80s Archives | Cool Mom Tech

Tubular ’80s redux alert: Mixxtape brings mixtapes into the Bluetooth era.

The mixtape will just not go away, and that’s just fine by me. In this case, the beloved cassette of the days of yore now comes in form of a new MP3 player called the Mixxtape, courtesy of wildly popular Kickstarter campaign that blew away its funding goals...

The Wooden Boombox: Very awesome, but not actually a boom box

by Liz Gumbinner | Audio

From the everything old is new again files, may we present the Wooden Boombox? It’s actually a Bluetooth speaker, but on the outside, it’s a brilliant hat tip to the old school boombox of my misspent 80’s youth. Only better. because this one is made...

Relics of technology: Super cool, especially now that you don’t have to use them.

by Liz Gumbinner | Art + Decor

Long live my Grandpa’s reel-to-reel, symbol of long, boring vacation films we were forced to sit through for hours on end as children. And now–yeah, I feel a sort of nostalgic longing for that kind of simplicity, pulling down the giant projector screen and...

Fantastically retro phone cases let you ring-a-ling, clickety-clack, or ding dong.

by Delilah S. Dawson | Cell Phone Accessories

Remember when buttons actually clicked, dials actually twisted, and packaged cupcakes were actually made out of food? We do, and we love to see the past recreated beautifully on retro phone cases as our readers might have noticed. Here are a few more we discovered at...

9 awesome retro Apple Macintosh gifts to celebrate the Macintosh anniversary. 30 years? Wow.

by Christina Refford | Tech Toys and Random Fun

Thirty years ago, a sledgehammer flew across our television screens during the Super Bowl, heralding the birth of the Apple Macintosh personal computer on January 24, 1984. Today, many of us will celebrate the Macintosh anniversary by shooting emails from our 5th...

Web Coolness: The big Apple iPhone news, Marvel female super hero, and first rock star in space

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

Here are some of favorite links from around the web this week. We hope you enjoy them! Turn one of your old scarves into a camera strap! How neat. We’re fascinated by this family who has decided to only use pre-1986 technology. Whoa. So excited that one of our...

Simon is back. SIMON IS BACK. (Just making sure you understand how excited we are.)

by Liz Gumbinner | Tech Toys and Random Fun

I still remember spending hours on end playing Simon, that awesomely fun hand-held eletronic game which had you imitating the light patterns as they got increasingly hard. Get it: Simon Says? I cannot even believe it’s back. I still credit my strong memory today...

Milktape: Like a James Bond mix tape. Because see, it’s not really a mix tape at all…

by Delilah S. Dawson | Tech Toys and Random Fun

What appears to be a retro-cool mix tape is actually a high-tech gadget capable of stealing your honey’s heart. Also with music. Continuing our undying (and, yes, stubborn) love for the mix tape, this super cool mix tape thumb drive from Milktape cleverly...

Let’s chat! But with our mouths. The Talk Dock will help.

by Delilah S. Dawson | Cell Phone Accessories

Remember when “chatting” involved a receiver comfortably nestled between your chin and shoulder while you paced the kitchen, tethered by a springy coil that was fun to wrap around your finger? If not, congratulations on not having eye wrinkles yet. If so,...

Cool Mom…Pixels? Garb for your favorite gamers

by Cool Mom Staff | Games + Gaming

Whether you spent your youth glued to a Gameboy, know a dude who keeps his NES on a pedestal, or have kids digging on Mario for Wii, these pixelated sweatshirts might be worthy of a one-up. The Drew Wise (The Pixel Artist) Collection features eight sweatshirts that...

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make our increasingly digital lives easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun, however old your kids may be.

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(Answer: It's complicated.)

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