Picking humanity's one hundred greatest gadgets is no easy task. If we were starting from the beginning of humanity itself, the list would actually be a lot easier to compile: the wheel, the lever, the telescope, the syringe, movable type: the roster practically writes itself. But we're masochists, and decided to limit the list to the one hundred most influential personal gadgets created since 1923, the year Time started publishing. You'll see a lot of items that get the nod simply because they were the first of their kind. First may not always be best, but it's surely a sign of smart innovation. We're sure you won't agree with all of our choices, but what kind of list would it be without some controversy? Oh, and one thing we left completely up to you: our list is in no particular order, so feel free to pick your own Number One.Entertainment
Amazon Kindle
Apple iPod
Audio Highway Listen Up
Bose Noise-Canceling Headphones
Diamond Rio PMP300
Genica GN803 Tavarua
Logitech Harmony
Mattel Electronics Football
MusicGremlin Wi-Fi MP3 Player
Nintendo Game Boy
Optical Media
Panasonic DVD-L10
Regency TR-1
Sony Discman D-50
Sony Walkman TPS-L2
Sony Watchman
TiVo
Zenith Space Command
Computing
Apple AirPort
Apple iPad
Apple PowerBook 100
Asus Eee PC 700
Commodore 64
Connectix QuickCam
DiskOnKey
Engelbart Mouse
Epson HX-20
GRiD Compass 1101
Hewlett-Packard HP-65
Iomega Zip Drive
LED
Lego Mindstorms 1.0
MicroSD
MITS Altair 8800
Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100
Texas Instruments SR-10
Communications
Apple iPhone
Ballpoint Pen
Bell 103
Bellsouth IBM Simon
BlackBerry 6210
Bluetooth Headset
Danger Hiptop, a.k.a. Sidekick
Fisher AG7 Space Pen
Motorola DynaTAC 8000x
Motorola Handie-Talkie HT 220 Slimline
Motorola PageWriter 2000
Motorola Razr V3
Motorola StarTac
Novatel Wireless MiFi
Olympus Zuiko Pearlcorder
Pager
Palm Pilot 1000
PhoneMate Model 400
Samsung Uproar
Sharp J-SH04
Speak & Spell
Lifestyle
Air Taser Model 34000
Casio G-Shock DW-5000C
The Clapper
Credit Card
Dyson Air Multiplier
Energizer Alkaline Batteries
Fuzzbuster
Hamilton Pulsar
Leatherman
Lithium-Ion Batteries
Magellan NAV 1000
Spot Personal Tracker
Velcro
Zippo
Cameras
Apple QuickTake 100
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Eye-Fi
Flip
Fujifilm Quick Snap Disposable Camera
Kodak EasyShare One
Kodak Instamatic 100
Nikon F
Pentax K1000
Polaroid SX-70
Sony Betamovie BMC-100P
Sony Mavica MVC-FD5
Home
Black & Decker Cordless Electric Drill
Clock Radio
Dirt Devil Hand Vac
Electric Razor
iRobot Roomba
Modern-Day Can Opener
Power Strip
Smoke Detector
Health
Breathalyzer
Broxodent Electric Toothbrush
Digital Thermometer
Hearing Aids
Heart-Rate Monitor
Jarvik 7
Pacemaker
Pedometer
SteriPEN
Five Gadgets Ahead of Their Time
Apple Newton
Atari Lynx
Sony LIBRIé EBR-1000EP
Archos Gmini 400
Psion MC 400
Rico says he's just pointing out the obvious by highlighting in red a few things on the list made by a particular fruit company...
Gadgets Ahead of Their Time...
ReplyDeletePsion MC 400
I still have one of these in full working order. If you want to see just how far ahead of its time visit a page I recently set up showing the only known screen shots from one of these machines.
http://justwebware.com/mc400/mc400.html