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more about #gizmodo79 more comments → plbg32: due to the generosity of bill gate's parents in the beginning of the 70's i was exposed to a paper tape key punch machine with a modem that connected ... more » NaomiVespillo: From 1978-80 we lived in Bellevue, WA. My husband was doing a post doc at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He remembers passing a sign on his... more » tencommandments: Keep helping the world Bill!!! more » formicae: I love old pictures of Bill. I mean, the mugshot, and the one in this feature, he looks like he's just letting the awesomeness of his own life wash ov... more » justsomereportingguy: wow, I read this and thought it was just another neat article on the whole retro '79 thing (great articles BTW). then I started reading comments and ... more » jriga: LOL at people saying Bill has so much more humility than Jobs. Let no one forget that both men are cut-throat business men running multi-billion dolla... more » BernadetteNange: I was hating microsoft blindly till i put my hands on a mac ..... that ignited a thought process appreciating all the smart ideas went into the creati... more » selfprofessedgeek: this is great, hearing from one of the richest guys in the world, who helped shape the Tech world into what it is now I'll confess here: I love XP an... more » Blakamin: So where are all the people that were saying the giz '79 week was crap? Oh, that's right, they're hiding in the corner. edit: Go Bill, love what the... more » immumo: Bill reads Giz?! That changed a whole lot of my perceptions :) Its soo cool to read things like this, about things that happened even before I was bo... more » -
#gizmodo79
Bill Gates: My 1979 Memories
Our Gizmodo '79 celebration may have ended last week, but there's room for a final post, written by famed retiree and mosquito wrangler Bill Gates. It's no joke: Gates read the series then sent this in: More » -
#lego
1979: The Golden Age of Lego
1979 was the beginning of Lego as we know it today, the year when they took over the world, the year of the Galaxy Explorer. I photographed all the classic sets in my Lego trip. Here's the never-released gallery: More » -
#gizmodo79
Yes, Good Old Retro 1979 Seemed Fun (But It Really Sucked!)
Writing about technology as it was thirty years ago, I realized that 1979 was perhaps the last year before a digital tsunami hit, sweeping clean the analog era that had persisted for decades. More » -
#giz79
1979 Rumor: Leaked Docs of "Compact Disc" Audio Format Using LASERS
From 1979: A source "close to the matter" claims this document outlines a future Audio format that would utilize a tapeless design, and *snort* use lasers as some sort of record needle. Sounds like Bullshit to me. More » -
#microsoft
Then and Now: Microsoft
Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born. More » -
#computers
Cray-1: The Super Computer
Seymour Cray's big super computer was crazy. It's signals between components had to be timed by trimming long cables up to 1/16th of an inch at a time by hand and was basically interwoven with a giant refrigeration system. More » -
#network
The Network Before the Internet
The network started to breathe in the 70's. Above, the first ethernet cable, found in PARC's labs by Boing Boing Gadgets. Dag Spicer, numero uno Curator at the Computer History Museum, tells us more: More » -
#airplanes
The Supersonic Concorde Jet: Can We Go Back to 1979, Please?
Many of our Gizmodo '79 posts have illustrated just how far we've come in the past three decades, but in one important tech example, 1979 kicks 2009's ass: The Concorde Jet. More » -
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#computers
Tandy TRS-80: The Budget Computer
Even back then, there were computers for people who couldn't afford the more expensive stuff. Take this Tandy, which costs little more than a upgraded Netbook today. From Core Memory, photographed by Mark Richards and written by John Alderman. More » -
#apple
Then and Now: Apple Computers
Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born. More » -
#gizmodo79
Digital Cams Still Haven't Caught Up to Film's Resolution: Does it Matter?
Lenses being equal, a large format 8x10 piece of film can capture the equivalent of 800 Megapixels. Just saying. But does it matter? Discuss! More » -
#pcs
What Is This?
Q: What classic computer and Apple II competitor opened its steel case up like a car hood? And was named after a domestic rock toy popular at the time? More » -
#pc
Intel 8088: The Chip That Gave Birth to the Borg
This is the Intel 8088. A beast with 29,000 transistors that could be clocked up 8MHz in its 1979 heyday, it was the second chip to use the x86 architecture, and the brains inside the original IBM PC. More » -
#startrek
The 1979 Klingon Happy Meal
You may think the weird Happy Meal bundling came during the '80s, but McDonalds was already busy making sure kids got their fix of movie-promotion McNuggets by 1979. Today is a good day to supersize. More » -
#sony
Then and Now: Sony's A/V Range
Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born. More » -
#tgif
Add To Our List Of 8 Comically Enormous Retro Gadgets
We pointed out why gadgets were more expensive 30 years ago, but it is also important to note that many of these gadgets were hilariously huge. I've collected eight examples, I'll leave it up to you to add the rest. More »
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#design
Frog Design's Hartmut Esslinger On Design in 1979
Hartmut Esslinger's Frog Design made WEGA/Sony's electronics fetish items, and then designed the "Snow White" language the Mac used. He's a design legend and an author. Here he tells us about the challenges of designing, then and now. More » -
#formatwar
The Dirty Backstabbing Mess Called Betamax vs VHS
You think you enjoyed Blu-ray vs HD DVD? Memory Stick vs SD? Pshaw! You haven't seen a format war until you've witnessed the betrayal and bloodbath that was Betamax vs VHS. More » -
#tvs
The Sinclair MTV-1 Micro TV
Sinclair's little ultra-sharp black and white TV was meant to be a pocket set. But with a 4x6-inch footprint, it was impossible to stash in most disco-tight pockets at the time, even if it was under 2 inches thick. More » -
#toys
Speak and Spell: 1979's Best Robotic Teacher
The Speak and Spell, which was first shown at CES in 1978 and sold in 1979, was one of the first gadgets with a visual display to use interchangeable game cartridges, and it taught a whole generation how to spell. More » -
#gizmodo79
Then and Now: The Hewlett-Packard Family
Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born. More » -
#airplanes
When Airplane Stewardesses Were All Glamour and Sex Appeal
I just returned to NYC from Madrid. I slept all the way here, so I barely noticed the cramped seats, the bad food, the terrible movie, and the bad uniforms of the stewardesses. Back in 1979, I would have noticed. More » -
#giz79
The Original TPS-L2 Sony Walkman Was Indeed Born in 1979
We didn't forget the Walkman in Giz 1979. It's just that its birthday was two weeks ago. Question: if it's the first model, what's with the complicated name? Regift! [The Original Walkman, Crazy and Notable Walkmans and Walkman Trivia] -
#crazy
Everything About Crazy Eddie Was Completely Insane
If you lived in the New England area during the '70s and '80s, chances are you recall those ridiculous commercials for Crazy Eddie electronics stores. Even if you don't, they are pretty damn amusing to watch. More » -
#homeentertainment
Magnavox Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision (Laserdisc) Player Reviewed
The Magnavox Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision Videodisc Player was a "record player that produces beautiful sound and pictures" through your TV. Released in 1978, Magnavision 8000 was the first consumer player of the format you know as Laserdisc. More » -
#nuclearpower
1979: The Year We Wussed Out on Nuclear Power
The China Syndrome was a movie about how dangerous nuclear power plants are that, fortunately for the producers, came out 12 days before the Three Mile Island disaster. You can thank it for why we're still reliant on coal power. More » -
#gizmodo79
Then and Now: IBM Personal Computers
Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born. More » -
#porn
The Desperate Times Before Internet Porn
Getting porn as a kid in the '70s was hard. You had to be part 007, part Pee Wee Herrman and part Rocky (specifically, the meat beating training scene). In short, there was no internet. How'd they do it? More » -
#gaming
Merlin: Mr. Game & Watch's Dad and Game Boy's Grampa
Screens are for suckers. Released in 1978, Parker Brothers' Merlin had six "out of this world" games like Tic Tac Toe and Blackjack 13, and its Music Machine game let you use it as an elecronic synthesizer. More » -
#gizmodo79
Then and Now: Panasonic's Multimedia Lineup
Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born. More » -
#mixtapes
Gizmodo '79 Mixtape: What's On Yours?
I'm listening to "Boys Don't Cry," released by The Cure in June 1979. Next is "Comfortably Numb." Before playlists, we had mixtapes, thanks to the Walkman. What's on your 1979 mixtape? Remember, you've got 45 minutes per side. More » -
#digitalmusic
Suspiciously Prescient Man Files Patent for iPod-Like Device in 1979
Kane Kramer, an inventor by trade, came up with a gadget and music distribution service almost eerily similar to the iPod-iTunes relationship that predates it by three decades. The guy predicted details down to DRM and flash memory's dominance. More » -
#videogames
Space Invaders Under the Influence
In his third guest installment, the illustrious tech writer Steven Levy explains what it's like to play arcade Space Invaders while totally shitfaced. More » -
#giz79
Phreaking the Phones: Before There Was Hacking
Before there were computer hackers, there were phreakers. And before there were Macs, Jobs and Woz kept themselves busy building their own blue boxes (above) which would emulate precise control tones to seize control of the phone system. More » -
#audio
Cheap Trick Releases Newest Album on 8-Track Cassette
How's this for lucky timing! In the midst of our Gizmodo '79 theme week, legendary power-pop act Cheap Trick is releasing their latest album (coincidentally entitled The Latest) on a very late-'70s medium: 8-track cassette. More » -
#gizmodo79
Sony KV-1375 "Citation"
Huge investments as they were, 1970s TVs were subject to the same kind of bleary-eyed lusting as today's hottest gadgets. Unlike now, though, cutting-edge features weren't easily quantifiable. So what was there to drool over, if not specs? Plenty. More »IsWas the Future of Televisions -
#cameras
Polaroid SX-70: The Joy of Instant Photography Before Digital
The Polaroid SX-70 was not the first instant camera. Released in 1972, it was the first instant SLR, and the first to use Polaroid's iconic integral print film that developed automatically. It folded up so it fit in your pocket. More » -
#woz
Steve Wozniak, Car Salesman
In case you missed the link buried in our retrospective tech gods trivia-fest, here's a glimpse back at Steve Wozniak in 1979, when he moonlit as an enthusiastic Datsun spokesperson. To quote the man himself, "It. Is. Awesome." [YouTube] More » -
#imagecache
Sony's Entire 1976 Lineup in One Photo
In 1976, Sony went to the National Stadium in Tokyo and lined up every single gadget they offered to photograph them. All were analog, mostly in radio, audio and TV. This is a photo of that. More »
