I want my MTV…in stereo! On our radio show this week, Jay and Paul discuss the rise of cable television in the ’70s and through the ’80s. We recall the early days of Home Box Office, WOR, WTBS and WSBK…dial & push button cable boxes, and the infamous descrambler boxes. We’re fortunate enough to have a commercial from 1983 that aired on local tv stations for MTV, broadcasting in stereo.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. This is what gaming giant Atari was marketing in 1986: chintzy, credit card size calculators. They were down, but not totally beaten for in 1989 they re-released their 2600 game system and enjoyed modest success.
This little pocket device has a seemingly endless list of functions: 115 name & telephone number directory; search functions; clock and calendar; credit card number storage; security lock…oh, and it’s a phone dialer. Store a phone number, hold it up to a telephone receiver, push a button and this little gadget will “dial” the number for you by sending the DTMF tones.
Here’s a terrific little Casio MQ-10, we presume to of mid ’70s vintage. It offers the traditional calculator features, as well as a timer and chronograph with alarm. This was to be worn as a necklace, so we presume women were the target customer group for this attractive little model.
We’ll continue with the “calc-cessory” theme with this little keychain calculator by Zykkor. What a nice little all-metal model, only slightly larger than a set of car keys.
Very powerful calculator by Sanyo, but not for its computational power…this one’s a world time clock! We’ve got dual time, stopwatch, alarm, six function calculator with memory..so much in such a small package. Perhaps that’s why they engineered the on/off switch on the back. Lithium batteries were a rarity in personal electronics at the time, they provided plenty of power for infrequent replacement and no leaking.
Polaroid attempted this product promotion for its 600 series film back in 1986 or so. There was a matching transistor radio too, and each was bundled in with the film as a freebie. This little wallet calculator is solar-powered and has membrane keys. These things will last forever in the right environment–no significant moving parts, no battery cells to corrode. And the price is right!
The credit-card size CB-700 by Casio is part of the personal finance line. The unit easily fits into a wallet or checkbook and has functions that aid in checkbook calculations. There’s even a little locking mechanism that prevents unwanted views on personal information.
This little card calculator has a most unusual capability: it’s a New York City direction finder! Plug in an address number, and this baby will give you the nearby cross streets, essential for navigation in Manhattan.
This is the Sharp EL-1195, aka the ThinMan. At only 14mm thick, its built-in printer was indeed incredible for its day. Sharp’s early LCD calculators, including the ThinMan were part of the ELSI MATE line.
