The Early Days of Alexa? Name this Invention!

The December 22, 1877, issue of Scientific American reported that “Mr. Thomas A. Edison recently came into this office, placed a little machine on our desk, turned a crank, and the machine inquired as to our health, asked how we liked it, informed us that it was very well, and bid us a cordial good night.”

Were they thinking of an “Alexa” type interface way back then?

Can you name this invention?

scroll down for the answer!

Alright here is the answer!

The technology that made the modern music business possible came into existence in the New Jersey laboratory where Thomas Edison created the first device to both record sound and play it back. He was awarded a US  paten for his invention—the phonograph—on this day in 1878

Here is a funny 2020 Superbowl ad “What Did We Do Before Alexa?”

photo:  The Henry Ford Museum