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Awesome Retro

Projects CD Watch

Projects CD Watch
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This clever wristwatch from Projects lets you rewind to the 1990s every time you check the time. Designed in collaboration with pop artist Riki Prosper, the 40mm watch has a spinning holographic effect layer that makes it look like a Compact Disc. The Play button indicates the hour, while Pause shows the minutes. Watch the disc spin on Instagram.

Retro Tech: Mastervoice Butler in a Box

Retro Tech: Mastervoice Butler in a Box

Artificial intelligence has become a major subject of today’s technology conversations. In 1983, one company marketed an early smart home product designed to control home appliances via voice control like Siri or Alexa. Kevin from Popular Science got his hands on the costly Butler in a Box to explain how it worked without Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or the Internet.

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Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (Trailer)

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (Trailer)

Jeff Minter is the mind behind video game classics like Gridrunner, Attack of the Mutant Camels, Tempest 2000, and Polybius. Known for his offbeat and psychedelic style, 42 of his games have been collected into this interactive documentary, which lets you learn about their creator then play the games. Coming to Switch, Xbox, PS4, PS5, and PC 3.13.2024.

Theory11 x Star Trek Playing Cards

Theory11 x Star Trek Playing Cards
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Celebrate your love for Star Trek with these official playing cards, artfully designed by Theory11. The cards come packed in a dark or light silver-foiled tuck box, with illustrations of Starfleet officers from The Original Series and the latest Trek movies on each face card. The backs have a symmetrical pattern inspired by the original Enterprise NCC-1701.

Dice-o-Matic Pocket Dice Spinner

Dice-o-Matic Pocket Dice Spinner

Yarro Studios’ mechanical dice spinner is a modern spin on a vintage gadget. Push its button, and its flywheels go spinning. Let go, and two random numbers appear in its windows. The Dice-o-Matic is made from aluminum and comes in D20/D20, D10/D10, D12/D8, D6/D4, and D6/D6 with pips. There’s also a Zoltar Dice-o-Matic decision-maker.

Time Red Retro LED Watch

Time Red Retro LED Watch

This retro digital watch features individual red LED digits just like the ones on models from the late 1970s and early 1980s. It has four 7-segment digits soldered to its face, and exposed circuitry adds to its cyber-tech looks. Its case is made from CNC-machined aluminum and has a durable sapphire crystal to protect its display.

MyArcade Atari Gamestation Portable

MyArcade Atari Gamestation Portable

After releasing its Atari Gamestation Pro retro console, My Arcade is now working on a handheld version of the 8-bit gaming system. In addition to coming with more than 200 classic Atari 2600 games, the Gamestation Portable will have a 7″ display, joystick, paddle, numeric, and mini-trackball controllers built right in. Drops Q4 2024 for $149.

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Steamboat Willie in MS-DOS

Steamboat Willie in MS-DOS

Here’s a different take on Disney’s Steamboat Willie now that it’s in the public domain. d o g took Ub Iwerks’ 1928 classic cartoon and converted it into retro pixel art animation. You can play the video now, or, of you’re feeling more ambitions, load up the DOSbox emulator and load this XDV file into XDC Play.

Retro Tech: Tomy Omnibot 2000

Retro Tech: Tomy Omnibot 2000

Science fiction has always promised us robots to do our bidding around the house. And we want more than just robot vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s, toymaker Tomy tried making a home robot with the Omnibot 2000. LGR looks at this retro automaton, which can speak, play music, and serve drinks.

Exposed Circuit Nixie Tube Clock

Exposed Circuit Nixie Tube Clock
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This unique desk clock combines vintage tech with natural looks. At its center is an exposed circuit board with vintage IV-9 Nixie tubes. A hardwood frame complements the warm orange glow of its tubes. Its circuitry includes a DS3231 clock chip and an ESP8266 wi-fi module to maintain accurate time via the internet. It measures 4.92″ x 4.92″ x 2.12″.

FiiO CP13 Portable Cassette Player

FiiO CP13 Portable Cassette Player

FiiO is known for its high-fidelity digital audio gear. Now, they’ve gone retro with the CP13, a portable cassette player that pays tribute to the classic Sony Walkman. The silvery-blue gadget works much like cassette players of yore, only playing via wired headphones, but it has a built-in rechargeable battery. Drops spring 2024 for about $150.

Hubless Electric Penny-Farthing Bike

Hubless Electric Penny-Farthing Bike

It’s not easy to ride one of those penny-farthing bicycles with the giant front wheel and tiny back wheel. Chris Makes Stuff built a modern version of the Victorian-era bike and outfitted it with a hubless front wheel and a rear-wheel electric drive unit. It works, but given how sketchy it looks, a helmet might be a good idea instead of the newsboy hat.

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The Dial-up Modem Song

The Dial-up Modem Song

Before broadband internet was a thing, we had dial-up modems. These devices used regular phone lines to send sounds that represented data, and the beeps and squeals they made when connecting were awful. But in the talented hands of remixer Eclectic Method (aka Jonny Wilson), these sounds have a certain musicality when given a backbeat.

Atari 400 Mini Game System

Atari 400 Mini Game System

The Atari 400 Mini emulates all of the classic Atari 8-bit systems, including the 400, 800XL, and Atari 5200 game consoles. The modernized system has an HDMI video output and USB controller inputs. It comes with 25 games, including Berzerk, Millipede, Miner 2049er, M.U.L.E., and Star Raiders II, and you can load more via USB. An Amazon UK exclusive.

Howard Miller Zephyr Bar Cabinet

Howard Miller Zephyr Bar Cabinet
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This unique bar cabinet from Howard Miller furniture looks like a gigantic capsule microphone. The industrial-style cabinet is made from metal and wood and features a stemware rack, two fixed shelves, and a removable rack that holds up to 16 wine bottles. Curved metal doors add visual interest and let you peep what’s inside. Measures 78″ H x 23.25″ across.

Making a Nintendo PlayStation

Making a Nintendo PlayStation

In 1994, Sony and Nintendo collaborated on an unreleased video game console that birthed the PlayStation name. While there is a rare prototype of the system, James Channel thought it would be fun to build his own. His Frankenstein’s monster of a console has the body of a Super Famicom, the brains of a PlayStation, and a sketchy exposed CD-ROM drive.

ANICORN x SEGA Genesis/MegaDrive Watches

ANICORN x SEGA Genesis/MegaDrive Watches

Celebrate classic 16-bit gaming with these SEGA Genesis and MegaDrive watches from ANICORN. The limited-edition watches come in US, EU, and JP versions to celebrate each region’s game console. The watches have a black PVD finish and a visible movement beneath a mineral glass back. Packaged in a special edition console box with a numbered metal plate.

Stuff ’80s Kids Used to Do

Stuff ’80s Kids Used to Do

Kids who grew up in the 1980s had some very different experiences than 21st-century kids. This video from Rhetty for History looks back at what youngsters did for fun, how dangerous playgrounds and cars used to be, and the primitive state of technology compared to things we take for granted today.

Future Warriors Digital Watch

Future Warriors Digital Watch
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Benlydesign’s retrofuturist watch has a stainless steel case inspired by the DeLorean DMC-12 and the Tesla Cybertruck. Its OLED display is angled towards its wearer for easy viewing without twisting your wrist and activates when you raise your arm. It also has a visible circuit board with LED lighting and comes with a matching sandblasted steel band.

Retro Analog Gauge Clock

Retro Analog Gauge Clock
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This unique tabletop clock from Iain Gellatly’s Retro Gear Laboratories displays the time on a pair of backlit analog gauges, accented with a bright Nixie tube pilot light. The Industrial version has a wood case and a steel front panel, while the Steampunk version has a vintage wine case with a brass face. It even automatically sets its time with a Wi-Fi connection.

Mouse (Gameplay Trailer)

Mouse (Gameplay Trailer)

Fumi Games’ FPS combines the black-and-white, rubber hose animation style of 1930s cartoons with high-intensity action. Think Cuphead meets Serious Sam. It doesn’t drop until 2025, but this early gameplay footage is promising. Add it to your Steam wishlist today. In case you’re wondering, Mickey’s Steamboat Willie look loses copyright protection in 2024.

Ilford Sprite 35-II Film Camera

Ilford Sprite 35-II Film Camera
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Love the grainy look of real 35mm film? It turns out you can still get compact film cameras from Ilford. The reusable Sprite 35-II Film Camera has a fixed-focus 31mm f/9 wide-angle lens and fixed 1/120s shutter speed, providing boundaries to challenge your creativity. It comes in silver/black, black/black, and silver/red versions and has a built-in flash.

ChatGPT in the 1980s

ChatGPT in the 1980s

ChatGPT is one of the most talked-about subjects of the decade. Despite its questionable accuracy, it does an amazing job of creating human-sounding text. Squirrel Monkey set their time machine to 1988 to see what the AI might have been like had OpenAI released the tech 40 years prematurely. Offline mode would have been particularly awful.

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