These clunky "firsts" will leave you hungry for a game of Duck Hunt and your favorite cassette. Or possibly send you scrambling to hug your sleek iPhone while giving thanks for the goodness that is modern technology.

In an era when companies are getting focused, trimmer, leaner, Panasonic has unapologetically taken the stance that more is more. Thousands of products? Try a million. This is old school everythingism, and I kind of love it.

With AmazonBasics, the online retail giant is jumping headfirst into the consumer electronics space with its own private line of low-cost accessories.

I know "All Giz Wants" are supposed to be fantasies involving shiny objects, but this really is my fantasy: I'd like high-def disc players that don't flash "unreadable" error messages, receivers that can pull music from a network without headaches—in general, home electronics that aren't shacked by Ethernet plugs,…