8 Inventions from the 1990’s That Turned Geeks Into Cool Kids

1. Napster

Before Napster, music downloading was the pastime of only the class “Poindexter”. In 1999 this all changed with the creation of Napster. Napster was created by a fellow geek named Shawn Fanning who set up the centralized file swapping service in only 60 solid hours. Napster is now dead, but it’s legacy continues with even white cap wearing jocks downloading the latest Jay Z album.

2. MMORPG

MMORP’s or text based MUD’s as they where known in the early 80’s were some of the geekiest hobbies known to man. It was only in 1991 when NeverWinter Nights was released did this change forever. Now we have the highly successful World of Warcraft that whilst may not be defined as “cool” it’s now been accepted by the mainstream.

3. GPS

In the 1980’s, radio/satellite buffoonery was geeky as hell! However after the creation of the GPS (Global Positioning System) – Such technology became not only useful but now it was even considered cool! Now, GPS devices such as Tom Tom’s are seen on every dash in the city.

4. Dyson

In the 1980’s, the only people who spoke about their vacuum cleaners were geeks and bores. This all changed in 1993 when James Dyson created the bagless vacuum cleaner! Now talking about your “dyson” was not just cool, it was mandatory at dinner parties and other social events.

5. CDJ

Ever since the dawn of music, there has been musical DJ’s. I am not saying that all analogue DJ’s were geeks but I am saying the vast majority fitted the bill. In the early 1990’s – the Pioneer CDJ-500 turned up and whacked DJing straight into the category of cool as fuck.

6. MP3

Anyone remember the portable tape player? Now, think about the type of people who used them – geeky right? This all changed in 1997 when SaeHan Information Systems released the first ever MP3 player. Ok whilst this bad boy could not hold a full album with only 16mb of on-board memory, it was a great step forward in the world of portable music.

7. Grills

In the same way that talking about vacuum cleaners was restricted to geeks and bores – the same was true of grilling machinery. When George Foreman burst into the grilling industry with the tag line – “I’m so proud of it, I put my name on it” - grills were now cool! George managed to accrue $150 million from his grills which was way more that all the money he made during his total career.

8. Play station 1

Whilst Console gaming was popular during the 1980’s, it was mainly the Geeks who played them. It was in 1995 and the release of the Sony Playstation that this changed forver. Ken Kutaragi the father of the PS1 made console gaming cool and this still continues today.