BristolUK

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...an-in-pictures

Kodak Brownie
Philips RadioRecorder
Portable Calculator
Sony Walkman
Sony Discman
GameBoy
Tamagotchi
Palm Pilot
iPod
iPhone

Bit of an odd selection I thought.

Is there really a need to include the Discman as well as the Walkman? It's essentially the same thing, just a disc instead of a tape and still quite limited in storage and a fixed selection. Surely better to have included an MP3 player and then maybe no need to include the iPod.
A Tamagotchi as well as a GameBoy?

What about a Dictaphone? A Pager? Maybe a laptop?

Isn't an iPhone just an improvement on other things that were more influential/innovative? Think of the days of the early mobile phones - when they were like a housebrick - and how that "said something" about the user in a way that an iPhone doesn't because now "everyone has one" or at least has something similar - although I don't.

caretaker

I agree, bad list. Someone's getting paid by the word. The personal camera, (Brownie), the transistor radio and cassette recorder belong there, There were mechanical pocket calculators long before battery-powered ones, and if you aren't a gamer the other stuff is just extra weight. Walkmans burned batteries, Discmans broke soon if they didn't come broken, but MP3 and iPod allowed people to take their music with them, even if it was only briefly before everyone could load it on their phones. For usefulness I'd have to put the battery powered flashlight on there, and the cell phone/smartphone.

BristolUK

Good shout.

Thinking more - walkie-talkie. Over.

moneypenny20

A Palm Pilot can't be that influential, I had to google it.

cheeky_monkey

obviously written by someone who must be in their 60s and out of touch with the modern world..i mean some of this stuff is fad tech from the 90s or early 00s

not2old

Rechargeable shaver

in the ear battery operated listening device (AKA Hearing aid)

Magnifying glass

Spectacles

Binoculars/Telescope

Paper money

Morse/Telegraph key

credit card

biometric passport

Hand held portable credit card/payment machine (can be found in every establishment)

.

dbd33

Electric rabbit.

not2old

battery operated

caretaker

Was on the Aussie forum, some lady chatting about her pets said "When the sun goes down, the rabbit goes in."

dave_j

handgun... quite influential in most circumstances.

Oakvillian

Yes, a pretty second-rate list, but it's done its job, hasn't it? I mean, the whole purpose of these "listicles" is to get people to read, disagree, and debate. Shame that the Graun has stooped to the kind of journalism normally more associated with clickbait publications...

FWIW my list would include:
can opener
reflective emergency space-blanket
transistor radio
wind-up gramophone (OK, so stretching the boundaries of "portable" a bit there,,,)
cassette tape recorder/player
cellular phone
battery-powered flashlight
MP3 player
Brownie camera
home movie camera

I'm thinking in terms of gadgets that were properly revolutionary rather than just evolutions of an existing idea. The walkman was just a miniaturized cassette player, but the cassette player was a huge step forward from the wind-up gramophone; the ipod was one of many brands of MP3 player; the iphone was not especially revolutionary in terms of communication functionality. And I reckoned the home-movie camera was more revolutionary than the video camera, which simply took the same idea and re-thought it in terms of TVs rather than projector screens...

And, of course, the can opener completely revolutionised off-season nutrition for those that didn't have the facility to do their own bottling of preserves.

not2old

roller blades/roller skates

plastic shopping bags

remote car door opener/lock

.

dave_j

??
No mention of the can... otherwise useless.

Yorkiechef

In Canada...the Timmy thermos mug.

bats

Spectacles
Hearing aids
Wheelchair
The wheel
IKEA Allen key
Matches
Binoculars/telescope
Sextant
Compass
Watches