Latest news with #retroTech
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gen Z is swapping their smartphones for this retro alternative: ‘Need a social media detox'
Young folks are desperately trying to reconnect with the world around them. The method many have chosen? 'Dumbphones' — otherwise known as the millennial-era Blackberry. Ironically, Gen-Z is taking to social media — which isn't even supported on a dumbphones — to spread the word. For months now, users ranging in age from mid-20s to late teens have been demonstrating interest in 'retro' technology like Walkmans, iPods and digital cameras. But the latest Y2K craze has older generations positively baffled. A quick TikTok search under the keyword 'Blackberry' will display thousands upon thousands of videos of Gen-Zers purchasing shelved Blackberry phones off of eBay or digging them out of their parents' closets, decorating them with rhinestones and keychains, and flaunting clicky ASMR-worthy keyboards. For many, the Blackberry craze is a continuation of 2000s nostalgia-core, a time when aesthetics like Britney Spears-esque McBling, cyberfuturism and Frutiger Aero ruled the trends. 'We've come full circle,' declare dozens of comments under posts by TikTok content creators like @notchonnie, who uses her platform to show off her massive retro tech collection 'I'm so sick of Apple, I would give up just about everything for a BlackBerry!' one user wrote. Commenters also shared how they scoured sites like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and Back Market in search of Blackberry phones to supplant their modern smartphones. For just a few hundred dollars, these tech-tired Gen-Zers purchase peace of mind — and plenty of questions from older generations who no doubt remember the spotty service, super-small keyboards, and less-than-intuitive user interfaces. Compared to the price of a new iPhone, which these days can cost upwards of a thousand dollars, and unlimited data plans that run users up to $70 a month, younger generations see the Blackberry as a no-brainer. For many, the growing anti-smartphone movement is also a way to genuinely embrace the offline world and be more mindful about content consumption. 'The smartphone is not a source of enjoyment anymore,' Pascal Forget, a tech columnist in Montreal, told CBC News. 'It used to be fun, but now [people are] addicted to it, so they want to go back to simpler times using a simpler device.' 'These are supposed to be the best moments of our life, but you look around and people are scrolling,' Sammy Palazzolo, a TikTok content creator who uses a flip phone part-time, told USA Today. Though they've grown up in the digital age, Gen Zers, and even older members of Gen Alpha, are starting to catch on — no matter where you look these days, everyone is glued to their phone. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study on the subject, nearly half of teenagers today say they're online 'almost constantly,' compared to ten years ago, when 24% of teens answered the same. Some have even reported feeling the phantom buzz of a smartphone notification, and others have said that tapping the 'on' button is now nothing less than a reflex. 'It just basically created this pattern where I was anxious, and so I'd open my smartphone, and then I would hate myself for opening my smartphone, which made me more anxious,' Charlie Fisher, a 20-year-old college student, told USA Today. In facilitating his digital detox, Fisher ditched his iPhone for a flip phone, and according to him, he hasn't looked back since. 'I've been seeing things more like when I was a kid,' Fisher continued, elaborating on his newly-found phone-free lifestyle. 'You really see things for how they are in the physical world, and your emotions are really attached to that.' Flip-phones and 2000s-era tech like the BlackBerry aren't just cheaper. According to Gen-Z, they promote spending more quality time with family and friends, exploring other hobbies outside of doomscrolling and binge-watching, and finding a healthier work-life balance, which begs the question: are the kids actually onto something?
News.com.au
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
A ‘retro' smartphone craze is sweeping through Gen Z
Young folks are desperately trying to reconnect with the world around them. The method many have chosen? 'Dumbphones' — otherwise known as the millennial-era Blackberry. Ironically, Gen Z is taking to social media — which isn't even supported on a dumbphone — to spread the word. For months now, users ranging in age from late teens to mid-20s have been demonstrating interest in 'retro' technology like Walkmans, iPods and digital cameras. But the latest Y2K craze has older generations positively baffled. A quick TikTok search under the keyword 'Blackberry' will display thousands upon thousands of videos of Gen-Zers purchasing shelved Blackberry phones off of eBay or digging them out of their parents' closets, decorating them with rhinestones and key chains, and flaunting clicky ASMR-worthy keyboards. For many, the Blackberry craze is a continuation of 2000s nostalgia-core, a time when aesthetics like Britney Spears-esque McBling, cyberfuturism and Frutiger Aero ruled the trends. 'We've come full circle,' declare dozens of comments under posts by TikTok content creators like @notchonnie, who uses her platform to show off her massive retro tech collection. 'I'm so sick of Apple, I would give up just about everything for a BlackBerry!' one user wrote. Commenters also shared how they scoured sites like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and Back Market in search of Blackberry phones to supplant their modern smartphones. For just a few hundred dollars, these tech-tired Gen-Zers purchase peace of mind — and plenty of questions from older generations who no doubt remember the spotty service, super-small keyboards, and less-than-intuitive user interfaces. Compared to the price of a new iPhone, which these days can cost upwards of a thousand dollars, and unlimited data plans that run users up to $70 a month, younger generations see the Blackberry as a no-brainer. For many, the growing anti-smartphone movement is also a way to genuinely embrace the offline world and be more mindful about content consumption. 'The smartphone is not a source of enjoyment anymore,' Pascal Forget, a tech columnist in Montreal, told CBC News. 'It used to be fun, but now [people are] addicted to it, so they want to go back to simpler times using a simpler device.' 'These are supposed to be the best moments of our life, but you look around and people are scrolling,' Sammy Palazzolo, a TikTok content creator who uses a flip phone part-time, told USA Today. Though they've grown up in the digital age, Gen Zers, and even older members of Gen Alpha, are starting to catch on — no matter where you look these days, everyone is glued to their phone. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study on the subject, nearly half of teenagers today say they're online 'almost constantly,' compared to ten years ago, when 24 per cent of teens answered the same. Some have even reported feeling the phantom buzz of a smartphone notification, and others have said that tapping the 'on' button is now nothing less than a reflex. 'It just basically created this pattern where I was anxious, and so I'd open my smartphone, and then I would hate myself for opening my smartphone, which made me more anxious,' Charlie Fisher, a 20-year-old college student, told USA Today. In facilitating his digital detox, Fisher ditched his iPhone for a flip phone, and according to him, he hasn't looked back since. 'I've been seeing things more like when I was a kid,' he continued, elaborating on his newly-found phone-free lifestyle. 'You really see things for how they are in the physical world, and your emotions are really attached to that.' Flip-phones and 2000s-era tech like the BlackBerry aren't just cheaper. According to Gen Z, they promote spending more quality time with family and friends, exploring other hobbies outside of doomscrolling and binge-watching, and finding a healthier work-life balance, which begs the question: are the kids actually onto something?
Fast Company
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
This retro tech company made a functional 1984 Macintosh that's 2 inches tall
For lovers of vintage Apple devices or anyone who grew up in the '80s, a retro tech company just designed the ultimate throwback gadget: a working replica of the original 1984 Apple Macintosh that stands at just 62 millimeters tall. The device, called the 'pico-mac-nano,' was created by retro tech enthusiast Nick Gillard for his website, 1-bit rainbow, which specializes in sourcing vintage Apple components. The mini computer is about half the size of a Coke can, comes in an ultra-detailed 3D-printed case, and has a single USB port that can be used for power and to connect a keyboard or mouse. Currently, it's available online for backorder at just over $63, though Gillard has also compiled a detailed breakdown of all the components he used for any intrepid DIYers at home. In a blog post on the pico-mac-nano, Gillard explains that he was inspired by 'the early days of computers, like the first Macintosh, when pioneers achieved remarkable things within the technological limitations of the day.' His version of the computer is a testament to just how much those technological limitations have evolved in the last 40 years. Rebooting the first-ever Macintosh design Gillard, who is now 59, says his interest in vintage Apple products began when personal computers first started appearing during his school days. 'My school had a Commodore PET, and I bought an Acorn Atom, so I've lived through this revolution and I'm pretty nostalgic about those early days of computing,' Gillard says. In 2006, Gillard started his own Apple parts company, The Bookyard Ltd., which sold modern Apple components for 15 years. After selling the company in 2021, Gillard started 1-bit rainbow this past November as an offshoot that focuses on Apple tech 25 years or older—a specialty that led him to conceptualizing the tiny 1984 Macintosh. According to Gillard's blog post, the idea to build a pico-mac-nano came from fellow retro tech enthusiast Matt Evans. In 2024, Evans created a system he called the Pico MicroMac, which could emulate the capabilities of the earliest Macintosh 128K (including applications like MacPaint, MacDraw, and MacWrite) on a modern desktop computer. Gillard followed Evans' explanation of the revived Macintosh to build his own version at home. 'Needless to say, I set about building a pico-mac and am not ashamed (slightly ashamed) to say I giggled like a little girl when that black & white, 512 x 342 pixel Macintosh desktop appeared on my VGA monitor and I launched Lode Runner,' Gillard wrote in a blog post. Still, he said, the experience had him thinking: 'How much cooler would it be if pico-mac could drive a small LCD panel in a miniature replica Macintosh case?' The concept of building a scaled-down version of the design seemed possible, given that Evans' Macintosh emulator was powered by Raspberry Pi's RP2040 chip —a tiny microcontroller measuring just 7 by 7 millimeters. 'As soon as I had it working and connected to a VGA monitor, it just screamed to be put in a little Macintosh case with an LCD,' Gillard says. Designing the pico Mac nano, a 2″ computer To build his pico-mac-nano, Gillard started by searching for a mini LCD display screen that could load an approximation of the original Macintosh screen buffer, which featured a resolution of just 512 x 342 pixels (today's 13-inch MacBook Air, by comparison, boasts a resolution of 2560 x 1664 pixels.) After some trial and error, Gillard ended up with a two-inch screen featuring a slightly less accurate resolution of 480 x 342 pixels, with the trade-off being that this option also allowed him to make the whole Macintosh even smaller. With the LCD display as a touchpoint for scale, Gillard then used a 3D printer to make a 62 millimeter-tall plastic casing based on the structure of the original Macintosh, down to the ridges on top of the computer and the floppy disk slot on its front panel. On the inside of the rear case, Gillard added an embossed 1-bit rainbow logo where the original Macintosh team's signatures would've been. The finished pico-mac-nano comes with a micro-SD card slot for memory storage and a single USB port, which, using a special splitter cable (also available at 1-bit rainbow), can both charge the device and make it compatible with a keyboard at the same time. Gillard has also designed a separate battery power module specifically for the device, 'so you can whip it out of your pocket and wow your friends at parties.' The computer even comes packaged in a tiny version of the instantly recognizable 'Picasso' box that the original Macintosh 128K shipped in. For those interested in purchasing the pico-mac-nano, Gillard warns in his blog that the device was designed as a proof-of-concept, not a finished product, and that it's not necessarily guaranteed to run all early Macintosh software. Even so, chances are the pico-mac-nano is destined to become the ultimate collector's item. In an era when iPods have become a popular example of 'vintage tech,' the world's tiniest workable Macintosh is a concept in a league of its own.
