But I got one of these in a cereal box!

Here was have it, the wonder of the ages, a calculator that only costs $345! I wonder what the expensive ones cost. I remember my Dad furiously working at an adding machine, and before that, I guess, we had the abacus. But this one revolutionized everything. You could actually lift it and carry it around (with difficulty). The only calculator I own now is a fridge magnet doubling as a clip to hold papers (usually my grandkids' fingerpainting and stuff). I got it free somewhere from some place that was trying to get rid of them. 

The mentally-challenged smart phone

Nothing is stranger, or funnier, than watching old TV ads where people gasp in awe over what we now see as dinosaur technology. This one was just jaw-dropping. You had to carry around a 25-pound suitcase around with you to make a phone call. Hell, why not just use a phone booth? It would sure cost a lot less. But hey, this was the '70s (or late '60s), the Space Age. It sure must have looked weird, however, toting that thing around. What happened when it rang, or could you only call out? Today we'd think it was a bomb and the guy would be arrested. Could he get it through airport security?

This is real Maxwell Smart stuff, though not quite as bad as the Shoe Phone.