Buying the New Yorker 1996 - page 31

The NordicTracks that you can get today look like you can fly them around canyons shooting laser beams at alien invaders. At the very least they all have televisions built in. Now look at how minimalistic they were in 1996:


Hey NordicTrack designers, here's an idea for you: Eventually these will all be laundry racks anyhow, why not include hangers and so on.

The Bose Wave radio has now been upgraded to the Wave II. It looks the same, and check it out -- it costs the same too.

See that business in the bottom right corner? That's how people used to order things before the internet. What you did was cut the corner out of the page of the magazine, fill in your name and address, then call the toll free number. After you tell the nice person who answers the toll free call that you want a spiffy new Bose Wave Radio, they will want to know where you live so they can send it to you. Because you have done your research ahead of time, you can tell the nice phone person your address right away instead of running out into your front yard to read the number off the front of your house.