Retro Tech Tuesday: 1987 Summer CES

You are in for a real treat today. Usually our RTT finds highlight one memorable(or sometimes forgettable) piece of technology. Well thanks to the miracle of YouTube, today we're headed to the 1987 Summer CES. Yes, there was not just one, but two CES shows back in the day.

So sit back, relax and enjoy as Art Vuolo takes us through a bevy of ridiculously large gadgets, and equally ridiculous fashions. My favorite part? The Sony rep trumpeting that his remote has "no less than 63 buttons!"

Enjoy.

Retro Tech Tuesday: Sony 8mm Handycam

My first videocamera was a Sony Hi-8 Handycam, so this ad for the original 8mm handycam has a special place in my heart. With that said, I have to say I'm a little disturbed by some of the scenes, and voyeuristic undertones to the ad. If a hand popping out of a sack to film Santa with a child, then I guess in 1986, this was the camera for you:

So Long, Floppy Disk

For longtime mac users. it has been 12 years since the fateful decision by Apple to drop floppy drives on the iMac. Well, at long last, Sony has announced they will discontinue production of the floppy disk itself, next March. Personally, I know I used floppies until roughly 2000-2001. Even though its been so long, it is hard to believe that the floppy is really going away for good.

I could get sentimental for the days of Oregon Trail on floppy, and the fateful alert on screen to insert disk 2 - a sure sign someone in your wagon had cholera. Instead, I will merely say you served us well, little buddy. Give my regards to the 8-track when you see him.

Retro Tech Tuesday: Sony Minidisc Ad

It's weird unearthing Sony ads from five-seven years ago: It almost feels like an alternate universe: A universe in which Apple doesn't exist, and we all went down a different path to audio/video goodness. I'll go ahead and coin the term for it right now: Sonypunk.

In this ad, we see some of the last gasps of the minidisc format, and a cameo by the good old Sony blue alien, whose existence I had completely forgotten:

Sonypunk: You heard it here first.

Retro Tech Tuesday: Sony Cassette-Corder

Before the Sony Walkman became the largest selling consumer electronic device, (at least at the time), Sony had plenty of other cassette-based products. Here's a glimpse at one that readers of a certain age may remember from classrooms across the country: The Sony Cassette-Corder. We often mock the commercials for products featured on Retro Tech, but this one did a great job of showing why every family should have a Sony Cassette-Corder: