This was the first video game to try to get a patent and took up most of a living room. The game had a giant CRT screen that had knobs that the player could use to control the velocity and direction of a dot on screen. The dot was supposed to represent a missile in flight. The concept was based on radar that was used by the military in WWII to control missiles.

The patent was field on the game on January 25 1947. The score for the game was kept by hand. Apparently, it never went into production, and Eventually the technology Goldsmith and Mann developed was used in the mainframe computers of the day. It wouldn’t be until 1958 when Tennis for Two emerged, and eventually the first commercial video game – Computer Space debuted in 1971.

[via gizmag]

My, how far we have come.

[Flickr via Boing Boing]

The retro-styled LG Serie 1 television doesn’t just look like an old set, it actually uses good old CRT technology. No schmancy flat screens here, just a old-fashioned 4:3 aspect ratio cathode ray tube for you to watch your reruns of I Love Lucy on.

The set features a 14-inch diagonal screen, complete with rabbit-ear antennae and chrome legs. It even has old-school knobs for changing channels and adjusting volume. However, this set has a modern digital tuner, composite video for your retro video game console, and a wireless remote so it’s not completely antique tech.

For extra fun, you can flip the television between full color, black & white and sepia tone modes:

The sets are available in the orange color shown above (model 14SR1EB) and a dark brown (model 14SR1DB). At this point the LG Serie 1 Retro Classic TV is currently only available in Korea, where it currently retails for 249,000 KRW (appx. $216 USD).

[photos: EarlyShop]

As it’s name implies, the CheckMaster was used to balance checks. The calculator itself is embedded in a folding case, perfect for storing a checkbook. The CheckMaster can store the latest result or balance even after it’s turned off, quite remarkable for a calculator that was built in the early- to mid-seventies. Also remarkable, but in a bad way, is the fact that the CheckMaster could only add and subtract, and yet it required 6 AAA batteries. 6! The storage function probably sapped most of the juice.

But not all of the old calculators look as boring – or as brown – as the CheckMaster, some are geeky yet cool, like calculator watches. Wrist calculators, on the other hand, are just geeky. Wrist calculators crank the geek up to 11 x 10²³ . Wearing one is a sign that you’re too smart for your own good. One such watch, the Quik-Check, is not only a bully magnet, it’s also a dumbbell for your wrist, because it required a freakin’ 9 volt battery to function.

The Quik-Check is also a 70s baby – the one featured here was made in 1977 -  so it also has red LEDs and the brown theme going on.

For me, one of the few rewarding aspects of studying any kind of history is when I discover that some things have always been the way they are. Well not always-always, but you know what I mean. Case in point: the Calcu-pen. On one hand, this calculator has a comically simple yet functional name: it’s a calculator embedded in a pen, therefore it’s a calcu-pen. It’s a nice contrast to the nonsensical names of gadgets today, weird shit like Zune, Bravia, or Zii Egg Plaszma. On the other hand, it’s a calculator embedded in a pen.

Here’s how it works: “The buttons are 4-way switches. To operate, a finger is placed on a button and moved sideways in the direction of the number or operation required.” Rather than get a slight headache trying to analyze the hows and whys of this device, let’s go back to my “discovery”: what’s so familiar about the Calcu-pen? Nothing really; it’s people behind such an absurd device that comes as no surprise: the Calcu-pen was made around 1975 by Brando a Japanese company. See? Calculators can be interesting after all. You just wasted a couple of minutes of your life by reading this post! Check out the museum for more pics and information that you will not be able to use unless you’re planning on joining Jeopardy.

[via Retro Thing]

The seller “mywantlist”, is offering both an original super-rare yellow Computer Space machine (only 1800 made), and one of the slightly less rare green models that came out after the initial popularity of the 1st gen. Both were made by Nutting Associates all the way back in 1971. I especially love the original manual, complete with mention of “Nolan K. Bushnell,Chief Engineer.”

The yellow machine is still functional, although it has a blurry picture. Unfortunately the green monster is only outputting some sounds and a “rolling picture”, so you’ll have to know something about game repair if you really want to get it working again. On the plus side, it’s the two player version, so if you ever get it working, you can take on an opponent.

The yellow one currently has a bid of $2499, but will probably climb over the next couple of days. The green one is only at $1499, so you might want to bid on that one if you’re more of a cheapskate when it comes to your classic arcade systems. While you’re over there, be sure to check out mywantlist’s other auctions, because he’s clearing house on some other rare retro arcade games too.

[via gamovr]

Gotcha! This relic from 1980 wasn’t made by Apple at all. In fact the first MAC was made by a little company called Entex Electronics. Upon further inspection of the photos, it looks like this wasn’t just the first MAC, it was the first MAC Mini!

Check out the specs on this bad boy:

• Many pre-programmed sub-routines included
• Easy-to-read 16 LED display matrix
• 8-digit fluorescent numeric display
• Full 4-function calculator, with memory
• TMS 1600 N2LL Micro-processor
• TMS 1170 NLHL Micro-processorTMS 1024 NLL Input/Output Expander
• 6,000 Bytes of ROM
• 1,024 Bits of RAM

Did you hear that? 6 THOUSAND Bytes of ROM and over 1 THOUSAND Bits of RAM.  Wow. Entex was truly ahead of their time. Even Apple wasn’t innovative enough to include an Organ/Piano/Off switch on their Macs.

Best of all, you can get your hands on this rare early MAC. It’s currently up for bid on eBay, with a starting price of just 99 cents! For some reason, I think the asking price just went up.

Amazingly enough, PC enthusiast Hackerman1 got his old 266 MHz Pentium II machine loaded up with Windows 7 Ultimate. The machine has a paltry 96MB of RAM, and a lowly 4MB graphic card, and it still managed to work. He tried dialing it down all the way to 64MB, but eventually ran out of memory. Sure, the Windows Experience Index is only 1.0 on this system, but isn’t that what you’ve come to expect from Windows anyhow?  At least with Windows 98 and Vista, that was the consensus.

Next up, Hackerman1 plans on dusting off his old 166MHz Pentium I machine and seeing if he can make the Windows 7 OS work on that one. However, I’m not easily impressed, so until he gets it running on an old IBM PCJr, I won’t be truly in awe.

[The Windows Club via Maximum PC]

Stunt Granny is a remote-controlled little old lady, strapped to a miniature motorized wheelchair. (You’ve gotta love the flame job on the sides, no?) The remote uses a joystick controller to steer her through a variety of obstacles, and offers a handy “Turbo” button for when gran needs to make a speedy getaway.

Packed right in the box are a number of props for the chair’s octogenarian occupant to navigate through, including a tiny wheelchair ramp for jumps, and a bunch of little grocery store items for you to knock over as you direct her through her death-defying feats a la Evel Knieval (who would be just about as old if he were still with us).

So what are you waiting for? You can get your hands on your own little daredevil senior citizen over on WowZZers for about $25.

The guys over at Modern Mechanix dug up this priceless gem of a photo from the June 1970 issue of Popular Science. It showed a prototype for a newspaper facsimile printer, dubbed the “Electronic newsboy”. Toshiba described the printer as a device which could crank out one double-sided news page every six minutes and would sell for about $300 (with inflation, that would be a bit over $1600 today).

It looks a bit like a microwave oven gone berserk to me. I wonder if it printed the movie section when you pressed the popcorn button.

Second Rotation provides all the tools you need to quickly estimate the value of your old gadgets, ship them and cash out. Unlike eBay auctions, Second Rotation takes care of picking up your old items and paying you as soon as they receive the item. There’s no direct selling, and you don’t have to pay fees, deal with unreliable buyers or the possibility that your item won’t sell at all.

Their online product estimator works sort of like a “blue book” for electronics, automatically pricing your item based on things like features, completeness of accessories, age and condition. While I couldn’t find every gadget ever made in their database, I’m sure they’ll be adding more as time progresses.

Once you submit your item information, they’ll send DHL to pick it up and ship it back to them. After they have it in their hands and confirm that it’s what you said it was, they’ll send you a check or PayPal the money to you. All in all, it takes about 5 to 10 days from when they receive your item to when you get your cash.

Since the company does act as a middleman in your transaction, don’t expect to make what you could on eBay by yourself. However, if you’re looking for a fast, hassle-free way to unload your old tech, this service is definitely worth a look.

[via Coolest Gadgets]

I especially like the keycaps that have paper labels with a mix of cryptic English and Cyrillic characters on them. It comes complete with some original software tapes, a terrible looking joystick and worst power brick I’ve seen since the one that comes with the Xbox 360.

The auction currently has a bid of just $1.25 (but the reserve hasn’t yet been met,) so get your bids in now!

It’s also quite good for sucking all the metal fillings out of their heads. I’m pretty sure that Phil Ken Sebben got his start this way. (Adult Swim reference.)

[via Modern Mechanix via Boing Boing]