YouTube is full of tech moments from the 1990s that make us shudder and laugh at the same time. In 2015, our young, non-speaking children know how to swipe to open an iPhone and tech’s inundation into popular culture and daily life is pervasive and at the same time indistinguishable from non technical daily life. So much so that Google Co-Founder Eric Schmidt predicted that the “Internet will disappear.” His comment was less of a modern-day apocalyptic scenario and more of a statement that we would cease to recognize the Internet as it will become more embedded into daily life.
Rewind to 1994. Check out this hilarious take of Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel having apparently seen an email address for the first time. It’s being rebroadcast for the Super Bowl next week as a 60-second commercial for the BMW i3, the automaker’s 100% electric vehicle. From 1994:
Gumbel: That mark, with the ring and the A around it?
Off Screen: At
GG: See that’s what I said. Katie said she thought it was “about”.
Katie Couric: Yeah or “around”.
GG: But I have never heard it said. I’d always seen the mark. See there it is! “at am feedback com”. I mean, what is Internet anyway? What do you write to it like mail?
KC: Allison, can you explain what Internet is?
I don’t know who Allison is, but as laughably arcane as that clip is, it’s nice to see Bryant and Couric do a retake – and spoof themselves – in the BMW i3 Super Bowl spot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1jwWwJ-Mxc#t=29
KBS is the firm responsible for the ad.
