Awesome Retro

The Internet Archive’s ever-growing collection includes an amazing catalog of beautifully-scanned pulp magazines from throughout the 20th century. Among the classic low-budget publications are classics like Amazing Stories, IF Magazine, Weird Tales, and many more. (Warning: Link includes NSFW content.)

Hearty Hardware’s playful phone dock features a design inspired by retro payphone. But instead of putting dimes or quarters in to make a call, you just pick up your smartphone and start dialing. Its marquee lights up, and it can be ordered with or without a wireless charging dock in case you want to use your own.

Konami jumps on the retro console bandwagon with a miniature version of NEC’s classic TurboGrafx-16 (aka PC Engine). The 1987 console was definitely ahead of the pack with its arcade-quality graphics. Now it’s coming back, loaded up with 57 licensed games, from R-Type to Blazing Lazers to Bonk’s Revenge. Drops 3/19/20.

Take a trip back to the 1950s, when appliance company Westinghouse shared their vision for the “all electric” house of the future. While some of the user interfaces are incredibly dated, there are some ideas here that would find their way to homes in the 21st century – and yet others we’d still love to see.

As one commenter on YouTube put it, The Floppotron is “the most consistently good performer I’ve ever heard.” We suppose there’s something to be said for a band that’s controlled by computer. So sit back and enjoy their pristine electro-noise version of the ABBA classic Mamma Mia.

Artist and designer Love Hultén shows off another one of his amazing custom builds. This time, he took a modern Korg Minilogue analog synthesizer, and built a Commodore SX-64-inspired portable wooden enclosure to house its electronics, then outfitted with cool orange knobs, and a matching keyboard in retro shades of tan and brown.

This tabletop gadget looks like a vintage film projector, but it actually packs a modern DLP digital projector inside. It’s made from sturdy aluminum, with a tilting base. Its 10000 mAH battery means it’ll run for up to 4 hours while unplugged, and it can mirror Android or iOS devices over WiFi in addition to its HDMI input.

Makers of 2/3rd-scale arcade machines Arcade 1Up have released a cabinet that plays three classic Atari Star Wars video games based on the original trilogy. It features a 17″ color display, a 15″ arcade height riser, and is one of the only ways to play these games with the proper arcade controller. Also available from Gamestop.

If you’ve been a user of the Microsoft Windows operating system, you know that each major version has had its own unique startup and shutdown sounds. Pod was kind enough to catalog most of these musical flourishes from Windows 3.1 through Windows 10. This older video captures a few more obscure variants.

Go back to the 80s with musician Mario Mathy, aka Belgium’s “King of Synths,” as he jams out on his ridiculous rack of keyboards which would require Doc Ock’s tentacles to play at the same time. From his white outfit, to his pink headband, to his Keytar, the video is a joy to watch.

Another week, another awesome retro remix, courtesy of The Hood Internet. As we move into 1983, the hair bands are on the rise, hip hop takes hold, and pop is on a roll with Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, and Journey all blowing up the charts.

(Gore) Screen Junkies reminisces about Paul Verhoeven’s classically campy action sci-fi movie that asked the question “If I’m not me, who the hell am I?,”, literally sucked the air out of the room, introduced us to three-boobed women, and eventually went on to inspire the plot of Avatar.

If the Nintendo Entertainment System came out in the 1920s instead of the 1980s, the music its games played might have sounded a bit like the ragtime jazz piano arranged and played brilliantly here by musician Scott Bradlee.

We love the retro-modernist design of adidas bold dual-time digital timepiece. It features a pair of reverse LCD readouts, stopwatch, calendar, alarm, and light functions. Its 41mm case and band are made from stainless steel, in gold, black, or silver finishes.

Arcade1Up offers up a 2-player arcade experience in a mini cocktail cabinet. Each system has dual controls and a 17″ display. The Pac-Man editions include 8 games, while the Street Fighter units have a dozen games. The colorful versions are available from Gamestop, while the black editions are exclusive to Arcade1up.

Give your Apple AirPods a fun new home with elago’s retro-look case cover, inspired by the original 1984 Macintosh computer. The silicone wrapper features the iconic “hello.” cursive lettering on its screen, and is done up in classic beige. Compatible with wired or wireless charging cases.

Say goodbye to productivity today. Thanks to the folks at the amazing Internet Archive, you can play thousands of retro PC games right in your web browser. Their extensive software library is packed with classics like The Oregon Trail, SimCity, Prince of Persia, Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Leisure Suit Larry, and many more.

Back in 1989, Sharp took the electronics from a Nintendo Famicom 8-bit gaming system and tricked them out to create an early piece of home video wizardy – a tool that could be used to create titles and graphics to overlay on video recordings. Nostalgia Nerd got up close with this obscure gadget to see what it could do.

Techmoan managed to get his hands on an a truly 1980s gadget, unopened and in its original box. The LASER FX was a home light show that attempted to replicate the experience of a concert with a laser light show. Unfortunately, its lack of an actual laser beam was its downfall. Fortunately, these days we have the LaserCube.

The Nixt IV-17 VFD Clock is a nixie tube clock with eight tubes and colorful LED footlights. Aside from telling time, it also displays the date and the ambient temperature. You can also set it to display a custom message. Check out Nixt’s other clocks and products here.

Take another flashback to the 1980s with this compilation of neon-tinged “high-tech” logo graphics from the era. This vintage video comes from a 1981 showreel from Image West, and extensively used Scanimate, an early analog computer motion graphics system.

We love the retro ’80s looks of ION’s boombox, which pumps out big sounds from its dual full-range speakers. In addition to playing and recording cassette tapes, it can stream music via Bluetooth, and archive cassettes to a USB stick. Available now at Best Buy.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Abbey Road, their company Apple Corps collaborated with Trunk Animation to create a new music video for Here Comes The Sun. The clip takes us inside the famed Abbey Road Studios’ Studio Two, and features rare band images, and film footage shot by Linda McCartney.