Back in the day, kids were happy with the simple things. Parents didn’t give their children iPhones and iPads – but times have changed. Let’s take a walk down memory lane at some of the so-called high tech gadgets of the 90s.
High Tech Gadgets of the 90s
- Talkboy: This little toy was first made popular by the clever Kevin McAllister in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. After this movie came out, TIGER began making this toy and eventually released it in 1993. The Talkboy was a handheld cassette player with a microphone attached so you could play things back instantly. So, what made it so cool? It had a fast/slow pitch to adjust the speed of your voice, which caused the recording to sound like either a chipmunk or just plain evil.
- Yak Bak: This toy was supposed to be just a compact version of the Talkboy, but was designed by Yes! Gear. It only had two functions: Record your voice with the “Say” button, then hear it back with the “Play” button. The fun didn’t last too long.
- Tamagotchi: What kid didn’t have this little trinket? The Bandai product from 1996 was a digital pet that middle school teachers hated, and eventually had banned from class. This eventually led to the poor Tamagotchi pet becoming malnourished and sadly dying. Can you say teenage angst?
- Easy Bake Oven: Every little girl had the Easy Bake Oven back in the day. It baked yummy little treats with an incandescent light bulb, until it was replaced with a heating element in 2003. Hasbro even made a boy version in 2002 called the “Queasy Bake Cookerator” which really doesn’t sound too appetizing. Those pastries turned your mouth green.
- VideoNow: This device was made by TIGER and played PVD discs in black and white for about 30 minutes, just enough for a kids show. However, VideoNow didn’t have skip protection and had a really tiny screen so it didn’t become all that successful.
- HitClips: HitClips played one-minute clips of songs on devices made by TIGER, which were first promoted by McDonald’s. The first artists to get started with HitClips were Britney Spears and ‘N Sync, of course, since they were so popular at the time. Kids even traded the HitClips, kind of like Pokemon cards.
High Tech Gadgets of the 90s
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