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The 50 greatest gadgets of the past 50 years
(PC World)
Updated: 2005-12-27 11:29
49. Jakks Pacific TV Games (2002)
For decades, the Atari 2600's black joystick has symbolized the raw
spirit of early console video gaming. How fitting, then, that the joystick
itself evolved into an entire videogame console in 2004, when a small toy
company called Jakks Pacific launched the phenomenally successful TV Games line.
The TV Games controller/game console hooks directly to standard inputs on a
television and runs off batteries. Atari TV Games was the first version,
bundling ten of the most popular classic Atari games from the 1980s--Pong,
Asteroids, Breakout, and more--in a controller that looked just like the
original Atari VCS (#7) joystick.
50. Poqet PC Model PQ-0164 (1990)
Years before the Pocket PC, there was the Poqet PC. About the size
of a videotape, the Poqet was pricey ($2000), but it ran off-the-shelf
applications and could go for weeks on two AA batteries. Highly praised during
its brief life, the Poqet vanished from the market after its manufacturer was
acquired by Fujitsu. As with seemingly every interesting computer of yore, it
still has its devotees, including Bryan Mason, proprietor of the informative
Poqet PC Web Site. Photo courtesy of the Obsolete Computer
Museum
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