Quiz on gadgets and devices

Gadgets galore

1 Which legendary product, first manufactured in 1933, but really gaining popularity with US servicemen during the World War II, has an unconditional lifetime guarantee from inventor George Blaisdell, and has sold more than 500 million units since the launch?

2 Catherine Hettinger filed a patent for a very similar product in 1993 and allowed it to lapse in 2005, and Scott McCoskery described a similar device in 2014. But it became a craze in May 2017, with variations from different companies occupying every spot on Amazon’s top 20 for toys. Which is the toy, banned by many schools around the world?

3 This product was invented by Dean Kamen and had a huge buzz around it before its launch in 2001, with Steve Jobs describing it as “as big a deal as the PC”. Unfortunately the device, literally named after a ‘smooth transition’, never lived up to the hype and is now mostly used by security at malls. Name the gadget.

4 The company producing this family of gadgets was founded in 2007 by James Park and Eric Friedman. It helped in solving the murder of Connie Dabate as her device proved that her husband was lying about her movements in November 2015 and eventually resulted in his arrest. Name this company, listed as ‘FIT’ in the NYSE?

5 Originally using the codename Fiona, the name of this gadget was meant to be a metaphor for reading and intellectual excitement. The original product was first retailed in 2007 and is the bestselling product of its parent company. Name the product, developed by a subsidiary named Lab126.

6 The Polaroid instant camera, designed by Edwin Land, was one of the iconic devices of its time and reached a peak of $3 billion revenue before being slowly being driven out of business by digital cameras. What was its original line of business in 1937 before diversifying into cameras? Guessable.

7 Another one on pioneering cameras. Which camera, introduced in 1900, retailed for exactly $1 and pioneered the mass use of cameras around the world?

8 Which gadget was named after its resemblance to the drupelets of a particular fruit and is believed to have received between $25 and $ 50 million of free publicity from its use by US president Barack Obama through his term in office?

9 Which fictional gadget used by Marty McFly in the Back To The Future franchise and first described by author MK Joseph in the ’80s was used in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics?

10 Which television set, launched in 1968, was the first widely used colour product and the first gadget to win an Emmy in 1973 for innovations in broadcasting?

Answers

1. The Zippo lighter. There is even a ‘Zippo moment’, when fans light their Zippos in unison during a music concert

2. The Fidget Spinner.

3. The Segway two-wheeled personal transportation vehicle

4. Fitbit, an activity tracking device and one of the pioneers in the digital healthcare space

5. Amazon’s Kindle

6. It was a major player in polarised sunglasses and other eyewear

7. The Kodak Brownie camera

8. The Blackberry, specifically the 6210

9. The hoverboard

10. Sony Trinitron

[“Source-thehindubusinessline”]