Lmst

Vend-o-Vision: Trading Quarters for Watching TV in Public

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/02/28/vend-o-vision-trading-quarters-for-watching-tv-in-public/

<div><img alt="Time to enjoy your favorite TV shows. (Credit: SpaceTime Junction, YouTube)" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="442" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/vend-o-vision_tv_time_back-to-the-future_spacetime_junction_youtube.jpg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><figure class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_921248" style="width: 400px;"><a href="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/vend-o-vision_tv_time_mechanism_spacetime_junction_youtube.jpg"><img alt="The timer mechanism of the Vend-o-Vision. (Credit: SpaceTime Junction, YouTube)" class="size-medium wp-image-921248" height="299" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/vend-o-vision_tv_time_mechanism_spacetime_junction_youtube.jpg?w=400" width="400" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-921248">The timer mechanism of the Vend-o-Vision. (Credit: SpaceTime Junction, YouTube)</figcaption></figure>
<p>There was a time before portable TVs and personal media players when the idea of putting coin-operated TVs everywhere, from restaurants to airports and laundromats, would have seemed like a solid business model. Thus was born the Vend-o-Vision by Mini-TV USA, which presented itself as a cash earner for businesses and a way to make their customers even happier. One of these new-in-box units <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRFbgluNduQ" target="_blank">recently made its way over</

Vend-o-Vision: Trading Quarters for Watching TV in Public https://hackaday.com/2026/02/28/vend-o-vision-trading-quarters-for-watching-tv-in-public/
#Reviews #Teardown #Coinoperated

"Modern jukeboxes trace their origins to coin-operated phonographs. Marketed as automatic phonographs, these late-nineteenth-century machines combined Thomas Alva Edison’s (1847–1931) wax cylinder phonograph with a coin-operated mechanism. Edison patented the first cylinder phonograph in 1878 after experimenting with a device that recorded audible messages from a telegraph or telephone signal. This machine utilized a metal cylinder wrapped in tinfoil and was more of a novelty, as recordings quickly degraded after a few plays. Edison’s Improved Phonograph followed a decade later with wax cylinders that greatly increased the life-span of recordings. During the 1890s, electrically operated automatic phonographs were produced by various manufacturers under license from Edison. Nicknamed “nickel-in-the-slot” machines, they appeared in arcade parlors across the United States alongside Kinetoscopes, another Edison invention that played short movies from 35 mm film. Automatic Edison phonograph courtesy of the Joe Welch American Antique Museum. "The Automatic Age: Coin-Operated Machines" is on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal. http://bit.ly/CoinOperated" This was posted to our Instagram account on July 25, 2018 – https://millsfield.sfomuseum.org/instagram/1729357907/

An image associated with the Instagram post https://millsfield.sfomuseum.org/id/1729357907/

"Fortune-telling was so fashionable in the first half of the 20th century that some machines, such as The Gypsy Fortune Teller, advertised the subject and did not actually offer a fortune. Each penny played on The Gypsy Fortune Teller dispensed a ball of gum, with prizes for winning suits available behind the counter. Other fortune-tellers kept pace with new technologies. The countertop Futura fortune machine illuminates its predictions from a roll of 35 mm film inside, visible through a lighted window atop a plastic “crystal ball.” All objects are courtesy of Joe Welch American Antique Museum in San Bruno, California. "The Automatic Age: Coin-Operated Machines" is on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal. http://bit.ly/CoinOperated" This was posted to our Instagram account on August 30, 2018 – https://millsfield.sfomuseum.org/instagram/1729357723/

An image associated with the Instagram post https://millsfield.sfomuseum.org/id/1729357723/

@dalias

Yes!

Here's my contribution. It runs on quarters.

#gumball #GumballMachine #adulting #Beaver #Canadian #CoinOp #VendingMachine #CoinOperated

"Coin-operated vendors did not require their owner-operator to be present for every sale. When placed in the appropriate location, these robust machines only had to be filled, maintained, and protected from theft to be profitable. Vending machines were offered with various designs and mechanisms to suit operators and their clientele. During the early twentieth century, these compact and simple, coin-operated vendors were placed atop the counters of stores, restaurants, and bars across the United States. Countertop vending machines dispensed small products that were best suited to sales of a single item. Postage and postcard machines conveniently vended items for mail correspondence outside of the post office, such as the Duplex stamp vendor, which fed one- and two-cent stamps from rolls behind glass sides. Jackson Vending’s safety match vendors, popular in cigar stores, public houses, and saloons, dispensed a box of safety matches from a rotating carousel housed under a glass dome. All objects courtesy of Joe Welch American Antique Museum. "The Automatic Age: Coin-Operated Machines" is on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal. http://bit.ly/CoinOperated" This was posted to our Instagram account on January 19, 2018 – https://millsfield.sfomuseum.org/instagram/1729358697/

An image associated with the Instagram post https://millsfield.sfomuseum.org/id/1729358697/

Gary Dauberman’s Coin Operated Developing Horror Film ‘He Never Dies’ From Filmmaker David Yarovesky
#News #CoinOperated #DavidYarovesky #GaryDauberman #HeNeverDies

https://deadline.com/2025/07/he-never-dies-gary-dauberman-david-yarovesky-horror-movie-1236468905/

Gary Dauberman’s Coin Operated Developing Horror Film ‘Human Remains’ Penned By Zachary Donohue
#News #CoinOperated #GaryDauberman #HumanRemains #ZacharyDonohue

https://deadline.com/2025/07/human-remains-movie-gary-dauberman-coin-operated-1236453998/

My X Account Was Hijacked to Sell a Fake WIRED Memecoin. Then Came the Backlash

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/wired-memecoin-scam-hacked-x-account/

"Under the guidance of designer Paul M. Fuller (1897-1951), Wurlitzer jukeboxes showcased light, color, and form in striking, Art Deco designs. Wurlitzer also marketed a line of tabletop models for smaller businesses. These compact jukeboxes employed a twelve-selection mechanism that raised or lowered 78 rpm records arranged in a stack to the desired disc. All objects are courtesy of Joe Welch American Antique Museum in San Bruno, California. "The Automatic Age: Coin-Operated Machines" is on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal. http://bit.ly/CoinOperated" This was posted to our Instagram account on March 06, 2018 – https://millsfield.sfomuseum.org/instagram/1729358489/

An image associated with the Instagram post https://millsfield.sfomuseum.org/id/1729358489/

Thunder

#amusement #ride #CoinOperated #KidsRide #street #storefront #overcast #snapseed #iphoneography #photography #WatertonNationalPark #WatertonAlberta

Coin operated horse ride in front of a store. It is a light coloured horse on a blue and yellow base. It appears to be well used.

Close up of mechanical horse ride, showing the head of the horse and a manic look on it's face.

Weird Marketplace Find of the Day. Zeddy coin-operated ride -- an original from a closed Hamilton Zellers. #WeirdMarketplace #Zeddy #Zellers #Canada #CoinOperated #Hamilton #ride #children #humour #humor

Large red machine with a seat with a seat belt and coin slots.

Coin-Operated Graphing Calculator Console

Longtime hacker [Peter Jansen] was so impressed with a piece in The Onion from last year that he decided to build this coin-operated Texas Instruments graphing calculator console on a whim (video below the break -- warning vertical orientation).

With nothing more to go on than the fake mock-up pictured from the original satirical article, [Peter] was able to scale the dimensions from the photo making a few reasonable assumptions. He built the project over the holidays, enlisting his father and son as helpers. The cabinet is framed in 2×3 lumber and faced with wood veneer covered plywood and vinyl overlays for the graphics.

The computing power is from a Raspberry Pi with an Arduino Uno serves as an I/O processor. It was a bit tricky to control a calculator with only two knobs, but he makes it work. However, at 25 cents per plot with no apparent hard-copy capability, this console calculator might be a bit pricey for all but casual plotting over a few beers at the local pub.

You might remember [Peter] from some of his hacks we featured over the years, like his home-brew CT scanner or placing fourth in the first Hackaday Prize contest in 2014 with the open sourced tricorder project.

#retrocomputing #coinoperated #graphingcalculator #retrogameconsole #satire #videogameconsole

#CoinOperated

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