Invented before its time

A blast from the techno-past - this very cool blog page offers examples of inventions that were ahead of their time. Some made it into everyday use, but most didn't. Still, did you know someone patented a radio carried inside a cane, connected to a pair of headphones, in 1933? OK, it was not quite a Walkman, because the user had to stop and plant the end of the cane in the ground, but it's fascinating anyway. Also in 1933 came the ancestor of the modern "shared application" conferencing business: a "cathode-ray pen" with which you could write in one city and have the letters instantly displayed on a screen in another location far away. In 1934 emerged the rubber boot with air-filled soles for comfort. Many more such examples are offered in the blog Modern Mechanix.