Suspiciously Prescient Man Files Patent for iPod-Like Device in 1979

[vaksel]

http://gizmodo.com/5315766/suspiciously-prescient-man-files-patent-for-ipod+like-device-in-1979

[jdale27]

Why is his prescience "suspicious"?

[vaksel → jdale27]

time travel shenanigans?

[sili → vaksel]

It would be smart if he traveled less than 30 years back.

[mixmax]

Goes to prove that timing and execution are more important than the idea.

[psygnisfive]

I saw this device in an episode of the TV show Beyond 2000. And this was back in the early to mid 90s.

Welcome to 15 years ago?

[mseebach → psygnisfive]

The difference between 1970's and the early 90's is the Walkman. Personal, portable stereos wasn't a proven technology 30 years ago, it was 15 years ago. These "uuh, the future" TV-shows usually predict the future in terms of extrapolating current popular technology, sort of the guys Henry Ford said would have told him to make a really good horse carriage.

Looking at the (cassette-tape) Walkman and extrapolating beyond the limitations into an MP3-player device isn't very rocket science. Making it a marketable product is (almost).

[Batsu]

Talk about being before his time.

I wonder if he even thought about it when that whole Napster thing fired up?

[JMiao]

kramerica industries: it exists!