ANACHRONOMICON

As part of the original conceit that a computer’s workspace was analogous to a physical […]

Maps were originally drawn or printed on paper or canvas and either rolled or folded […]

To keep loose papers in order, they are frequently put in large, folding pieces of […]

Flags have been used for millennia as ways to quickly communicate important information, and the […]

A house or home is certainly an intuitive enough concept for digital use, but its […]

When documents were made of paper, you needed something flat to lay them on in […]

Flash photography has existed nearly as long as photography itself. Early plates and films required […]

Paper letters, believe it or not, used to be sent totally unsealed and basically open […]

From well before the days of the internet, related things have been said to be […]

Though many battery-powered devices these days have a rechargeable lithium-ion power source built in, portable […]

Early telephones had a detachable speaker one held to one’s ear, and an microphone integrated […]

When your cursor is over text that can be selected, it sometimes turns into something […]

In the early days of amplified sound, speakers were often conical, a shape that naturally […]

When you need to see something in more detail but are at the physical limits […]

Early computers had command line and other code-based interfaces (some of which survive today), and […]

When paper was widely used in schools and offices, it was common to fold the […]

Paper books have hundreds of pages; if you don’t want to remember exactly which one […]

Modern keyboards are based on those created for typewriters, and while they have several digital-specific […]

Modern keyboards are based on those found on typewriters, and while they have several digital-specific […]

Modern keyboards are based on those found on typewriters, and while they have several digital-specific […]

This symbol is a paper clip, a piece of metal wire bent into a shape […]

Before computers, business was largely conducted on paper, and one might arrive at the office […]

In paper-based offices, a common way of organizing information on a large scale was a […]

When artists painted a person’s portrait, they often arranged the canvas so that was taller […]

That we use arrows to point at things may seem so obvious that it doesn’t […]

A sheet of paper with written or printed words on it was the most common […]

Clocks have been round since the days of sundials, reflecting the endless cycle of day […]

Data storage has gone through many phases: early on, punchcards represented a certain standard quantum […]

Before mechanically driven or digital watches, timekeeping was more approximate but still surprisingly accurate. Well […]