Top 10 gadgets that are due a revival (Nos 6 to 10)

After yesterday’s rundown of the first five gadgets worth a retro revival in 2007 (click here if you missed them), it’s time for numbers six to ten. We’re keen to get your thoughts too though: once you’ve read the final five, let us know what gadgets we’ve missed out.

6. Breville Pie Maker

I’m not even sure if this is particularly retro. I’d never heard of it before researching this feature, but it sounds like God’s Own Gadget. In a nutshell: it’s a cross between a sandwich-toaster and a breadmaker – except for pies!

Billing itself as “the 8 minute snack making miracle”, you cut out some pastry, splot in whatever filling you want, and eight minutes later get to sink your teeth into a hot tasty (in theory) pie. I don’t care if it only came out last year – you can only find them on eBay at the moment. Every shop should sell this!

7. Nintendo Game & Watch

It’s a handheld game! But also a watch! What could be more useful nowadays, at a time when people are already stopping wearing timepieces in favour of their mobile phones? Admittedly, Nintendo’s Game Boy Micro is a similar size yet can play a host of games, rather than just one, but still…

The idea of buying a handheld games device to play a single game is still relevant (after all, that describes my relationship with my PSP, which only ever has Football Manager 2007 in its UMD drive). But if Nintendo really wanted to make a splash, they should revive Game & Watch as actual watches. You might laugh at the thought of Pokemon on your wrist, but your kids wouldn’t…

8. Proper Virtual Reality gear

Nowadays, virtual reality means chatting up furry green women in Second Life. Or is that just me? In its glory days, however, it meant dressing up like Tron with a bulky eye-visor, and flailing about while spectators laughed at you praised your zeitgeistiness.

Firms like VPL brought out VR DataSuits, but the technology didn’t really establish itself as a consumer pasttime. But don’t you think it’s due a revival now? Imagine plugging a VR headset into your PC to play World of Warcraft, or putting on VR gloves to make gestures in Second Life…

9. Soda Stream

Another gadget that’s probably still on sale in some shape or form, but could do with a big marketing push to bring it bang up to date for 2007. A generation of children grew up ecstatic at the ability to make your own fizzy drinks. Who cared if they weren’t a patch on actual Coca Cola or Fanta.

Naturally, any relaunch of Soda Stream would have to take into account the drinking preferences of today’s youngsters. In other words, a fizz-your-own White Lightning accessory…

10. Sinclair C5

Why haven’t Segways taken off in the UK yet? Well, frankly the reasons are too many to list. But one is that us Brits got over this battery-electric-vehicle lark in the 1980s, thanks to the Sinclair C5, which was a cross between a buggy and, er, a tricycle.

Now that we’re going to Hell in a handcart as far as climate change is concerned, the time is surely ripe for a solar-powered C5 (or C6?) to storm the motoring market. Admittedly, I still wouldn’t fancy driving one through London alongside all the taxis and buses, but you’d hope they’d at least exempt you from the congestion charge.

That’s our 10 gadgets, but what do you think? Post a comment if you think we’ve missed anything out…