Comments on: Hottest Gadgets of the 1970′s

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:05:34 +0000

There must be some mistakes in the last setence in the "1973" section. At least I cannot understand the sentence as it is written right now.

By: Maxwell Hoffmann

Maxwell Hoffmann — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 05:13:46 +0000

Note on phones (a) in California, push button phones (for new installations) were more common by the mid 1970s. Phone trivia for the 1950s; a common anachronism in films and TV shows set in the 1950s; color telephones. Although they did exist, they were outrageously expensive; equivalent to $15 per month for a yellow phone. Nobody had them but Doctors and Lawyers. Richie Cunningham's mom would not have had that yellow kitchen phone on "Happy Days" (unless she won the Irish Sweepstakes). And yes, we did not own phones until the early 1980s when AT&T was divested and you had the option to buy.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:14:05 +0000

Touch tone first came in the 60's. Cell phones started up in 1973 – dial phones were not "new" technology in 1973.

By: duc

duc — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:28:49 +0000

Yeah! Atari 2600. I got one of those back in the days.

By: Joseph Singer

Joseph Singer — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:55:13 +0000

At least you could have used a phone used in the US. The one you have there is from the UK!

By: lightinggod

lightinggod — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:04:57 +0000

Oh, yeah, also touchtone came in in the 70's.

By: lightinggod

lightinggod — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:03:45 +0000

Not for nuthin' you couldn't buy your own phone if you were a bell customer ( most people ) until the 80's.

By: apple7272

apple7272 — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:11:02 +0000

FYI, in the 70's, most people (in the US at least) didn't own their phones–they rented them from the phone company. You usually had insurance on the phone, too. I remember on more than one occasion, when something on the phone broke, having to go to the phone store to have it repaired. If it was going to take a few days, they gave you a loaner.