Honeywell 316 Kitchen Computer
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Next time I feel guilty about being frivolous with "cool new technology", I'll remember this ad suggesting a $70,000 calculator as a responsible way to manage household finances!
I wonder what the absolutely most frivolous application of a contemporary $70,000 electronic gadget would be. CNC machine for dicing vegetables (very precisely)? Industrial CO2 laser for controlling mosquitos? TPU workstation for classifying-sorting the cat memes folder? Thermal infrared cameras for tracking gopher infestations in the tomato garden? My creativity is too limited.
They also had business jets, real Egyptian mummies, and submarines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neiman_Marcus#The_Christmas_Bo...