Prison Tech
Here's an odd subject for a video, a perfect example of what happens when you head down a late night ebay rathole.
There's also an intriguing story here that I'm not sure I've adequately navigated. It's an odd tale that connects US prisons with the continued survival of cassettes and the music tech sold in clothing stores.
Anyway I hope you enjoy this one - its been planned for a few months. There are some things that aren't quite perfect, a couple of abrupt edits and some minor audio issues - but nothing that warranted a re-shoot. I really need to take a day off instead. Perhaps I can take a day trip to the back garden.
In virus news - the Mrs is now working from home and has commandeered the conservatory as her makeshift office, so I'm glad I recorded the Sony Reel to Reel video in that room the other week while I had the chance.
I have been taking stock of the backlog of tech in the house and I think I can probably shoot videos for a year or so without needing to get any new deliveries. However I can see my videos and behaviour becoming increasingly bizarre over time.
Anyway I hope you are all taking care of yourselves and I'm glad to see that not too many people have had to drop out of patreon just yet - your support is of course very much appreciated at this time.
UPDATE: It seems some of my descriptions about potential weaponisation might have been a bit graphic - so I've re-edited a toned down PG friendly version suitable for all audiences. I've also took the opportunity to fix a couple of minor issues. Seems like I'll be taking my day off another time. I'll post another note here when the new version has replaced the original.
UPDATE 2: Less scary version now embedded and linked to above.
Comments (92)
Hi Matt, this might be an interesting read, I've found it online after your video jogged my memory about an article I read in a newspaper many years back on the Sony SRF-39FP (Federal Prison) https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-ipod-of-prison
Yes it’s a good article - it’s the one I mentioned in the video and linked to underneath. Definitely worth a read. There are a couple of other links on YouTube too.
I was aware of the transparency issue for cassettes in institutions. But I also thought they had listening rooms with players WITH speakers because headphones were not allowed--they could be used to hang or otherwise strangle themselves or others.
This was a really good video. I was nailed to the screen the whole time! Thanks!
You'd love to cover the BINA-VIEW! Coolest display I've ever seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBiayOg4Tto
I’m a Patron of Fran and I think she might have the only one in the world. I certainly would never have been able to figure out how to get it working - so I’m happy to leave things like that to the experts and stick to the consumer tech.
I do like the look of the television! I have about 35 of those prison cassettes, I found them in Mexico for about $1 each...
Unique video-- I applaud the creativity, and the ingenuity, and unique-ness. I am sure nobody else had the mind to do a video like this, but it fits well with your channel. Congratulations on the views, you deserve it
Thanks - coming up with unusual objects that appeal to more than just a tiny niche is half the battle.
I feel like we got a hint at this when in a previous video you said "Not sure what happened to that bloke... probably in prison"
That was more a poke about the UK TV stars of my childhood who are disgraced in some way - but this prison tech was definitely also on my mind as I’ve been tripping over this stuff for months.
Well, I think we can say it's kind of a hit, 320k in the first 24 hours is huge! Well done Mat
It’s a shame they can’t all be like this - it certainly takes a bit of pressure off for a couple of days.
That was fascinating, I'd seen the see-thru tellies, but the cassettes, tape-players, radios etc. I hadn't even thought about. Truly a Nutty Krust Welsh Rarebit Souffle of an episode..
Watching this rack up the views today, it seems jail is the place to be.
It certainly seems to have struck a chord. It was a surprisingly expensive video to make - with all the postage and duty on all the different objects shown - however if it carries on like this for another day it should manage to pay its way. I could do with a hit - I think the last one was a video of a train arriving at a station. Well it feels like it was that long ago.
It's interesting the difference between countries. UK prisons don't insist on clear cases like this, you generally see bog standard domestic devices although they still have to be bought from an approved list. For a long time they were not allowed games consoles unless they used cartridges so you would see n64s etc long after their time. CDs do actually make quite effective weapons if broken, I've seen this done, but in truth any item could be weaponised (and almost everyone is armed with two hands and two feet) so you need to exercise common sense. Individual governors have their whims too, one I know banned pens even for visitors unless they were transparent but that didn't last long
Did you have to use an ATSC encoder/transmitter to put yourself on the TV? Or does it also have an analogue NTSC mode?
It’s got an analogue mode and I used a composite to RF converter.
Brilliant content! Where my puppets?? Whoo Whoo....
They’re furloughed at 80% pay for the foreseeable.
Vaporwave musicians are going to go nuts for this stuff !
Really enjoyed that. I work in prisons in NZ (head office, but I've been to a few cells in my time) so have seen the clear tech before, but never considered it was keeping things like cassettes alive, with the huge market in the US. Really fascinating stuff, thanks for opening my eyes to something I'd seen, but never quite taken in! :)
This was fascinating! Thank you for your hard work!
This is a really interesting topic! I wasn't so interested in the blind cassette player episode, but this is really out there
It's strange to think that the cassette resurgence was saved by prisons!
You'd be amazed all the specialized industries that can keep old tech alive. I went on the bridge of a Burke class destroyer once, and all the computers ran Windows 2003 or thereabouts, in 2014. The ship wasn't that old, either, circa 2011, they just keep recycling old systems. Probably too expensive to certify new systems and retrain everyone. I had read the French Navy kept paying Microsoft to patch Windows 2000 well into the 2010s, and may still be for all I know.
A former colleague used to work on this stuff. Apparently the military would decompile Windows and go through it line by line to check that there wasn’t anything nefarious. This was a very costly and laborious process but they ended up with very stable software that they used for years and years. It does make me wonder what other obsolete technology is out there for some niche applications due to this sort of investment.
Damn, I missed the Gangsta Techmoan version 😁
Techmoan - Cell Block H
Was/is this the same over here? Clear cases, I mean. My late father worked on the prison gates, so I guess he was bag-checking. Certainly found a lot of interesting photos of spouses hidden in books!! Doesn't Fletcher in Porridge have a radio? The original proper Porridge I mean! Bet the props department never thought of that!
I haven’t seen any mention of the clear policy here, but I’m sure there are plenty of other rules governing what you can have.
Mat, this is JUST BRILLIANT! You've put Discovery Channel, BBC and others to shame. Well done, you.
Thanks Peter, I hope others enjoy it too. It was an interesting area to cover, I always like to learn new things.
This was really interesting! I actually didn't know any of this. And what's weird is that I know at least two people (who I'd rather not name) that served some time in prison about 10 years ago and they told me that they weren't allowed any electronics at all. They could watch a common TV in a common room but were not allowed to change the channel. The only thing that people were allowed to send them were books, which had to come directly from Amazon or some online retailer, snail-mail letters, or money. And I think the money had to be sent through the prison, not directly. So, maybe different prisons have different rules.
I think that’s definitely the case - I’m very much an outsider when it comes to all this, fortunately. As long as they never find the bodies I’ll be ok.
It beggars the question, did Jonathan Ive spend time in prison or did the prison supply people get the idea from him.
Ive no idea.
So the prison system saved the tape industry! So it did something good after all... Question: I can’t seem to watch the video in full screen here on patreon. Is this a setting? Other patreon vids don’t have this issue.
It’s working for me - but I got a pop-up earlier that mentioned Patreon are having a few tech issues.
Very nice video, Mat! When you mentioned that the main feature was yet to come my reaction was "can it really get any better?" and you absolutely delivered it. What a great looking TV! Makes me wanna look at iMac G3 eBay listings again…
I wonder if there’s a eMac prison edition. The best and worst of both worlds.
Do people really find the first one "graphic"? Faith in humanity decreased by [too much]...
I guess some people said "shanks but no shanks" to Mat's original edit.
Completely unexpected and absolutely fascinating.
Very interesting, although I couldn't hear the radio over the video when you turned it up. Or was that the point? :)
Yes that’s it - I can only hear it if I push my good ear up against the speaker.
Great video Mat. Really interesting. Loved the TV and totally understand why you were attracted to it. Stay well.
Fascinating - thanks!
You do find some strange things, Mat. I would never have guessed at any of that. Your late-night rabbit hole following certainly turns up some gems. That TV reminds me a bit of the original iMac. If you want to become increasingly bizarre, carry on! Stay well, Pal. We need you more than ever right now. :-)
Indeed. Especially the (large) eMac.
I wonder if Johnathan Ive who designed for Apple, spent any time in prison ?
I assume Mrs Techmoan has to share her home office with the puppets?
Great video,I hope I saw the original one (watched it about 2 hours ago) ,didn’t see anything upsetting but different people are handling these days differently.
Really cool video. 😀
Very interesting! I have a transparent electronic typewriter (Swintec 2410CC) that is similar in that it also is (was?) the last typewriter you can buy, and also absolute garbage. (Hobbled with limited memory, for example.)
That’s interesting, I saw ‘typewriter (electric)’ on a list of approved items - I was thinking they were quite elaborate items to allow in a cell, so a transparent one makes a lot of sense.
That's amazing! I never thought of that. I thought it was just a cool way of desgning products for hipsters and 90s tech collectors like me. It looks pretty retrofuturistic in that clear case, but also very low quality, I don't know why. Maybe because most of those products were and still are "r u b b i s h". Great video
I think it all started for me when I saw companies like Tapeline here in the UK selling blank ‘Prison Tapes’ - that lead me down a trail of discovery.
You've made the scary version sound very edgy and exciting now! Any way to post it private-to-Patreon?
Most people wouldn't spot the differences - but here it is. https://youtu.be/ANOE-Xw4cNI The final version is better though - I made a couple of fixes to other bits that were annoying me as well. So really you're just getting an earlier version with the words stab and shank added.
"increasingly bizarre" is a good thing for your videos :)
I liked the scary version better, always appreciate your humor. Thanks for the uploads!
Gutted I’ve missed the original cut
I was already pretty much a stay-at-home person before this pandemic, but I certainly do enjoy seeing more frequent Techmoan releases. Seeing this video raises the question: Does Pepsi Co. still manufacture Crystal Pepsi for the US prison-industrial complex?
Probably. I've heard that being in possession of Coke will get you in serious trouble.
Fascinating. It reminds me of a subset of fountain pen collecting, demonstrators. They are pens made of clear plastic so the mechanism can be demonstrated. Some companies still make them today, like the Pelikan M205 Demonstrator. https://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US_INTL.FWI.displayShop.258326./classic-205-demonstrator
If I hand wrote anything I’d probably get one of those. Very nice.
Prison technology is not something I have ever dedicated a single brain cells' worth of thought to. Now I want to aquire one of the Sony radios shown. Thanks for all your hard work. It is keeping me sane while I am locked indoors from an invisible enemy.
You’ll probably want to give it a good wipe down - but I put some links to the radios in the video description, so you might want to order one before the video goes live at the weekend. Even if there’s only another half dozen people feel the same way, that’ll wipe out the ones on eBay.
Ditto to everyone else’s comments and appreciation for showing us tech we never knew existed. I will say one thing, if I was in prison and someone sent me a can of tuna, I’d know to watch over my shoulder. Kind of like getting a fish wrapped in a newspaper. My mom was an excellent cook, but there was nothing she could do to any seafood to make me tolerate it.
Apparently this is how a prison gourmet chef uses a can of tuna: https://youtu.be/4WGh4wx0z2w The strange paths a Techmoan video will lead you... 🙄
Thoroughly fascinating, watch the sales of transparent tech shoot up after this! Something about that transparent CRT case makes me feel more unsafe than if it was opaque...
Fascinating and well researched. That's a branch of technology I'd just not considered.
Well, Mat, yet again you manage to illuminate the craggy recesses of my brain with versions of technology I wouldn't have thought existed. I think clear cases are quite cool too - love that tv case, reminds me of the iMac. As to panic buying, I have to say that my local Tesco now has virtually everything back in stock - even toilet rolls. All that extra food purchased hasn't been eaten, it has just transferred from the supermarket to people's homes so the situation is bound to stabilize as there is only so much stuff people can store. Products like hand-sanitizer are being used far more than previously, so we are unlikely to see that return any time soon - apparently there's a shortage of ethanol to make it with, and alcoholic drinks companies are going to be supplying some of theirs to use in hand sanitizer - which may in turn lead to a shortage of your Jack Daniels . I suppose you could always drink the hand sanitizer - now there's an idea for a new style of Cocktail recipe book - Purell Passion, Dettol Delight - the possibilities are endless! Stay well and keep pumping out the videos, Mat - please!
Nifty! And as an American, it's humiliating to think that we've put so many of our people in prison that it's a lucrative demographic to target. On a brighter note: I've never understood why clear plastics are rarely done in electronics. Every now and then I'd see an engineering or marketing sample of a Newton Messagepad or a laptop or a Palm Treo with clear or smoke-colored plastics that showed off the internals, and I always thought they were the coolest and most-desirable versions.
I agree - although now it seems very 1990s cyber-tech. Perhaps clear tech’s day will come again though - lit from the inside with blinding blue LEDs.
I appreciate your transparency in the virus update. In times like these, one has to see things clearly and avoid the opaque while hoping for a more limpid future. 😳
I'm continuing to regard my Techmoan subscription as a basic neccessity - god knows your videos have kept me sane before when I've spent long stretches at home due to ill health. Same applies now (although fingers crossed I've stayed well so far), so as always, thanks for making! This one was well-timed for me as I've been rewatching Breaking Bad - now I know what Jimmy In-N-Out's TV and radio would've looked like when he volunteered to pose as Heisenberg!
Now that we know prison tech is almost silent, it makes me wonder if there are any movies out there that inaccurately depict prisoners turning up their radios. I can only vaguely recall one audio related prison movie scene - a record played over a PA system in Shawshank, but that’s OK.
9:41 AM - what are you, an Apple product reveal? :P I've heard that the costs involved for prisoners for acquiring these type of things are criminal. Quite the captive audience.
Despite the costs, these devices cell well.
Very interesting video. Never knew there was a whole subculture of technology in US prisons. Great stuff, but rubbish quality kit, although I would love one of those TV’s.
I think transparent tech only gets interesting when it’s as cluttered and alien as a CRT TV. A transparent smartphone by comparison doesn’t really appeal. It’s the empty voids in the CRT that make it cool for me. You can also look for the little man who hides in the TV.
As always, excellent :)
Beer is the latest must-have for Australian panic buyers. There's a photo doing the rounds on social media that was reportedly taken in a Perth off-licence where the only beer left stock was 4 cases of Corona and a case of Emu Export (arguably Australia's most revolting beer). I'm not making this up. Thanks for the ongoing content. I have no plans to drop my patronage.
Maybe if I open up a new Patreon tier that gives a reward of booze and a toilet roll it’ll turn this whole debacle into an opportunity.
Yeah literally the only thing I came close to panic-buying a couple of weeks ago was a few litres of Absolut. At the end of this, my liver's gonna make lovely foie gras. EDIT: Apologies, this was meant to be a reply to Mat. Just ignore me. Not enough booze in my system yet - my synapses are not limber.
Fascinating! (as Mr Spock would have put it). I didn't have a clue about these transparent, speakerless gadgets. They make prison life seem even worse than I thought. I think I'll stay away from crime in the future.
A wise decision - I think we should cancel that bank job.
Hi Mat. Thanks for the video - I'm gonna save it for a zesty beverage this evening. With regard to continuing my Pateonage, I'm self-employed as well (with no income at all at the moment) but fear not: my monthly sub to you (and my vodka expenditure) are considered essentials in my household.
First thing I stocked up on was Jack Daniels. In hindsight, not my wisest idea.