Parallel Ports A parallel port.A parallel port.New computers and printers don't have them, and that's too bad. Parallel ports had some definite advantages
for printing, not the least of which was backward compatibility with many older devices.
The parallel printer interface was more standardized than the USB one, too. I once tested
network printer-sharing devices, and the parallel-port models all worked on the first
try; the USB units didn't work, period. --Lincoln Spector, Contributing Editor
Northgate OmniKey Ultra Keyboard Photograph: Courtesy of Creative Vision TechnologiesNorthgate once made a keyboard composed of real metal. Though it weighed a ton, it stood
up to practically any abuse short of liquid spills, and the manufacturer supplied extra
keys and a key-pulling doohickey so you could customize your keyboard. Adding to the
extravaganza, the OmniKey Ultra had a row of function keys along the left side of the keys
as well as along the top. A company called Creative Vision Technologies now makes a similar
model (pictured); it weighs 5 pounds and costs $189. --Dennis O'Reilly, Senior Associate Editor
Macintosh Clones Infographic: BAM AdvertisingIn the mid-1990s, you could run the Mac operating system on an Apple system, or on a
clone
system made by Power Computing, Motorola, Umax, or one of several other companies.
The clone makers were known for building inexpensive systems--often undercutting Apple's
prices--and for making high-powered Macs that frequently outperformed Apple's. They also
made the Mac market interesting: Power Computing undertook public-relations stunts like
staging a bungee-jumping exhibit at a Macworld Expo in Boston, and running over PCs with
a Humvee at a Macworld Expo in San Francisco. (The image at left is from one of its campaigns during the 1996 Seybold Publishing Seminar.) Alas, competition was bad for Apple's
business, so when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, one of his first moves was to
rescind the licensing agreements and kill
the clones. --Alan Stafford, Senior Writer
LaserDiscs I can't actually miss LaserDiscs,
since I still own several of them, but at some point I will miss LaserDisc players,
because no one makes them anymore and I don't know what I'll do when my current one dies.
LaserDiscs were the first media to provide letterboxed images, multiple soundtrack
options, and commentaries by directors. --Lincoln Spector, Contributing Editor
Windows CE Handheld PCs Photograph: Courtesy of CEGlobe.comI miss an entire class of products: mini-laptop-size Windows CE handheld PCs, the
lovechild of a PDA and an ultraportable laptop. Many top computer makers--including HP,
Compaq, HP, HP, and NEC--offered them, and they had some great features: They turned on
and off instantly; their batteries often lasted for up to 10 hours on a charge; and they
had no moving parts, so you didn't have to worry about a hard-drive crashes and related
maladies. Despite weighing (on average) less than 3 pounds, they had nearly full-size
keyboards. IBM's WorkPad z50 was my particular favorite
in this category--a PDA version of a miniature ThinkPad laptop. But at the time that
handheld PCs were available--in the late 1990s and early 2000s--they were expensive
(often around $1000). Eventually, regular laptops got smaller and more affordable, PDAs
morphed into smart phones, and the PDA laptop faded away. To a degree, Samsung, Sony, and
others have tried to re-enter this territory with Ultra Mobile PCs that cost $1000 and
up. But I'd rather jump onto eBay and pick up a vintage Win CE handheld for $200 or less. --James A. Martin, Contributing Editor
Psion Series 5 A tiny keyboard with a feel remarkably reminiscent of a notebook's. Office-like
applications with clever touches that make them highly usable on the go. One of the best
styli ever designed. If all of these features appeared in a handheld computer today, I'd
be impressed; the fact that the Psion Series 5 had them in 1997 is downright amazing. Psion no longer makes
PDAs, but its software evolved into the Symbian OS, which powers phones such as Nokia's
E62. If someone
were to revive the Series 5, give it a color screen, and add a phone, I'd buy it in a
heartbeat. --Harry McCracken, Editor in Chief
Toshiba Libretto From its dotcom-era debut to its brief return in 2005, Toshiba's Libretto always stood as
the computer world's equivalent of a tiny, shiny, impractical, expensive, yet sexy sports
car: You might lust after it, but you probably wouldn't want to have to depend on it to
serve your mundane needs. Reviewers of the initial, late-1990s U.S. model (first sold
here in 1997) marveled at the Libretto's bright 6.1-inch display, its sub-2-pound weight,
and its bricklike design. But most deplored its incredibly tiny keyboard keys, the
less-than-optimum location of its eraserhead mouse and buttons (next to the display and
on the outside of the case, respectively), and the unit's $2000-plus price tag. Still,
the Libretto name acquired enough cachet to prompt Toshiba to revive the brand last year
on a portable with a slightly
larger (7.1-inch) screen. Ultraportable fans were delighted, but there were still too few
of them to keep the new Libretto line afloat. But someday, I hope, designers will come up
with a viable way to produce a full-blown Windows PC that I can toss in my handbag. --Yardena Arar, Senior Editor
Nokia 8290 Of the cell phones I've had, the one I miss the most is the Nokia 8290. Admittedly, I couldn't do much on
the five-line black-and-white LCD except make phone calls and send text messages; and the
8290 worked on only one frequency (GSM 1900 MHz). But at 2.8 ounces, it was cute and
small--perhaps a little too cute and small. It fit so inconspicuously into my cargo pants
pocket that I didn't notice it one day when I threw the pants into the washing machine,
and that was the end of my Nokia 8290. --Narasu Rebbapragada, Senior Associate Editor
Handspring Visor Edge The skinniest, sleekest, simplest PDA ever, Handspring's Visor Edge was a wafer of
elegance among PDAs that resembled blocks of cheese. It had a monochrome screen and a
measly 8MB of RAM, but that was good enough for me. Syncing involved a mere touch of a
button on the USB cradle, so I always knew where I was supposed to be and when. That's
more than I can say for my tubby BlackBerry, which chokes on all of my recurring
meetings. --Kimberly Brinson, Managing Editor
Palm Tungsten T The Tungsten T may have
been the best Palm PDA ever made. You could collapse its case to fit easily into a shirt
pocket, and then expand it to gain access to its Graffiti (stylus input) area. Besides
being the first Palm OS 5-based device, the Tungsten T was the first PDA with a four-way
navigation pad, and its resolution was twice that of earlier color Palms. The stylus was
spring-loaded and nicely hefty, and I could listen to MP3s on my handheld and play a game
on it at the same time. I gave my Tungsten T to my wife when I bought a Handspring Treo
600, which I later found to be far inferior as a PDA (it kinda stunk as a phone, too). --Alan Stafford, Senior Writer
Rio Cali Back before portable audio players sported shiny black, white, or pink aluminum cases, my
rubberized Rio
Cali handled all the sweat, water, and accidental crash landings of two years'
worth of gym workouts. With a stopwatch (including lap timer), an FM radio, and 256MB of
flash memory (plus an SD Card expansion slot), it ran longer on one AAA battery than I
ever could. Thanks, Cali, for the memories and for helping me lose 5 pounds. --Narasu Rebbapragada, Senior Associate Editor
