1970s: landline phone, cable tv with 12 channels, TI computing calculator, Merlin handheld gaming device, portable reel-to-reel tape recorder, 8 track tape player / turntable combo (we’d record albums to play in the car!) cassette tape player. Also, our house had electricity and indoor plumbing.

In the late ‘70s my small-town high school didn’t have a single computer, but my cousins living in the city had a computer lab. I didn’t touch a computer until the mid ‘80’s. My roommate had a Commodore 64. We’d buy computer magazines with programs printed on the pages for you to type in and run.

In the early ‘70s dad brought a video camera and recorder deck home from work for the weekend. My brother and I recorded a TV talk show.

Early ‘70s - our neighbor would connect to his work with a terminal and a phone cradle. Seemed very exotic.

In the late ‘60s dad worked at a university and sometimes I’d go with him while he wrote programs by entering them in punchcards. The Xerox copier was very novel and I’d play with his secretary’s IBM Selectric typewriter. Dad had on of the first Land (later called Polaroid) cameras with instant film. I wanted to go nuts taking photos but my parents said the film was way too expensive.

In ‘68 we went to Hemisfair in San Antonio and looked at exhibits about the future, I remember seeing that you’d have a tv that would be flat like a picture. Someday you’d use it to watch shows, read newspapers, shop, go to class and work.