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The 50 greatest gadgets of the past 50 years
(PC World)
Updated: 2005-12-27 11:29 34. Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 1.0
(1998)
A do-it-yourself robotics system for the masses, Lego Mindstorms
made building machines more fun than should be allowed. An interactive community
helped promote different designs and creativity, so you were never at a loss as
to what to do with all of those Lego pieces and parts. And one of the early
expansion kits included a robotic R2-D2. (Sure, it was just a wireframe, not a
solid replica, but it could still carry your Coca-Cola can.) Photo courtesy of
the Lego Group.
35. Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (1983)
 This early "portable" phone measured more than a foot long,
weighed close to 2 pounds, and cost a whopping $3995. But with Motorola's
DynaTAC 8000X--aka The Brick--you could for the first time walk and talk without
that dratted cord. Generally considered the first mobile phone, the DynaTAC
8000X had enough juice for an hour of talk time and enough memory to hold 30
numbers. And the device's Formica-style enclosure was the envy of anything that
Ma Bell had to offer. Photo courtesy of Motorola.
36. Iomega Zip Drive (1995)
This little blue external storage drive, roughly the size
of a paperback book, was an instant sensation, giving average computer users
their first taste of easy backup and relatively rugged 100MB storage media. The
only storage technology ever mentioned by name on HBO's Sex and the City, the
Zip Drive was available for both Macs and PCs; the Mac version connected to the
SCSI port and the PC version hooked up via the parallel port. You could see the
disk through a clear window built into the top of the drive, and it was always a
pleasure to see the yellow LED light, which meant everything was working well.
However, if the drive clicked too much (a phenomenon also known as the Click of
Death), you were in trouble. You still have one somewhere, don't you? Photo
courtesy of Iomega.
37. Magnavox Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision Videodisc Player
(1978)
Before the DVD, or even the CD-ROM, there was the
laserdisc--the first commercial optical video disc. Philips's Magnavox
Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision Videodisc Player was the first consumer
player for MCA's pioneering DiscoVision-format laserdiscs. Never mind that the
Model 8000 cost $749, and that its failure rate was astronomical. The optical
media age had arrived. Read about the history of DiscoVision at the Blam
Entertainment Group's DiscoVision site.
38. Milton Bradley Simon (1978)
The Simon toy (not
the BellSouth/IBM Simon Personal Communicator, #41) began flashing its lights in
1978, at the height of Saturday Night Fever disco-mania. Appropriately, Milton
Bradley premiered its memory game at one of the most famous discotheques of all
time, Studio 54 in New York. Trying to remember Simon's sequences of lights (and
blips) was a lot of fun--and frustrating. The game has far outlasted the disco
era: An updated version of Simon is still sold today. Happily, the polyester
leisure suit remains an endangered species.
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