What's the first "Newest Technology" you remember?

[Bekeart]

Long long ago:

We moved into a house with electricity and Dad bought a refrigerator.
Before that we had an ice box, kerosene lamps, and a battery powered radio.

Bekeart

 

[dave1918a2]

A dial phone. We just picked up the receiver and told the operator a 4 digit number and She plugged it in. Then We got a TV. and then a McD's opened in Rapid City. Wow.

 

[Babysitr]

WOW, some of you guys are older than me!!!!! there is hope!

 

[ameridaddy]

Not an all-encompassing list, but ones that stick out in my memory along my life path - probably TV, car with automatic transmission, turn signals on cars, non-party line telephone, jet plane, air conditioning (only in department stores and movie theaters), and everything after seemed to come at an accelerating pace.

 

[BC38]

In a world of smart phones, smart cars, smart etc etc etc, we often take things from our past for granted.

Now for Ed Cornett (Opefec) it was probably the percussion cap.

For me I guess it was the first handheld calculator. A TI with the most basic functions...+,-,*,/. If you put the right calculation in it and turned it upside down the display read "SHELLOIL"

What was yours?

I think that TI calculator is the SECOND one I remember.
The first was a digital watch with the same red display elements as the calculator.
But I can't say for certain which I became aware of first.

CORRECTION: I remember when aftermarket 8 track tape players for cars were the newest thing - and that was a few years before the digital watch and handheld calculator.

 

[29aholic]

I think that TI calculator is the SECOND one I remember.
The first was a digital watch with the same red display elements as the calculator.
But I can't say for certain which I became aware of first.

CORRECTION: I remember when aftermarket 8 track tape players for cars were the newest thing - and that was a few years before the digital watch and handheld calculator.

Kinda funny you said that. My second car (Mercedes 250C) had a factory 8 track player in it. I happened by a Radio Shack one day and found out they made a cassette adapter for my 8 track so I could play the more modern medium.

 

[Fishinfool]

Well, pretty much the things others have mentioned, so I'll go out on a limb and say for me, the new fangled plastic Glock pistols. It was said they could beat a metal detector at the airport (wrong), that they were "throwaway" guns that wouldn't last, cause everyone knew that real guns were all steel (wrong). I bought an early model 19, a friend a 17. We both still have and shoot them, and these days a steel framed semi is considered by many a dinosaur...

After years of using a compass and map hunting, and a LORAN in my boat, the first handheld Garmin GPS was a real game changer.

Larry

 

[kamloops67]

Microwave oven for me
I was about 8 or so and the neighbours got one
All of us kids were talking about it and the story got so messed up with the retelling that i thought a turkey dinner could be done in 7 seconds haha

 

[6518John]

I would have long expected some of this crew to say “fire” or “the wheel.”

 

[kamloops67]

First I recall, was multi band radio.

The best I recall, is velcro.


.

They got velcro cowboy boots now ?

 

[6518John]

They got velcro cowboy boots now ?

Velcro is how he keeps that big hat on!

 

[timjake]

Color TV. We were one of the first families in the neighborhood to get one. 1964 or 1965.

 

[KAC]

As kids we were so excited when the family got a telephone with a dial. Not because of the dial, but it had the curled up handset cord. What a disappointment when the installer removed that cord and replaced it with the old uncurled cord.

 

[Rock185]

Our brand new Admiral black and white television. One local station. Came on at 6:00 PM with a test pattern so we could tune in the picture, Signed off at midnight with the National Anthem. Some years later, the latest in high tech; a transistor radio that would fit in my pocket

 

[misswired]

I would have long expected some of this crew to say “fire” or “the wheel.”

HaHa.......heated forceps!

Told y'all before I have a memory like an elephant

 

[Rustyt1953]

The color wheel for the Christmas tree.

 

[Sevens]

Great thread, I’ve enjoyed every post!

We got cable TV pretty early, that was a game changer. And then a VCR, and I was the only one in the house that could program it and time-shift TV shows. In 1983 I used my own saved up Christmas money (for YEARS) to buy a Commodore 64. I think I was 11 years old.

 

[Grayfox]

I've been around for a lot of this stuff. Great new technology for its time. But the one that stands out in my mind was the Princess telephone with an extra long cord. Light, trim and you could take it into the next room for "private" conversations.

 

[Sevens]

I had an Uncle that showed up to either Thanksgiving or Christmas with a DIGITAL wrist watch, holy cow! Press a button and bright red LED would tell you the time, I was blown away. I ran around all over the house just as I always did but maybe once or twice each hour, I'd seek him out, he would hold out his wrist and I got to push the button and check the time.

 

[rwsmith]

Sputnik

I was just a young 'un, but our Dad told us about it.