Retro Thing

Stylish Last-Minute Retro Gifts

Just because you've still got a couple of people to buy for on your Christmas list doesn't mean you have to resort to a frenetic trip to a crowded mall. There's still time to order online, and there are lots of affordable gifts that vintage aficionados will be happy to receive this year. Here are a few for under $100, curated by the Retro Thing elves.

SANGEAN WR-11 AM/FM Table Top Radio ($78)

Terrestrial analog radio still rules the roost in North America, and a decent AM/FM radio can be surprisingly useful. The Sangean WR-11 sounds great, costs well under $100 and features a real wood case and old-school styling -- a perfect countertop companion for the kitchen or workshop. Best of all, there are no monthly charges. 

Antennas Direct DB4E TV Antenna ($59)

Make 2014 the year you dump overpriced cable TV. If you live in or near a decently sized city, there's a good chance you can receive a half dozen or more digital HD television channels over the air. The good news is that over the air broadcasts are less compressed than their cable or satellite equivalents. The bad news? Digital television is an all-or-nothing proposition. While analog TV just got fuzzy with a poor antenna, digital broadcasts degrade to a pixellated mess. That's why a good antenna is essential. 

This long range model from Antennas Direct offers great suburban coverage (up to 65 mile range) without breaking the bank or requiring a signal amplifier. And if you're a satellite subscriber, you might be able to reuse your mounting post and the coax cable run from the roof. 

Sennheiser HD201 Over-Ear Headphones ($20)

Great sound for only $20? Seriously. I bought a pair of these surprisingly good headphones for my kid this year. Sadly, he spotted them in the closet mere hours before my wife began her annual present wrapping frenzy. Sennheiser is a storied German audio manufacturer that makes an astonishingly broad array of headphones. These may be inexpensive, but they offer clean and uncolored sound in a relatively sturdy package that could easily retail for twice as much. 

Seiko 5 Automatic Wristwatch ($50 and up)

I mention these every year, simply because the Seiko 5 is a rare bargain. My only warning is that giving someone an automatic watch with a clear back can lead to an expensive collecting habit. The basic models with canvas strap start at only $50, although a variety of attractive cases and metal straps can easily push the price to $100 or more. Don't expect quartz accuracy from a mechanical self-winding wristwatch, but they can be quite accurate if you take the time to regulate the mechanism (an easy task, if you're not scared of removing the back). 

HP 35s Scientific Calculator ($45)

Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP 35 -- the first handheld scientific calculator -- on February 1st 1972. It carried a list price of $395 and cemented HP's position at the forefront of the calculator business for decades to come. Almost forty years later, they're back with the HP 35s -- an affordable retro-styled handheld. It offers standard and Reverse Polish notation, 100+ built-in functions and constants and a classic Mad Men style. Assuming 1970s advertising execs could actually do math, that is...

Schiit Magni Headphone Amplifier ($100)

Schiit makes some brilliant headphone amps, and the Magni is their most affordable. Don't let the price fool you -- it's an excellent introduction to the world of hi-fi headphone amplification. You can spend a few dollars more for a model with a hybrid tube/solid state signal path, but this one is good enough that 99% of listeners will be ecstatically happy. 

Audio Technica AT-LP60USB Automatic Turntable with USB ($100)

I mentioned the non-USB version of this turntable on Retro Thing earlier this year because it's an excellent value. This version is slightly more expensive, but in return you get a USB jack for easy connection to your computer. Apart from that, things are straightforward. It plays 45 RPM and 33 1/3 RPM discs and has a switchable built-in pre-amplifier (just in case your modern stereo system doesn't have a phono input). 

That's it for this year's Retro Thing gift roundup. We hope it sparks a few brilliant present ideas and that you have a fantastic holiday, wherever you are and whomever you're with. 

The First Mobile Phone I Actually Liked

The news that Nokia's mobile device division is now part of Microsoft made me a tad sentimental this morning. Like hundreds of millions of others, my gateway into the futuristic world of mobile communication was a Nokia.

The Nokia 5110 embodied everything that my late 1990s self imagined a phone to be: sleek and compact, with solid call quality and great battery life. It was also one of the first phones to offer swappable faceplates (critically important when half of your friends owned identical handsets).

I'm embarrassed to admit that I splurged $40 or $50 on a leather phone cover with a belt clip and wore it around proudly, like a lost member of a Star Trek landing party. At least I had the good sense to change my ringtone from the ubiquitous default after only a handful of completely unnecessary calls while driving around town (yeah, I know; times have changed).

Even though it's been about a decade since a Nokia was my handset of choice, there are several basic Nokias lying around our house which we received as freebies for setting up prepaid accounts in recent years.

And therein lies the problem. I don't think of smartphones when someone mentions Nokia. Instead, I find myself amazed that the company has managed to produce hundreds of millions of impossibly cheap handsets for developing nations and cheapskates around the world; simple talk & text phones like the Nokia 100 can be purchased for a mere £9 at Tesco.I wonder if it comes preloaded with Snake?

Retro Thing Turns 8!

It's hard to believe that we've brought you 8 years of moldy mayhem and antiquated anarchy, and there's STILL so much that we haven't talked about. All this week our posts will include retro treasures that involve the number "8". The fun starts tomorrow, but you can use the comment section today to request any "8"s you think we should cover before the week is out.

RIP: Hans Camenzind, Inventor Of The 555 Timer

You may not know his name, but you've encountered Hans Camenzind's designs countless times. Hans was one of the rock stars of the integrated design world, with 20 US patents to his name and over 140 integrated circuits under his belt. He passed away on August 8th, 2012 at the age of 78, leaving the world a much buzzier and blinkier place.

He was also one of the first independent semiconductor designers, famed for hitting a home run with his first solo design–the 555 timer chip that has been incorporated into countless inexpensive electronic devices.

Incredibly, over one billion 555 timer chips are sold each year. It's a simple little 10 cent device that makes it possible to build devices that flash, buzz or turn on and off at variable intervals. Incredibly, he created the chip alone, spending a year designing it by hand as a freelancer.

In the early 1970s, Camenzind was working as a design engineer for Signetics. The company hit a rough patch and started losing money, and he responded to the downturn by taking a leave of absence to write a book. While away, he decided that he didn't want to return as an employee, and proposed the 555 timer chip as a freelance project.

Because of the downturn, the company had equipment to spare which they loaned him, and in the summer of 1970 they contracted him for a year at $1200 per month (about 2/3 of his former salary). It was an unusual arrangement in those days and a huge gamble for Camenzind, who had a wife and kids to feed.

However, he had a really clever idea. His previous work involved phase locked loops (PLLs)- circuits used to lock radio equipment to precise frequencies. A PLL requires a variable oscillator, which got Camenzind thinking–he knew there would be a market for an oscillator with an integrated timer that you could trigger and then let run for a set length of time. Such circuits existed, of course, but they required dozens of discrete components.

The idea was met with enthusiasm from Signetics' marketing manager Art Fury, who had a gut feeling that it would sell well. In those days, gut feelings were often good enough.

And so Camenzind set out to build the 555 IC. His design incorporated 23 transistors, 15 resistors and a pair of diodes. It would take a year to go from initial design to the production prototype stage. At the time, circuits were created by carefully drawing them out by hand on a large drawing board. The process took months, because reorganizing parts to minimize the wafer size required redrawing the circuit. Once a design was finalized, an Exacto knife was used to cut out the circuit runs and build a mask which was photo-reduced by 300x.

Because the process relied heavily on human skill and error checking, it was rare for a design to work correctly the first time, but Camenzind managed it. No doubt the combination of seeking to prove himself as a contractor and being heavily invested in his pet project caused him to be extra careful.

The Signetics 555 entered full-scale production in 1972 and became an immediate hit. Interestingly, the design wasn't patented and companies like National Semiconductor and Fairchild soon released their own versions. This helped to push the price down and ensured that the chip would become ubiquitous in the decades that followed.

Camenzind went on to have a long and successful career, but none of his subsequent designs would impact the world like his simple little timer. In fact, IEEE Spectrum named it one of 25 microchips that shook the world in their May 2009 issue.

Care For Some Wine With Your White Castle Sliders?

White Castle is a famous regional hamburger joint started way back in 1921. You can find the little white castle-shaped buildings throughout the midwestern United States as well as New York, and word of White Castle has spread even further in recent years thanks to a stepped up media presence (yes, I'm calling dope comedy "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle" a "media presence").

For a chain that isn't exactly national, they're responsible for many industry firsts that gave birth to fast food the way we know it today. In the early 1900s, Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle" alerted the public to poor sanitation in the meat packing industry leaving people reluctant to eat ground beef. White Castle was determined to restore the eating public's confidence with gleaming white porcelain enamel exteriors (created to resemble Chicago's Water Tower), and an open stainless steel kitchen where you can still watch your meal being prepared. Back then it was doubtful that the hamburger would hang on as a fast food staple.

White Castle's signature is their small 2.5" square burger cooked on a bed of onions, nicknamed the "slider". There is an equally signature after-effect of eating White Castle (especially after an evening's drinking) that we won't go into here. Young guys will brag about how many "belly bombs" they can down, which was a lot easier back when they were only a nickel a piece.

In recent years, upscale restaurants have caught on to the appeal of little burgers. Many have lifted the concept to create a plate of burger "shooters" (or other sporty jargon these places insist on), leaving White Castle to look for something new to bring people back. Perhaps their focus group included some of the drunks you typically find at White Castle at 2am, because the restaurant is considering offering alcohol.

The chain is experimenting with serving wine at their Lafayette, Indiana location. Legally it does require that the restaurants offer table service, which is a pretty novel idea in a dining room built out of impregnable formica. You can choose from four varieties of wine (ask your server if you can smell the screw-top); a Merlot, Chardonnay, Moscato, and a "sweet red" blend which has been variously described as "sweet" and "red".

If this vino scheme works, it could have far-reaching effects on the entire fast food industry. The dirty little secret in fast food is that there's little profit in the food, the money is all in the beverages. The paper cup your soda is bubbling away in can have more value than the drink itself (hence it being so easy for fast food places to offer free refills - it's literally pennies a cup). Alcoholic beverages means even higher prices & margins for drinks. Other countries already offer beer and wine with fast food, and it's proven to be an excellent profit center.
 
White Castle is an American classic that has largely remained the same for several generations. It's still a family business. Their early days defined the fast food business in so many ways, and this next step may be another big step for the rest of the industry to follow. I find it terribly funny to try to class up sliders with wine instead of beer (though the toxic after effects of beer & sliders will make it difficult to pass local fire codes), but I hope that it works. White Castle has never been shy of being a little bit odd, and it seems to have worked for them for the better part of a century.

[note: before any of you go accusing us of buzz marketing White Castle, you should know that we've received no compensation for this post - not one lousy Moscato-soaked slider.]

Disneyland In The Fifties

We took our 9 year-old son to Disneyland for his first visit in January, so it's especially fascinating to see how the park looked in 1957 -- less than two years after it opened.

While the castle and main street remain its heart and soul, the early park looks like a brightly colored carnival in comparison to its more polished modern look. The footage appears to be 16mm Kodachrome, professionally transferred using a Spirit DataCine. You can read more at the Disney History Institute.

Disneyland Canon 1957 - YouTube [Thanks to everyone who sent us the link!]

Last Minute Retro Gift Ideas

It's getting down to the wire, so here are a few "Argh! I left it until the last second" Christmas gift ideas with a Retro flavour. 

Seiko 5 Wristwatch - Forget batteries and back-lit displays and get a mechanical watch with 21 jewel automatic mechanism and clear back. They're beautiful, practical and affordable. Priced from $60

Korg Monotron - A handheld analog synthesizer for under $60. The Monotron features the same resonant filter circuit as the classic Korg MS-10, along with a tiny membrane keyboard and built-in speaker.

A Decent Budget Turntable - The Audio Technica AT-LP120 isn't the cheapest turntable on the market, but it's one of the best you're going to get for under $250. Includes a digital USB port along with standard stereo RCA jacks, 33-1/3, 45, and 78 rpm playback speeds with quartz-controlled variable playback. The Spin-Clean record washer is a great way to clean your vintage vinyl, too.

A $20 Silver Coin For $20

My grandparents used to give me commemorative coins when I was a kid. It was a hobby that never really grabbed me -- I preferred things that flash and whirr. The Royal Canadian Mint suspects there may be hundreds of thousands of potential collectors like me who just need a little encouragement.

For $20, they'll sell you a silver coin with a face value of $20. The 99.99% pure silver coin measures 27 mm in diameter and weighs 7.96 g. They'll even ship it to your door for free. What you do with it from that point on is up to you -- it can be redeemed at any Royal Bank of Canada branch for $20 cash, or you can hide it in the back of a drawer for emergency use in a post-apocalyptic economy.

Available in Canada only, limit of three per customer.

$20 Fine Silver Commemorative Coin (2011)

Walking In Circles

NPR's Robert Krulwich goes for an artful stroll to contemplate our inability to walk in a straight line without a visual reference.

A Mystery: Why Can't We Walk Straight? [via BoingBoing]

Radio Shack Catalog, Soviet Style

We've written about the alternate universe of Soviet electronics before, but Paul Colella recently sent in a link to a catalog of electronic goodies from the USSR that makes my teeth tingle. The Katalog Tovarov Narodnogo Potrebleniya 1981 paraded the latest and greatest technology. Being able to afford it was another matter.

He says, "Our friends over at English-Russia have posted some 1980's Soviet goods p0rn. Most of the stuff looks like American goods from the 1970s but of particular coolness are the electronics. I'd love to get my hands on the portable organ/synth and what I think is some type of mixer."

1981 Soviet Goods Catalog [via NNM]

Some Old Brand Names Worth Only $1,000

Just a quick update on the auctions I wrote about recently. The Apple 1 was sold for more than $212,000, a sum that could have purchased every old brand name auctioned a few days later. Victrola, highly prized by RetroThing editors, went for $1,000, as did General Cinema. Collier's went for $2,000. The highest bid was $45,000 (for investment bank Shearson). Meister Brau went for $32,500. Infoseek was put together in a single package with Big Yank and the Linen Closet. All three were sold together for $2,000.

Apple 1? Pssh. How About An Old Brand Name?

You may have seen that Christie's is about to sell an Apple 1, which the famed auction house estimates will go for a whopping $160,300 to $240,450. It's certainly a fascinating bit of history, especially considering it comes with its original packaging, invoice, owner's manual and a typewritten letter from Steve Jobs himself (the return address is his parents' house). But I might humbly suggest that a $150-$200 Briel Replica 1 or even an emulator are more cost-effective ways to compute like it's 1977.

But if you still have the auction itch and want to scratch it, have you thought about bidding on an old brand name?

On Dec. 8 in New York, a firm that has bought up classic trademarks over the years is selling them off to the highest bidder. Up for grabs are names including Braniff International airline, Collier's magazine and Old Nick candy bars. There are names Retro Thing readers might like, including Victrola and Computer City. And there are also some decidedly non-retro names available, including the defunct search engine Infoseek and Allied Signal, a name that only existed for about a decade and a half. There is also Bobby Socks and Hot Pants, terms I had no idea had been trademarked.

The auction sort of exposes what you probably already know: That the trusted brand name you see on the shelf may well have been bought by a startup business.

Among the 150 or so trademarks for sale, some are probably quite valuable (I could totally see Meister Brau becoming the next PBR) and others less obviously so (Relaxacizor? Really?). But the one that really got me thinking was General Cinemas, if only because I have such strong memories of its circa 1980s bumper animation.

I can buy it and start my movie theater empire! (There's money to be made in showing films in theaters, right?)

eBay Pulls The Plug On Retro Thing

Retro Thing has been a member of the eBay Partner Network for years. It's a program that helps websites earn money by linking to eBay auctions, and we've used the income to pay some of the costs of running the site.

We got an email from eBay last week telling us that our account was under review. They demanded a "detailed explanation of how you are driving traffic to eBay, or you risk the termination of your account and 100% reversal of commissions." They even wanted server logs.

I responded immediately but received an email last night stating that they're terminating our account. The form letter wished us good luck in the future. It also curtly stated, "You are not permitted to rejoin the eBay Partner Network,"  and concluded with a cheery admonition that  "At this time, we are not reconsidering our decision." We seem to have been tarred with the same brush as Internet ad spammers.

This is a nightmare scenario for several reasons. Since I started this site five years ago, we've frequently recommended eBay as a source for hard-to-find classic technology. I suspect we've made a great deal of money for the company by encouraging people to scour less visited categories in search of cool gear.

The second problem is more serious. Retro Thing has always been a daftly impractical labor of love. The loss of income from eBay puts the site in a situation where it may not be able to pay its way. We're not talking a huge amount -- eBay has generated under $1000 so far this year -- but it's a large enough shortfall that it could spell the end.

It has always been a challenge to convince advertisers that placing their products alongside "old junk" is a smart move, yet most Retro Thing readers are technology junkies who appreciate clever design in any form. You're the kind of alpha geeks who enjoy juxtaposing iPads and classic console stereos. You're the guys (and you are mostly guys) who know how to hook up an entertainment system. And you're the serious gamers who also appreciate the brilliant simplicity of Mario and Galaga.

This is the point at which we ask you for help. If you know of a company that would be a good advertising fit for Retro Thing, please encourage them to contact us. And If you can afford it, a small donation will help to keep the lights on. I've got a couple of copies of Essential Retro on the shelf  - donate $50 or more and I'll sign one for you.

[Update: eBay contacted us a few days after this ran because of complaints from Retro Thing readers. They reinstated our account.]

Waxy Wishes For 4th Of July

We hope that all of our Canadian readers had a terrific Canada Day, and what could better epitomize Independence Day for our American readers than a chunky Bicentennial candle? This candle has survived intact for more than 30 years, even though every year I threaten to light it up and use it as a launchpad for bottlerockets.

Whatever you do today, we hope that you keep it safe and sane. To our readers around the world, please feel free to stop by. We bought way too much food - even those turkey hot dogs we heard that you like!

How Healthy Are Your Vintage Electronic Gadgets?

I penned a guest article for Create Digital Music a while back which takes a look at how age impacts electronic gadgetry. While the CDM piece focused on musical synthesizers, similar problems crop up with vintage stereos, computers, TVs and gaming consoles.

Most electronic gear is designed to provide affordable functionality for a decade or two. Collectors are discovering that even relatively modern devices from the 1970s and 1980s are beginning to fail at an alarming rate. Sadly, there may be precious few Commodore 64s or vintage Nintendo Entertainment Systems in working condition within a few decades.

How Healthy Are Your Vintage Synthesizers? [CDM]

Related:
Will Our Old Videogame Consoles Die Soon?