j_pidgeon's Sets

j_pidgeon has several nice sets of modern vinyl figures and a bit of nostalgia.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67896537@N00/sets/

The Lost & Found Stoves

The Vintage Stove is a company that restores vintage stoves from the 40's and the 50's. They do sell the stoves. There are quite a bit of stoves on display here. The best part is though, is looking inside the stoves. They have some interesting components. I am amazed that they don't make cool stoves like these anymore. You have fancy stoves these days, but they are not as creative as these "have-been" stoves of the past. Seriously, how many stoves do you see come with customized salt and pepper these days? a stack of drawers? instructions for cooking this and that on the oven's door? A side cabinet for hand towels? Utility power outlets?

The above images are of a 1950 Tappan Deluxe stove.

*Update: March 28 2008 - Access denied. Temporary issue?

The Original Vintage Stoves
http://www.vintagestoves.com/stove/project/

Caricatures From Long Ago

Sometimes it feels to me as if caricatures have been around forever. There are (and will be) always political figures to make fun of, by using the power of a pen and a paper. Such simple tools, and yet, with a great impact. The caricatures here are from the 19th and 18th century France and England. They are basically all political from all aspects (such as society injustice). I do wonder, did these caricatures, have more impact than the political caricatures today? Or are they the same? Either way, the talented cartoonist certainly knows how to provoke us.

Great Caricatures
http://greatcaricatures.com/