Slashdot Mirror
Top 100 Gadgets of All Time
akintayo writes "Mobile PC released its list of the top 100 gadgets of all time. The number one gadget was the Apple Powerbook 100. And the list does include some older gadgets, most notably the Abacus at #60. The BBC also has an article on the list."
I prefer #79 (TASER X26, 2003) If you have one of these you can probably eventually get everything else on the list.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
personally, I would have opted for the red swingline stapler.
The PowerBook 100 was a great machine and all, but let's be serious.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
d33r 54nt4, 1 b33n v3ry 1337 th15 y34r..
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
100. nsi bedazzler, 1970s filler characters
99. swingline 747 stapler, 2002 filler characters
98. pez dispenser, 1927 filler characters
97. mattel intellivision, 1980 filler characters
96. olympus zuiko pearlcorder, 1970 filler characters
95. carl zeiss victory 8 x 42 t*fl binoculars, 2004 filler characters
94. schick electric razor, 1931 filler characters
93. columbia graphophone dictaphone, 1907 filler characters
92. popeil pocket fisherman, 1950s filler characters
91. polar wireless heart rate monitor, 1977 filler characters
90. maelzel metronome, 1816 filler characters
89. rubik's cube, 1974 filler characters
88. black & decker dustbuster, 1979 filler characters
87. radio shack trs-80 model 100, 1983 filler characters
86. tamagotchi, 1996 filler characters
85. hohner harmonica, 1857 filler characters
84. ronco inside-the-shell egg scrambler, 1978 filler characters
83. accusplit memory stopwatch, 1972 filler characters
82. alliance genie garage door opener, 1954 filler characters
81. zippo windproof lighter, 1932 filler characters
80. fisher space pen, 1967 filler characters
79. taser x26, 2003 filler characters
78. korg wt-10 electronic tuner, 1975 filler characters
77. hasbro lite-brite, 1967 filler characters
76. hp omnibook 300, 1993 filler characters
75. laser pointer, 1980s filler characters
74. lux minute timer, 1936 filler characters
73. traxxas t-maxx rc car, 1999 filler characters
72. master lock padlock, 1924 filler characters
71. tyco toys tickle me elmo, 1996 filler characters
70. atari pong c-100, 1976 filler characters
69. cuisinart food processor, 1973 filler characters
68. nokia 5100 series cell phone, 1998 filler characters
67. leatherman pst, 1983 filler characters
66. iridium satellite phone, 1998 filler characters
65. mattel football ii, 1978 filler characters
64. u.s. army p-38 can opener, 1942 filler characters
63. maglite flashlight, 1979 filler characters
62. sony wm-f5 sports walkman, 1983 filler characters
61. motorola bravo numeric pager, 1986 filler characters
60. abacus, 190 a.d. filler characters
59. sextant, 1731 filler characters
58. panasonic toughbook 18, 2003 filler characters
57. mattel magic 8-ball, 1946 filler characters
56. polaroid polavision land video camera, 1978 filler characters
55. super scissors, 1990s filler characters
54. the car alarm key fob, 1990s filler characters
53. powell & lealand compound microscope, 1861 filler characters
52. sony cfs-5000 boom box, 1980s filler characters
51. irobot roomba, 2002 filler characters
50. etch-a-sketch, 1960 filler characters
49. casio cassiopeia e-10, 1996 filler characters
48. sony digital mavica mvc-hd5, 1997 filler characters
47. canadian signal corps c-58 walkie talkie, 1943 filler characters
46. texas instruments speak & spell, 1978 filler characters
45. silva compass, 1933 filler characters
44. fuzzbuster, 1968 filler characters
43. handspring visor, 1999 filler characters
42. h4 marine chronometer, 1761 filler characters
41. rim interactive pager, 1996 filler characters
40. falcon dust-off, early 1970s filler characters
39. apple newton messagepad 120, 1994 filler characters
38. sandisk compactflash card, 1994 filler characters
37. jvc gr-c1 camcorder, 1984 filler characters
36. pulsar quartz digital watch, 1972 filler characters
35. screwpull corkscrew, 1979 filler characters
34. garmin gpscom 170, 1997 filler characters
33. bose quietcomfort headphones, 2000 filler characters
32. radiolan backbonelink and pc cardlink, 1997 filler characters
31. trek thumbdrive, 1999 filler characters
30. jvc hr-3300 vhs vcr, 1976 filler cha
THIS ACCOUNT IS OFFICIALLY RETIRED/RETARDED.
They might as well be running their webserver on #50...
This might get modded funny if people could actually get to the site and figure out which one #50 is.
In case of slashdotting, break mirror:
/ 2005_03/top100gadgets.html / 2005_03/top100gadgets-2.html / 2005_03/top100gadgets-3.html / 2005_03/top100gadgets-4.html / 2005_03/top100gadgets-5.html
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Page 2: http://www.mobilepcmag.com.nyud.net:8090/features
Page 3: http://www.mobilepcmag.com.nyud.net:8090/features
Page 4: http://www.mobilepcmag.com.nyud.net:8090/features
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Congratulations to the BBC for making the gadets list!
Boy! I'm sure surprised that a magazine gave an apple device the #1 spot. I surely didn't see that coming!!
I would have thought the abacus (ranked on the list, but lost in the middle) would have been more important in the overall list than a Tivo... the transistor or vacuum tube before computers and digital cameras...
An also, they feature a satellite wireless mobile phone developed by a company that flopped through the ground. Well done! Worst list EVER. These lists should be seious. It looks like a list Barbie would have made.
so the serving is getting quite a workout.
...when you try to host your site on an Abacus?
Fun article, but could have been researched a little better. In its bit on the Fisher Space Pen, it repeats the myth that while we blew millions developing a pen that could write upside down, the Soviets just used pencils, which is a common myth. As one cosmonaut said, "pencil lead breaks...and is not good in space capsule; very dangerous to have metal lead particles in zero gravity"
Any list that includes the POPEIL POCKET FISHERMAN in a list of greates gadgets isn't worth reading any further.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
too bad about the accompanying drivel about each item.
what, no sex toys? the hitachi magic wand at least deserves a nod.
Inspector! Gotta love that theme song...
--- Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
My SO swears by hers!
They should have AT LEAST put items that were derivatives or dependent on other items in chronological order....I agree the list is biased, and for some of the numbers they were just fishing to fill spots...
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
89...garage door opener. Definately. What better way to be lazy? That is what this list is about, right? Things to help us be lazier?
I have 2. Still using them today. Have managed to rack up enough spare parts to keep them going just fine.
My 701CS still gets oohs and ahhs when I open it up and the keyboard slides out.
I will be very sad the day they die for good.
A gadget is "a device that is very useful for a particular job" (http://www.wordreference.com/definition/gadget) Things by Ronco, space pen, laser pointer, etc are gadgets. A general laptop is NOT a gadget. Unless you define your job as 'using a computer' which as we all know if much more than just a single thing. Similarly, abacus and calculator are used for mathematics, engineering, etc, which again I think the 'field of mathematics' is much more than a single particular thing. If you want to make a list of the most useful inventions, many of these will go on there, but at least in my mind, a Powerbook is not a gadget.
Now that is a gadget that deserves some recognition in the top 100! http://www.p-p-p-powerbook.com/
News Reporters Make Tasty Polar Bear Treats!
..the printing press? I'm pretty sure most of this list couldn't exist without the proliferation of knowledge this allowed.
A list with the top 100 gadgets of all time and no pocket vaginas? What a bunch of crap. I won't leave the house without mine.
They list the Zenith Space Command TV Remote from 1956 as the first wireless remote. This was a great remote that gave us the word 'clicker' due to the way that it used ultrasonics to send the signal to the tv. However, the Philco Mystery Control from 1939 is the first real 'wireless' remote that was made. It operated much like a rotary telephone control and sent its signal by radio. (Links go to google cache).
"Asleep at the switch? I wasn't asleep, I was drunk!" -- Homer
Lessee, I've got:
#80 - Fisher Space Pen
#63 - Maglite (Solitaire on my keychain, AAA on my jacket pocket)
#67 - Leatherman Pocket Tool
#39 - Newton (MP 100 in my laptop bag for notes, ebooks and contacts and todo list)
#31 - Thumbdrive (Kingston)
and have had (just counting computers):
#27 - NEC Ultralite (I'd've also included the Sharp PC-6220 / TI Travelmate / who else made it?)
#26 - GRiD Compass (way cool machine --- it did have a battery though, but one could swap a power supply into the battery compartment which I've always thought was brilliant)
#7 - Palm Pilot
Thing I'm surprised they didn't list:
- Fountain pen
- Rotring Quattro four-function pen
- interchangeable tip jewelry / camera screwdriver tool sets (I've got a camera toolset in a leather ``safety case'' (designed for tools for knitting machine mechanics) which is invaluable)
- GRiDPad or NCR-3125
Might've been more interesting by product category....
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
I can think of at least one "portable device" that many women would think is THE best invention ever...
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
Because in Soviet Russia, the pencil lead breaks YOU!!!
I'm so, so terribly sorry.
Does Slashdot get kickbacks or something from the BBC? I've become used to lazy people posting to BBC articles that are just summaries of information that appeared in more detail elsewhere, but why are you linking to a BBC summary article when you ALREADY HAVE A LINK TO THE ARTICLE IT SUMMARIZES!!?
Damn, they actually included the Model 100 on the list. Those things were (and still are) extremely durable portable computers, useful for a lot of functions. Good to see that it hasn't been forgotten by everyone!
Look at the tomato! Isn't it sad? He can't dance! Poor tomato!
My mother has always said that the automatic garage door opener is the greatest labor-saving device ever invented. I'd agree, with the possible exception of the dishwasher.
The list is significantly biased towards more recent inventions, rather than considering the inventions in their historical context. Not cool.
pfft. my new ibook is 10 times faster...
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Seems like the Vic-20 or Commodore 64 would be in there somewhere. Certainly they were much better gadgets than something like a Panasonic Toughbook or two flavors of Apple laptops.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
telephone at #23? Sure its not as fancy as a laptop but as changing the entire world goes, few things have done more.
Error, not for top page but for the user's own page 3:06 am at GMT+9 (Japan)
However, it is not the only gadget that is misplaced or missing. There is no mention of the Babbage Difference Engine. Where are all of Sinclair's devices and gizmos? Where's all the award winners of the Prince of Wales Awards for Innovation?
Where's 99.9% of the stuff invented between 10,000 BC and 1970 AD?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I'd love to see a "top 100 gadgets of the pre-industrial age" - say, anything before 1700 just to be arbitrary.
Special notation to any gadget that was still in common use in the 20th century.
The abacus of course, and the pen and the first hand-carryable printing press come to mind.
The lantern and numerous gadgets used on the farm and by doctors and scientists would also make the list.
If you have a favorite pre-1700 gadget, please reply here.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
How about the pocketwatch? The disposable lighter? The vacuum thermos? The repeating rifle? That remarkable mechanical pocket calculator whose name escapes me?
These lists are always pretty bad, but this one is just pathetic.
...the wheel? Most of the gadgets in the world could't live without one.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
> Thankyou for reproducing what is the crappiest list ever. ...the continuing decendency of /. into the armpit of mediocrity.
>
No, Thankyou. Maybe they'll increase the frequesncy of good stories when the frequesncy of good posts increases.
What is an armpit of mediocrity, anyway? Is that like the bad part of mediocrity? Is that still better than being on the shoulder of piss-poor? Gosh, I hope I don't descenden to that level.
The sextant and the abacus did more to shape the whole of humanity than the rest of the list combined. The abacus is still in use today, and probably by more people than there were Powerbooks made, let alone sold and still in use.
The top ten items on the list are almost all entertainment based or related rather than scientific acheivements or technical enablers. They ought to have split this into two lists: one for "fun" stuff and one for science and industry.
This IMHO is one of the worst lists ever.
How the heck does the powerbook make the list, the top of the list, and the Zaurus, use google if you don't know, not? Sure, it is a pretty nice laptop for 1991...but the sharp zaurus miniscules any sort of innovation it may have had.
I mean, come on, #100 is the rhinestone-on-bluejeans-affixing Bedazzler?! Of course this isn't serious list of technologies.
[
sorry but #1 is just a shambles. THat list could of been alot better, alot more acruate, and a lot more true.
Visit My Blog at http://spaces.msn.com/members/chrisharries
The washing machine is the greatest labour-saving device ever invented. I'm sorry, but washing clothes and linens is a lot harder than opening a garage door or washing dishes.
Slashdot effect!
Those who trade in their freedom for security, deserve neither.
Let's not forget about the Cyrix Hotplate. Sure, it was entered a little too late to be considered for this top 100 list, but where would we be without its cooking and food-warming capabilities? Starving, most certainly....
A little bigger than a pocket watch and H-4 solved the problem of computing longitude.
That list was full of shit.
hmm..just wondering. Everyone say the foutain pen etc, then i thought of a device (cant rmemeber the name) which means things to mm acuacy, micrometre i think as we used them in physics. Well this revolutionaised thigns and started the industia age. This is very important, but is it a gadget?
Visit My Blog at http://spaces.msn.com/members/chrisharries
If your like me, #77 (lite-brite) will bring you back to a moment you forgot long ago.
San Francisco Photographers
the plural of abacus was abacuses. (The word comes from Greek, not Latin).
#20 The Swiss Army Knife. I have not had a day go buy where I did not use mine. And I even open a bottle of wine with it once. :)
It's all fun and games until someone loses the key to the handcuffs.
lead-acid battery if memory serves. It was either the 140 or the 160 that was the one you wanted back then.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
seriously. Productivity during the summer months would drop off heavily because no one could get a good nights sleep
Gadgets needed moving parts and/or electronics to warrant inclusion.
And no dildo? You call this news for nerds?...
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
I love the placement of the Slide Rule...
oh wait
#include sig.h
shd be read after reading this article. I mean, who on earth is silly enuf to take this seriously ? if u really think this is worth arguing about, let me know, i have some ocean front property in floriday u can have for a buck an acre.
Apple was years behind in releasing laptops. Why is their box on the top of the list? The OS was a joke until OSX. What about Osborne? It's not even on the list.
No, Thankyou. Maybe they'll increase the frequency of good stories when the frequency of good posts increases. What is an armpit of mediocrity, anyway? Is that like the bad part of mediocrity? Is that still better than being on the shoulder of piss-poor? Gosh, I hope I don't descend to that level.
Perhaps you should practice the art of using such colourfull language yourself. Then you won't have to waist my time and yours!
Back in the 80's I worked for a wonderfully inovative company called SORD Computer in Japan.
SORD's entry into the 1st laptops was the http://oldcomputers.net/sord-is11.html
SORD was a great place to work and really far ahead of the other companies of the time.
Mr Takayoshi Shiina was one of the true fathers of the micro computer industry but has been forgotten in the press.
Anyway , the IS-11 was fun, and the tape acted like a tape drive , with a directory, not just program recording medium.
Cheers
* Carthago Delenda Est *
"That remarkable mechanical pocket calculator whose name escapes me?" Hummmm... you mean a sliderule? Or better still the cicular sliderule!
These are much better examples of classic gadgets then the Powerbook 100. The Powerbook line should have been mentioned once not twice.
The IBM Thinkpad 701 was mentioned but I think it has clearly had more impact on the way people work and the laptop market in general then the powerbook.
I was gratified to see the Tivo mention and in light of the deathwatch , maybe this offers some hope.
anything made by Zeiss or Leica is top anything
They define a gadget as having moving parts in the intro
hint: this is slashdot, go read theregister, hackaday or kuro5hin or something if you want content.
Restricted use in DC, MA, RI, NY, NJ, WI, MI, HI & certain cities & counties.
Restrictions on "less-than-lethal" weapons is further evidence (not to be confused with proof) that gun control laws are more about victim disarmament than crime prevention. Who wants armed taxpayers?
A quick glance shows a correlation between the states that have "restricted use" of the Taser and states that receive positive ratings from The Brady Campaign (formerly Handgun Control, Inc.).
Brady Campaign 2004 Report Card grades for the states that restrict Taser user:
DC: N/A (D.C. has a handgun ban).
MA: A-
RI: B-
NY: B+
NJ: A-
WI: C+
MI: D+
HI: A-
hmmm, I'm sure some one invented fire, is that a gadget?
Apple on the list = NO CARE
Obviously a well worn device for these folks.
--- What?
Not that graphite would be much better - quite likely worse - , but please tell me said cosmonaut didn't actually believe pencil lead is really lead.
*list may not in fact contain gadgets that are in any way useful.
I'm gobsmacked at how many duplicates (Palm, Handspring!?) there are on there when so many devices that are gadgets in their own right have been left out:
The handgun
SLR camera
Casio digital watch
Walkie talkie
Garage door opener
Headphones
Swipecard
Okay, so I may have missed some of those if they are on the list, but whats with the huge number of specific model types? And why the Apple laptop? Apple were a latecomer in the laptop market, their first design was abysmal. If anything, please pick the Osborne 1 or the Compaq Portable, they were the daddies of mobile computing.
You're probably thinking of the Curta mechanical calculator. Truly remarkable: http://curta.org/
In no particular order..
Perhaps it doesn't appeal to the stereotypical geek, but the vibrator. The pocket calculator as well as; The calculator/remote control/radio controlled/FM radio *wristwratch* (surely the pinnacle of minitiaturization!).
Of course, the bonefone: link. The transistor radio. The world receiver radio. The wind-up/clockwork radio/charger. The intimidating maglite flashlight. Glowsticks! Neither electonic, nor moving parts, but who can resist luminecence!
7" 33 1/3rpm vinyl gramophone records; or I can do you even better than that - 7" 33 1/3 rpm plastic gramophone records that were given away as inlays with MSX Magazine, that you'd dub on tape, and you'd "load" programs off of the tape using the regular "data cassette recorder".
CB (Citizen's Band, 27 "megacycle") radio. ZX80. C64. Nuff said. The lava lamp! Duh! The strap-on (wait for it) keyboard (keyboard guitar).
The hearing aid. The answering machine remote control/handheld DTMF tone dialer. Also; the blue box! The minox sub-miniature "spy" camera (as seen in james bond). The SLR Single Lens Reflex camera. Automatic tweezers (They don't work particularly well, but they have a gadget-esque movement)
The portable DVD player. Toys robots (remote controlled, especially; the robosapiens is a good stab at the concept). Magnesium firestarters. (I'm the firestarter!)
Personal Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (P-EPIRBs) RC cars, helicopters. E.g. The translator pen (scans text when you move across it, translates) The penman robotic plotter and of course the closely related concept of the Logo turtle..
The random movement printer (If and when it becomes widely available..) Lego mindstorms (programmable bricks..)
The most important hand-helds historically; the Smith&Wesson and the AK47.
Also, though not an autonomous device, nor mechanical, nominated for achievements in disrupting the global economy, I'd like to recognize bubblejet printer ink, for costing more than its weight in gold or oil.
Aerosol spray canisters; specifically,
every graffitti artist's friend: spraypaint and every gadget-minded geek's friend: deodorant (especially the miniature cans) and of course; aerosol cheese! Also, perhaps slightly more
palatable, mace pepper spray.
The electric toothbrush (with induction-loop-charging-circuit magic!)
Not the greatest gadget in history until you consider it's "dual use" nature, and the fact it's marketed so widely.
Sattellite TV. Not the most portable of gadgets, but come on! Windscreenwiper glasses. (Though more of a chindogu) The mac. The iMac for doing it twice. The aibo.
The "orgasmotron" (actually just a head massager, not at all naughty) Stylish pin clock. The keyghost hardware keystroke logger.
The digital camera. The digital photo frame.
The credit-card sized Anything, but in particular, the cre
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
1) Their web servers.
The "Unslashdotable Server".
Going on means going far
Going far means returning
I know of two, the model 100 used 4 aa batteries
i nhalt2.cfm?pid=1.6795.XXLT
and victironix makes some MIGHTY multi tool knives.
http://www.victorinox.ch/newsite/en/produkte/neu/
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
"*wuzza wuzza*"
What? oh.
While true technically a Dildo does not belong to the realm of 'Gadgets'. The site defines a gadget as:
It has to have electronic and/or moving parts of some kind.
Scissors count, but the knife does not.
It has to be a self-contained apparatus that can be used on its own, not a subset of another device.
The flashlight counts; the light bulb does not. The notebook counts, but the hard drive doesn't.
It has to be smaller than the proverbial bread box. This is the most flexible of the categories, since gadgets have gotten inexorably smaller over time. But in general we included only items that were potentially mobile:
The Dustbuster counts; the vacuum cleaner doesn't.
Now had you said Vibrator instead of Dildo you would've made a valid point!
ohyeah, rtfa!;-)
Where's the Stereoscope (A.K.A. the Stereopticon)... possibly one of the first portable visual entertainment devices ever conceived and spiritual great grandfather of VR technology? As many others have said, this list is completely out of whack.
I mean who doesn't have ronco's food dehydrator/de-flavorer or ronco's famous rotissere which I would never in a million years set and forget? Ron has got to be some kind of genius, and his inventions should top any list of worthless doohickies and thingamabobs.
Seems like the Vic-20 or Commodore 64 would be in there somewhere. Certainly they were much better gadgets than something like a Panasonic Toughbook or two flavors of Apple laptops.
They were beaten out by the TRS-80. How many computers can lay claim to being the first "affordable" home computer?
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Curta Mechanical Calculator
Moon Watch
IBM Model M Keyboard
K&E Decilon Slide Rule
HP-41 Programmable Calculator
Varian A-60 NMR
Electron Microscope
Mirror Dot Mirror
The "greatest gadget of all time" ... batteries not included (they were lead-acid and didn't last) .....
Yea, I've opened a few boxes of wine with mine as well.
A sextant is not a gadget. Neither is an abacus. They should not be on this list.
A swiss army knife is a useful gadget, almost a tool. If it didn't have a toothpick and a useless little pen it wouldn't qualify as a gadget.
Does it need to be a "Sharpie"-brand black marker?
Of any sort? That's an oversight. Sure, there's too many to choose from - the Maxim (reliable automatic fire changed warfare forever and brought profound changes to the social structure of Europe by marginalizing the notion of a gentleman class making civilized war) the 1911 Colt (arguably the best and certainly the most long-lived design for a personal defense firearm), the Peacemaker (Sam Colt making us all equal, you know), the Garand (the pinnacle of quality battle rifles), the AK (the pinnacle of mass-produced battle rifles), and a few others - but you'd think that at least one would make the list.
Or did I scan too quickly?
When I was in Thailand (2002) some of the street vendors, especially the older ones, used the abacus to calculate what I eventually owed them. They only used a calculator to show me (and other tourists) the price in Arabic numerals.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
Was originally going to say black jack but then I thought what about all those other card games that I suck at.
The Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 made the list, I can't believe that... It was my first computer out of High School, I bought it from a Furniture Store that had it listed in the classifieds for $100. (they couldn't make it work) I eventually ended up having three diskette drives attached to it.
Just thinking about it makes me break out in a cold sweat, that freakin buffer cable between the keyboard and expansion chassis always was such a problem.... man talk about the dark ages of personal computing... somebody please pass the painkillers!
Oh, you mean that device that kills people?
Of course, one official claims the 50,000-volt administering device doesn't even injure...
Fortunately, The Arizona Republic did its own investigation:
The Republic, using computer searches, autopsy reports, police reports, media reports and Taser's own records, has identified 90 cases in the United States and Canada of death following a police Taser strike since September 1999. In 12 cases, medical examiners said Tasers were a cause, a contributing factor or could not be ruled out as a cause of death. In 19 cases, coroners and other officials reported the stun gun was not a factor.
Man i can't believe it!
They think that digital watches are still pretty neat, but didn't put it at number 42! They ought turn their geek cards in!
Way to set yourselves up for a perfect inside joke and not even coem thru with it guys!
Did you see how low the sextant and marine chronometers were, for example? Some stupid product to get dust out of electronics rates higher than two devices that were essential to oceanic travel for hundreds of years?
Why does the harmonica count as a gadget? (#85)
To whoever modded this down as a troll: You, sir, are an idiot.
People seem to love modding me down for pointing out their stupidity and arrogance...
Some people don't get months of summer, you insensitive clod. Here in England we're lucky to get a week.
100. NSI BEDAZZLER, 1970s ; 99. SWINGLINE 747 STAPLER, 2002 ; 98. PEZ DISPENSER, 1927 ; 97. MATTEL INTELLIVISION, 1980 ; 96. OLYMPUS ZUIKO PEARLCORDER, 1970 ; 95. CARL ZEISS VICTORY 8 X 42 T*FL BINOCULARS, 2004 ; 94. SCHICK ELECTRIC RAZOR, 1931 ; 93. COLUMBIA GRAPHOPHONE DICTAPHONE, 1907 ; 92. POPEIL POCKET FISHERMAN, 1950s ; 91. POLAR WIRELESS HEART RATE MONITOR, 1977 ; 90. MAELZEL METRONOME, 1816 ; 89. RUBIK'S CUBE, 1974 ; 88. BLACK & DECKER DUSTBUSTER, 1979 ; 87. RADIO SHACK TRS-80 MODEL 100, 1983 ; 86. TAMAGOTCHI, 1996 ; 85. HOHNER HARMONICA, 1857 ; 84. RONCO INSIDE-THE-SHELL EGG SCRAMBLER, 1978 ; 83. ACCUSPLIT MEMORY STOPWATCH, 1972 ; 82. ALLIANCE GENIE GARAGE DOOR OPENER, 1954 ; 81. ZIPPO WINDPROOF LIGHTER, 1932 ; 80. FISHER SPACE PEN, 1967 ; 79. TASER X26, 2003 ; 78. KORG WT-10 ELECTRONIC TUNER, 1975 ; 77. HASBRO LITE-BRITE, 1967 ; 76. HP OMNIBOOK 300, 1993 ; 75. LASER POINTER, 1980s ; 74. LUX MINUTE TIMER, 1936 ; 73. TRAXXAS T-MAXX RC CAR, 1999 ; 72. MASTER LOCK PADLOCK, 1924 ; 71. TYCO TOYS TICKLE ME ELMO, 1996 ; 70. ATARI PONG C-100, 1976 ; 69. CUISINART FOOD PROCESSOR, 1973 ; 68. NOKIA 5100 SERIES CELL PHONE, 1998 ; 67. LEATHERMAN PST, 1983 ; 66. IRIDIUM SATELLITE PHONE, 1998 ; 65. MATTEL FOOTBALL II, 1978 ; 64. U.S. ARMY P-38 CAN OPENER, 1942 ; 63. MAGLITE FLASHLIGHT, 1979 ; 62. SONY WM-F5 SPORTS WALKMAN, 1983 ; 61. MOTOROLA BRAVO NUMERIC PAGER, 1986 ; 60. ABACUS, 190 A.D. ; 59. SEXTANT, 1731 ; 58. PANASONIC TOUGHBOOK 18, 2003 ; 57. MATTEL MAGIC 8-BALL, 1946 ; 56. POLAROID POLAVISION LAND VIDEO CAMERA, 1978 ; 55. SUPER SCISSORS, 1990s ; 54. THE CAR ALARM KEY FOB, 1990s ; 53. POWELL & LEALAND COMPOUND MICROSCOPE, 1861 ; 52. SONY CFS-5000 BOOM BOX, 1980s ; 51. IROBOT ROOMBA, 2002 ; 50. ETCH-A-SKETCH, 1960 ; 49. CASIO CASSIOPEIA E-10, 1996 ; 48. SONY DIGITAL MAVICA MVC-HD5, 1997 ; 47. CANADIAN SIGNAL CORPS C-58 WALKIE TALKIE, 1943 ; 46. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS SPEAK & SPELL, 1978 ; 45. SILVA COMPASS, 1933 ; 44. FUZZBUSTER, 1968 ; 43. HANDSPRING VISOR, 1999 ; 42. H4 MARINE CHRONOMETER, 1761 ; 41. RIM INTERACTIVE PAGER, 1996 ; 40. FALCON DUST-OFF, EARLY 1970s ; 39. APPLE NEWTON MESSAGEPAD 120, 1994 ; 38. SANDISK COMPACTFLASH CARD, 1994 ; 37. JVC GR-C1 CAMCORDER, 1984 ; 36. PULSAR QUARTZ DIGITAL WATCH, 1972 ; 35. SCREWPULL CORKSCREW, 1979 ; 34. GARMIN GPSCOM 170, 1997 ; 33. BOSE QUIETCOMFORT HEADPHONES, 2000 ; 32. RADIOLAN BACKBONELINK AND PC CARDLINK, 1997 ; 31. TREK THUMBDRIVE, 1999 ; 30. JVC HR-3300 VHS VCR, 1976 ; 29. JOSEPH ENTERPRISES THE CLAPPER, 1982 ; 28. KODAK BROWNIE CAMERA, 1900 ; 27. NEC ULTRALITE, 1989 ; 26. GRID COMPASS 1100, 1982 ; 25. NINTENDO GAME BOY, 1989 ; 24. BIRO BALLPOINT PEN, 1938 ; 23. TELEPHONE, 1876 ; 22. APPLE POWERBOOK 500, 1994 ; 21. CARTIER SANTOS WRISTWATCH, 1904 ; 20. SWISS ARMY KNIFE, 1891 ; 19. IBM THINKPAD 701C, 1995 ; 18. MOTOROLA DYNATAC 8000X, 1983 ; 17. TOSHIBA SD-3000 DVD PLAYER, 1996 ; 16. ACOUSTIC DATA COUPLER 300 MODEM, 1968 ; 15. HP-35 POCKET ELECTRONIC SCIENTIFIC CALCULATOR, 1972 ; 14. SONY CDP-101 CD PLAYER, 1983 ; 13. SONY TR-63 TRANSISTOR RADIO, 1957 ; 12. APPLE IPOD, 2001 ; 11. POLAROID LAND CAMERA, 1948 ; 10. TIVO SERIES1, 1999 ; 9. ATARI 2600, 1977 ; 8. DIAMOND MULTIMEDIA RIO 300, 1998 ; 7. U.S. ROBOTICS PILOT 1000, 1996 ; 6. CASIO QV-10 DIGITAL CAMERA, 1996 ; 5. CDI MECHANICAL MOUSE MODEL 4-101, 1970 ; 4. MOTOROLA STARTAC, 1996 ; 3. SONY WALKMAN, 1979 ; 2. ZENITH SPACE COMMAND TV REMOTE CONTROL, 1956 ; 1. APPLE POWERBOOK 100, 1991
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-cceddie
I'm kinda partial to my #64(p38 can opener) And man, this place wasnt built for a slashdotting.
Soap box, Ballot box, Jury box, Ammo box. Use in that order.
Gauge: size of the cross-section of wire
Guage: weight of the wire per foot, often corresponds to gauge, but not always so.
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
Deaths prompt concerns, reviews on use of stun guns
WASHINGTON -- The largest association of police chiefs will issue a national bulletin within 10 days [sometime this week] urging police departments to review the use of stun guns because of reports that the weapons may be related to numerous deaths.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Justice Department will also study more than 80 deaths to assess the risks in using the weapons, the group said Tuesday.
You have to expect this sort of bias given that it's coming from Mobile PC Magazine.
God damn do I hate the stupid space pen myth. Fischer developed the pen at his own expense, as graphite pencils had the potential to cause problems in the cabin. Remember, kids, graphite conducts electricity, and a tiny little pencil tip floating around the cabin could be a very bad thing. It takes all of ten seconds googling to debunk this stupid urban legend, but I constantly see it brought up over and over again.
Where's my grandmother's clamp-on-the-counter hand-cranked apple peeler? That thing could peel an apple in 5 seconds flat. Certainly more innovative than half the stuff on that list.
Although it might come close to the size restriction (smaller than a bread box).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Difference Engine kind of a singular thing? Most of these gadgets seem to have been mass-produced, although a few of them push that limit in that they only really enjoyed distribution among the military.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
A google Cache of the website for those of us behind proxys that don't allow access to ports other then 80 and 443 http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:A2rYKFJd644J: www.mobilepcmag.com/features/2005_03/top100gadgets .html+top+100+gadgets&hl=en
My Doom. The gift that keeps on giving
Come on, you guys know this is the #1 gadget of all time.
http://www.toyssexshop.com/products/12/
For all that, it was basically a timepiece. You shot a star with the Alidade, read the angle, moved the corresponding star pointer on the rete until it matched the almucanther circle marked at the degrees you read off the alidade, then read the time off the index on the rete against the outer face. It was a sirius mater to get things right. Great use of projective geometry, the planisphere. Still trying to build one for the southern hemisphere.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
DILDO... anyone???
Not only that, but the PowerBook 100 didn't even sell well when it was first released. For one thing, it was initially overpriced and was very underpowered compared to the PowerBook 140 and 170 which were released at the same time.
Then, Apple cut the price to dump them and people were buying them to soup them up. Still, the PowerBook 100 had only a 6800 and used a lead acid battery whereas the other two machines had the 68030 and used NiCads.
That's how I got my PowerBook 100, Apple was selling them at Costco for $800... half the price of the PowerBook 140 which was only slighty faster.
The 100 used a 68000 CPU, not the nuetered embedded 6800. Granted the PowerBook 140 and 170 were faster had had better screens, but they were also a little larger and thicker. Overall they were all pretty close in performance, size, and ability for the era. If you upgraded the ram to something other than the pathetic 2 MB, the 100 ran like a charm.
I've owned about 13 items from that list. Not bad, but I am sure some people here have done much much better (or worse depending on your point of view).
Life is like a web application. Sometime you need cookies just to get by.
The wheel! It's way cooler and more usefull than all of that stuff listed, and don't say I can't have it. If the abacus, a compass, pez dispender and a stapler are there then why the hell not?
Another pointless article!
The abacus is far too useful and boring to be much of a "gadget." "Gadget" is a slightly perjorative term. There's a sense that the fun of having that object is greater than the usefulness, although it is very useful. There's a sense that it's more complex than the task would perhaps require. It's a contraption.
The abacus is far too simple, too useful, too direct to be the number one gadget of all time. The powerbook 100 is a pretty good match... a machine that can be used to do as many calculations as the human race ever did on Abaci in an afternoon, and you find it very useful to double-check your taxes.
An atomic-poweredbook would be even better.
Actually the Powerbook 100 didn't even get produced for a full year, just 10 or 11 months (Oct 91 - Aug 92). And it had a predecessor, the Macintosh Portable. For the day it might have been cool, but it classifies as a luggable these days. And besides, It's not like Apple invented the laptop. Surely there were other better laptops at the time. Otherwise things would be different these days.
The PowerBook 100 shipped at the same time the PowerBook 140 and 170 did. The PowerBook 100 was basiclly a microsized Macintosh Portable and was designed by Sony. The PowerBook 140 and 170 were larger, but also faster and were designed by Apple. The PowerBook 100's design goal was compactness, that's why it had an external floppy drive.
I don't remember the original price, but the PowerBook 100 was very overpriced when it shipped. For about the same price as a PowerBook 100 + Floppy drive you could buy a PowerBook 140, which had an internal floppy drive and was faster and had a better screen. The PowerBook 140 also had a NiCad battery rather than the lead acid battery in the PowerBook 100. (Both had about the same runtime though). The PowerBook 100 flopped for price reasons. Apple cleared them out at Costco for $800, less than half the price of the PowerBook 140. That's how I bought mine. For abour $900 I had a shiny new thin PowerBook, external floppy drive, and a nice carrying case. That was an EXTREMELY good deal back in those days. I loved my PowerBook 100, it was a sleek little gizmo. Running Word 5 on it while sitting in a coffee shop was such a hightech, futuristic experience!
The PowerBook 140 and 170 sold well, REALLY well. Apple even sold a PC connection kit to help you sync up your PowerBook to your DOS or Windows 3.0/3.1 PC. For awhile Apple had almost half of the entire notebook marketshare. They were teh first company to put the trackball below the keyboard and inbetween "wrist rests". Prior to the PowerBook, trackballs were often clipped on to the side of notebooks. They shot themselves in the foot by not dropping their prices though. As PC notebooks got cheaper, Apple kept charging $1800 - $4000+ for their Notebooks. And when they finally did come out with the $1300 PowerBook 145b and PowerBook 150, it was just a warmed over PowerBook 140 that was already obsolete the day it hit the market.
slide rule
bound books (helluva lot better than scrolls)
eyeglasses
flush toilet (heh)
light bulb (surely I missed this)
whatever that thing is that surveyors use
plumb line
tableware
knifes (ok, the Swiss Army Knife was there)
more generally, any common tool
keys
credit cards, magnetic strip cards in general
gadget: an often small mechanical or electronic device with a practical use but often thought of as a novelty. Submit your suggestions here in no particular order:
g pocket knifel e .
screwdriver
level
slide rule
ti scientific calculator
telephone
stapler
corkscrew
foldin
pager
modem
scissors
graphophone
bicyc
abacus
toaster
electric mixer
microwave
mobile phone
clock
pocket watch
digital watch
eye glasses
sandpaper
video game
dice
and . .
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
79bc is as far as anyone wanted to go back too?
Did any consider the Ox Yoke? Without which an agrarian society would never have developed...
What 'bout the zipper?
Magic 8-Ball? Tickle-Me-Elmo? WTF?! How about the ratchet wrench? The cordless drill? The Simpson P260 Multimeter?
Hey, next time your wife, girlfriend, or kid asks you to fix something, try waving your magic 8-ball at it, Sparky.
(Sheesh!)
Proverbs 21:19
you know society has a problem when the repeating rifle is considered an important gadget.
Fire in a stick. Hmm. Comes to mind as something that has been used from time to time down through history. Guess it can't compete with the Clapper.
I'll bet! 'null' at pcmag.com? I think we all know where the 'suggestion box' chute goes to: the shredder!
some people still consider the digital watch to be a pretty neat idea...
How MobilePCMag could put together a list like this and leave off the TabletPC is beyond comprehension.
For #58 the Panasonic Toughbook they comment how fragile the Tablet PC is without saying that there are also ruggedized Tablet PCs. Hmmm.
Yes I was. Thank you for the link. The story of the designer's ordeal makes it even more remarkable.
# It has to have electronic and/or moving parts of some kind. Scissors count, but the knife does not.
# It has to be a self-contained apparatus that can be used on its own, not a subset of another device. The flashlight counts; the light bulb does not. The notebook counts, but the hard drive doesn't.
# It has to be smaller than the proverbial bread box. This is the most flexible of the categories, since gadgets have gotten inexorably smaller over time. But in general we included only items that were potentially mobile: The Dustbuster counts; the vacuum cleaner doesn't.
Where's the vibrating dildo in the list? It fits all three requirements. It's got moving parts. It is self containted. And it's smaller than a breadbox. I'll bet it's a better selling item than half the gadgets listed combined.
Clean electricity. Submarines. The atom bomb sure changed and ended people's lifes.
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
36. PULSAR QUARTZ DIGITAL WATCH, 1972
[...] While its marketers may have been exaggerating when they called this a "time computer," we still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
#1 George Foreman grill.
The left off the vibrator.
Seriously, though. The clock was left off. Without it, sailors would not have been able to accurately calculate their longitude. I saw the sextant was listed. However, the importance of gadgets to travel the oceans during the Age of Discover are, I'm sorry, more important than the iPod. Without them, there might not be European domniation of the planet and crackers like me in the US. What has the iPod done that compares?
This looks more like an advertisement.
What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
pr0n!
By that reasoning, they really should've included the Curta Calculator as the ultimate pre-electronics mobile computing device.
Signatures are a waste of bandwi (buffering...)
They recently used one on some nut down the main drag in town who was holding a child and threatening to stab it. I have no problem with them using such means in such a situation. However I do wonder when they police use them just to subdue a wildman, such as a video I saw where three officers, each one firing at the suspect, zapped him. Looked brutal.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Look, I frickin' love the magic 8 ball, but to put it ahead of the sextant on a top 100 gadgets of all time list ? That's just stupid. Lame, lame lame.
Hundreds of comments, and I'm the first to pick this up?
Item number 36: 36. PULSAR QUARTZ DIGITAL WATCH, 1972
Shortly after the discovery of the stars for which it's named, the Pulsar digital watch took the guesswork out of timekeeping. Eschewing spring mechanisms, the Pulsar kept time through the precise vibrations of a quartz crystal buried in its innards. While its marketers may have been exaggerating when they called this a "time computer," we still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
I'm the only true geek here.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
Sorry to be nitpicking, but in the paragraph about the Pez #98, they quote the german word 'Pfefferminz'. And they write it with 'tz'! The horror!
Every german schoolkid has to learn this: "Nach l, n, r, das merk dir ja, steht nie tz und nie ck!" (Remember this: No tz and no ck after l, n, r!) Ok, not everyone actually gets it... but anyway.
It's schwarz and not schwartz. It's Maerzen and not Martzen. And it's Pfefferminz, not Pfeffermintz. (And pretzls are actually spelled Brezeln, but that' something completely different.)
You mean I can use my mouse as a calculator? Talk about feature creep!
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Keep in mind that this list was in Mobile PC magazine.
Which still doesn't explain the Powerbook 100 beat out Grid Compass and by a large margin. Grid defined the laptop computer. How much more important to "Mobile PC's" can you get?
...or at least study history a little more closely. Well, at least they got the Swiss Army Knife and Leatherman PSK on there!
My vote for #1 gadget is the Stanley #1 Odd Jobs.
I'd also throw in the automotive cup holder, the Brunton Pocket Transit, the air conditioner, and the diode and triode thermonic valves.
And as for #36, I see the boys at Mobile PC still think that digital watches are a pretty neat idea...
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
G a d g e t s. Gadgets!
Many gadgets! More gadgets.
Gadgets. Can you spell gadgets?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Until an accurate chronometer was developed it was not possible to calculate longitude, and the sextant was useles. Before the marine chronometer precise navigation was only a pipe dream.
On the first digital watch:
"... we still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea."
[obDouglasAdams reference]
thank you drive through.
It was used from the second to eighteenth centuries as a clock, calendar, starchart and GPS. (Some even had slide rules built in.) Pretty much the crowning touch of any geek for most of history.
The U.S. really needs an English to Wisdom dictionary.
Actually Sony stole the concept from the German Andreas Pavel and denied to pay license, they finally lost a law suit after 20 years.t or+german
Check the web http://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&q=walkman+inven
They missed eyeglasses. But by far the most useful small gadget in the history of the planet is cash and coins. Before cash you had to barter for everything or make it yourself.
I can't think of a better use.
Policemen are not paid to die, nor are they paid to get mauled or beaten by idiots. If someone is acting dangerously and/or irrationally, and in their opinion needs to be stopped for the protection of themselves or others, exactly how are the police supposed to stop him? Get him to fill out a questionnaire regarding potential motives thereby establishing his mental state and suggesting a course of treatment? Sorry, it takes force. Any device that can minimize the risk to the cop (#1 priority) and reduce the risk to the civillians in the area (#2) and to the perp himself (#3) is a huge win.
The thing to keep in mind is that a cop doesn't usually have a lot of knowledge of what's going on inside the minds of these people. They walk into a situation where a guy is screaming and threatening people, and then have to make an immediate judgement. They don't have time to answer questions like did he just get fired, and is extremely distraught? Or does he have a mental illness? Or is he cranked up on dope, and completely unresponsive to logical questions? All three look like crazy people when you approach them. So, apply that to reality: look at the random nutcase shouting at people and waving their fists around on the sidewalk, and figure out how much time you really have to answer that question. While tasers might not be a one-size-fits-all solution, it's better than a bullet.
My cop buddies try to do the right thing every time, even though it's not always easy. They don't whip out the 9 mils as a first response; they first ask the guy to chill, try to get him talking and try to calm him down a bit. When the response is screamed epithets and the violent behavior doesn't change, it's quickly apparent that a different course of action is required. Tasers have the big advantage of mostly-non-lethality. Pulling out the service revolver might terrify some people into submission, but it also aggravates the guys actively trying to commit suicide-by-cop (and there are plenty of those.) Tasers have pretty much the same mental effect on people as guns -- they look wicked, and nobody really wants to get shot by one. If pulling it out doesn't stop the guy, pulling the trigger usually does.
(I wish one of my friends had actually used the taser earlier - a perp jumped him and knocked him down a flight of steps, breaking his back. My pal gets to spend the rest of his career driving a desk.)
Sure, someone's always going to have video of abuse cases. (When you learn what kind of shit cops really put up with to keep us all mostly safe, the only surprise is that all cops don't sink to that level.) And was this video of cops taking turns deliberately making a perp twitch (abuse), or was it just three cops simltaneously taking the guy down (accident)? Anyway, from what I know abuse is definitely the exception, not the rule.
John
SEGWAY HT????
I can't believe that didn't make the list somewhere.
Whoever marked this Interesting instead of Funny, I marked you Unfair.
All gadgets are designed to solve problems. Weapons are gadgets designed to solve some of life's more dramatic problems.
it doesn't solve the problem. It just gets rid of it. A big difference.
what does the "17708173 96 15 50 6000!" for item number 61 mean?
the best I can get is "Mobile GB is so good!"