The Golden Age of Texas Instruments Consumer Gadgets

Seven classic electronic gadgets from the semiconductor pioneer

After 86 years in business, the name "Texas Instruments" can mean many things to many different people. To me, a child of the 80s—and perhaps to many of you as well—the name will always bring to mind pioneering consumer technology.

Beyond that, Texas Instruments is still perhaps best known for groundbreaking semiconductor technology, including inventing the first integrated circuit in 1958 (if the name "Jack Kilby" sounds familiar to you, then you already know the story). The firm has dabbled in so many fields, including a line of missiles and laser-guided bombs in the 1960s. (None of them included speech synthesis to my knowledge.)

Despite its military and industrial forays, TI's consumer business perhaps had the most effect on the average person. Between 1972 and 1983, Texas Instruments released a string of products that revolutionized educational electronic toys, calculators, wristwatches, and to some extent, personal computers. In the slides ahead, we will explore this period in TI's history.

When you're done reading, I'd love to hear about your favorite Texas Instruments memories in the comments.

Datamath 2500 (1972)

You're looking at Texas Instruments's first pocket calculator—and one of the smallest calculators at the time of its release. It sold very well, and the popularity of the Datamath paved the way for a long, successful line of battery-powered consumer calculators that continues to this day.

(Photo: Vincent)

The Little Professor (1976)

In 1976, Texas Instruments parlayed its strong presence in the pocket calculator market to make one of its first electronic toys, The Little Professor. This friendly-looking device was not a generic calculator—instead, it taught kids math by asking them questions on the LED screen. The user would then enter the answer on the built-in keypad. Dat mustache, tho.

(Photo: Texas Instruments)

Star Wars Digital LED Watches (1977)

Texas Instruments introduced the first sub-$20 LED digital watch in 1976. The following year, the firm released a line of Star Wars tie-in watches for $16.95 a piece. Drastic discounts followed as these watches (and those of competitors) became commodity items. Several digital watch competitors went out of business over the next few years, and TI itself had to pull out of the watch business by 1980 due to plummeting revenues. But they had already made their mark on history.

(Photo: TimeTrafficker)

Dataman (1977)

Much like The Little Professor, the TI Dataman was a calculator-inspired math toy that played education games via its LED screen and calculator keypad. Only this time, you're following the adventures of space faring Dataman and "Commander NumberFun" as they battle the evil wizard AntiMath (who has "the mysterious power to cloud the minds of his victims and steal away the fun and excitement of mathematics," according to the manual). I have never been more excited, TI.

(Photos: Texas Instruments)

Speak & Spell (1978)

As the world's first consumer product with built-in speech synthesis, the Speak & Spell blew minds when it first launched in 1978. As a toy, it was effective: it asked kids to spell a word out loud, and they typed in the answer. But it also made its mark as a cultural force, appearing as part of E.T.'s phone-home apparatus in the hit 1982 film. Back in 2008, I interviewed one of the creators of the Speak & Spell, and I am still impressed at what they managed to pull off back then.

(Photos: Universal Pictures, Texas Instruments)

TI-99/4A (1981)

Bill Cosby may be embroiled in controversy these days (that's his body above), but the TI-99/4A, an early home computer, is still a bona-fide classic. Few people know that the 4A is actually a follow-up to the poorly received TI-99/4 (1979) that came with a chiclet keyboard—among other drawbacks. But the "A" revision solved those problems, and the computer became one of several iconic launchpads for a generation learning to program and use computers for the first time.

(Photo: Texas Instruments)

CC-40 (1983)

In 1983, Texas Instruments took a chance in the nascent laptop market—one pioneered by the likes of the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 and the Epson HX-20. But unfortunately, by 1983, the PC market had been completely flooded by dozens of models of incompatible computers, and the IBM PC platform was ascendant. So the CC-40 (short for "Compact Computer") failed to gain traction. Soon after, TI left the home computer market. The "golden age" ended, but the company continued on.

(Photo: Texas Instruments)