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The top 10 greatest electronic gadgets

jay gw

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The Apple Powerbook 100 has been chosen as the greatest gadget of all time, by US magazine Mobile PC.

The 1991 laptop was chosen because it was one of the first "lightweight" portable computers and helped define the layout of all future notebook PCs.

The magazine has compiled an all-time top 100 list of gadgets, which includes the Sony Walkman at number three and the 1956 Zenith remote control at two.

Gadgets needed moving parts and/or electronics to warrant inclusion.

The magazine staff compiled the list and specified that gadgets also needed to be a "self-contained apparatus that can be used on its own, not a subset of another device".

The oldest "gadget" in the top 100 is the abacus, which the magazine dates at 190 A.D., and put in 60th place.

Other pre-electronic gadgets in the top 100 include the sextant from 1731 (59th position), the marine chronometer from 1761 (42nd position) and the Kodak Brownie camera from 1900 (28th position).

The Tivo personal video recorder is the newest device to make the top 10, which also includes the first flash mp3 player (Diamond Multimedia), as well as the first "successful" digital camera (Casio QV-10) and mobile phone (Motorola Startac).

The most popular gadget of the moment, the Apple i pod, is at number 12 in the list while the first Sony transistor radio is at number 13.

Top 10 Gadgets

1. Apple Powerbook 100 (1991)
2. Zenith Space Command remote control (1956)
3. Sony Walkman (1979)
4. Motorola Startac (1996)
5. CDI mechanical mouse (1970)
6. Casio QV-10 digital camera (1996)
7. US Robotics Pilot 1000 (1996)
8. Diamond Multimedia Rio 300 (1998)
9. Atari 7600 (1977)
10. Tivo Series 1 (1999)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4284501.stm
 
Uh oh. It seems the magazine made a mistake. The Diamond Rio 300 is not the world's first Mp3 player. At least, according to this source:

Ask even seasoned MP3 buffs about the first MP3 player, and they're almost certain to name the Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300.

If they really know their stuff, they'll even tell you it came out in late 1998. They're wrong either way, although you shouldn't be too harsh on them. Their mistake is understandable.

Say it with me: "MPMan."

The Diamond Rio's false status as "the first MP3 player" is practically cemented in technology lore, so before it's too late, I want to set the record straight.

The world's first mass-produced hardware MP3 player was Saehan's MPMan, sold in Asia starting in the late spring of 1998.

It was released in the United States as the Eiger Labs MPMan F10/F20 (two variants of the same device) in the summer of 1998, a few months before the Rio.

http://news.com.com/Bragging+rights+to+the+worlds+first+MP3+player/2010-1041_3-5548180.html
 
That list is laughable. Some dorky Apple laptop #1? :rolleyes: That probably shouldn't make the top 100. ooooh it's lightweight. BFD.

And how is a sextant a "gadget?" IMO "gadget" implies some sense of non-necessity/frivolty. A sextant was a very important tool to sailors back when.
 
Absurd to include a Sextant as a gadget, civilization wouldnt be the same without the navigation that was possible with that tool.
 
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