Businessweek published a big cover story about “eavesdropping” smart speakers last week, complete with a WTF video illustration. I thought the story seemed kind of familiar, so I went digging through some newspaper archives, and sure enough:
Here’s the 2012 edition of the story:
And 2005:
2004:
1998:
1993:
1991:
1990:
And finally, 1964, with an illustration to match Businessweek’s 2019 visual:
And you’ve got to love the advice it gives at the end of the story:
Alas, I couldn’t find a story from the time when writing was invented, but if tech journalism was around back then, there’s a pretty good chance there’s a clay tablet carving somewhere hyperventilating about how everyone now had a way to produce a record of everything you said.