Disposable flashlights of years gone by

I’m sure this throw-away flashlight advertised in the July, 1947 issue of Popular Science would be a big hit with environmentalists today.

MM-lrg_disposable_flashlight2.jpg

Sealed inside transparent plastic, a tiny flashlight made by the Falge Engineering Service, Bethesda, Md., is intended to be discarded after its one cell is dead. Pressure on the plastic cover operates a switch. Produced primarily to carry an advertising message, like a packet of book matches, the lights are offered only to advertisers, in quantity lots, at a cost of approximately 26 cents each.

For a mere 26 cents per item, you too can contribute to the toxification of the soil in the area where you live.

[tags]Modern Mechanix, Disposable flashlight from 1947, 60 years of destroying the planet[/tags]

Sony’s problem

This, in a nutshell, is Sony’s problem: they’ve all been acting like arrogant dicks.

I really can’t say it any better than Bill says it. He talks about what Sony is doing to make the PlayStation 3 succeed or fail.

Sony’s entire future rests on the strength of the Playstation brand, because every Sony executive who’s opened his mouth in the last nine months has acted like a complete fool. Their execution has been incredibly poor, they’ve made major strategic and tactical errors, and incredibly, they’ve managed to piss off almost everyone in the process.

So we’re about to see if a brand name can overcome complete and utter incompetence. It should be interesting.

[tags]Sony’s problem, How will the PS3 fare?, Bill gets another Sony shot off[/tags]