50 Greatest Gadgets on the last 50 years
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2005...pcworld/123950

Cool,

hwm

That is cool. I've owned a StarTac (#6), a Polaroid SX-70 (#8), an Atari VCS (#7), several Zip Drives, and a Simon (#38)! Don't own an iPod (#2) but have bought two of them for others. Interesting that the Apple ][, Osbourne 1, IBM-PC and original Macintosh computers didn't make the list.

A couple days ago I was looking through a pile of junk in the back room of an antique store and found a Timex-Sinclair 1000 in the box for a few bucks. I almost bought it, but decided not to...

Sorry, as much as I HATE to say it, the introduction of the consumer cell phone is WAY bigger than any music player. Ever seen the stats? The general cell phone market worldwide is something like 10 x that of any music player market. Not only that, but cell phones have changed an awful lot about the way we communicate...including our unfortunate expected immediacy nowadays.

KW

I thought I was a chronic early-adopter, hooked on electronic toys. But, I've managed to live a full and productive life without a single one of those gadgets. I'll qualify that by saying that I have a Betamax VCR (ED-V9500) that I got in '89 and a Sony MaviCap (desktop floppy companion to a Mavica camera) and also a 2000 Zip drive called FotoShow, that is either a standalone or a peripheral. Contrary to the implication that the top 50 is a list of historical items, hardly a day goes by that I don't use all of them.

How could they have failed to include the Canon A1 Hi-8 camcorder of '89?
The Sony VX700 was the first DV camcorder. And how about Mad Man Munzes 8-track car player in the '60s, which was the first practical means of having mobil pre-recorded music? I still have several of those and use one of them in my workshop as a nostalgia booster-shot from time to time.

The VX1000 brought digital to the masses at a (slightly) more affordable price. And because of the 1000, a lot of us are able to affordably do what we love. In my mind, that and the affordable edit system (Premiere first, Final Cut and Avid next, etc.) are some of the most important gadgets for me personally. Specifically, the XL1, the Z1, the Power Mac and Final Cut Pro. Along with Final Draft screenwriting software and others to make my life easier.

But I can't forget that tools are tools, of course. (grin)

heath