In Mechanica Antiqua

I can't be the only one to find myself lost in the internet rabbit holes in an age such as ours.  Sometimes it's an uninspiring frustration, and other times you find yourself on the path to discovering something truly cool.  A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a group of unique creators making what they called "cyberdecks."  The concept was a dystopian-esque or retro-futuristic portable computer, in part inspired by the cyberpunk movement, Blade Runner, and Fallout, though there are plenty of other sci-fi extravaganzas that employ similar devices.  The cool thing about cyberdecks is that they work, and there is no right way to create one.  There come in a variety of shapes and sizes, some in the traditional clamshell style, and others that their own entirely new concept. I had toyed around with the idea of creating a small portable computer, and decided I would give it a shot.  I've always been a fan of the aesthetic of old computers, so I decided to try and b...

  "The Greatest Achievement in Typewriter History," or so they claimed with the launch of the Emerson in 1909.  If I think about mechanically superiors machines available at the time, several come to mind.  Regardless, this machine did come with the perk of a backspace, something Hammond was selling in a box.  At $50, complete with with a shady decimal tab, and dubious amounts of praise, the Emerson threatened to revolutionize front strike typing.  However, greed and poor decision making ran the company into the ground before it could even get off it.  It was as if the Wright brothers made a tunnel boring machine on accident.  All was not lost for the Emerson Company however, as in 1911, the factory and rights were purchased by Sears and Roebuck--not the company, the guys.  After many trials and tribulations, including the departure of one of the company's founding partners; Mr. Sears, armed with millions of dollars from selling things through the...