1980s
The Video Toaster
The gadget that revolutionized TV in the 1990s.
Richard Baguley
The Vacuum Tube
The Vacuum Tube (or Valve) was the grandfather of the Silicon Chip
Kodachrome Color Slide Film
This color film defined the look of a generation and was used in many of the most iconic photos ever taken
Tamagotchi
These electronic pets were the bane of schoolteachers in the 1990s.
1965, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, audio, cassette
The Compact Cassette Tape
A generation used compact cassettes to create mix tapes, creating one of the first battles over music piracy.
1977, 1970s, Computer, Personal Computer, Commodore PET
The Gadget We Miss: the Commodore PET
This primitive computer was many people’s first experience of home computing
The Gadget We Miss: The Apple Newton
Apple’s pioneering PDA was ahead of its time
The Gadget We Miss: The Sony MiniDisc
Sony’s pioneering music format failed to catch on, but found a few unexpected niches
The Gadget We Miss: The Clapper
Clap On! Clap Off! At least, that was the theory of this gadget.
The Gadget We Miss: The US Robotics Courier Modem
The king of dial-up was a modem that could handle anything you threw at it
The Gadget We Miss: The Casio QV-10 Digital Camera
One of the first consumer digital cameras defined the category
The Gadget We Miss: The Calculator Watch
Sting isn’t usually thought of as a geek hero. But, if you look carefully at the cover of the Police single “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, you’ll see that he is proudly wearing a symbol of geekdom from the late 1970s and 1980s. Similarly, geek icon Marty McFly is