Believe it or not, without World War II, technology and obsolescence might not have been invented for a very long time as it "changed radio radically...and was the first electronic war" (p. 100). These events in the 1900s essentially created a new culture for America, and Giles Slade introduces four men who contributed in creating the first technologies in America which led to obsolescence. It was Lee DeForest, Guglielmo Marconi, David Sarnoff and Edwin Armstrong that introduced FM radio. They did not only introduce radio itself, but they made the radio and FM so powerful that automobiles started integrating radios into the dashboards. Sooner than later, radios would be one of the cause of why automobiles were considered obsolete, because there was a constant demand for new technologies within a often used machine. Interestingly, Slade narrates that these four men were all in competition, always trying to better each others products and receiving the most credit for their inventions. Marconi, who owned Marconi Wireless, and Sarnoff, who was the creator of NBC and RCA were the masterminds behind marketing the new technologies invented by DeForest and Armstrong (not discrediting Marconi and Sarnoff's own developments). It is then explained how FM radio became such a huge hit, making AM stations, the phonograph, and certain televisions obsolete.
Further in, Slade goes into a larger view of obsolescence, taking a step away from using the small products that started the concept of obsolescence. He uses larger examples and concepts that illustrated a movement in America at the time, changing the culture. Much of these examples take place during the World War II era, which was a major time in history in developing technology and obsolescence. For example, Levittowns demonstrated suburban obsolescence. These small, easy to built houses were used for veterans coming back from the war, but mainly allowed a new way of living putting the old way of living obsolete. Even today, we see how obsolescence kicks into the housing industry. In East Brunswick, NJ, which has a mix of residential and commercial areas, the Golden Triangle Project is attempting to build apartments, studios and even condos for small families next to the transportation center (NJ Transit Buses) in which the parents work in the city so that transportation is easily accessible. Though, on the other hand, reading this portion of the book made me feel like I was reading "Computers" all over again. Slade introduced the very first developments of the computer, the ENIAC and ABC computer. However, a quote by Brooks Stevens explains business back then and even today, "our whole economy is based on planned obsolescence and everybody who can rad without moving his lips should know it by now. We make good products, we induce people to buy them, and then next year we deliberately introduce something that will make those products old fashioned, out of date, obsolete. We do that for the soundest reason: to make money" (p. 153).
You can't really argue with Stevens here. Today, it's almost guaranteed in every companies business model that there is some sort of 'obsolete' aspect incorporated within. Like Apple, Windows, Television in general, each company aims to having their product become old fashion at a point. Just recently, Windows has put my Microsoft Office obsolete, as the Office 2011 for Mac is now on sale. However, I will not buy it because it is $150 dollars, and the new MS Word is terribly complicated with a least functional design, in my opinion.
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