Tag: 1970s

Got mad paper, scissor and tape skills? How about a fondness for old school video games and computers? Then have I got a fun afternoon project for you. Graphic designer Marshall Alexander’s cutout characters includes a veritable menagerie fantastical creatures and critters all made from boxy paper cutouts, but his latest series, Foldskool Heroes 3, has got to be my favorite.

Remember that goopy green gunk you used to play with when you were a kid? No not your nose goblins. It was called Slime, and it was the number one gross-out toy back in the day.

I can’t think of any better way to connect my mix tape USB flash drive to my computer than to plug it into this retro cassette tape USB hub. The 4-port USB 2.0 hub may look exactly like an old school cassette tape, but I can pretty much assure you that you’ll wreck your tape player if you attempt to pop this thing in and listen to it.

While the daytime is warm and summery around these parts, it doesn’t stop me from catching the occasional chill at bedtime. So what better way to keep warm but with a Space Invaders quilt? Emily from Carolina Patchworks is at it again with another one of her pixel-y good video game quilts, this time with those pesky monochrome 8-bit invaders coming in for a landing.

I was researching a different story altogether, when I came across these awesome desktop speakers which look like little disco dancers. At first glance, I actually thought they looked like South Park’s Eric Cartman dressed up like fat Elvis with a jumbo 1970s ‘fro.

These DIY headphones look fantastic! I can only (probably erroneously) assume the sound quality matches the look. Flickr user j.rusten furniture studio shared the story behind these headphones he made for himself. He says, “I adapted a pair of normal safety earphones for speakers, and added a vintage look.

In a not-too-obvious attempt to avoid a cease and desist letter from Taito’s copyright attorneys, these fun video game inspired lamps go by the nom de plume “Space Intruderz”, rather than the “Invaders” moniker more befitting these pixelated luminaires.

What better way to break up the monotony of trolling the aisles of the grocery store than with a little video game action? The guys at this funky Milwaukee, Wisconsin grocery store are happy to oblige with an in-store Atari 2600 lounge.

Not to be outdone by the edible Atari 2600 joystick, the pastry artisans from Los Angeles’ Cakes by the Pound went all out when they created this delectable Atari-inspired masterpiece. An awesome work of baked goodness, everything you see in the picture is edible other than the board that the cake sits on.

Ever wonder what a Mario game would have looked like if it came out on the Atari 2600 instead of the NES? The guys over at Geekstir dug up this great clip which shows off what that serious visual downgrade would have done for the game.

These great 8-bit inspired t-shirts remind me of the wonderful simplicity and joy of the early days of video gaming. Designed by Stuart Witts, the shirts feature big, bold, blocky images of either a pair of black and white race cars or a bright green soccer player.

For those of you out there who aren’t big fans of electronic paper devices like the Amazon Kindle and Sony’s e-Reader, just be thankful that we didn’t end up in an alternative universe where this was the way you’d receive your daily newspaper.

Unless you’re as ancient as me, you might not remember the earliest LED watches from back in the 1970s. Now you can own a remake of one of the most clean, minimal LED timepieces from that era.

Breaker, breaker, any of you got your ears on out there? This wacky invention out of Japan lets you use your cell phone like an old CB radio. The Taito Transceiver hooks up to your mobile phone’s headset jack and lets you communicate with all the other truckers in your convoy.

Who needs an LCD headrest screen and an Xbox 360 for each passenger in their car anyway? Here’s the proper way to outfit your ride with gaming tech. This 1979 Buick Riviera has all the style and class you’d expect from a pimped out vehicle.

Here’s a rare find over on eBay. It’s an early PONG machine, circa 1973. The game was made by SYZYGY for Atari. The machine is in surprisingly good condition for an arcade game made nearly 35 years ago.