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Clever inventions come so thick and fast these days it's hard to remain
impressed. Here at easyJet we've cast our minds back to a time when computer
games took an hour to load and mobile phones weren't nearly so mobile.
Here are 10 of our favourite innovations.
1.The Victorinox Swiss Army Knife
Helping us to survive in rural and urban jungles alike for well over a century,
the Swiss Army Knife comes in a number of models, with over 33 optional tools
to suit the carrier. The popular inclusion of a corkscrew might also go some
way to explaining the non-confrontational nature of the Swiss army itself.
2.The ZX Spectrum
Even though you would spend an hour trying to load a single game, hoping the
lead to your tape player wouldn't shake out with the turbulence, and the
pixels were the size of your fist, the 1980 ZX Spectrum always rewarded your
patience—and if not, the rubber keys could happily absorb your frustration.
3.The Polaroid Camera
Built like a small car, and making a sound similar to one reversing every time
you took a shot, the development of instant film was a sure-fire hit in the '70s
world of increasingly short attention spans—not to mention increasing
excesses. The film cost a fortune and most shots looked like a tableau of the
pasty-faced undead.
4.The SodaStream
1970s SodaStream Mr Fizzy reminded us that some things are better left out of
the kitchen. The idea was to cut out the middleman by creating your own fizzy
drinks at home—the only problem being that the middleman had drinks that
tasted far better.
5. The Wonderbra
Introduced to the American public in 1994, the Wonderbra sold at a staggering
rate of one every 15 seconds, and staff all over the States could not keep the
bras on their racks. The assets of the Wonderbra brand were also well supported
by the subsequent advertising campaign featuring supermodel Eva Herzigova in
the bra, screaming "Hello Boys!"on gigantic, traffic-halting billboards.
6. The Casio C-801 Calculator Watch
The 1980 Casio C-801 wasn't the first on the market, but it came at a
price that stopped it being the preserve of smart-arsed secret agents totalling
their baccarat winnings, and made it accessible to the even cockier person in
the pub, classroom and office. Cue clinical bill division and supermarket check-out
flare-ups, as mobile maths gave us super-quick answers to problematic situations.
7. The Sony Walkman
Born in 1979, the ghetto blaster's "hissy"little brother
didn't have the size or loud, booming voice of its sibling, but it did
as much for the culture of pavement music. Everyone was soon nodding their head
to their own private street soundtrack and secretly exploring their true love
of Roxy Music, not RUN-DMC.
8. The Hitachi Magic Wand
Originally touted in the '70s, rather coyly, as an "all-over body
massager", the Hitachi Magic Wand boasted up to 6,000rpm while discreetly
plugged into the mains. Over the next few years it became the best-selling number
one choice on the women's "relaxation"market.
9. The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
Pay as you go bankrupt doesn't quite have the same ring, does it? But
anyone who bought the first mobile phone in 1983 must have had their bank manager
on speed dial. Retailing for $3,995, the 8000X weighed 785g, measured a whopping
300mm x 44mm x 89mm and offered just one modest hour of talk-time for your money.
10.Hair Tongs
The Supergirl of the grooming industry has been heroically transforming bad hairdos
from curly to straight and back at the flick of a wrist, since its creation.
All its hard work is nevertheless destroyed by the evils of light drizzle on
a regular basis.
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