20 Gadgets From The 1970s That Were AHEAD of Their Time!

You failed to mention the popularity of circuit bending on the Speak n Spell

The Rolm digital phone systems were way ahead of their time.

As a construction contractor and carpenter, my husband still mounts the demise of his Motorola click and talk walkie-talkie cell phone. That phone could also be used as a weapon.….it was that heavy!

He said "collectors item". Everybody take a drink.

The Sebring City Car reminds me of the Workbees in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Crazy I’m watching this on my phone that has half of these gadgets built into it. It was a different time back then haha

The first EV was Studebaker EV that was around in 1902. The Battery weighed a 1,000 pounds.

May I make the suggestion of NOT repeating the Objects name and then saying it…this was so annoying.

You introduce the item
And then again as you then go into it's history, just GO!

The Panasonic Bread Maker
The Panasonic Bread Maker was….

The Sony TR-610
The Sony TR-610 has a legacy….

Broxident Electric toothbrush
The Broxident Electric toothbrush…..

Just say what it is and keep going!!!

I call this the Hammacher & Schlemmer Syndrome. They do this in the catalog but worse they usually add The Only Outdoor Cat Bed
The Only outdoor cat bed has safe auto off technology when it senses a heat threshold so it won't cook the 9 lives out of your cat friend, the soft bed invites all you flea bag mouse catching homeless kids feed to attract more so the city gives you a ticket for having too many cats…

Kidding…but they do this double item intro and double redundant into the fact or history sheet.

Stop this.

The Sony Walkman was a revolutionary new way to have music on the go and personnel stereo when on the go in a time when nothing was like this there were no MP3's this was the Father of that idea.

See, not what you said, but true, and I went in after intro.

Give your viewership some credit we will not forget what it is as you Just said it…

Otherwise I gave a thumbs up like button.

Please stop doing this.

Stop the double redundant, be free to say it and attach the rest to it, this is how annoying and annoyed I was.

Sigh.

Thank you for reading.

In the 70s, my IBM computer was a 370/155. It took 10 tons of AC to keep it cool and had a whopping 512 KB of memory.. However, its display had row after row of flashing lights, enough to make a 50s sci-fi movie producer drool with envy!

We had all these thing in the uk different brands but they where cheaper digital calculator 1974
Atari pong there where other manufacturers we had ours in 1975 with the remote wire controllers not stuck on a base unit. USA trys to say it was the first but it was not uk europe and Asia had many of these products first and cheaper.
Why were you paying so much for these products in the usa ??

I had speak and spell still cant spell.

The first Sony Betamax, the LV-1901 and SL-6200 was a console TV that included the SL-6200, which was a one hour Betamax came out in the fall of 1975. My late uncle had one and I always thought that TV was a head of its time which it was.

16:13 Commodore started out in typewriters, moved into the calculator business, then went on to create the Commodore 64, the biggest selling microcomputer ever, before eventually collapsing due to the greed of corporate suits that stifled innovation. We're seeing that happen now in 2024 as I watch this across many industries. The underlying problems are the same, but the conditions are different. Today the consumer is rebelling with their wallets against forced DEI initiatives and companies are in trouble. I'm happy. I've seen industries collapse in my lifetime, but the independents always step in to fill the void of the fallen, and the cycle begins anew until the next industry crisis. They are learning that they serve the consumers, not the other way around. Viva la revolution.

so they show the brick 18:32 and proccead to talk about it sleek design…………….ok.

On the Polaroid SX70 …The big hit was the Swinger. Mostly plastic and only $19. 95, it was a BIG hit and was a majority of the Polaroids sold. It shot black and white film only. I still remember the commercials and the jingle, which stressed the easy use and low price point. Later the One Shot and others used color film, and were $39.95. Polaroid's time in the sun.

Broxodent toothbrushes are still being made. Not sure if it is the original company still around or if someone brought it back. I had the Little Professor calculator (shown here with the Speak n Spell), and I had a red LED kids watch from the 1970s, as well as one of the fancy Casios of the early 80s that played 3 songs for your alarms, had a timer and stopwatch with what looked like radar blips on 3 small screens around the large time display.

The pong game would be approx $550 today!

Amazing innovation.

The minimum wage was a little more than a dollar in the 60s. These prices are wild! Imagine getting a good high paying job paying 5 whole dollars an hour!

My mom bought me a first pocket ,made by citizen, calculator. In 1975, for 50 Finnish mark $15 US.

Kodak took a dump on that man that made the digital camera… So he took it to the competition and steamrolled kodak…

If it doesn't say "Amana", it's not a radar range!!!! You included a Cuisinart but left off microwave ovens?!?!? Where ARE your priorities??!?!? LOL.

@23:27 While other products were using unknown spokesmen like Mr Whipple (please don't squeeze the charmin) and Mrs Butterworth or the commet woman, the Polaroid Land camera used Dick Van Dyke and James Garner and Mariette Hartley as their spokespersons in their ads. Somehow that impressed me.

@14:53 This game had a VERY short shelf life. The pattern of the cars coming at you was not random but fixed. So within about a week, you would have it memorized. You could immediately switch into 4th gear and get a perfect score every time. After that, you would loose interest. If only they had thought to add a random generator, it might have been playable for a much longer period of time.

I was little kid when pong came out on home consoles and my effing rich friend who had one wouldn't let me play it. Thanks a lot Tommy.

i love these videos,keep up the good work

Adjusted for inflation, that Atari Pong game was nearly $600 in 2024 dollars. We had one when I was a kid. Knowing my parents, I'm surprised that they splurged for it!

I was an engineering student at university of Colorado in the early 70s my sliderule was my prized possession It was a superior tool for logarithmic functions. I was reluctant to move onto a TI calculator.

I had a "portable" transistor radio in the mid 1960s!

You are incorrect. The Bell System Video Phone was premiered at the 1964 New York World's Fair. I was there. I remember.
A HINT of the technology was premiered at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Again, I know, I was there. I remember.