AI-powered dual-screen laptops are common today, but in 1994, owning a Packard Bell Statesman would make you the envy of technology enthusiasts around the world. Priced at around $2,400 ($5,058 in 2024), this system runs Windows 3.1 and weighs in at a hefty 6.9-pounds.
Remember The Oregon Trail? The educational strategy video game that was first released on the Apple II in 1985? If so, then you might be surprised to know that the story dates all the way back to 1971, when Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger developed a text-only version of the game.
Yes, computer addicts existed back in 1983 and they don’t look much different than those glued to their smartphones now, besides the latter being far more portable. Chris Carter, an operations manager in the computer department of a borough council office, spent far more time on computers than his wife would have liked.
The original Nintendo Game Boy may not have had the power of Atari’s Lynx or the SEGA Game Gear, but its ingenious engineering ensured that the handheld could run for longer on battery power. Featuring a monochromatic dot-matrix screen with adjustable contrast dial, eight game control buttons, and a single speaker with adjustable volume dial.
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) President and CEO Jim Ryan claims that the PS2 console sold 160-million units worldwide during a recent episode of the Official PlayStation Podcast. As for games, there were over 4,000 game titles released, with over 1.5 billion copies sold.
The CASIO Watch Ring Collection is more novelty than function, but the CASIO QL-10 from 1981 manages to pack a functional calculator, alarm clock and lighter, all-in-one. Nicknamed the ‘calcu-lighter’, it stood around 4-inches tall and retailed for a hefty $90 ($305.36 in 2024) at the time.
There’s the tongue-operated MouthPad, and then the Titans Sphere, a bizarre 3D game controller for the PC. It was first released in 1999 by SGRL (Second Generation Research Laboratories, Ltd.) and designed to be comfortable for both left and right-handed users.
Back in 2000, MediaBrowser released a series of Nintendo web browsers for Windows that most probably never knew existed. Put simply, they are specially branded versions of Internet Explorer with the intention to sell ads in various places within the browser.