Check out this series of photos of crittercam, which I took at the Mystic Aquarium on memorial day. Crittercam is basically a camera that gets strapped onto various animals to help marine biologists study their behaviour.

1986-2003

The first few iterations are clearly ad-hoc constructions, held together with duct tape, glue, and hand-attached metal.

Gotta love the multilingual "REWARD!!" written on it in permanent marker.

As well as their phone number, in the case that some lost unit should wash up on shore and someone stumble across it.

In the later models you can see the influence of the advent of cheaper methods for constructing less jury-rigged cases. These days you can manufacture stuff in small quantities without sending it to a production facility. The package has gotten smaller (okay, that has a lot to do with the shrinking camera electronics and storage mediums), sleeker, and less hand-made.

I love seeing the evolution of technology! (Also seeing people using ad-hoc methods to get stuff done.)

(Cred must be given to Mako for the aquarium conversation that inspired this post.)