Surprising Old Technology

In this article you will find a collection of gadget/tech concepts that people feel it to be “current technology”, but has existed for a long time. Of course, this list is definitely not complete.

If you know anything that matches the theme but we have missed, please suggest them in the comments section bellow the content of this article.

The main reason these concepts are more widespread today is because of falling prices and advancements in processor speed, computing power and storage, making it more feasible. But if you find some companies coming up with current products based on these old concepts act as though they invented the concept, please send them a reminder.

IBM Simon [First Smartphone. 1993 Also the first smartphone with touchscreen]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Simon
Dont miss the Full view of the UI(big file)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/IBM_SImon_in_charging_station.png

Xerox Alto :[Desktop , 1973]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto
Screenshots:
http://toastytech.com/guis/alto.html

Xerox Star:[Desktop, 1982, dont miss screenshots .. search on youtube too]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star
Screenshots:
http://toastytech.com/guis/star.html

EO personal communicator/Penpoint OS 1991 (its 50 mins long, but its
just superb considering its from 1991, so please make time to watch.
you can skip first 8.5 mins if you are in a hurry):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9140399149118885327

The dev tool demoed in 1994 is not less awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh1yCHn8hvE

Patent of iPod like device back in 1979
http://www.kanekramer.com/html/development.htm

First hand writing recognition was partly mechanical , Nov 1914 (yes, 1914)
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1117184.pdf

First digital camera 1975
http://www.retrothing.com/2008/05/kodaks-first-di.html

17000 mile journey on a modified cycle with a solar powered laptop back in 1983
http://hackaday.com/2009/09/18/vintage-video-computing-across-america/

First HDTV (monochrome, 819 lines) came in 1949!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/819_line

The “mouse” demo from 1968 . [more than just the mouse, it was the data management ideas that I liked. We could probably call it one of the first crude “mashups”.
http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/1968Demo.html

Disclaimer : these were a bunch of stuff I came across by searching on the internet. I have not researched thoroughly about them, nor have I confirmed these. Though these info have been got from somewhat reliable sources, I do not give any kind of assurance that the data/information is correct. I only added items here which I got impressed by the age of the claim and quality/geekery.