Our last blog highlighted some of the
hottest products from the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show. This annual event
showcases innovative and intriguing products, it also platforms downright weird
items from time to time. We’ve trawled through some of the
wackiest goods to be introduced to the general public over the years, see if
you remember any of the following items.
FM Stereo headset – Today, if you want
to listen to music as you walk about you just plug in your iPod, MP3 or listen
to music through your phone. Back in the late 1960s/early 1970s you didn’t have
this luxury, instead you head a FM Stereo Handset which was basically massive
set of headphones that had giant aerials sticking out of the top! People
resembled Martians as they walked about listening to disco and the other cool
grooves from the time.
Voice-activated calculator – If you have
good eyesight the big question you need to ask yourself is why on earth would
you require a voice-activated calculator? I mean, how hard can it be to punch a
few buttons on a ‘normal’ calculator when you are trying to add or subtract
figures? Panasonic thought the calculator would be a huge hit in 1982 but they
kind of got their sums all wrong!
Duck phone – How would you like a phone
that looked like a duck and quacked every time somebody rang you at work?
People went quackers (sorry) for the duck phone in 1987, it was made from wood
(obviously) and you can probably still find the odd one lying about if you
search curio shops or hit the internet. Expect a big bill though!
Telephone-programmable VCR – Before
BluRay we had DVD, before DVD we had Video cassettes. They were complicated to
programme, they chewed tapes and they were a nightmare to set up if you wanted
to record a programme whilst you was out. Advanced Video Dynamics came up with
a solution in 1986 with a telephone-programmable VCR. Consumers could programme
their VCRs via a landline back in the 1980s, today you can set your skybox to
record using a smartphone so the idea obviously stuck!
