With the amazingly fast internet of today, it’s easy to forget that at one time, you had to pay by the hour for the privilege of 28 kbps dial-up service. This early AOL commercial brings all of those memories flooding back – or, if you’re too young to remember those days, it shows you just what we older folks had to deal with in the early days of the internet.

What the commercial fails to mention is that, because the typical connection speed was so painfully slow in those days, there is no possible way the guy could have done all of those things in less than a couple of hours. It’s definitely worth a watch, though, if for no other reason than to hear a grown man gleefully proclaim “I can even send email on the Internet!”

The post 1995 AOL Commercial Takes You Back to Early Internet Days first appeared on Gajitz.

The next time you get upset about your iPad not downloading something fast enough or your laptop not acting exactly the way you want it to, maybe these vintage computer ads will help.

The ads show just how different the technology of the 1980s is from the gadgets we know, love and carry everywhere these days.

Ranging from early consumer technology to office machines, the ads depict a completely different generation of electronic devices.

All of the ads feature technology that is now outdated, but some of them have nostalgia value, such as the computer that runs on 5 1/4″ floppy disks and spits out printouts from its integrated dot matrix printer.

The post Gadgets of Yesteryear: 10 Vintage Computer Advertisements first appeared on Gajitz.

Long before phones became a permanent part of our daily wardrobes, they were an important part of home decor. Many homes had basic models that were nothing special, but some people really went all out in choosing the perfect telephone to complement their personalities and their home decorating schemes. In this short promo film from 1977, the phones available from AT&T are highlighted in all their campy 1970s glory.

The best part of the video is its inherent retro-ness. From the silly elevator music to the far-out clothing to the really, really 70s houses, you have to love just how terribly everything in this promo has aged. The stars of the film are the phones, of course, and they look like gigantic dinosaurs compared to the wireless multi-functional things we carry around today.

The post Calling the Past: Groovy 1970s Home Phone Promo Film first appeared on Gajitz.

You know the musical scores that accompany movies, amplifying the mood of each scene? These musical accompaniments used to be performed live in the movie theater by a band of talented musicians. As of 1927 and the release of the movie The Jazz Singer – in which synchronized sound was used for the first time – the bands’ services were no longer required.

Rather than sitting back and watching their livelihood disappear, the former theater musicians decided to take a stand against the changes happening in their industry.

In 1930, according to The Smithsonian, the American Federation of Musicians came together to form the Music Defense League. The new organization’s goal was to defend the careers of musicians who would be displaced by the “robot music” being played to accompany movies.

The organization spent a staggering (for 1930, anyway) $500,000 on an ad campaign imploring the American public to refuse the “robot music” and insist on real, live humans on stages and in movie theaters.

The ads featured a robot as the representation of recorded music. In various pictures the evil robot seeks to wrestle music culture away from real artists, seduce an innocent young girl, and physically harm human musicians.

According to the Music Defense League, this shift from live music to recorded music would only erode the country’s love of “real” art. The musicians strongly believed that this first step would lead humans away from their enjoyment of live music and usher in an era of “canned music.”

They were right, of course, to a certain point. After that time pre-recorded music slowly began to surpass live music in popularity. But today in our technology-loving society, we see this as a good thing because it allows more people access to a greater variety of music.

As the Music Defense League predicted, there is now a relatively small pool of musicians who provide scores for motion pictures. But luckily for us, our modern recording methods have allowed us to hear music from all over the world.

The post When Robots Were Enemies: 30s Anti-Recorded Music Ads first appeared on Gajitz.

Subway systems all over the world rely on posters and signs to communicate important information to passengers. But no one does the subway poster like Japan. These colorful examples appeared in the Tokyo subways between 1976 and 1982 to remind passengers about all sorts of subway etiquette and regulations.

Being polite about the amount of space you take up on the train is one of the main focal areas of this poster campaign. These posters encourage passengers to uncross their legs, put away the newspapers and avoid invading other people’s space.

Among the other rules that the posters publicize are standing behind the white safety line and being careful not to get one’s belongings stuck in the closing doors. Unlike today’s boring posters, the vivid graphics make these signs instantly attention-grabbing.

Leaving umbrellas on the subway seems to be a rather serious problem in Tokyo. A lot of these vintage posters are dedicated to reminding passengers to grab their brollies before exiting the trains.

Apparently giving up seats for pregnant ladies or new mothers, the elderly and the infirm doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Passengers are reminded to stand when there is someone who needs a seat more than they do.

Finally, smoking on the platform was only allowed during certain hours – but some passengers needed a gentle reminder to snuff out their cigarettes during the designated non-smoking times.

The post Making Manners: Vintage Tokyo Subway Reminder Posters first appeared on Gajitz.