Wednesday 7 June 2006

50 greatest gadgets

PC World has a list of the top fifty gadgets of the last half-century that make the world a better place -- none of them, interestingly enough, invented in North Korea, the Soviet bloc, feudal Africa, Easter Island or the Victoria University Womens Studies Department.

Thank Galt for freedom and capitalist ingenuity, eh?

You can start the list with number 41-50, explore by decade, or you can dive straight in and find out their number one.

UPDATE: Yalnikim asks below how many of these objects that have helped the pursuit of happiness do readers actually own. (I paraphrase a little.) For mine, I can say I own or have owned an Instamatic, a Polaroid, a digital calculator, a video camera, a walkman, a computer, a Motorola StarTAC, Intellimouse... If he's willing to stand by his claim that he's never bought any one of them, (or any derivative thereof) then I'm willing to say he's, well, perhaps just a little economical with the truth.

LINK: The 50 greatest gadgets of the past 50 years - PC World [Hat tip Stephen Hicks]

TAGS: Geek_Stuff, Science, Ethics

2 comments:

Stu as "Stu" said...

Yep, these all certainly have helped the advancement of civilisation. Thanks to the I-pod we can now snowboard all day and without having to change tapes or skip tracks.

I'm pleased to say I've never been sucked into buying a single one of these, and my life is no worse for it (not that I'm saying your life is worse for having any of them, I'm sure it's better).

Anonymous said...

I don't see a vibrator listed in those gadgets. It must be one of the greatest invention of the last century .