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The Game Boy Color was my entrée into mobile computing as a child. I desperately wished for something that would add wireless connectivity to it and even asked

The Game Boy Color was my entrée into mobile computing as a child. I desperately wished for something that would add wireless connectivity to it and even asked one of my relatives that worked at IBM if they could make such a product (one of my finer moments of youthful technological naiveté). It's amazing to see that they actually conceived of such a device!

LeoPanthera 5y ago
You got your wish just a couple of years later in the form of the Cybiko, a standalone device rather than a GBC addon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybiko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybiko It sold something like half a million units so it wasn't a total failure.
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  I had completely forgotten the design trend of "we threw some silly putty at the wall and this was the resulting shape."
  - voidfunc 5y ago
    It was the late 90s trend rejecting straight edges and boxy design that was so prevalent before it. It was an attempt to take computing out of the sterile office and make it something viewed as fun for consumer use at a time when computer adoption was basically ramping up. I don't miss the weird shaped stuff, what I do really miss is the fun colors and plastics from the 90s, especially the translucent colored Nintendo stuff.
    - boomboomsubban 5y ago
      I personally like the move to having the fun colors and plastics be your phone case, though that doesn't really work for the translucent plastic.
      - voidfunc 5y ago
        I guess I like to live dangerously, but I never use a case. That's also probably the reason I bought the red iPhone.
- crtasm 5y ago
  LGR retrospective on the Cybiko including a real world test of its wireless communications, 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38VEBOseAzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38VEBOseAzM
tosh 5y ago
I just remembered the Game Boy Color had infrared support that was used by a few games: https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?155041-Which-GBC-games-used-the-infrared-sensor https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?155041-Whi...

LeoPanthera 5y ago

You got your wish just a couple of years later in the form of the Cybiko, a standalone device rather than a GBC addon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybiko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybiko It sold something like half a million units so it wasn't a total failure.

boomboomsubban 5y ago
I had completely forgotten the design trend of "we threw some silly putty at the wall and this was the resulting shape."
- voidfunc 5y ago
  It was the late 90s trend rejecting straight edges and boxy design that was so prevalent before it. It was an attempt to take computing out of the sterile office and make it something viewed as fun for consumer use at a time when computer adoption was basically ramping up. I don't miss the weird shaped stuff, what I do really miss is the fun colors and plastics from the 90s, especially the translucent colored Nintendo stuff.
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    I personally like the move to having the fun colors and plastics be your phone case, though that doesn't really work for the translucent plastic.
    - voidfunc 5y ago
      I guess I like to live dangerously, but I never use a case. That's also probably the reason I bought the red iPhone.
crtasm 5y ago
LGR retrospective on the Cybiko including a real world test of its wireless communications, 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38VEBOseAzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38VEBOseAzM

tosh 5y ago

I just remembered the Game Boy Color had infrared support that was used by a few games: https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?155041-Which-GBC-games-used-the-infrared-sensor https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?155041-Whi...