"J. Clarke" wrote:

Jon Elson wrote:

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years ....do you agree?

Any that you think they overlooked?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2005...E0BHNlYwN0bWE-


What IMBECILE came up with this list? They are all TOYS!

And variations on toys. The cell phone belongs on the list. And the PDA
and the CD. Not endless variations of them though. DVD I'm not sure--it's
really a growth version of the CD. VHS perhaps--it's what brought
recordable video to the masses, still it's in a sense a growth version of
an audio cassette. ABS--while it existed for aircraft for a long time it
was Mercedes opening their ABS patents that let to its being adopted widely
in the automotive industry. When was the radial-ply tire invented? The
first NC machine and the first industrial robot were both demonstrated in
1955 so not sure whether to count them in "the last 50 years". Manned
spaceflight isn't a "gadget" but it's certainly a major achievement.

Let's see, the jet engine is probably just a bit too old to stay on the
list.

Yep. In service in WWII.

And, I guess the transistor has run off the edge, too. The
integrated circuit is still less than 50 years old. Microwave
oven? The internet? Solid state computers? Silicon memory technology?
Disk drives? laser printers? Ink jet printers? VCRs? Lasers?
CAT scanners, MRI, ultrasound?

Oh, I get it! Gadgets! Not just inventions, but gadget as "useless
gott-have-it junk". OK, now the list makes sense.

It really looks like something some kid composed.

Jon

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--John
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(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)


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Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida