90’s – The Milestone Decade for Technologies – Year 1995

Introduction

In the initial blogs of the series we read about the best and popular gadgets in the first 5 years of the 90’s decade. As previously mentioned, 90’s was an evolutionary decade and technology saw tremendous growth in that era.

Here in this blog, we would be looking at some loved gadgets of the year 1995.

1. Nickelodeon Timeblaster Alarm –

This clock from the 90’s is the apotheosis of nick values – a replica of the network’s suppositions, electricity and large buttons. The bedside clock was one of several appliances in a series made for Nick by a New York Company called Long Hall Technologies in the 90’s decade. The Time Blaster is an asymmetrical hunk of Lorde’s-lip-colored plastic in the shades of green and purple.

The clock has a green squiggle at the top which lights up when alarm rings. You can set the alarm tone to different sounds available from marching band to the Nick Jingle. And the big Red Snooze button gives you the freedom to actually slap your clock in your sleep to snooze it. It has a built-in radio with a dial on the right.

2. Pioneer DRM-624X Six Disc Changer –

The Pioneer DRM-624X is a quadruple speed, 4.4X (676 KB/s) six-disc CD-ROM mini-changer. The discs are contained in a removable magazine. The magazine is a ruggedized version of the Pioneer-patented six-disc magazines used in audio CD changers.

Pioneer created a multi-CD-ROM drive that brought seamless playback, crisp graphics, and dynamic sound to our computer. This had made life easier for PC gamers by helping them make a quick switch over to different titles and have data transfer speeds up to 676 Kb/sec and the average seek times of 110ms.

3. Polar Vantage NV heart Rate Monitor –

Though Polar released the first heart rate monitor in 1982, but the first high tech product was launched in the mid of 90’s decade. The Polar Vantage NV is a professional HRM for elite athletics, research and education purposes.

This wrist-based wireless monitor that is capable of measuring R-R heart rate variability and that helped in knowing one’s physical condition. Some basic features of it are as follows:

1. Accurate and continuous ECG measurement.
2. Records maximum, average and minimum heart rate of the total exercise period.
3. Two programmable timers.
4. Free 2 programmable target zones.
5. Alarm for each target zone limit.
6. Records all important heart rate info.

4. Sony HandyCam DCR-VX1000 –

Sony manufactured the first DV tape camcorder Sony DCR-VX1000 in 1995. It has three 1/3-inch CCDs, a digital sensor resolution of 410,000 pixels, and an analog horizontal resolution of better than 530 lines.

It is the unrivaled leader in camcorder and digital technology, and Sony was the one to uniquely exploit the incredible potential of the new Digital Video format. DCR-VX1000 boasted industry-leading performance and features, and a premium and unprecedented DV-ready model at launch.

The unit’s optics and mic are arranged on a central axis, inspiring a bold appearance that is elongated and symmetrical. It has a neatly organized controls and solid build quality which makes it very attractive for professional applications.

5. Iomega Zip Drive –

A zip drive is a small, portable disk drive used primarily for backing up and archiving personal computer files. The zip drive is a medium-to-high-capacity floppy disk storage system introduced by Iomega. Originally the zip disks were launched with a capacity of 100MB, but later versions had an increased capacity to 250MB and 750MB.

The 100 MB size actually holds 100,431,872 bytes of data which is equivalent to 70 floppy diskettes. Iomega zip drive comes with a software utility using which you can copy the data on your drive to one or more Zip Disks.

Some other additional uses of it suggested by Iomega:

1. Store the archives of old emails or other files which are not used anymore but may need it for reference in future.
2. Storing the less-frequently used files.
3. Exchanging the files with others

6. IBM ThinkPad 701C –

IBM ThinkPad 701C changed the concept of subnotebooks in 1995 by introducing full-size keyboard and screen. The interesting part is it introduced a Butterfly Keyboard also known as TrackWrite.

Once opened, its keyboard extends past the chassis sides to give you the largest and most comfortable keyboard in its class. And on turning on the system an impressive 10.4-inch display pops up. The butterfly keyboard is split into two roughly triangular pieces that slide as the laptop’s lid opened or closed. 701 was the top selling laptop of 1995 and was the only laptop with the butterfly keyboard.

This laptop featured a 486X2-50 CPU, 16MB of RAM and a 540MB hard drive. It runs Windows 95 along with Office 95.

It comes with audio and telephony features a similar to those of the larger and faster 755C, but because of its sliding keyboard, the laptop doesn’t have space for a CD-ROM drive.

7. Sony PlayStation –

Some popular games like Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy and Tekken made the Sony PlayStation extremely successful. The 32 bit-architecture made it the first console to sell 100 million units. The console comes combined with Joystick-laden Dual-Shock Controllers.

With the incorporation of CD-ROM technology, the console was able to produce stunning 3D graphics, create broad virtual environments, and expand gameplay functionality.

8. Sony Discman –

The Discman was the Sony’s first portable CD player which was the most impactful among all the other CD players released by Sony. It delivered a high-quality audio by combining the Mega Bass and AVLS (Automatic Volume Limiter System) technology.

Japanese gave a unique name to it as “CD Walkman” and it was adopted worldwide in 2000 and the Walkman Logo was redesigned.

Sony worked on the design of the CD Player in order to reduce the power and number of parts needed so the size of the player could be decreased. Eventually reducing the cost of the CD-Player. Before starting the work, Sony decided to build the Player of the size equivalent to the dimensions of 4 CD cases stacked on top of each other.

The above list has given us the glimpse of how technology was changing at an unexpected pace in the 90’s decade. Zip Drive, Sony PlayStation, IBM ThinkPad etc are its true examples.

In the next blog we would see how 1996 saw the advancements in different technologies and gadgets. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the other blogs in the series right in your inbox.