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The Sony Walkman turns 40 on July 1. The portable cassette stereo revolutionized how we consume music on the go, quickly seeped into pop-culture, and meaningfully preceded Jony Ive's iPod design.
The Walkman was inspired by Sony's cofounder Masaru Ibuka, who wanted a portable device he could use to listen to music on long flights.
Sony released the TPS-L2 Walkman in July 1979 in Japan. The device made it stateside by Christmas 1979, and by the next summer, The New York Times was calling it "the newest status symbol around town" in an article recently uncovered by Mentalfloss.
In honor of the Walkman turning 40, here are 13 other gadgets and products that you didn't realize were already over 20 years old:
The 1996 virtual pet is making a comeback in July 2019 at stores like Urban Outfitters and Target.
Bop It
The "fast talking, electronic" 1996 Hasbro game told players to "bop it, twist it, pull it, pass it" in its 1998 carnival-themed ad.
Nintendo Game Boy
The original Game Boy, which came out in 1989, turned 30 this year. It's led to dozens of successors; its first update in-color, Game Boy Color, was released in 1998.
Sony's robot dog, Aibo ERS-110
Sony put out its first Aibo robot dog, the ERS-110, 20 years ago in 1999. After a 12-year Aibo hiatus starting in 2006, Sony came back with Aibo ERS-1000 in 2018.
Cannon Powershot
The first of Canon's PowerShot series of point-and-shoot cameras was the model 600, released in 1996.
TiVo
The first TiVo DVR (digital video recorder) rolled out in 1999.
USB Flash Drive
The first patent for the USB flash drive was filed by M-Systems in 1999, and the first USB flash drive sold was the ThumbDrive by Trek 2000 International in 2000.
VHS
The first VHS videotape was released in Japan in 1976 and made it stateside in 1977.
CD
The CD was first released in Japan in 1982 and Europe in 1983.
Smartphone
The first smartphone was the the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, released in 1994. It featured a touchscreen and apps (e.g. calculator, calendar, mail, address book, notepad).
