In his introduction to the article, which can be found at , Colored Stones Editor David Federman asks "Are you a jeweler who regularly holds in-store events? Or who has built up close rapport with customers? If so, here’s a revolutionary new invitation system called LetterMatics that allows you and your sales people to revive personal postal communication between jeweler and customer—using software that costs only $189, and which pays for itself many times over with one of the very first letters it helps you compose."
Federman considers LetterMatics an important new tool for today's jewelers. He brought another thing to the party besides his words. Like any good editor, he did some research on the subject, and found a fascinating advertisement that had been published in 1956 in Scientific American.
"LetterMatic 1960?," the ad asks, predicting that "Tomorrow: You dictate! The machine types and hustles your letter to the mail. Electronics does it all."
People are using voice recognition technology to work with LetterMatics--so, 50 years later, the future is here. The ad was promoting General Motors ball bearings, which were used in the dictation equipment of the time, by the way.
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