1981 video about online newspapers

Here's a report from KRON in San Francisco about The San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle's forays into online news in 1981. (Thanks, Mark!)

[#1 posted by Takashi Omoto , January 30, 2009 10:24 AM]

"Richard Halloran - Owns Home Computer" is now my favorite 80's action movie that never existed.

[#2 posted by Anonymous , January 30, 2009 10:25 AM]

Richard Halloran
"Owns Home Computer"

love it

[#3 posted by paboo , January 30, 2009 10:40 AM]

Rotary dial and looks like 300 baud speed! w00t!

[#4 posted by Anonymous , January 30, 2009 10:47 AM]

Your periodical has died of dysentery.

[#5 posted by thebassguy , January 30, 2009 10:53 AM]

I recall the hoopla about "Videotext" and did a paper about it in college. Imagine information on-demand! Most thought it was pretty far-fetched, but a the univ of florida j-school, we were pretty excited about it. Little did we know...

[#6 posted by annoyingmouse , January 30, 2009 10:56 AM]

If I'm ever interviewed on television "Owns Home Computer" is exactly what I want put under my name. Actually, now that I think about it, "Owned Home Computer" below my name is what I want put on my headstone when I die.

[#7 posted by dross1260 , January 30, 2009 10:58 AM]

What a jewel.

"exceptions are pictures, ads and comic."
Yet poster "ad" shows "pictures" on screen.

TWO HOURS! I sense throttling.

Damn you Herb Caen...

[#8 posted by Xenu , January 30, 2009 11:03 AM]

Sometimes I forget that the SF Examiner used to be a real newspaper. (These days it's like the NY Post, only with less credibility.)

[#9 posted by JPW , January 30, 2009 11:07 AM]

“We’re not in it to make money.”

How prophetic is that?!

[#10 posted by Dan , January 30, 2009 11:08 AM]

The twenty-cent street edition?!?

I... feel... old.

I just bopped over to the Chronicle site, and it's nice to see they have made a few improvements in speed since 1981 (I think I owe them five bucks though).

[#11 posted by infinity , January 30, 2009 11:38 AM]

oooh! look at all those cool old computers! i remember being the only kid on the street and certainly the only girl i knew who "owns a home computer." mmm... g33ky fun! thx for posting this! I'm now gonna go bring up my TI-99/4A emulator on my Mac and try to remember how to program in extended basic.

[#12 posted by Anonymous , January 30, 2009 12:05 PM]

Such simpler times.

[#13 posted by el_rey_misterioso , January 30, 2009 12:16 PM]

What's really jarring is that television news segments have not changed at all in 28 years.

[#14 posted by robstercraw , January 30, 2009 12:30 PM]

This comment submitted in the form of a coupon

[#15 posted by mskogly , January 30, 2009 12:56 PM]

Hehe, that is so cute! I miss BBS.

[#16 posted by Suburbancowboy , January 30, 2009 2:36 PM]

The Sun's version of the "tele-paper" featured an ASCII page 6 girl.

[#17 posted by InsertFingerHere , January 30, 2009 5:16 PM]

Probably the person who edited this video had no clue that someday he too would be at a keyboard.

With faster broadband, I see the end of TV stations and print.. everything will be some Internet site or VOD ... it's a grim future.

[#18 posted by franka_645 , January 31, 2009 3:11 AM]

I still don't think the internet is as spiffy-looking as maybe it should be.

[#19 posted by infikitsune , January 31, 2009 6:43 AM]

"Estimated two to three thousand computer owners in the bay area"

[#20 posted by nicol , January 31, 2009 6:53 AM]

Mint.

Anyone got a higher-res download link?

[#21 posted by mhuntsbe , February 1, 2009 7:05 AM]

I teach mass media at a university, and this really turns my head. Did they have any idea where these experiments would lead for the newspaper industry? Gotta love that cradle modem!

[#22 posted by jahknow , February 1, 2009 7:50 AM]

/pwns home computer

[#23 posted by AdamGordon , February 2, 2009 10:45 AM]

My enduring interest is how well or badly we think about the future, and why. I've written a book on this. Anyway, this video is a great example of one of the known issues in how we subtly mis-view the future: we overestimate the length of time to fundamental change, and underestimate how totally all-permeating the change will be when it does come. This was true of forward views of the automobile, in 1900 etc., etc. We're making the same mistake in Feb 2009, of course. - Adam Gordon, Author: "Future Savvy," (American Management Association Press, NY, 2009)

[#24 posted by AdamGordon , February 2, 2009 10:46 AM]

My enduring interest is how well or badly we think about the future, and why. I've written a book on this. Anyway, this video is a great example of one of the known issues in how we subtly mis-view the future: we overestimate the length of time to fundamental change, and underestimate how totally all-permeating the change will be when it does come. This was true of forward views of the automobile, in 1900 etc., etc. We're making the same mistake in Feb 2009, of course. - Adam Gordon, Author: "Future Savvy," (American Management Association Press, NY, 2009) http://www.futuresavvy.net

[#25 posted by Anonymous , February 4, 2009 7:04 PM]

"This guy isn't worried about losing his job..." Hah!

[#26 posted by Anonymous , February 21, 2009 3:10 AM]

This technology they speak of - how can I get it?