25 Game-Changing Gadgets That Shaped Our Modern World

25 Top Gadgets That Shaped Our World

 From the wheel to the smartphone, human history has been marked by remarkable inventions that have transformed the way we live, work, and interact. Over the years, gadgets have played a pivotal role in shaping the modern world, driving innovation, and improving our daily lives in ways we often take for granted.

These groundbreaking devices not only reflect our technological advancement but also highlight our constant quest for convenience, efficiency, and connectivity. In this post, we’ll take a look at 25 of the most game-changing gadgets that have left a lasting impact on society.

From the iconic iPhone, which revolutionized communication, to the development of the personal computer, which changed how we work and learn, these gadgets have redefined entire industries.

Each of these inventions has influenced not only the tech world but also the way we experience the world, making our lives more interconnected, faster-paced, and streamlined than ever before.

1. Apple Macintosh

Few will argue that Apple currently stands as one of the most influential companies in the world. While the company’s early days were not always a walk in the park, it did produce an iconic device worth remembering: the Macintosh computer. With its graphical user interface (GUI), Apple Macintosh was an instant hit.

In fact, it was Apple’s best weapon to compete with IBM. The Macintosh’s easier user interface gave us an excellent example of how people should use and interact with a computer.

2. Magic Wand (1968)

Originally intended as a massager but popularized as a sex toy, the Magic Wand has been in business since 1968. After an episode of Sex and the City revealed its alternate function, Hitachi – the manufacturer – dropped its brand from the name of the device without actually ceasing production. In fact, it’s the most popular product from a Japanese company in the United States.

Nobody knows for sure whether Hitachi realized the potential of its Magic Wand as a masturbation aid, but the product has enjoyed great commercial success. In addition to the aforementioned scene from the popular TV series, the immense popularity of the Magic Wand as a vibrator is also associated with Betty Dodson.

She was an American sex educator who used the device for demonstrations in her instructional classes on self-pleasure techniques. The Magic Wand looks more like a microphone than anything else; it has the wand (the plastic shaft) and a vibrating rounded head.

3. IBM Model 5150

The world became acquainted with the personal computer before the IBM Model 5150 was even born. However, Big Blue’s decision to let Microsoft handle the operating system of the computer encouraged the advent of something called IBM Compatibles. While sometimes referred to as IBM clones, they became the forerunner of nearly all non-Apple PCs you can find everywhere today.

4. IBM Selectric Typewriter (1961)

Unlike a mechanical typewriter, the IBM Selectric did not have individual typebars and a metal lever to advance the paper. Instead, it featured a typing element shaped like R2D2’s head, which some people call the golf ball. It was an interchangeable component that allowed the typewriter to print different fonts.

This was not the first electric typewriter, but it was the first to gain commercial success. In fact, Selectric dominated the market for about two decades following its release in 1961. One of the major improvements was the magnetic tape model in 1964, allowing the typewriter to store data.

When the IBM System/360 appeared four years later, the same keyboard served as the primary input device for the mainframe computer.

5. Motorola PageWriter (1998)

Unlike early Motorola’s pager, which was only able to send numerical codes, the PageWriter (also from Motorola) was a much more serious device as it actually had the capability of sending and receiving texts over a wireless network. It came in a flip-top design, which when opened revealed a QWERTY keyboard and four-color grayscale screen.

It was released in 1998 before the vast majority of the population knew what SMS actually was (the first SMS was sent in late 1992 – at that time wireless networks were still scarce, and most phones were not designed for typing texts). The PageWriter was far ahead of its time, and it gave early adopters something great to brag about.

6. Amazon Kindle

It is only natural for an online bookstore to also offer devices that help people read books. Not only does Amazon offer reading glasses, writing tools, desks, and lamps, but it also sells something called the Kindle to read and store digital books. Not only does the online store sell the Kindle, it also designs the device.

Amazon and its Kindle changed the way people access, purchase, and read books. Users no longer have to pick up a book from a large cabinet as the device stores hundreds of titles in its internal storage. Memory slot expansion is also available in case you need to store millions of books.

Equipped with Internet connectivity, browsing books in the Amazon store is a breeze. Many models are available now, but the original non-color screen Kindle will always be a milestone that marked Amazon’s transformation from a small online store into a digital media power to be reckoned with.

7. Oculus Rift (2016)

Launched in 2016, it seems like everybody talked about how great the Oculus Rift was. Beginning as a Kickstarter project in 2012, the venture then turned into a $2 billion enterprise thanks to Meta’s ambitious takeover just two years later. Virtual reality was all over the news. As the parent company, Meta also enjoyed a boost in reputation.

Within about a year following the release of the device, however, it was announced that the actual founder and creator of Oculus VR, Palmer Luckey, was leaving Facebook. Other companies finally caught up with the technology and price wars began.

The Oculus Rift deserves a place on this list for making great contributions to the development of virtual reality as a whole. It also encouraged people to take a journey to the center of many imaginary places simply by sitting down and strapping a pair of weird-looking goggles around the head.

8. Roku Netflix Player (2010)

Many people were caught off guard by the Roku, a small video streaming box that played Netflix and some other apps. Released in 2010, Roku started the wave of people moving from cable TV to wireless home entertainment. Apple TV proceeded Roku by about three years, but Apple did not offer the same number of channels or content as Roku did.

The remote control for the Roku was not as capable as consumers wanted it to be, but the device itself housed a Linux operating system, which people were happy about.

9. Google Glass

The much-hyped Google Glass never really took off in the market. This is not to say that product was underpowered or poorly styled; in contrast, the gadget-packed in a lot of top-notch components including but not limited to high-resolution display, camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, voice commands, dual-core processor, gyroscope, accelerometer, 2GB RAM, flash memory, and a proximity sensor.

All those are contained inside a tiny housing attached to the eyeglass frame. Although Google Glass is still far from perfect in its current configuration, it has set a new unexplored territory of wearable device inspired by science-fiction.

10. Segway

The most surprising thing about a Segway is not its self-balancing mechanism, but how it has become a metaphor and cultural symbol for the increasingly too-heavy-to-move-around population. The world is putting on weight; and nothing better to reflect that than the Segway.

A subject of continuous hype and mockery, the Segway is often touted as a revolutionary means of transportation that will eventually make walking obsolete. On the other end of the spectrum, people are wearing activity trackers just to measure how many steps they take on a daily basis.

A similar gadget called the hoverboard offers more or less the same thing. While both the Segway and hoverboard have not changed the world by any means, at least they’ve made the world realize that sometimes the best way to do things is without using any gadget at all.

Just because you can travel from the kitchen to the front porch without stretching a muscle, it does not always mean you should.

11. Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100

When people in the 1960s talked about portable computers, one thing they thought about was the 24-pound Osborne 1. The term “portable” started to have a new meaning in 1983 as Radio Shack visitors began to see something called the TRS-80 Model 100. Available in the range of $800, it was a very popular notebook from the get-go.

Compared to Osborne 1, the new portable computer was a featherweight at just 4.25 pounds. It came with some pre-installed applications including word-processing. There was even a built-in modem with a mind-boggling 300 bps maximum speed.

12. M-Systems DiskOnKey (2000)

The first company to patent and market the flash drive is M-Systems. It was marketed as DiskOnChip in 1995 and later renamed DiskOnKey in 2000. IBM was the first to market the USB flash drive in North America, but all the flash drives were purchased from M-Systems and sold under IBM.

13. Zenith Space Command (1952)

The first remote designed specifically to control the television – Zenith Space Command – only had four buttons on it: a power button, a volume button, and two-channel buttons. Once any of the buttons were pressed, it emitted a high-frequency tone detected by the circuitry in the TV unit.

Developed in 1956 by Robert Adler, the remote control enjoyed more than two decades of domination in American living rooms before the more sophisticated infrared-based remote came about.

14. Franklin Rolodex Electronics REX PC Companion

Running an operating system created by Starfish Software and boasting hardware made by Citizens Watch Co., the REX PC Companion was nothing more than a PC card. It had an anti-glare LCD screen and TrueSynch technology that allowed the users to import personal data from computer programs such as a Lotus Organizer and Microsoft Outlook.

Simply insert it into a Type II notebook slot and it’s ready to use. It was the anytime-anywhere electronic organizer.

15. Connectix QuickCam (1994)

The Connectix QuickCam appeared in 1994. The QuickCam was available for $100 – it recorded video at 15 frames per second and took grayscale photos at a 320×240-pixel resolution. This was the first webcam, and newer versions are available in a much more refined shape.

16. Motorola HT-220 (1969)

Another major success for Motorola, the HT-220 was a far improved version of the first portable two-way radio introduced during World War II. Instead of using discrete transistors, Motorola came up with the idea of utilizing integrated circuitries to make the device lighter and more compact; a single two-radio used during the war weighed around 35-pounds, but the HT-220 was just 22-ounce.

Released in 1969, the HT-220 was a favorite of the Secret Service. Although it has fallen out of favor, there is still a considerable number of dedicated followers somewhere.

17. Sharp Wizards OZ-7000 (1989)

It was neither PalmPilot nor Apple Newton MessagePad that deserved the credit as the first electronic organizer, but the Wizard OZ-7000 by Sharp was released to the market in 1989. It stood more than 16cm tall and 9cm wide, so the organizer was not quite pocket-friendly.

The good thing was that it came with a lot of useful features such as a calendar, calculator, world clock, alarms, and memo; the kinds of features that later became common in future PDAs. In the European market, it was known as the IQ-7000.

18. Broxodent Electric Toothbrush (1954)

Released around the same time as the General Electric Automatic Toothbrush, the Broxodent Electric Toothbrush was much more reliable than General Electrics. Instead of running on a NiCad battery that suffered from memory loss over time, which eventually forced users to discard the unit, the Broxodent must be plugged directly into a power outlet.

Designed by Dr. Philippe-Guy Woog and intended for people with disabilities, the electric toothbrush gained commercial success not as an assistive device but as a convenient gadget. It was manufactured in Switzerland initially starting in 1954, but then introduced to the U.S. market by E. R. Squibb and Sons Pharmaceuticals five years later.

19. SanDisk MicroSD Format (2005)

SanDisk unveiled the MicroSD format in 2005. The company offered a range of capacities from 32MB to 128MB. It didn’t take long for the world to capitalize on the invention, leading the company to compete with others by offering a humongous storage capacity of up to 128GB in 2011. Nearly all smartphones, laptops, cameras, and computers of today can read the format.

20. Dirt Devil Hand Vac (1984)

The home vacuum cleaner has been around since the 1930s, but the Dirt Devil Hand Vac – specifically the model released in 1984 – turned out to be one of the bestselling models with more than 23 million units sold. It was small and easy to use; anybody could use it while sitting down and watching TV to clean up spilled popcorn and chips.

21. IBM ThinkPad 700C (2005)

Apple and Compaq were the dominating forces in the laptop industry during the early 1990s. IBM, with its ThinkPad line of laptops (the brand “ThinkPad” was first developed by IBM until 2005 and later by Lenovo), challenged the domination quite well. One of the first in the series was the 700C featuring a 10.4-inch color touchscreen and a TrackPoint navigation device that allowed users to use the laptop without an external pointing device.

It also had one of the most powerful processors at the time. ThinkPad remains in production now, and there are many dozens of different configurations available. Many design aspects of the first one, however, remain relevant more than 25 years later.

22. Jerrold Cable Box (1950)

Founded in 1950 by Milton Jerrold Shapp, who later become the Governor of Pennsylvania (1971–1979), Jerrold Cable Box made one of the earliest cable boxes known as the Jerrold Cable Box. It had wood panels and sliders to choose the channel. Its rudimentary design inspired others to come up with different approaches and improve all its imperfections.

23. Motorola RAZR (2003)

Anybody from the future will have a hard time admiring the Motorola RAZR assuming they read only the specifications. It had a 2.2-inch color LCD, Bluetooth, video playback, 4X digital zoom camera, and that’s about it, aside from its ability to make phone calls and SMS. The specification is lousy by today’s standards but was amazing for its time.

24. Sony Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997)

One thing that made the Sony Mavica MVC-FD5 stand out from the crowd was its photo storage system. Instead of using film, the camera utilized the ubiquitous (at that time) 3.5-inch floppy disk. It was the first camera to come with such a feature, allowing users to transfer photographs to the computer more easily.

It also meant that users could keep on taking pictures as long as they carried more floppy disks (and batteries). Released in 1997, the FD5 was rather ugly and bulky just like many early digital cameras available in the same time period.

Its photography functions, however, were quite respectable back then with a 0.3 MP sensor and 2.5-inch LCD.

25. Poqet PC Model (1989)

Comparable in size to a typical videotape, the pricey Poqet PC was a portable IBM-compatible computer introduced in 1989. It was one of the first subnotebook computers on the market. The whole device was powered by two AA batteries; thanks to its smart power-saving feature, however, it could run for up to 100 hours.

Another notable feature was the instant-on technology, allowing the device to immediately startup with the press of a button. It had some off-the-shelf programs like a text editor, calculator, address book, and schedule with alarms. You could even plug a modem and floppy drive into it.