portable media
I like today's gadgets just fine, but there's definitely something missing from the squeeky clean lines and soon buttonless faces of iPods and the like. I don't know exactly what that missing thing is, but I know I see it when I look at the analog, knobbed squalor found in Pocket Calculator Show's Boombox Hall of Fame. My favorites include Sanyo's 20-pound MR-X20 "Big Ben" with the sub nestled between its driver cabs; Discolite, with its multi-hued lights that flash behind speaker grills; the Sharp VZ-2500 with a record player in its face. And best of all, the musician's friend, the Sharp MR-990 Melody Searcher, with its built in Synthesizer/Keyboard/Drum Machine.
I'll be happy once the minimalist trend ends and gadgets get gnarly again.
Check the gallery, but don't miss clicking through to Pocket Calc's site for history on each.
–Brian Lam
More »
Gizmodo
We've no idea how old this image is—it's probably been floating around the internet for a while—but unless we see any other possible entries, we're going to award this the Most Ghetto Car Stereo Ever trophy. If you've got an old beater from the 1970s or '80s, you can actually make your own! I know! It's seriously making a statement to potential stereo thieves. A statement that says, "really, your self-esteem is low enough that you'll steal THIS? How about I just give you five bucks and we call it even?" [My Confined Space via Gearfuse via Tech Digest]
