Polaroid Camera In the past, one of the most frustrating aspects of amateur photography was having to use up an entire roll of film and then waiting to have it developed. Polaroid solved that problem with the Swinger in 1965. For only $19.95, the camera not only developed each of… Read More »Great Gadgets Part 7

Betamax You don’t hear this brand name anymore, but in the 70’s, Betamax was synonymous with home video. Sony’s first video tape recorder cost $1,275 when it was introduced in 1976. A timer could set the machine to tape upcoming shows was sold separately. Sony’s Beta tapes ruled the $20… Read More »Great Gadgets Part 6

Digital Watch There are people today who have never learned how to tell time via the “when the bog hand is on the 12 . . .” method. The first digital watch was the Pulsar, made by Hamilton in 1970. The stainless steel version costed $275 and the digital display… Read More »Great Gadgets Part 5

Remote Control Who’s responsible for America becoming a nation of couch potatoes? What helped us along was Zenith’s Space Command, a wired TV remote control with 4 buttons (channel up/down, and volume louder/softer). This 1956 feature allowed us to change the TV channel for the first time without leaving our… Read More »Great Gadgets Part 4

Pocket Calculator Desktop electronic calculators starting appearing during the 1960’s, but if you wanted to perform complex mathematical equations when you were away from an electrical outlet, a slide rule was your only alternative (I don’t even know what a slide rule is). Texas Instruments began selling the SR-10 in… Read More »Great Gadgets Part 3