What is a Gadget? | History

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what's interesting about a gadget is

that it's not as easy to Define as you

might think when you first uh when you

first Ponder the

term Gadget is that word that's actually

a little bit pejorative that it's kind

of silly I had to go back to the

dictionary and see what Gadget meant

something either mechanical or

electronic and also pocketable single

purpose or couple purpose something that

is mass-produced probably has a circuit

board in it something that's portable

something we can pick up it's yours it's

yours alone it's affordable enough that

a middle class family could own it a

gadget I think definitely has the

connotation of being something that's

cool and funky personal you yourself

have a relationship with it some kind of

breakthrough Innovation that that has a

dramatic impact on our lives in some way

whether it's good or bad

Gadget came to mean consumer Tech um it

didn't always mean that a gadget could

have been something non- electronic but

with the Consumer Electronics boom we

needed a term so Gadget has been

appropriated and has taken on sort of a

new meaning an air conditioning system

for an entire building is not a gadget

but a little portable air conditioner

you can go to a store bring home and

stick in your window it's kind of the

big end of what we would Define as a

gadget but but to us a gadget yeah

gadgets can be inventions but I believe

they're sort of a subset of inventions

the internet is an invention or the

transistor is an invention a gadget is

the way it's used a transistor radio or

a laptop computer to me the word Gadget

always had that little impression of

it's a really good way of doing

something that you didn't even know you

had to do prior to it being invented a

lot of it is the design the feel the

look um the fashion that it provides the

opportunity for geeks to have any AA of

sexiness about them was pretty limited

so I think that that there was this

natural Embrace of this beautiful

looking

object gadgets are incredibly important

today not just in the work they do for

us but in what they do for our sense of

style confidence I mean gadgets these

days Define us some gadgets are uh

important and revolutionary some

actually are not but if you took it away

the world really wouldn't be the same

type of place

anymore

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