Video games. Way back then there was imagination involved, and companies took risks. Nowadays every game seems to iterate on the same tired formula. The only recent entry I can think of that bucked this trend in the past few decades was maybe Portal, but there have been few to no other recent games that come to mind. Fight me.
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The imagination came from the limitations of the hardware.
Computers today are too powerful for gaming. Its resulted all the famous studios racing to the bottom with graphics their primary and generally only concern, and everything else coming a distant second.
But at least it left the door open for indie devs, whose lack of resources and experience are still capable of keeping that ember of imagination and innovation burning.
If you're only talking about AAA games, sure.
Along with the others I'd also mention Outer Wilds and Viewfinder
Interchangeable automotive/bicycle parts.
Or for that matter, interchangeable anything parts.
Both cooler and better at the same time. Interchangeable parts made it easier to both customize and repair your own stuff..
Portable consoles. They're dead now or replaced by indie shit. No, the switch doesn't count, if it can't fit in my pocket isn't portable.
I could mention toasters or pinball machines or flickering light bulbs or unusual people movers, but instead I'll save some time and just link the whole obligatory channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TechnologyConnections
Portable music players.
They were the coolest when they used minidiscs.
Carburetors are pretty fuckin cool.
The concept seems simple: utilize the vacuum from the engine to pull in fuel. But they're extremely complicated with all the tiny orifices and passageways to perfect the amount of fuel going into the engine at different points.
Unrelated sidenote: i got deja vu writing this comment. Interesting.
Sex toys and local multiplayer is a way better combination than cybersex and online matchmaking