Forgotten Electronics of the 70s and 80s 531
Ant writes "This is where you can find photos of those unusual items which somehow missed our keen attention in the 70s and 80s. Be it a specialty product, electronic novelty or an utter boondoggle from a major electronics outfit of the day, we'll dig 'em up and talk about 'em."
Re:N-Gage (Score:3, Insightful)
Color Computer II (Score:3, Insightful)
Nostalgia (Score:5, Insightful)
Digital watch a step backwards (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyhow my father being very proud of his $800 new invention showed it to my grandfather, who looked very carefully at my fathers watch, he sat back, sipped his coffe and said "How is that progress when now it takes 2 hands to tell time, one for the watch and another to press the button to make it show time ?" My father kinda sank into his seat his bubble being burst instantly, I dont think he ever wore it again.
Re:ThinkGeek (Score:3, Insightful)
Amongst those devices that I hope will be on the list of forgotten electronics of the 20's is the internet aware toaster.
If we're really lucky people will forget about that one before it happens, but I'm not holding my breath.
KFG
Re:N-Gage (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:My dad? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Super 8mm Home Projector (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:N-Gage (Score:3, Insightful)
while it is just a series60 phone with the pad placed for better game playing, as such it's not bad actually(and tony hawk is not bad, while the other titles may suck). why they're limiting the games marketing just to n-gage I don't get though(if taken into consideration while programming, and provenly otherwise as well, the games will run fine for example on 6600 and on the rare occasion when 3650 has enough memory free on them as well). though it's not like that it hurt Nokias downline if it flopped anyways(they had a pretty good year according to the numbers released today, 5.3e billion of reported profit, total 179 million of phones - what matters is that they need to be moving constantly to not fall off the edge).
look, smack it all you want but it's the cheapest phone you can get a port of putty for(also happens to have more ram than 3650/7650 so opera is less of a hurdle to actually use, and also happens to play mp3&aac decently - not just through the standard 8/16khz output provided for normal apps). With the decent irc client installed it makes for a quite good gradewrecker. also I happen to dig the series60 user interface big time, multitasking goodness.
intrestingly enough chicks dig Rayman 3.
apples newton could already be on this list.
Re:the calculator watch.. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Digital watch a step backwards (Score:3, Insightful)
I think on the whole with 'scrap parts' it'd probably be easier to build something to 'power your Casio' than to act as a reliable watchspring.. after all, the oscillation frequency of the timing crystal won't change.
On the other hand (Slight pun intended) it'd be easier to jury rig a cunning waterwheel mechanism to wind your existing spring-watch than charge your existing electronic gizmo.
Re:Digital watch a step backwards (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:the calculator watch.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Who is the smart one again?
Re:Digital watch a step backwards (Score:1, Insightful)
Immediate technical progress:
1. More accurate timekeeping.
2. Does not need to be wound up.
3. Components may not wear out so quickly.
4. May not require skilled watchmaker to produce.
5. May be manufactured more quickly ("3 a year"?!).
6. Suited for use in the dark (without causing phosjaw).
7. Eye appeal? Maybe not today but in 1976? Far out man!
Longer-term considerations which may make it a better design:
1. Falling cost of components.
2. Better suited to factory production.
And not to forget GADGET APPEAL. Just because it doesn't represent technical progress, it doesn't follow that there is no commercial progress involved. It's a narrow view to say that practicality is the only yardstick of progress.
Check the watch on your wrist is - it analogue or digital?
Re:the calculator watch.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Because there's a hell of a difference between understanding what math is and how it works, and typing numbers into a machine to get an answer.