The Gadgets That Your Generation Went Crazy For

Blasts from the past

The desire to get our hands on the latest must-have product has been going on for generations. Read what was top of the wish list every year from the end of World War II to the turn of the 21st century and see how many you had.

1945: record player

When World War II officially ended on 2 September 1945, millions of people marked the victory with street parties and plenty of dancing. Needless to say, record players sold like hotcakes, while sales of newly-introduced vinyl records hit $109 million in America by the end of 1945, in a year that also saw the launch of Billboard's first album chart.

1946: refrigerator

They might be considered a domestic necessity nowadays, but in 1946 around 85% of US homes served up perfectly-chilled groceries.

1947: instant camera

Amateur photography was revolutionized in 1947 when the world's first instant camera was unveiled by inventor Edwin H. Land in Massachusetts. The Polaroid Model 95 Land Camera went on to sell for around $90, around $1,000 in today's money. The original was to become the prototype for all Polaroid Land cameras produced over the next 15 years.

1948: power mower

Petroleum-powered lawnmowers were all the rage in the late 1940s as the suburbs expanded and a perfectly manicured front lawn became a potent status symbol. Leading brands included Pincor and Goodall, and a decent model cost around $120, a hefty $1,240 in today's money. By the end of the decade, over a million labor-saving power mowers were manufactured in the US.

1949: electric dictation machine

Marketed as a 'traveling secretary', an electric dictation machine was top of every self-respecting professional's Christmas wish list back in 1949. The Dictaphone company, which was founded by inventor Alexander Graham Bell in the late 19th century, was the market leader, and offered its very own recording medium called Dictabelt.

1950: credit card

Pulling out your plastic to pay is commonplace nowadays, but the credit card was a game-changer when it was first introduced. In 1950, the Diners Club issued the first ‘general purpose’ credit card, which allowed customers to charge the cost of their restaurant bills. It was first used in February that year at Major’s Cabin Grill in New York, and soon caught on.

1951: 8mm movie camera

A pioneer of home moviemaking, Kodak introduced its Brownie 8mm Movie Camera in 1951. The gadget was relatively compact, lightweight and had a capacity for 15 minutes’ viewing, making it the most desirable gadget for amateur filmmakers that year.

1952: kettle grill

In 1952, Chicago metal worker George Stephen Sr. began marketing his clever grilling invention: a round barbecue with a dome-shaped lid that he'd fashioned from a metal buoy, and the rest is history. What would later become known as the Weber Kettle Grill was a resounding success from the get-go and went on to sell in the millions.

1953: console TV set

In 1950, just 9% of American households owned a TV. By the end of 1953, that figure had jumped to nearly 50% as affordable black and white console sets abounded. Across the pond, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the first event of its kind to be televised, led to a surge in sales of TV sets and heralded the television age in the UK.

1954: pocket transistor radio

Measuring just a few square centimeters, the Regency TR-1 was the world’s first commercial pocket transistor radio. The battery-powered radio was small enough to hold with one hand and came in a range of colors including green, pearlescent blue, lavender, white and red. Following its launch in 1954, it quickly became a holiday essential.

1955: top-loading washing machine

While washing machines had been around since the 1940s and were prevalent in the US, it was only after World War II that they became commonplace in UK homes. The Parkinson model, pictured here, would wash the clothes but they still needed to be wrung out using the mangle on top. Front-loading models with a spin cycle wouldn't be affordable until the 1960s.

1956: wireless remote control

Watching television got that bit easier in 1956 with the development of the first wireless remote control, the Zenith Space Command. It worked mechanically; pushing one of the buttons caused a hammer inside it to hit an aluminum rod, which made an ultrasonic sound. The TV was able to interpret the clicks and respond to change the channel, the volume or to switch it on and off.

1957: automatic can opener

Launched the previous year, the Udico electric can opener sold by the truckload in 1957. The brainchild of father-and-daughter inventor duo Walter and Elizabeth Brodie, the innovative contraption, which could also sharpen knives, fitted neatly on a countertop and was available in a variety of pastel hues.

1958: electric blanket

During the 1950s, only a privileged minority of households had the luxury of central heating and it wasn't uncommon for people to wake up on a winter's morning to frost on the inside of their bedroom window. Many people battled the chill by investing in an electric blanket or a mains-powered bedwarmer gizmo.

1959: electric toothbrush

The original electric toothbrush was invented by Philippe-Guy Woog, a Swiss dentist, in 1954. Mass production started in 1959 when the technology was brought to the US by E.R. Squibb and Sons Pharmaceuticals. A cordless model was introduced shortly afterwards by General Electric, while many companies including Panasonic went on to launch their own.

1960: electric kettle

The first automatic electric kettle, the K1 was launched in 1956 and used a controlled jet of steam from the boiling water to knock the switch and turn it off. It enjoyed huge success and in 1960 the K2 was launched, with its distinctive red ‘on’ switch. It went on to become the top-selling kettle in the UK for the next two decades.

1961: electric typewriter

Jamming manual typewriters became a thing of the past with the advent of IBM's electric Selectric Typewriter. Instead of individual typebars that swung up to strike a ribbon and page, the Selectric had a ‘typing element’, known as a ‘golf ball’, which also allowed users to change the typeface. It went on to dominate 75% of the American market.

1962: food mixer

The wonder gadget of the year, the Sunbeam Mixmaster was the kitchen device to own in North America, Australia and New Zealand. In the UK, the Kenwood Chef was the preferred model. The versatile stand mixer featured on many a wedding list and didn't come cheap, retailing for the equivalent of a fortnight's wages.

1963: easy-to-load camera

The Instamatic series was Kodak's most lucrative line – a staggering 60 million units were shifted during the 1960s and 1970s. The easy to load Instamatic 104, which hit the stores in 1963, was one of the bestsellers and turned up in many Christmas stockings that year. The camera retailed for $20 at the time, around $165 in today's money.

1964: power drill

The DIY craze really took off in the 1960s, no doubt buoyed on by the ever-increasing availability of affordable power tools. The electric drill was invented in 1916 by Black + Decker and developed for home use in the 1940s, but it wasn't until the launch of the world's first cordless drill in the early 1960s that the technology hit the mainstream.

1965: electric knife

Though it tended only to get an outing once or twice a year to carve the Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey, the newfangled electric knife was the must-have kitchen gadget of 1965. General Electric's version was the number one seller, shifting over five million units in 1965 and 1966. It retailed for around $30, which is $240 in today's money.

1966: remote control car

Although the origins of remote control cars can be traced back to the 1940s, the first miniature solid radio control systems were introduced in the latter half of the 1960s. A range of cars were commercially available by 1966, including the 1:12 Ferrari 250 LM, and quickly became coveted by kids and adults alike.

1967: Teasmade

A curious object of desire in the UK and several Commonwealth countries, the Goblin Teasmade would wake its owner in the morning with a blaring alarm siren and a nice cup of tea. At the height of its popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, two million households owned one. The Teasmade fell out of fashion in the 1980s and was discontinued in 2001, but the bedside gadget has since made a welcome return.

1968: color TV set

With color TV sales skyrocketing, Sony released its Trinitron model in 1968 and scored a major hit. The first truly modern mass market color TV set, it outclassed the competition in everything from picture quality to value for money. More than 100 million units were sold before Sony ditched the model in 2008.

1969: quartz watch

Seiko changed the watchmaking industry forever when it launched the world's first quartz watch, the Astron, in 1969. The trailblazing gold timepiece retailed for $1,250, a substantial $8,500 in today's money, but prices for quartz watches fell dramatically during the 1970s, allowing the technology to conquer the mainstream.

1970: pocket calculator

When it was launched in 1970, the Canon Pocketronic Calculator sold for a whopping $345, around $2,220 in today’s money. It let users add, subtract, multiply and divide. Over the next five years the size reduced, as did manufacturing costs, to make it a more affordable $20.

1971: answering machine

In 1971, PhoneMate introduced the Model 400, the world's first widely-used commercial answering machine. Seeming like a near-miracle at the time, the device allowed users to hold 20 messages on a reel-to-reel tape, and featured an earphone to listen to messages privately.

1972: digital watch

After getting the quartz treatment, watches went digital in the early 1970s when the Hamilton Company developed Pulsar, which had lights instead of hands. The only catch? The much sought-after timepiece cost as much as a small car. Thankfully, by the late 1970s, digital watches had plummeted in price.

1973: food processor

Developed by French catering boss Pierre Verdun, the Magimix food processor was launched in the US in 1973 as the Cuisinart food processor, and debuted in the UK the following year. A multitasking marvel, it became a must for home chefs and flew off the shelves throughout the decade.

1974: videocassette recorder

Though still a luxury item, the videocassette recorder began to flirt with the mainstream in 1974. At this time, prices for the devices were starting to fall, but the technology really came into its own with the launch of the Betamax format in 1976, and VHS the following year.

1975: home microcomputer

The Altair 8800 is the machine that sparked the home computer era. Designed in 1974, the device captured the public imagination the following year when it featured on the cover of Popular Electronics magazine. The makers had hoped to sell a few hundred DIY kits to hobbyists, but ended up offloading thousands in the first month alone. 

1976: microwave oven

Despite the technology and the very first huge ovens being developed during the the mid-1940s, it wasn't until the 1970s that the microwave became a must-have domestic appliance. In the UK, USA, Canada and Japan, sales exploded thanks to big budget advertising campaigns and ever-affordable models with new features, such as the touchscreen buttons on the Samsung example pictured here.

1977: games console

It may have had blocky 8-bit graphics but the Atari 2600 game console was the first of its kind to appeal to the masses. The gadget sold poorly after its launch in 1977, but when games like Space Invaders and Pac-Man were released several years later it became a runaway success. 

1978: CB radio

A massive craze during the 1970s, Citizens Band (CB) radio was ridiculously popular in the US and even the UK, where it was deemed illegal until 1981. Users had to buy a base station and license, and choose a nickname, to use the service, which enabled them to chat with other users near and far.

1979: personal stereo

People could listen to music on the move for the first time when Sony’s portable cassette tape player, the iconic Walkman, hit the stores in July 1979. It went on to become one of Sony’s most successful brands with more than 200 million Walkmans sold, and paved the way for the portable CD player and iPod.

1980: dot matrix printer

At the end of 1979 and during the first few months of 1980, Epson released the MX-80, a fully-fledged printer for use with personal computers. The dot matrix device provided high-precision printing that didn't cost the earth, giving it enormous appeal to both business and home users.

1981: handheld portable TV set

British inventor Clive Sinclair unveiled one of the world's first handheld portable TVs in 1981, the Flat Screen Pocket TV, aka the Sinclair TV80. When it eventually hit the market in 1983, the device was priced at $125, around $425 in today's money.

1982: CD player

Sony released the very first commercial CD player in 1982. The system retailed for about $730, which is equivalent to $1,890 in today's money, and was only available in Japan that year. The technology was rolled out globally in 1983, and took the world by storm.

1983: cell phone

It didn’t exactly fit in your pocket like today’s cell phones but Motorola's DynaTAC 8000X was at the cutting edge when it launched in 1983. Though a full charge took roughly 10 hours and the device only offered 30 minutes of talktime, it was priced at a jaw-dropping $3,995, around $10,000 in today's money.

1984: personal computer

More expensive than the popular Commodore 64, the first Apple Macintosh computer wooed the premium market with its nine-inch screen and $2,500 price tag, approximately $6,000 in today's money. Despite its expense, the device made Apple the second-largest PC manufacturer of the decade.

1985: camcorder

The camcorder has transformed the way we record our lives since its release in 1983. While the JVC VideoMovie wasn’t the first model introduced, the camcorder became famous after Marty McFly used it in the 1985 film Back To The Future, and pretty much everyone wanted one of their own.

1986: pager

In the days before cell phones, pagers were the way to stay in touch when people were out and about. Early models allowed users to send coded messages to each other; the person receiving the message would call the sender by telephone. The Bravo Flex, introduced in 1986, went on to become the bestselling pager on the planet.

1987: portable CD player

A logical progression from its famous Walkman, Sony released the first portable CD player in 1984. By 1987, the company's Discman device and its many imitations were hankered after by audiophiles far and wide, and had well and truly entered the mainstream, despite costing $350 or so, around $770 in today's money.

1988: inkjet printer

Leaving the noisy dot matrix printers trailing in its wake, the HP DeskJet was the first massmarket inkjet printer. It allowed computer users to print graphics and text more quietly, at a much quicker rate and with superior quality. While it wasn’t the first of its kind to be released, the device was cheaper than competing models, which boosted its popularity hugely.

1989: handheld games console

The Game Boy was the handheld games console to have following its release in 1989. As a measure of its popularity, the entire shipment of one million units to the US sold out within a few weeks. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color eventually sold over 118 million units around the world.

1990: digital camera

The world's first commercially-available digital camera, the Dycam Model 1 went on sale in 1990. One for amateur photographers with bags of money, the camera retailed for $995, around $1,900 in today's money, and could only produce black and white images with a maximum resolution of 0.09 megapixels.

1991: color scanner

The hottest piece of tech to launch in 1991, HP's ScanJet IIC could produce relatively hi-res color images at up to 800-dpi, which was a big breakthrough. It didn't come cheap though. At $1,995, which is $3,650 in today's money, the device was prohibitively expensive for many people.

1992: laptop

It might not have been the first laptop, but the IBM ThinkPad was one of the most iconic of the 1990s, despite early versions weighing a cumbersome 6kg. One of the first models, the ThinkPad 700, had a 10.4-inch color touchscreen and a meaty microprocessor, both groundbreaking features at the time.

1993: personal digital assistant

One of the first personal digital assistants, the Apple Newton was a precursor to the iPhone and offered a number of novel features, including handwriting recognition. The gadget was lauded for its innovation, but didn't sell that well on account of its extortionate cost – $700, which is around $1,300 in today's money.

1994: webcam

The original QuickCam, developed by Connectix in 1994, was the first webcam-like device to be marketed, although it wasn’t referred to as such. The original model, which was only available for the Apple Macintosh, produced 16 shades of gray at a potato-sized resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. 

1995: CD-ROM games console

When it was launched in 1995, the new 32-bit Sony PlayStation changed the world of gaming. Unlike its relatively primitive 8-bit and 16-bit predecessors, it had wow-factor 3D graphics and a CD-ROM for outstanding audio and visuals.

1996: flip cell phone

The world's first flip phone, Motorola's StarTAC was launched to a fanfare in 1996. Despite the rather steep price tag of $1,000, the handset was snapped up by over 60 million people, making it one of the first mass-market cell phones.

1997: virtual pet

If you were a kid in the late 1990s, there's a strong chance you owned one of these digital handheld pets, which no doubt died on you far too many times to count. The fad, which kicked off in 1997, spilled over into the 2000s. By 2010, over 76 million Tamagotchis had been sold worldwide.

1998: DVD player

The invention of the DVD, with its superior picture and sound quality, heralded the end for VHS. The Panasonic DVD-A300 was one of the first players available. In the early days, only 50 or so films were available to watch in the new format, including classics such as The Wizard of Oz and Goodfellas.

1999: BlackBerry

The Research in Motion company introduced the very first BlackBerry device in 1999, the Blackberry 850, which was basically a pager with email functionality. Soon, everyone from businesspeople to teens was after one and BlackBerry stayed on top until it was usurped by the iPhone in the late 2000s.

2000: GPS

The technology behind satellite navigation systems, GPS started as a US government-funded innovation and became a huge commercial success in 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton decided to fully open the network to the public. Companies such as TomTom introduced personal GPS devices, and in next to no time almost every vehicle on the road was kitted out with one.

2001: MP3 player

Listening to music on the go took an enormous step forward with the release of the iPod in 2001. Unlike portable cassette or CD players that allowed you to listen to just one album at a time, Apple's device made it possible to take your whole music library with you. No wonder so many were sold during the 2000s.

Read about the surprisingly valuable things from the year you were born