These old and obsolete tech products actually make great gifts
This holiday season, while everyone else is giving and receiving the year’s hottest new tech items, why not do something a little different?
Give the gift of old and absolutely out-of-date technology to the geek in your life this year! (We're not kidding.)
iPhones and iPads are more expensive than ever. The latest video game console bundles are already sold out. And the techie who already has all the newest gear is expecting you to give them that annual iTunes gift card. Change it up; surprise your loved one with the gift of retro technology.
Here are a few gift ideas that will have you reminiscing about the good old days and leave your gift recipient’s mouth agape (which could be good or bad, but it’ll certainly be fun!).
1) Talkboy
Who doesn’t love the movie Home Alone? The Christmas film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a boy accidentally left behind to defend his home from a pair of burglars while his parents go on holiday vacation. It was such a hit, you probably didn’t even need that summary because everyone knows Home Alone. It even brought us the rare good sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. And along with that sequel came the product tie-in known as Talkboy.
Originally nothing more than a gaudy movie prop, some genius decided to make a working version of the voice-changing tape cassette recording device Kevin uses in the movie. They slapped the recorders with Home Alone branding and sold them in Toys ‘R’ Us stores around the country during the 1992 holiday shopping season.
With cassette tapes and the Walkman making a big comeback this year, I say it’s time to herald in the return of the Talkboy too. In Home Alone 2, Kevin uses his Talkboy to fool the employees of the Plaza Hotel into believing they’re talking to his dad. I cannot think of a better retro tool to bring back in our current age of fake news and hacking through social engineering.
Not only is the tech functional, but it would also be the perfect gift for any fan of Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin, or leaving your kid behind while you go on vacation!
Price: Less than $100 on eBay
2) Casio Calculator watch
This year, Apple released the new Apple Watch Series 4 to rave reviews. From making calls and sending texts to monitoring your health, the latest model of the Apple Watch adds even more power to what is essentially a watch-sized computer for your wrist.
The starting price of the Apple Watch Series 4 is $399.
However, for about $380 less, you can get your intended holiday gift recipient a computerized watch and also transport them back to a time when wearing a computer on your wrist made you a huge nerd.
The Casio calculator watch was actually pretty cool when it first came out in the '80s, and it's still pretty cool today. Everyone else may be wearing an expensive Apple Watch, but you can tabulate the restaurant tip on your wrist just like they can — and for under $20.
Price: $17.99 at Target
3) Hand crank radio
Hi, folks. Alex Jones, here. One of the best ways to listen to InfoWars now that it’s been literally banned from YouTube, iTunes, and nearly every other online platform is the old-fashioned way — terrestrial radio! In the event that society finally collapses, you’ll need a radio that doesn’t depend on the electric grid. That’s where a hand-crank radio comes in! Available now for only $69.95 at InfoWars Shop dot com.
Note: Please don’t actually purchase a hand-crank radio from conspiracy crank Alex Jones. But they do make for a neat retro tech gift! Check out all the cool-looking hand-crank emergency radios here, where the majority are actually much cheaper than $70.
Price: Most range from $15-$70 on Amazon
4) Digital antenna
If you’re looking for the most practical item on this list, here it is: Before cable television, you needed an antenna to watch TV. Then we all got cable. Now, thanks to services like Netflix and streaming devices like Roku, everyone’s looking to cut the cord — so we’re going to want that antenna back.
A digital antenna isn't exactly retro in and of itself, but the function it performs can certainly be considered that. Back in the day, your grandparents needed an antenna to watch their favorite soaps. That's not required to watch shows on-demand through your favorite streaming services, but you can give the gift of old-fashioned, live television programming to anyone for the one-time cost of about $20 now. ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and a slew of other networks are absolutely free to watch through the magic of public airwaves.
Price: $19.29 for a top-reviewed digital antenna on Amazon
5) Tamagotchi
The Tamagotchi craze swept the U.S. in 1997. Back then, everyone wanted the little egg-shaped device with a digital pet living within its LCD screen. While the Tamagotchi never really left, the fervor certainly died down over the years.
Then, this year, Bandai re-released the Original Tamagotchi, the same one that propelled itself into pop culture history in the '90s. While there are some new features and designs, those that mimic the OG Tamagotchi are close enough that one could easily assume Bandai had stumbled upon an old warehouse that had been storing these little eggs for more than a decade.
Price: $19.99 on Amazon
6) Game & Watch
While we’re on the subject of handheld gaming and LCD screens, who can forget Game & Watch?
Nintendo’s first foray into handheld gaming back in the '80s, this slim, rectangular electronic device was the company’s first real success and paved the way for the eventual release of the GameBoy.
There were a number of Game & Watch models in the line, with each device featuring a different game. Mr. Game & Watch, as he later became known, was the large-headed, flat, cartoon-esque silhouette that starred in the majority of the Game & Watch titles. Poor Mr. Game & Watch was largely forgotten to the annals of video game history until his Super Smash Bros. debut in the early 2000s. Unfortunately for Mr. Game & Watch, he recently found himself smack dab in the middle of a controversy involving offensive Native American imagery in the latest Smash Bros. game. So, let’s take him back to the good old Game & Watch days of the early 1980s when he was bouncing people on trampolines in order to save them from a burning building.
Price: Ranges from $30 to $150 on eBay
7) The Original NES
When Nintendo launched the NES Classic Edition in November 2016, it was an instant success. The miniature NES replica came with 30 classic Nintendo games installed on the system and sold out all 2.3 million devices from the first-run in just a few months. It inspired similar, later releases for the SNES Classic Edition and Sony’s coming Playstation version of Nintendo’s new product line.
The NES Classic Edition is a great way to experience the old classics for the first time or for a quick trip down memory lane. But once you're hooked — like all of us were when the NES first launched in the U.S. in the fall of 1985 — you’re going to want to immerse yourself in the Nintendo Entertainment System experience and purchase the real thing.
The NES Classic Edition only comes with those 30 pre-installed games, and there’s no official way to load any other NES games on there. In North America, a total of 679 officially licensed games were released on the NES during the console's lifespan. Some of those old NES games are actually pretty hard to find, which could translate into a fun hobby for collectors. At the very least, if you’re a video game fan, the NES is a must-own, even if it's nothing more than a decorative piece.
Plus, you’ll never fully have the gamer experience until you’ve exasperated yourself by blowing every last breathe into a Nintendo game cartridge that won’t play on the console in an attempt to clear out any dust.
Price: Starts at around $50 on eBay
Topics Nintendo
