Freaks and Geeks #2

I like to see a public opinion poll.

I enjoy participating sometimes in an on line survey and do my utmost to be truthful, honest and decent in my responses so as not to distort the result in case it is actually of any significance in shaping such things as Government policy or how we are allowed to lead our lives. A sampling of any proportion of the population can have interesting connotations in terms of outcome.

I remember a survey in a school magazine in which, curiously, the best single of the year also won the category of worst single of the year and with the same phenomena being recorded for best male artist and top group. The following very extensive list and in chronological order is a very recent offering from a poll taken amongst the subscribers of The Gadget Show.

Having just seen the list myself does appear to imply that this particular group has exceeded itself in not just overall geek points but also in the display of a remarkable breadth and depth of general knowledge, social and economic development and history.

Really a very clever and astute bunch of, predominantly I contest, single males. It is therefore to be applauded as a unique opinion. Many may not agree with a number of the entries and some are indeed just plain freakish.

 My own lifetime of gadget appreciation and use began in the late 1960's and early 1970's but many of the post war inventions were to be found in the house in which I grew up in. There are no cheap and nasty items. All, bar none, are examples of inspirational and durable engineering, product design and marketing, yes even the slinky.

See what you think...........................

1913 The zip

1914 Motorised movie cameras

1915 Pyrex

1916 Electric power drill

1917 Radio tuners

1918 The superheterodyne radio circuit

1919 The pop up toaster

1920 The hairdryer

1921 The modern lie detector

1922 Electric kettle

1923 Self-winding watch

1924 Loudspeaker

1925 Modern day can opener

1926 Tevelox robot

1927 Aerosol can

1928 Baird Television Department Company television

1929 Car radio

1930 Jet engine

1931 Electric razor

1932 Electric can opener

1933 The Teasmade

1934 Zippo lighter

1935 Radar

1936 First voice recognition machine

1937 Dirt Devil

1938 The biro

1939 Helicopter

1940 Modern colour television

1941 Artificial heart

1942 The turboprop engine

1943 The Slinky

1944 Kidney dialysis machine

1945 Clock radio

1946 Disposable nappy

1947 Kenwood food mixer

1948 First pager

1949 Photo-Pac disposable camera

1950 Alkaline batteries

1951 Power steering

1952 SAGE modem

1953 Black box flight recorder

1954 Regency pocket radio

1955 Breathalyser

1956 Behind the air hearing aid

1957 Casio digital watch

1958 Pacemaker

1959 Black and Decker cordless drill

1960 Stereos/hi-fis

1961 Kodak Instamatic

1962 LED

1963 The Telefunken 'mouse'

1964 Plasma television – University of Illinois

1965 Y. Hatano’s pedmoter

1966 El-Gi 1:12 Ferrari radio controlled car

1967 Polaroid

1968 Smoke detector

1969 The Internet

1970 Digital thermometer

1971 Busicom LE-120A Handy pocket calculator

1972 Multi socket power plug

1973 The Ethernet

1974 Breville sandwich maker

1975 Kodak digital camera

1976 Lithium batteries

1977 Mattel Electronic Football

1978 Victor HR-3300REK - first UK VHS video recorder

1979 Texas Instruments Speak and Spell

1980 Sony Walkman

1981 Epson HX-20 - the world's first laptop

1982 Sony Watchman - CD player

1983 Commodore 64

1984 Sony Discman

1985 The Leatherman

1986 Bose noise cancelling headphones

1987 Sony super VHS camcorder

1988 Digital mobile phones

1989 World Wide Web

1990 Nintendo Game Boy

1991 Nintendo SNES

1992 Palm Pilot

1993 Dyson vacuum cleaner

1994 Digital cordless telephone /Mega Drive

1995 PlayStation 1

1996 Audio Highway - world's first MP3 player

1997 Motorola StarTac

1998 Panasonic portable DVD player

1999 DVR by TiVo

2000 The Trek Tech/IBM - flash drive

2001 Apple iPod

2002 PlayStation 2

2003 Blackberry 6210

2004 Samsung OLED TV

2005 Xbox 360

2006 ScanDisk Micro SD

2007 Apple iPhone

2008 Beats by Dre

2009 Twitter

2010 Apple iPad

2011 Kindle Fire

2012 Nexus 7

2013 PlayStation 4