Ristos (1979)

As promised, here is page 12 of the amazing 1979 book Future Cities: Homes and Living into the 21st Century.

My favorite aspect of this page is that not only are they speculating the coming of the radio-telephone wristwatch, they're speculating its nickname. The "risto" may not be a common sight today but I really wish my cell phone had "pop-out aerials."

Also, check out the "instant voting" they anticipate one could do through their "risto." I certainly forsee no problems with that. Electronic voting machines are pretty widely accepted as reliable in 2007, right?

Stay tuned, this book is over 30 pages of paleo-future goodness.

Comments

[Kelvyn]

They weren't too far out: the Breitling Emergency chronographs have some of the features of this concept - but not the phone functions!
http://breitling.com/en/models/professional/emergency/

[Rossignol]

I recommend 'The Shape Of Further Things' by Brian Aldiss, in which he posits something very similar to the Risto, although ten years earlier.

I blog more about it here:

http://rossignol.cream.org/?p=406

[Paul M. Cray]

I remember that page well. I vaguely think that it was Arthur C. Clarke who came up with wristo idea. Can anyone with a beter memory for/knowledge of his 1960s essays confirm this? (It might have been in "Voices from the Sky".)

[Watchismo]

There actually was a late sixties/early seventies transistor radio watch called the 'Wristo'.

See it here;

http://watchismo.blogspot.com/2007/02/vintage-transistor-wrist-radios-dick.html" REL="nofollow">Link

It was enormous due to the double AA battery required.

[Lurker]

I wouldn't suggest that electronic voting is entirely free from controversy; I don't think that people would like the idea of having the "voting machine" be the property of the voter!