Ye olde futuristic library scanning

While it’s short-sighted to laugh at retro futuristic imaginings, I present this 1000 corded retail/library barcode scanner (at least 10 years old) because even short-sighted things can be funny. M describes the colour as sort of 80s beige, but I think it is probably from the 90s or later. It doesn’t have enough of a yellow tint, like when you compare white gold to platinum (you can still see some yellow tone compared to platinum’s blue base).

Magic wand and brochure

Did you see the logo clearly? SCANNING THE FUTURE! Say it in a robot voice. The rocket working through the zebra fingerprint of the barcode is a machine version of hiking through dense tea tree bushes (don’t try it), so it’s probably pretty painful. Rocket noises!

Scanning the future brochure

H says that film companies find it difficult to fit out sets with equipment from the 80s and 90s because people couldn’t bear to keep these items around in their homes and workplaces. It’s understandable.

Bar code devices

Looking back on Scanning the Future, it reminds me of Video 2000 (Australian video hire business established in 1982), in the 90s I remember thinking, wow, 2000, so far away and so robotic! Lots of businesses listed on ABR have 2000 in the name, including Car Wash 2000 and Bench Pro 2000. So it’s still in fashion. Rad!

There was a bit of a ruckus in 1999 about whether businesses would change their names to 3000 (like André 3000). Perhaps they thought that 2000 had been far enough in the future, and they didn’t want to change the name in another 1000 years or that their business model might change.

Reading:

Edelhart, Courtenay. (30 December 1999). Businesses finding millennium-related names already outdated. Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News: The Indianapolis Star and News – Indiana. Retrieved from Factiva, 21 June 2013.