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![VHS Players]()
Even though few people figured out how to program their VCRs, the entire world agreed that the VHS recorder was simply the best way to watch videos. From the late 70s to the late 90s, it was the only way to record and play videos. Then the DVD arrived in 1993, commonly described as the most rapidly adopted technology of all time. Add TiVo and digital video recorders and the end of the VHS tape was inevitable.![Calculators]()
Once upon a time, every office desk had a pencil holder and a calculator, like this classic model. Take a minute to look around you. Is there one on your desk? The computer -- essentially a nuclear-powered calculator at heart -- obviated the portable calculator.![Dot-Matrix Printers]()
Remember the dot-matrix? Remember pages of printouts edged with detachable strips of punched-out dots? Neither can we. Apple manufactured one of the last mass-market dot matrix printer -- so named because the print head constructed characters from a series of dots. The ImageWriter dropped off the radar in 1990, replaced by the ink jet printers we all still rely upon today. How long until we all have laser printers on our desks at home?![Sony_Walkman]()
What 80s film would be complete without a scene of someone bopping down the street with their Sony Walkman? The portable cassette player was a landslide hit, and would continue to be one for decades. Like Velcro, the term Walkman became adopted by society, a product brand so commonplace as to be interchangeable with tape player. Sony still makes cassette models, though they are no longer available in the U.S., long since replaced by CD players -- and now the iPod.![Big Cell Phones]()
Cell phones were once massive, hulking products, best confined to the briefcases they came in -- some required a bulky case just to work properly. Today's youth has no idea that the devices once contained giant antennas, nor can they conceive of a product that can't slip into a pocket. And the growth of the smart phone, something designed for Facebook status checks, not friendly chats, means the cell phone itself is on the way out. Indeed, with speech-to-text features in current phones, many people read voicemail messages these days.![3Com_Palm_Pilot]()
The Palm Pilot came, oddly enough, from network-infrastructure company 3Com before being spun off into a separate company. And the personal information manager (or PIM) sold by the boatload. It was considered the executive's digital dayplanner, something one couldn't live without. Good luck finding one today.![Video_Cameras]()
The Kodak Instamatic camera is an extreme example, but the entire concept of "video cameras" has evolved to a point completely unlike where it all began. The Instamatic, seen here, sold in the 70s and used Super 8 film that came in cartridges. You can still buy a handful of film-based video cameras, but the wild popularity of the Flip digital camera -- which records digital video onto flash memory and slips into a back pocket -- spells the end for video cameras as we once knew them.![Pay Phones]()
In 2000, there were over 2 million payphones in the United States. Today there are around 700,000, and the major manufacturers have exited the business. The coin-op phone is on the way out, given that everyone carries one or more cell phones. Sadly, this icon of city life is now an urban endangered speices -- use one while you can still find it.![Radio Shack TRS-80]()
In July of 1980, Tandy Corporation released the TRS-80 Model III, the latest iteration of its incredibly popular personal computer. The new system helped popularize the concept of the home PC (though even the manufacturer wasn't certain whether consumers would adopt it at all), and inspired an entire generation to tinker, tweak, and code on their own. Apple and IBM rapidly supplanted Tandy, of course -- and the rest is history.![Floppy_Disk_Drive]()
The first portable storage medium for computers was called the floppy disc, because it actually was floppy. A 5-1/4 inch black plastic sleeve encased a floppy round disc that could be read in drives like this one. Users quickly discovered that by punching a hole in a corner of the disc, they could flip it over to write onto the backside, doubling the storage capacity. If you ever played Zork, you bought it on a floppy. The 5 1/4-inch disks gave way to smaller, harder discs, but the "floppy" designation lived on for years.![3.5-Inch Floppy Disk]()
Floppy or not, the 3.5-inch disk was the only way to carry data around. Students and geeks were known to travel with boxes of the darn things, containing school papers, games and bits of software. The floppy may have lost out to the CD-ROM disc, but its real descendant is the USB thumb drive, which stands today as the simplest method to carry your data with you.![Casio Wrist Calculator]()
In 1984, the well-dressed geek wore Wranglers and Casio -- even Sting wore one in the 1983 music video for "Wrapped Around Your Finger." The growth of the PDA, combined with changing fashion looks, left the handy gizmo in the 80s. And we're sad to see them go.12 Gadgets Once Essential, Now Essentially Useless
Remember setting the VCR to tape a TV show? Or hunting the streets for a payphone? A generation of kids have no idea what those phrases mean. We walk through 12 gadgets once essential to life, now essentially useless -- replaced by the relentless advance of technology.
Move Forward
- 12 Gadgets Once Essential, Now Essentially Useless
