Posts tagged Gadget Hall of Fame

Gadget show live 2010 – the story so far…

5
3 years ago
by Andy in

Today saw the end of day two of “Gadget Show Live 2010” at the NEC in Birmingham. And what a manic 2 days it has been so far!

I’m volunteering for The Centre for Computing History who are a computer museum based in Haverhill, Suffolk. Haverhill is just 30 minutes south of Cambridge. We were approached again this year by the organisers to put on the “Gadget hall of fame” display.

We have several interactive exhibits on display including…

  • Acorn BBC Model B
  • Amstrad CPC464
  • Commodore 64
  • Sinclair ZX Spectrum
  • Yamaha CS-5

The Spectrum has been on of the most popular exhibits so far. We are using the DivIDE device to allow instant game loading from a compact flash memory card. The BBC has also been popular. We are using a MMBEEB device to load games from a SD card.

I’ve not really had a chance to have a proper look at the rest of the displays at the show. As we are opposite the Elonex stand, I’ve seen a lot of what new gadgets they have to offer including the £99 laptop. They have kindly donated one of these laptops and its on display with our other machines in the “Computing gets Personal” display.

We have not had a visit from Jason, Suzy, Ortis or John yet which is a little dissapointing, but they have 3 more days to make up for it.

If you are planning to come to the show this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, make sure you come over and say hi!

One week until Gadget Show Live!

0
3 years ago
by Andy in

Next week sees the annual “Gadget Show Live” event at the NEC in Birmingham. Last year, the event saw more than 30,000 visitors. This year, the show is 50% bigger.

The Centre for Computing History has been asked again to provide the “Gadget Hall Of Fame”. We ran this display last year, and it was voted one of the top attractions of the whole show. You can see a video of last years event below.

This year, its going to be bigger and better! The stand will feature exhibits including Electric Dreams, Music on the Move, Computing Gets Personal, Telephones Unplugged and Photography Goes Digital as well as the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s displays that we did last year.

If you are planning to go to the event this year, make sure you come over and say hi. I will be there for the whole week.

Gadget Show Live 2009 – Awesome!

2
4 years ago
by Andy in

Here is a copy of a news item posted on the Computing History website. Make sure you take a look at their website and help support this museum in any way you can.

Source : http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/news/4058/Gadget-Show-Live-2009-Awesome/

We’re back from a long 5 days at the NEC in Birmingham. As much hard work as it was and although most of us feel like we’ve been run over by tank it was all completely worth it !!
The show was a huge success with over 31,000 visitors flooding through the doors – literally …
We spent Wednesday and Thursday building the 110 square metre stand. A luton van full of equipment was unloaded and set-up. Computers and gadgets were cleaned, the Asteroids machine was polished and the Sinclair C5 was revved up.

Then Friday happened. The official opening at 10 o’clock came and within minutes the stand was inundated with visitors all which had huge grins and pointing fingers claiming “I had one of those!”. It was absolutely brilliant.

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Gadget Show live – my thoughts

1
4 years ago
by Andy in

gadget-show-headerWhat a fantastic event!

Obviously, the “Gadget Hall Of Fame” part of the show was my favourite. This display was run by the Centre For Computing History based in Haverhill, Suffolk. They had plenty of machines on display. Ranging from the ZX Spectrum, Apple iMac, Commodore 64, Binatone TV games (Pong etc) and a BBC Model B. Sadly, no Amstrad CPCs! Have told Jason from Compuing History to make sure there is one on display next year (if they are invited to go back…) It was nice to see the youngsters looking at the computers we used to use. I also saw a lot of adults saying “i used to have one of those”. I was walking around saying “I’ve still got one of those that I still use”

There were a lot of technology companies exhibiting there, Including LG, Panasonic, Epson, HP and Nintendo. I was very surprised at some of the big names not attending. Notably Apple and Microsoft. I thought an Apple stand would have gone down a storm. Maybe next year…..

The event also felt a bit cramped. With 10,000 people attending per day, they should have had a bit more floor space. Also, the food was expensive, especially the hot meat stand. Luckily, my wife prepared a packed lunch for us, so we did not need to pay these ridiculous prices.

I did see Gail Porter recording some footage for the show. I also saw Jason Bradbury signing his book. Did not see Ortis, John or Suzi.

I will upload some photos to my Flickr account this evening.

I would like to say thanks again to Jason for supplying me with free tickets.

Gadget Show Live 2009

2
4 years ago
by Andy in

gadget-show-header

I would like thank ‘The Center for Computing History for my complimentary tickets to Gadget Show Live. Im really looking forward to the event. The Center for Computing History will be exhibiting at this event.

The Gadget Show Live is the UK’s ultimate consumer electronics event featuring top technology from 120 international exhibitors and stacks of interactive features including a Gadget Hall of Fame. The show will take place at the NEC, Birmingham. This event will feature stage shows from the presenters, technology masterclasses, exclusive product previews and exclusive discounts on loads of top kit.

The Center for Computing History will be presenting the ‘Gadget Hall of Fame’ featuring classic gadgets from the last 30 years including the Altair 8800 – generally considered the first personal computer – launched in 1977; the classic electronic game of the 80’s, Simon; the original Nintendo game console; the iconic Apple Mac from 1984, the 1992 Motorola ‘brick’ phone and the first ‘portable’ computer – the Osborne 1 – guaranteed to bring back a few memories …

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