http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/ Engadget Comments for Top 50 gadgets of the past 50 years http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/
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You'd be surprised. I was selling electronics for a J&R at the time this was out, and for about six months it seems like every other call we had was an order for this stupid thing. And it's not like we didn't have a big selection; I mean J&R sells everything.



This was definitely a big fad. You may not remember it now because, like most fads, it faded away just as quickly as it took hold. But Rolodex had a whole huge business plan based around the popularity of this thing; they had a whole slew of new models set to come out and they were going to transition their whole company to just making Rex products.



You can still argue it shouldn't be on the list because it died an early death, but I'm sure it had some influence on the industry that's not completely obvious (the whole Blackberry thing was really combining the Rex and the PDA, since most of what people were using the Rex for was stuff like syncing email with their PC's that they could then easily take with them).

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AND WHERE IS NINTENDO?



I think this should be PC USA's top 50 Gadget. Not PC World. They are seriously missing some key things here.]]>Dec 24th 2005 12:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/


And there are odd gaps here, like the total absence of GPS devices, or the Nintendo Entertainment System, or digital cameras (I'd nominate the early Casio models with the first LCDs on the back).



I'd have thrown in some golden oldies, too, like automobile radiophones from the 1950's.]]>Dec 24th 2005 12:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 24th 2005 1:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/


I'm thinking of trying to buy one of these off eBay. Think of it: 100 hours of pure, portable, NetHack pleasure on two AA batteries.]]>Dec 24th 2005 1:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/


And the RAZR is a pathetic phone, especially for its sparse features and negotiable style, although I like the "knockoffs"; but the slim phone may help the mobile phone industry, but no way of revolutionizing it.



By the way, the NES saved the North American video gaming industry, such an omission from any list is ignorance on the editor's part.]]>Dec 24th 2005 1:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 24th 2005 1:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/


Speaking of which, I saw the old Atari 2600 model, remade, selling at Walmart! I think they were going for about 120? Interesting to see]]>Dec 24th 2005 2:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 24th 2005 3:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 24th 2005 4:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 24th 2005 7:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 24th 2005 9:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 24th 2005 10:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 25th 2005 1:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/


Does anyone's PMP300 _didn't_ have the battery door fail on them within the frist month?]]>Dec 25th 2005 7:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 25th 2005 10:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/


I also find it hilarious that the article started with



"Portable music players are so cheap and ubiquitous today that it's hard to remember when they were luxury items, widely coveted and often stolen."



Yeah, because I don't know three people who were mugged this year alone for their iPods.]]>Dec 25th 2005 9:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 28th 2005 1:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/Dec 28th 2005 6:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/24/top-50-gadgets-of-the-past-50-years/


http://research.compaq.com/SRC/pjb/]]>Dec 28th 2005 4:25PM