Gadget Guru Vintage TV and Print

The Story Behind Texas Instruments’ Speak and Spell

17 Apr 2022

Before I get started, allow me to thank my friend Lois Haynes for sending me a fully preserved example of Texas Instrument’s Speak and Spell along with three expansion modules. This truly sparked some memories about my days at Texas Instruments in the early days of the tech era. When... Read More

These Were The Hottest New Theme Park Attractions in 1994

02 Sep 2018

In preparation for the 1994, 4th of July weekend, the Today Show sent me around the country in search of the hottest new theme park attractions. In this video I’ll visit: – The Right Stuff at Six Flags in Jackson, NJ – The Tower of Terror at Walt Disney World... Read More

In 1995 These Products Were Considered To Be Revolutionary. Did They Change Our Lives?

31 May 2018

This Gadget Guru segment aired live on NBC’s Today Show in August 1995 and featured a variety of new products and technologies that promised to change our lives. The question is, how did they do? Did the privacy glass make it into homes? Are people now hanging TV’s on their... Read More

A Look Back The Gadget Guru’s 1990 Holiday Buying Guide

17 Nov 2016

So, just what were the hot holiday gifts of 1990? From The Gadget Guru’s Video Vault, here’s a video of my first of nearly 500 appearances on NBC’s Today Show. This segment appeared live in December of 1990 and along with Deborah Norville we demonstrate what was then, some innovative... Read More

Andy Shows Conan How To Apply A Candom

11 Feb 2016

This headline is not misleading as it actually did happen! We also show you something you never thought you could do with salad! In the video that follows this story you’ll see these demonstration along with some unusual products I demonstrated on Late Night With Conan O’Brien in the mid-1990’s.... Read More

20 Years Ago, I Was Riding Roller Coasters For A Living – On Live TV!

10 Feb 2016

While I first appeared on NBC’s Today Show in 1999, I became a Contributing Correspondent with the show in early 2000 and my main focus was in line with my syndicated newspaper column and to produce Gadget Guru segments relating to consumer products. My beat was covering consumer electronics, housewares,... Read More

From 1996: Best First Apple Computer – 8x CD-ROM, a 28.8-kbps modem and 16 megabytes of RAM

18 Jun 2015

The Ninth Annual Gadget Guru Product Awards: The Guru picks the best of the best for ’96. It had become a tradition that every year, just prior to the holiday shopping season, as The Gadget Guru, I would publish and unveil my picks for the best products of the year in a variety of... Read More

DVD Player To Become Reality – A Blast From The Past

18 Jun 2015

While it was originally called the Digital Versatile Disc, the DVD suffered numerous delays and almost never made it to market. While today, the DVD is almost a non-relevant format, at one point, it was considered to be the next big thing and just about every name brand manufacturer touted... Read More

Sharp Zaurus Rocks CES!

18 Jun 2015

It’s difficult to believe that Sharp was a major player in the personal organizer business. Heck, I can’t remember seeing Sharp’s name on anything than microwave ovens in recent years. But, this Japanese company used to own our pockets. Whether it was its Thin Man line of calculators or a... Read More

In 1997, I Broke The Story Of The iPhone…Really!

17 Jun 2015

The headline is not intended to be misleading as it’s a true story. On January 8, 1997 I published a story on GadgetGuru.com and MSNBC.com regarding new products being introduced at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. One of the stories I published was announcing an innovative new... Read More

Launching A Cutting Edge Website In 1997

17 Jun 2015

Looking through The Gadget Guru online text archives, I found this story from March 11, 1997 and it brought back some memories of the online space nearly 20 years ago. This story related to a new generation of the GadgetGuru.com website and while it was satirical in tone, it captured the... Read More

Welcome To The Original Gadget Guru!

17 Jun 2015

Yes, you’re in the right place! This is the Official Site of Andy Pargh, The Gadget Guru. Since the 1980’s, I’ve made it my mantra to deliver new product news and information in a fun format. In fact, here’s the home page of my first web site from the early... Read More