1980s

Vintage Cheese: Nothing Says Holidays Like a Family High on Technology

Hands up if you’re taking a laptop home this weekend to escape family craziness by jumping online for a while. Me too. But if you believe these bizarre 1980s ads, computers were meant to foster an age of dazed family-togetherness. Sure, the Wii might actually have a shot at keeping awkward conversation to a minimum,…

Tech News Danny Allen Nov 23

Twilight 80s Edition Imagines Sparkly Bloodsucking River Phoenix

If Twilight had been made in the 1980s, there would have been Brat Packers and teen heartthrobs aplenty to step into Robert Pattinson’s sparkly shoes. MTV imagines Twilight’s alternate 80s cast, complete with Kiefer Sutherland and werewolf Johnny Depp. [MTV]

io9 Lauren Davis Aug 31

Holy Crap, They’re Making a Lego Movie!

Variety reports that Warner Brothers is developing a Lego movie that will be “a family comedy that will mix live action and animation.” An “action adventure set in a Lego world.” Let’s hope it doesn’t put a buzz kill on my childhood memories the way GI Joe and Transformers have. Dan Lin, who is shepherding…

Movies Danny Allen Aug 13

The Secret of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” Forward Leaning Move

The late King of Pop pioneered dance moves that looked mechanical and weren’t, like the moonwalk, and at least one that looked mechanical and was: The forward-leaning maneuver from his “Smooth Criminal” video. The secret is all in the shoes. Trying to lean beyond one’s center of gravity normally leads to a giant, awkward step…

Tech News Dan Nosowitz Jun 25

Nintendo Service Training Video Explains that All Customers Are Idiots, Even Celebrities

According to this classic Nintendo service training video, it’s damned near impossible for the NES to fail…unless the customer broke or misused it. Even poor old John Billingsley can’t get a break! [via Kotaku]

Tech News Mark Wilson Feb 4

Entertainment Industry: Please Stop Pandering To My Generation!

When did I first realize that Generation-X nostalgia was a driving the entertainment industry off a cliff? First all the toys I’d broken were suddenly on the big screen, thrashing each other and cursing loudly. Then the cartoons I learned to masturbate while watching were being acted out – with gravitas – by real actors.…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jul 16

Music Vest Ad from the ’80s is Probably the Pinnacle of Gadget Advertising

Back in the year 1984, there was no Gizmodo to warn you away from lousy gadgets. Instead, you had to take your chances on products that you saw on TV. If you actually sent away $34.95 for one of these Music Vests after seeing the commercial, however, you get no sympathy from me. Although it…

Gadgets Adam Frucci May 21

Please Don’t Give Us Another Knight Rider

Hollywood is deep into pre-production on a new Knight Rider series, due to the success of theTransformers movie. This 1980s show about sentient supercar K.I.T.T. who was equipped with artificial intelligence and fought “those outside the law” alongside his driver Michael Knight enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the 1980s, but there has been…

io9 Kevin Kelly Nov 16

Buy One LaserTour, Get the Lay-Dee for Free

This is leisure, 1982-style. The Perceptronics LaserTour consisted of an industrial-quality LaserDisc player, an exercise bike and a 45-inch video projector. The faster you pedalled, the faster the scenery went by. The faster the scenery went by, the thinner your thighs got. The thinner your thighs got, the happier you were. Was that really how…

Tech News AddyDugdale Jun 26

Atari Memorabilia to Go Under the Hammer in NYC Today

Sotheby’s is holding a sale of Americana at its auction house in New York today. One of the lots on offer is described as “an extensive archive of original marketing materials from the ‘Golden Age’ of Atari.” So, if you want 135 large file folders stuffed full of original sketches, early designs and proofs of…

Tech News Ad Dugdale Jun 21

Mario Rubik’s Cube Combines Best, Worst of 80s

Here we have two of the biggest cultural phenomenons of the 1980s together at last: Mario and the Rubik’s Cube. One of these things is still a beloved part of both children of the 80s and current children’s lives; the other, well, it’s kind of kitchy, I guess. Personally, seeing Mario all over a Rubik’s…

Gadgets Adam Frucci Feb 21

80s Tech Retrospective

Howstuffworks put together a sweet retrospective on technology that became popular in the 80s. Among them: PCs, VCRs, cable television, cell phones, camcorders, video game consoles—all things that were eventually used to deliver pornography to the masses. It’s interesting for our younger readers to get a glimpse into the past. Your iPod’s grandfather was an…

Tech News Jason Chen May 18

Vintage Cheese: Nothing Says Holidays Like a Family High on Technology

Twilight 80s Edition Imagines Sparkly Bloodsucking River Phoenix

Holy Crap, They’re Making a Lego Movie!

The Secret of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” Forward Leaning Move

Nintendo Service Training Video Explains that All Customers Are Idiots, Even Celebrities

Entertainment Industry: Please Stop Pandering To My Generation!

Music Vest Ad from the ’80s is Probably the Pinnacle of Gadget Advertising

Please Don’t Give Us Another Knight Rider

Buy One LaserTour, Get the Lay-Dee for Free

Atari Memorabilia to Go Under the Hammer in NYC Today

Mario Rubik’s Cube Combines Best, Worst of 80s

80s Tech Retrospective

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

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