Gadgets in the back of CPU magazine - What ever happened?

[Zack Birlew]

Really off topic, I know, but I was just feeling nostalgic thinking about some of those super high end gadgets and unexpected things you could buy if you had the money that were listed in Computer Power User (CPU) magazine that used to be given out at Fry's Electronics. I've read other magazines these things might have been listed in like Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Make, Robb Report, etc. that didn't even have some of these high end things, even just for a look back on strange or unexpected things you could buy.

CPU magazine listed things like weird high tech cars, personal submarines, a personal jetpack, and, surprisingly, yes, RED cameras every now and then but the one amazing thing that they had one time was a complete giant walking "Mech Warrior"-looking vehicle that actually fired Nerf-style balls. We're talking about stuff that was in the tens of thousands if not more so it was just a little highlight spot in the magazine for this stuff that most wouldn't have heard of or known about.

Knowing how many tech people and big travelers that are here on REDUser, the question is, have any of you ever heard of this stuff or seen these devices/gadgets/vehicles in action somewhere, even just at a convention or trade show? What ever happened to these things and did they ever exist or were they just proof of concept/investment things? As far as I know, the only things that ever came out of that section were, of course, the RED cameras, AR glasses for a time, and various VR helmets. I would have thought there might have been Youtube videos of at least some of these things but nothing as far as I could find so it's a bit of a tech mystery.

 

[Med D]

Not sure if this is the kind of thing you are referring to, but Popular Science, Boys Life and some others once had ads for a miniature submarine. It's biggest feature was that it had missiles that could fire. As a kid I wanted one but even though it was comically inexpensive for a submarine, I could never commit to buying one. Decades later I saw a blog that talked about the sub. Turns out it was a real sub and had firing missiles, but it was entirely made of cardboard. Basically a tubular box with printed on submarine details. The missiles were shoved out of holes in the top of the box. The blog writer had purchased one as a kid and actually enjoyed playing with it once he got over the shock of it being very poorly advertised.

 

[Zack Birlew]

Ha! That sounds like it would be a cool toy actually! Now, I may even have the issue in storage as I kept some of them because of that section in case I won the lottery or something, there was supposedly an actual mini submarine for 1-2 people that you could buy from this specialized company that's designed simply so you can go underwater for you to look around, take pictures, etc. and while not very deep but definitely a bigger step than holding your breath with goggles or hauling some scuba gear. I think that was one of those things that was like $70,000+ and I couldn't imagine too many would drop the money to get one but who knows? Looking on Google a company called Triton Submarines pops up, it was like that and I don't know how often "personal submarines" comes up in daily conversation but clearly there's a whole market out there of these high end gadgets and inventions that the everyday person just wouldn't know about and that's so interesting that there's not coverage or evidence from anywhere or anybody else unless you're looking specifically for that particular thing. Maybe it's a part of that "The Internet is Dead" theory but it would be cool to know more about these things out there and, most importantly, if they really work.