Families in Britain approached a major household decision with a mix of excitement and uncertainty in the spring of 1998. A BBC program from the Computers Don’t Bite campaign followed two of them step by step as they bought their very first home computers. The episode captured the practical choices, the new vocabulary, and the hands-on setup that turned an expensive piece of equipment into something the whole household could use.
Released during May of 1993, the LTE Lite 4/25E arrived as Compaq refined its portable lineup into something genuinely useful for people who worked away from a desk. The company had already built a reputation for reliable business machines, yet this particular model pushed further with a processor and screen combination that felt like a genuine step ahead for the era.
Lesley Judd stepped off a plane at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam carrying a chunky portable computer and a small device called an acoustic coupler. In December 1986, most people had never heard of electronic mail. Micro Live, the BBC’s weekly technology program, set out to change that by following Judd as she showed exactly how this new way of sending written messages worked for someone constantly on the move.
Few pieces of technology capture attention quite like a device that launched an era. In September 2008 T-Mobile teamed up with Google to reveal the G1, a phone built from the ground up to run Android software. Available starting that October for customers on a two-year plan, it arrived at stores priced at $179 ($277 today) and immediately drew crowds eager to try something different.
BBC’s Maya Even greeted viewers on a February evening in 2000 with a simple question about the future. She introduced a report from The Money Programme that examined how phone companies and tech giants poured billions into linking mobile devices to the internet. Nils Blythe took the story from there, traveling first to Tokyo where the shift already showed real momentum.
Sony engineers dropped jaws at a TV conference in Algeria in April 1981. They brought out a completely functional setup complete with a camera, monitor, and tape recorder capable of capturing images sharper and more detailed than anyone had ever seen outside of a laboratory. NHK, Japan’s main public broadcaster, had spent years working on a new standard called Hi-Vision, which effectively gave a lot more lines of resolution than ordinary TV ever could. As a result of their close collaboration, development work moved forward at full speed. Sony introduced a full line of commercial gear under the HDVS branding in April 1984, with the HDC-100 camera and HDV-1000 recorder at the center.
Ask Jeeves arrived nearly thirty years ago and quickly became a familiar face on the young internet. On May 1, 2026, the service closed for good. Owners at IAC chose to end the search operation and direct attention elsewhere. A brief note appeared on the site. Every great search must come to an end, it said, before adding that Jeeves spirit would carry on.
Gamers in the 1990s sat through plenty of marathon sessions on consoles like the Super Nintendo as well as SEGA Genesis, and their thumbs suffered as a result of continual pressure on rigid directional pads. Triax had a solution for the problem in the Turbo Touch 360. They abandoned the traditional movable plastic directional pad in favor of a flat octagonal plate with capacitive sensors underneath. So all you had to do was lightly lay your thumb on the surface, and it would register the direction you were attempting to go in.
Back in the early 1980s, Radio Shack sold a variety of gadgets that caught the eye of both curious children and tech enthusiasts. Among those goods was Gobble Man, a small handheld game that placed maze chases directly into your palms years before the larger portable consoles that came later. Bandai first released this in Japan during 1981 as a game known as Packri Monster. Tandy then scooped it up, licensing the design for its US stores before selling it as Gobble Man in 1983. To add to the confusion, Tandy sold the exact same units under the titles Hungry Monster and Ogre Eater.
Photo credit: 2 Warps to Neptune
In 1974, Nintendo kicked off their coin-operated arcade era with Wild Gunman. This game required players to step up, pull a handgun from a holster, and face off against some unfriendly live-action gunslingers on a projection screen. Footage came from authentic film reels filmed on site in Japan, capturing the wild west-style shootouts in all their gritty grandeur. Timing was everything here. You could only draw and shoot after your eyes flashed and the word “FIRE” appeared on the screen. Get it right, and you’ll come out on top. If you mess up, draw too soon, or miss your shot, you will lose the duel.