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A Nostalgic Look Back at Pioneering Tech Prototypes

by Warren Riddle on September 27, 2010 at 04:15 PM

push-button telephone
As gadgets progressively shrink in size and expand in function, reminiscing about vintage tech gear generally becomes a mocking and condescending exercise. Ridiculing the massive and relatively simple devices -- on the surface -- can be effortless, but, put in the proper context, cumbersome and clunky gadgets again appear revolutionary and inspiring. Wired is providing a retrospective glimpse at six product prototypes that particularly altered the course of technology, and the gadgets include a 1948 model of the first push-button phone, 1975's original Apple 1 and Motorola's 1973 DynaTAC mobile phone.

Wired doesn't just offer nostalgic photographs, though. This gallery provides the overlooked stories behind the devices and their developers, including the details of Bob Moog's basement synthesizer and the tale of a NASA engineer determined to design a more efficient refrigerator -- but who instead created the greatest water-gun known to man. And even if you're not a gamer, the events surrounding the first Atari console -- and how it could have been the Magnavox 2600 -- are definitely worth a trip down machinery memory lane.

Tags: apple, atari, ClassicGadgets, design, history, motorola, nostalgia, retro, RetroGaming, vintage

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