iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The unread-email badge grew ears. In his 2006 Nabaztag review, Raoul Pop reported that the Wi-Fi bunny treated every Gmail inbox message as new—even read ones. Mark as read. Rabbit disagrees. Source Photo: Kars Alfrink, CC BY 2.0

A white Nabaztag Wi-Fi rabbit on a desk beside a computer monitor, papers and cables. One ear points upward and the other angles to the right. Its nose and three belly lights glow red, pink and green. This is a contemporary example of the device, not identified as reviewer Raoul Pop’s own rabbit. Photo: “Nabaztag on desk,” Kars Alfrink, August 25, 2006. Unmodified. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nabaztag_on_desk.jpg . Licensed CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ .

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Your mayo bucket has a cleanup crew. A 2008 paint-can scraper patent application also proposes rescuing the last mayonnaise, frosting and peanut butter from their containers. The list goes straight from auto-body filler to lunch. Source

Original drawing sheet from US patent application US 2008/0078049 A1, dated April 3, 2008. Figure 1 shows a long, flat paint-can scraping tool with a hooked tip, a hanging hole, a curved recess along one edge and a wide scraping end. Numbered lines identify its parts. Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office; inventors Hermann Fruhm, Geoffrey David Gibbons, David George Graff and Alex Feldman.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The convenience version required a can opener. Bernard's Dehydrated Water (1964) was an empty gag can. Its recipe: add the contents to a gallon of water, stir, chill and serve. Your recipe saves a step. Source Photo: Cheryl, CC BY-SA 2.0

A yellow, blue and red Bernard Dehydrated Water can. The label reads: “EMPTY CONTENTS OF CAN INTO ONE GALLON OF WATER. STIR UNTIL DISSOLVED. CHILL AND SERVE.” Photo by Cheryl (EraPhernalia Vintage), taken July 22, 2008. Original title: HUH . . .?!? BERNARD DEHYDRATED WATER Product. (At last, Stephen Wright has some instructions: “I bought some powdered water but I didn’t know what to add.”)*. Title alteration credited to anyjazz65 by the photographer. Unmodified photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ . Original photo and caption: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eraphernalia_vintage/2691558545/ . The photograph documents the vintage gag product; the can’s exact manufacture date is unknown.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Four maps, duct tape, and clamps from the cabin lights: a new fender for the Moon buggy. Apollo 17, 1972. Houston's commentator: “It's only a paper fender, but the Moon is real.” Mission journal Photo: NASA

Apollo 17 photograph from December 1972: a replacement rear fender made from taped-together maps extends over the lunar rover’s wire-mesh wheel. Gray tape crosses the pale map panels, and a clamp fastens the assembly to the remaining fender. Dust, wheel tracks and footprints cover the lunar ground; part of a seated astronaut and the rover equipment are visible behind the wheel. Photo: NASA/Eugene Cernan, AS17-137-20979.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The spaghetti bag has a 1990 engineering cousin: a cup you sip noodles from. A little gripper stops the pasta from sliding back down the tube between bites. They gave spaghetti a parking brake. Patent + drawings

Original drawing sheet from Nicholas A. Ruggieri’s Spaghetti Sipper, U.S. patent 4,942,044, dated July 17, 1990. Five black-and-white technical figures show a lidded cup with a drinking tube, a cutaway showing a small retaining pawl in the tube, an alternative bottle-shaped container with an external pawl, a top view, and a serrated gripping piece. Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Google Patents.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

His farewell email wished everyone luck with their thongs. In 1997, Newton handwriting-recognition manager Stuart Crawford deliberately ran his goodbye through a word-swapping filter. It even signed him off as “Start Carefree.” 1997 email Archive: Peter Langston

Cropped screenshot of the three-line signature in Stuart Crawford’s deliberately word-substituted farewell email. Black monospaced text on white reads: “Start Carefree / Managed, Recognizing Team / Ample Completer, Inc.” Archived June 16, 1997 in Peter Langston’s Fun_People Archive. This is an excerpt from the real archived email, not a recreated document.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Apollo 10 had no dog to blame. When a turd floated through the cabin in 1969, nobody claimed it. Tom Stafford offered a very specific alibi: “Mine was a little more sticky than that.” Transcript Image: NASA

Cropped NASA Apollo 10 onboard transcript, page 415, June 1969. CMP: “I didn’t do it. It ain’t one of mine.” LMP: “I don’t think it’s one of mine.” CDR: “Mine was a little more sticky than that. Throw that away.” CMP: “God almighty.” SC: “(Laughter).” CMP is John Young, LMP is Gene Cernan, and CDR is Tom Stafford. Image: NASA.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Your kids want a robot waiter. TOPO flew as a customer. In COMPUTE! (1983), David Thornburg wrote that TOPO got a child's half-fare ticket. A flight attendant asked what it wanted to drink. Thornburg's reply: “WD-40 on the rocks.” Source Photo: The 64th Gamer, CC BY-SA 4.0

A surviving Androbot Topo I, the robot model introduced in 1983: a cream-colored, angular body, two round eyes in a dark face panel, arms retracted, two wheels, and a blue front panel marked TOPO. Object photograph by The 64th Gamer, December 30, 2022; it does not depict the flight or identify the particular unit in the story. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Topo_I_robot_without_extended_arms.png . CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ . Wikimedia’s 500-pixel thumbnail, otherwise unchanged.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Reginald has reached the moving-out stage. In 2006, Nick Marshall introduced Ruby the Roomba as “My new room mate!”—then noted how demanding she was about picking things up. You buy a vacuum and get a roommate with standards. Source & photo: Nick Marshall, CC BY 2.0

A January 13, 2006 photo of Ruby, a dark blue and gray Roomba Scheduler, at its charging base between a wall and wooden furniture. A red light glows on its top panel. Nick Marshall titled the photo “My new room mate!” and described Ruby as demanding about having things picked up. Photo: nick marshall, “My new room mate!”, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ . Original: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nmarshall42/86010985/ . Unmodified photograph.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The replacement human had a REVERSE button. Herbert Hooser's 1988 pet-feeder patent proposed serving dinner automatically while a cassette played the owner's voice. You weren't obsolete. You just needed rewinding. Patent & drawing: USPTO

Close-up of Figure 2 from Herbert M. Hooser’s 1988 U.S. patent 4,733,634 for an automatic home pet feeder. The control panel has a cassette deck at left with FORWARD and REVERSE buttons, a central speaker and VOLUME CONTROL slider, a numeric keypad, and time displays labeled ON and OFF. The patent describes playing the owner’s recorded voice at mealtime. This is a proposed device, not a product photograph. Source: USPTO; excerpt from drawing sheet 1 of 2.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

What you'd bring to the meeting: a running bill. Teoman Yatman's 1984 patent proposed a meter showing what everyone's time was costing. The boss could hide the total and print it privately. Slide 2: I know where the OFF switch is. Patent & drawing: USPTO

Figure 2 from Teoman Yatman’s 1984 U.S. patent 4,445,181. A line drawing of a meeting-cost meter shows $02560.05 above MEETING COST, 01:45 above ELAPSED TIME, and 14:35 above REAL TIME. At lower left is a selector labeled ON, DELAYED and OFF; at lower right a PRINT button sits beside a paper strip. This is a proposed device, not a photograph of a product. Source: USPTO. Figure excerpted from drawing sheet 1 of 3.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Chair → bed → desk → orbit. In 2006, the space station crew stuffed old clothes into a retired spacesuit, added a radio, and pushed it outside. SuitSat-1 circled Earth about every 90 minutes. The laundry was still going in circles. Just much bigger ones. Source & photo: NASA

NASA photograph of SuitSat-1 after its release from the International Space Station on February 3, 2006. An unoccupied white Russian Orlan spacesuit floats against black space, beside the blue, cloud-covered curve of Earth on the right. The suit was packed mostly with old clothes and fitted with a radio transmitter; no person is inside. Credit: NASA / ISS Expedition 12 crew. Image as published by NASA.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

He’s leaving an M&M on the table. Gilbert Macvaugh’s 1976 anti-snoring patent proposed waking the sleeper, making them hold STOP for 15 seconds, then dispensing candy and a recorded “Well done.” No extra candy for pressing STOP again. Patent & drawing

Original drawing sheet from Gilbert S. Macvaugh’s U.S. Patent 3,998,209, dated December 21, 1976. Figure 1 shows a man in bed under two lamps and a microphone, wearing an arm cuff; a woman lies in a separate bed beside him. Figure 2 shows the control box with a STOP button, a slot labeled REWARD, a speaker, and switches labeled LIGHT, FLICKER, BUZZ, TAP, SHOCK, DISP. and REC. The candy and recorded praise are described in the patent text. This is a proposed anti-snoring apparatus, not a photograph of a marketed product. Source: USPTO patent drawing via Google Patents. Unchanged.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A fork in a chopstick costume. Gerald Printz's 1989 patent tackled the embarrassment of dropping food by attaching fork tines to two chopstick-shaped handles. One version even let you swap in a soup spoon. The disguise has accessories. Patent & drawing

Original drawing sheet from Gerald L. Printz’s U.S. Patent 4,809,435, dated March 7, 1989. Six labeled black-and-white views show a four-tined fork joined to two long, diverging chopstick-shaped handles, with close-ups of fixed and detachable connections. Figures 5 and 6 show the plug-in attachment. The optional spoon mentioned in the description is not drawn. Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Google Patents.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Even “compliments of the authors” can land badly. Jack Hetherington put his cat on a 1975 physics paper, then sent paw-signed copies. He later wondered if the signature cost both of them a conference invitation. No keyboard required. Source Image: signed reprint via Atlas Obscura

Detail from a signed reprint of Jack H. Hetherington and F. D. C. Willard’s 1975 physics paper. The handwritten inscription “Compliments of the authors” appears beside a black inked cat paw print. F. D. C. Willard was Hetherington’s cat Chester. This is a crop of the actual document reproduction, not a generated illustration. Source: R. L. Weber, More Random Walks in Science (1982), p.110, reproduced by Atlas Obscura. Crop excludes the scientific text and Jack’s signature. Original image: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/in-1975-a-cat-coauthored-a-physics-paper

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The printer's first customer was itself. In 2008, a newly built RepRap only worked while someone held a screwdriver against its loose belt. So its first print was the part that let them put the screwdriver down. Source Photo: RepRap, CC BY-SA 3.0

2008 RepRap project photograph: Adrian Bowyer stands at left and Vik Olliver at right beside two open-frame 3D printers on a workbench. Bowyer holds a sign reading “parent” with a downward arrow; Olliver holds one reading “child.” A computer monitor and keyboard sit between the machines. This is a posed photograph, not the repair in progress. Photo: RepRap project, “First replication,” via Wikimedia Commons. Unchanged. CC BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . Image and license record: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_replication.jpg

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Your sandwich may need scaffolding. M. Udeozo Ogbue's 2001 patent proposed a burger shell with a trough for drips. You'd tear off matching top and bottom panels before each bite. Lunch, with demolition breaks. Patent & drawing

Cover of U.S. Patent 6,290,121 B1, dated September 18, 2001, by M. Udeozo Ogbue. The title is “Packaging to hold fastfoods and expose only bite-sized portions being eaten.” A large black-and-white drawing shows a rounded sandwich container divided into small tear-off sections, with raised grips and a wide seam around the middle. The abstract describes removing matching sections from the top and bottom for each bite, and a trough to catch drips. Source: USPTO.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The dog umbrella had curtains. Michael Amato's 1999 patent proposed a harness-mounted canopy with snap-on clear drapes. The patent has 19 diagrams. Honestly, the cuddle looks easier. Patent & drawing

Original U.S. patent drawing sheet dated July 6, 1999, numbered 5,918,611, Sheet 1 of 2. Figures 1 and 2 show a dog wearing a harness that supports an umbrella above its back, with transparent drapes hanging from the canopy. Other figures show the canopy ribs, shaft and harness fittings in detail. This sheet contains Figures 1–10; the complete patent has 19 figures. Source: Michael Amato, USPTO.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The bacon wake-up had a second stage: panic. Matty Sallin’s Wake n’ Bacon (2004) cooked breakfast by the bed. He recalled thinking “Mom’s in the kitchen,” then “The apartment’s on fire.” Source & photo: MAKE

Photo panel reproduced by MAKE in 2008 from Makers, page 48. A wooden pig-shaped Wake n’ Bacon alarm clock sits on a bedside table beside a man lying in bed. The clock has triangular ears, two black eyes, a round snout with two glowing holes, and red digital numbers. A smaller photo below shows a strip of bacon on a metal tray under mesh. The printed caption describes a test using bacon in a pull-out foil-lined tray and two halogen bulbs. This later pig-shaped version differs from the open-box 2004 prototype. Design: Matty Sallin. Image: Makers / O’Reilly, via MAKE; individual photographer not identified in the source.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The difference was a vodka label. In 1975, the Apollo-Soyuz crews toasted each other with tubes of beet soup disguised as vodka. Cheers. Eat your vegetables. Source & photo: NASA

July 1975 photograph inside the Soyuz orbital module. Thomas Stafford, left, and Deke Slayton, right, wear brown flight suits and communications caps while holding squeeze tubes with vodka labels and turquoise caps. The tubes contain beet soup, disguised for a toast. A round hatch and a camera are behind them. Photo: NASA, AST-003-175. Original image, not altered.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The ad-supported Concorde came with throttling. Pepsi painted one blue in 1996. Pilots were told to limit Mach 2 flight to 20 minutes because of the extra heating. A soda ad that couldn't keep its cool. Source Photo: Richard Vandervord, CC BY-SA 4.0

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The BBC's fake toaster could revoke your toast. In its 2009 April Fools' post, the touchscreen iPlayer toaster would pull back and shred uneaten toast after seven days. Your breakfast license had expired. 2009 spoof Image: BBC

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A BUY NOW button. On the trash can. A 2006 patent application proposed scanning discarded packages to reorder them. Hit Discard instead, and it could ask why you weren't buying more. Even the trash can wanted an exit interview. 2006 application

Figure 8B from a U.S. patent application published November 16, 2006. The proposed networked trash-bin control panel has a screen and buttons labeled BUY NOW, EXPRESS BUY, DISCARD, and EXPRESS WASTE PICKUP. Above are MANAGE ACCOUNT, VIEW/EDIT ORDER, and LOG-ON. A handheld scanner and small printer are drawn below. Diagram by Frederico Wagner, Geraldo Luiz Yoshizawa, and Fabio Zsigmond, US20060255137A1, sheet 6. Original page cropped to remove blank margins.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The 1983 workaround: cut the corners off the mattress. A hospital-sheet patent proposed a matching sheet with no elastic, so machines could fold it neatly. Even the bed had to meet the laundry halfway. 1983 patent

Detail from the cover of U.S. Patent 4,422,195 (December 27, 1983), by Joseph L. Russo and Richard Sonder. A black-and-white patent drawing shows the underside of a thin mattress with its four corners cut diagonally, held by the corner pockets and folded edges of a fitted sheet. Numbers identify parts of the mattress and sheet.

Figures 12 and 13 from U.S. Patent 4,422,195 (December 27, 1983), by Joseph L. Russo and Richard Sonder. At left, Figure 12 shows the proposed nonelastic fitted sheet folded into a flat rectangular stack. At right, Figure 13 shows a conventional elastic fitted sheet folded into a thicker, rounded bundle with visible gathers.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Your diary could forget it too. Mattel's 2008 Password Journal manual gave you 20 seconds to replace three AA batteries before it lost your password and settings. Keeping secrets required a pit crew. Manual Image: Mattel (excerpt)

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Pre-roll ads, meet toilet-roll ads. A 1999 patent proposed toilet paper printed with ads that played matching jingles as you unrolled it. Even the paper ad came with an audio ad. Source

Figure 3 from Thomas Lammers’s U.S. Patent 5,984,049, published November 16, 1999. Black-and-white cross-section of a paper roll. The hatched paper is labeled 3, its hollow core 2, the supporting shaft 10, and a speaker at the side 7. This is the electronic version of the proposed sound-producing roll, not a photograph of a manufactured product. Cropped from drawing sheet 2.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

TV-B-Gone briefly became TV-B-Back-On. In WIRED's 2004 test, the keychain remote shut off a clerk's Yankees–Red Sox game. She demanded it back. Luckily, the gadget could do that too. Asking first was a good call. 2004 report Photo: Alexander Klink, CC BY 3.0

A black TV-B-Gone keychain remote on a pale surface, photographed in 2008. It has one recessed button on top, a small round infrared emitter at the front, and a metal chain at the left. Photo: Alexander Klink, "TV-B-Gone.jpg", CC BY 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TV-B-Gone.jpg License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Wikimedia 960-pixel thumbnail; no crop or content alterations.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Please keep the audience outside the television. Video Catnip (1989) warned not to play it if the TV’s back or sides were missing or loose: cats might try to get inside after the birds. Portia has front-row seats. No backstage pass. Source Frame: Pet Avision (excerpt)

Cropped frame from the opening of Video Catnip (1989). Red WARNING heading on black, above white text: “Do not play this tape if the back or sides of your TV set are missing or loose.” Frame: Pet Avision, Inc.; excerpt for commentary.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Dancing cost this little egg an hour of battery life. Sony's 2007 Rolly was rated for about 5 hours playing music, or 4 while dancing along. Finally, a gadget whose idea of saving energy was sitting out a few songs. Source Photo: Yukiko Yamamoto, CC BY 2.0

A white, egg-shaped Sony Rolly music player on a dark tabletop, photographed mid-motion with its two speaker flaps extended and blurred. Green lights glow around its body and a blue-white light shines on top. Photo: Yukiko Yamamoto, "Disco!", October 5, 2007. CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sony_Rolly_disco_1.jpg Existing Wikimedia 960-pixel thumbnail; no crop or content alteration. Original metadata copyright notice: (C) by Caplio GX100 User.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Even the fake price tag hurts. Endeavour’s crew taped “50¢” onto their experimental Coke dispenser in 1996. A little vending-machine joke, in orbit. Today that looks less like a joke and more like a reason to apply to NASA. Source Photo: NASA

NASA photograph from Endeavour mission STS-77 in 1996. An astronaut holds a Powerade bottle against a large red-and-white Coca-Cola drinks dispenser, surrounded by cables, controls and a screen. Orange tape at its upper right bears the handwritten price “50¢.” Photo: NASA.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Don't forget to charge your fork. Michael Maiello's 2002 patent proposed a motorized pasta fork that could charge overnight, like an electric toothbrush. Dinner prep now starts at bedtime. Patent & drawing: USPTO

Original U.S. patent drawing dated September 3, 2002, labeled US 6,442,846 B1, Sheet 1 of 5. Figure 1 shows a long-handled pasta fork in partial cutaway, with two battery cells, a motor and gears inside the handle. Inner fork tines sit between curved outer tines. Numbered callouts identify components; the charging connection is at the opposite end of the handle. Source: USPTO, Michael Maiello.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A bed with a no-napping policy. Mark Ayesh's 1978 reading-bed patent specified padding firm enough to thwart sleep. It even had a shelf to keep your arms from falling asleep. Everyone is staying awake for this story. Including the elbows. Patent + drawing

Patent drawing sheet dated February 21, 1978, US 4,074,374, Mark G. Ayesh’s reading bed. Figure 1 shows a flat bed with a shaped head pillow, a shelf below the head section for the reader’s arms, and a separate angled book stand. Figure 2 shows the head section raised into a chair position. Black line drawings with numbered parts. Source: USPTO, via Google Patents.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A factory reset. For your umbrella. Ambient Devices' 2007 patent application proposed a wireless forecast in the handle, plus a button to clear its cache and restore factory settings. Now the thing offering help needs tech support. Application & drawing: USPTO

Original Figure 4 from Ambient Devices’ 2007 US patent application, Weather forecasting umbrella, US20070256716A1. A black-and-white drawing shows an umbrella handle with an LCD displaying a rain cloud, raindrops and the numbers 83 and 56. Arrow buttons flank the screen, and lines around the rounded bottom indicate a light. Numbered callouts identify components. The header dates the drawing November 8, 2007, sheet 4 of 4. This figure shows the proposed forecast interface; the reset button is described elsewhere in the application. Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Google Patents. Unaltered full-sheet PDF rendering.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The team is you and your laptop, sharing one sweater. Becky Stern's 2008 Laptop Compubody Sock is a knitted sculpture for privacy and concentration in public. Suggested venues include open-plan offices. Source Photo: Becky Stern, CC BY-SA 2.0

Laptop Compubody Sock, 2008: a seated person wears a rust-orange and beige knitted hood that extends down to cover a laptop on their lap. Their hands enter matching knitted sleeves, making one continuous covering between their head, hands, and computer. Artwork and photo by Becky Stern. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bekathwia/2414194397/ . CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ . Resized only; no crop or content changes.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

NASA had to guard a space shuttle with plastic owls. Woodpeckers pecked holes in Discovery's fuel-tank insulation in 1995, delaying its launch. Apparently, not being a tree is no defense. Source Image: NASA TV

A grainy 1995 NASA TV frame shows a woodpecker clinging to the sloping outer surface of space shuttle Discovery’s external tank, with its beak against the foam insulation. The number 161 appears in the upper left. Image: NASA TV, reproduced unchanged from Roger Balettie’s account of STS-70. This is the shuttle incident, not the patio bird in the quoted post.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A call button for the household mods, with your cat's own meow as the ringtone. That's a 2005 patent proposal for a pressure-sensitive doormat. It even specified an off switch for bedtime. For the speaker. The cat would remain unmuted. Source

Original drawing sheet from Terry C. McNally’s 2005 US patent application, Pressure sensitive doorbell mat, US20050040954A1, Figure 2. A person stands beside a closed door, with a dog on a small mat at their feet. Curved lines radiate from a speaker mounted beside the door. Numbered arrows identify the speaker, sound, person, dog, mat and door. The header reads Patent Application Publication, Feb. 24, 2005, Sheet 2 of 13. The drawing uses a dog to illustrate a system whose text also explicitly covers cats; it does not depict the quoted author’s cat. Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office, via Google Patents. Unaltered full-sheet PDF rendering.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Those shed skins had a runway show in 2009. Snuggie sent models down a New York catwalk carrying TV remotes as accessories. Evolution kept the thumbs and put everything else back in a blanket. Source Photo: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0

A woman indoors models a bright blue Snuggie sleeved blanket with both arms spread wide. The loose fabric covers her torso and forms oversized sleeves; her hands extend from the cuffs. A window with white curtains and a small dark dog are behind her. This photograph shows the product in February 2009, not the September fashion show or its remote-control accessories. Photo: David Shankbone, "Snuggie model.JPG", February 2009. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snuggie_model.JPG . Licensed CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ . Original image unchanged.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

His final boss is Mission Control. Skylab's crew ran around the inside walls in 1973. Their jogging shook the station enough that this workout was banned. Leg day moved the entire gym. Photo: NASA Report: ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19750016749

Three Skylab 2 astronauts crouch with knees bent and hands down, preparing to race around the curved interior of their orbital workshop. White storage compartments and round tank ends surround them. This is a soft, scan-lined color still from the spacecraft’s television transmission on June 1, 1973, not a modern staged photograph. The crew were Charles Conrad Jr., Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz; their individual positions are not identified here. Photo: NASA Johnson Space Center, S73-27262. Original image unchanged. The later prohibition of this wall-running exercise is documented in NASA TN D-8003, p. 19; it is not shown in this frame.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Her sadness was detachable. Hasbro's 1965 Little Miss No-Name came with a plastic tear you could remove. The box asked you to take her home and brush it away. A creepy doll you could cheer up by losing a piece. Source: The Denver VOICE Image: Hasbro / Toy Tales

Hasbro’s Little Miss No-Name doll, introduced in 1965, beside an example in its original box. The blonde doll has very large brown eyes, a small tear beneath her left eye, a patched sack dress, bare feet, and one hand held out. The box shows falling snow and a poem asking someone to love her, take her home, and brush her tear away. The front calls her the doll with the tear. Image reproduced from Toy Tales, “Little Miss No-Name from Hasbro (1965),” by Todd Coopee; doll and packaging by Hasbro. Photographer not identified on the source page. Unaltered documentary image excerpt for commentary on the design and packaging. Image source: https://toytales.ca/little-miss-no-name-hasbro-1965/

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The ghost in the kitchen says “howdy partner.” Steven Schroeder's 2002 patent application proposed a cowboy spoon that spoke when dipped in milk. Lift it out and dip again: another greeting. Every bite summons him back. Application & drawing: RTC Creative Werks

Figure 1 from Steven A. Schroeder’s Talking utensil, published March 7, 2002 as WO 02/17762 A1; applicant RTC Creative Werks. A black-and-white patent drawing shows a spoon standing in a bowl of milk and cereal. Its handle ends in a cowboy’s head wearing a wide-brimmed hat and neckerchief. Reference numbers label parts of the spoon and bowl. Cropped from drawing sheet 1/1; no speech bubble or greeting appears in this figure.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

One shoe kept the stats. The other could remember being faster. Puma's 1988 computer-shoe patent put electronics in one heel and a matching dummy box on the other. After a run, you plugged the data-holding shoe into a PC. Patent & drawing: USPTO

Figure 1 from Peter R. Cavanagh’s U.S. patent 4,771,394, assigned to PUMA and dated September 13, 1988. A black-and-white line drawing shows two running shoes beneath a desktop computer with a monitor, keyboard and two disk drives. A cable connects the computer to the heel housing of the foreground shoe. The other shoe has a similar heel housing with a closed top plate and no cable. Source: USPTO patent drawing, sheet 1 of 2.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The ketchup and mint jelly got a tropical vacation. Heinz's 1957 Tropicana Sundae combined them with nuts as a vanilla ice-cream topping. The booklet drew the pair under a palm tree. Your roast was just the first stop. Recipe Image: Heinz; scan: Charm and Poise

Recipe 42, Tropicana Sundae, from a 1957 Heinz booklet. The printed recipe combines mint-flavored apple jelly, tomato ketchup and chopped walnuts or pecans as a sauce for vanilla ice cream. At right, a smiling jelly jar and ketchup bottle stand together on a tiny island under a palm tree with smiling coconuts. Pink and green artwork on cream paper. Original: H. J. Heinz Co.; scan: Charm and Poise, via Retro Recipe Attempts.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

No headphones. Just a radio with a laundry routine. Bone Fone's 1979 ad pitched a stereo scarf with a washable Lycra sleeve. The accessory kit even included a pattern to sew your own. Your radio could run out of clean clothes. Source Ad: JS&A, 1979 (excerpt)

Black-and-white excerpt from a 1979 JS&A Bone Fone advertisement. A woman wears the long, padded radio around her neck like a scarf. Large lettering says Bone Fone and Stereo Breakthrough. A smaller slogan pitches a new way to listen to stereo music. Ad: JS&A Group, Inc.; scan via Pocket Calculator Show. Matches Scientific American, November 1979, page 11.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

She's taking it better than New Coke drinkers did. After the 1985 recipe change, a customer sent a letter to “Chief Dodo.” Coke says its CEO was more upset that it actually reached him. Coca-Cola's account Photo: My100cans (public domain)

A plastic bottle of New Coke, filled with dark cola and topped with a white screw cap. Its red-and-silver label reads “NEW!” and “Coke.” The bottle stands on a white surface against a beige background. Photograph by My100cans, released into the public domain on Wikimedia Commons; uploaded in August 2009. The photograph and bottle manufacture dates are not specified.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Your stunt double has catnip in its pockets. Janet Ford's 2001 patent proposed a fake lap: shorts stuffed with a shaped cushion, plus a catnip pouch. Leave your pants on cat duty. Go get your tea. Patent & drawing: USPTO

Figure 1 from Janet J. Ford’s 2001 patent, Human shaped pet bed. Black-and-white drawing of a padded pair of shorts shaped as a human lap, with two front pockets, a waistband and stitched-shut leg openings. Numbered labels identify its parts. The retained page header reads “Oct. 23, 2001” and “US 6,305,318 B1.” Source: USPTO, patent US6305318B1, drawing sheet 1 of 2; facsimile crop. The catnip pouch described in the patent is not visible in this exterior view.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The magnifier came with a shoulder strap. Electronics Boutique's 1992 catalog offered the Handy Boy: a bigger view, stereo speakers, a light, a joystick—and a strap. Your pocket game had become a purse. Catalog, p. 28 Photo: Thomas Bresson, CC BY 3.0

A real Nintendo Game Boy fitted with a Handy Boy accessory: a square magnifying lens above the screen, two large stereo speakers folded out to either side, and a long gray shoulder strap looping around it on a white surface. The normal D-pad and buttons remain visible; the optional joystick attachment is not fitted. This is a 2015 photograph of an accessory documented in a 1992 catalog. Photo: Thomas Bresson, “Handy Boy,” CC BY 3.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ . Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-07-31_12-53-07_game-boy-handy-boy.jpg . Wikimedia 960-pixel version; no cropping or other edits by us.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The off switch was behind a combination lock. Michael Lynches’s 1982 patent proposed locking the alarm clock in a case. To silence it, you had to remember the combination. Bedtime You had locked Morning You out. Patent & drawings: USPTO

Figures 2 and 3 from Michael T. Lynches’s U.S. Patent 4,332,019, issued May 25, 1982. Two black-and-white drawings show box-shaped alarm-clock cases with hinged front doors and clock faces on the right sides. Figure 2 has a round combination-lock dial on its door. Figure 3 has a number pad and a display reading 54367. The cases restrict access to the alarm shutoff. Facsimile crop from the original drawing sheet; source: USPTO.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A cold one, but it's beef broth. Campbell's 1972 ad suggested pouring beef broth straight from the can over ice, with Worcestershire or lemon. Soup season was apparently a glassware problem. Ad & source Image: Campbell Soup Co. (excerpt)

Black-and-white excerpt from Campbell’s 1972 “Soup on the rocks” advertisement. A hand tips a can labeled Campbell’s Condensed Beef Broth (Bouillon), pouring dark liquid into a short glass filled with ice. Below is the large headline “Soup on the rocks.” The small recipe copy and placement notice are outside this crop. Advertisement: Campbell Soup Company; scan: Monmouth University, Food Advertisements Through the Decades. Cropped from the original scanned page for historical commentary.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The reward for all that posting was one real seed. By 1998, Telegarden's web-controlled robot required 100 requests and over a week's membership before your first planting. Chat posts counted. Gardening had unlockables. FAQ Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

The Telegarden installation: a white industrial robot arm rises above a circular bed of living plants and small flowers in a square metal support frame. The camera and tool assembly hangs over the plants at the left. Dark background. This is a photograph of the physical garden, not a computer simulation. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer. Project: Ken Goldberg, Joseph Santarromana and team, begun 1995. Image source: https://goldberg.berkeley.edu/garden/Ars/ . Unmodified low-resolution photograph used for historical commentary.

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WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE @priorartdaily.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The beer got a catapult so you wouldn't have to get up. John Cornwell's 2007 fridge used a car remote: UNLOCK to aim, LOCK to fire. A trip to the kitchen became a catching drill. Source & photo: John W. Cornwell

John W. Cornwell’s beer-launching refrigerator, photographed for his 2007 project page. A small white fridge stands on a carpet beside a cabinet and television. An exposed metal elevator and raised catapult arm with a wire can holder sit on top; motors and wires are visible. No can is in flight. Photo: John W. Cornwell. Source: https://people.duke.edu/~jwc13/beerlauncher.html

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