High-Tech Electronics Dressed Up to Look Old. By ROY FURCHGOTT. This has been a great year for the next new electronic thing. The iPad, new iPhone, the Nexus S, HTC Evo and other Android phones, the Kindle 3 and Microsoft's Kinect caught the eye of consumers.
But some people prefer their next new thing to look like an old thing. So what's the appeal of the latest electronics wrapped in a retro design, like full-size jukeboxes that are really $4,000 iPod docks and manual typewriters reconfigured to work as U.S.B. keyboards? Has anyone ever said, 'It's a nice Ferrari, but it would be cooler if it looked like a covered wagon? There are theories: the throwback designs make challenging technology seem familiar. For the technically proficient, an old phone handset that connects to a cellphone seems comically ironic. Retro designs can also give a sense of permanence to disposable devices. Some of it is art. An example of the phenomena is a manual typewriter refashioned as a computer keyboard. Jack Zylkin of Philadelphia made one as a novel way for people to sign in when visiting Hive76, a Philadelphia communal studio for electronics tinkerers. I thought it would be kind of a lark,' he said. I didn't realize there was such demand for them. Now he is turning out several typewriters a week, with a two- to three-week lead time for new orders. Mr. Zylkin says he starts with a typewriter that has been refurbished by a retired Remington salesman, then wires it with a sensor board that recognizes when a key is pressed. It leads to a U.S.B. plug that makes the typewriter work like any computer keyboard. Even if the type bar doesn't hit the platen, a computer will recognize the input, but if you bang the keys hard enough you can make an old-school hard copy on paper while a computer also records your keystrokes. The typewriters sell for $600 to $900 at the Web site Etsy, although it is $400 if you supply your own typewriter. If you are handy with a soldering iron, you can buy Mr. Zylkin's do-it-yourself conversion kit for $70. A variation of this theme of fashioning the old into new relies on the smart design of the old Western Electric Bell telephones. Consider the handset. Unlike today's telephone earpieces and cabled headphone and mic arrangements, the large handset put the speaker over the ear and the microphone next to the mouth so bystanders weren't forced to listen to bellowed phone conversations. The gadget purveyors ThinkGeek have taken that old handset and added Bluetooth so you can have some privacy while connected wirelessly to a mobile phone. The $25 handset can transmit and receive at a distance of about 30 feet from your phone. Crosley Radio has been making the old new again since the early 1980s when a group of investors bought a discarded radio brand and started cranking out replica radios. The company has replica Wurlitzer-style jukeboxes that play music from CDs or iPods. What really rolls out the door is the turntables, that has been a runaway train,' said James P. LeMastus, president of Crosley. The company has had a hit with the Crosley AV Room Portable U.S.B. turntable, made exclusively for the youth-oriented clothing chain Urban Outfitters. The $160 portable player has built-in speakers and an amp, and a U.S.B. connection so it can be used with a computer to turn songs on vinyl records into MP3s. The company makes about 25 styles of turntables, some with iPod docks and CD and cassette tape players and recorders. They can be found at stores including Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn and online. The Yeti from Blue Microphones may look like something from the golden age of radio, but it is the first THX-certified microphone, meaning it is capable of high-fidelity reproduction. While it looks as if it belongs on the desk of Walter Winchell, it has three built-in miniature mics that can capture sound three ways: from just in front of the mic, in stereo or from an entire room. The Yeti works on PCs and Macs and requires no software drivers to work, although there is a free recording program for it in the iTunes store. Good enough to record your band's demo, the $150 mic is also popular with podcasters and VoiP users who want to sound as smooth as Orson Wells. The X-Tube looks like a vacuum tube from inside an old radio that would have broadcast Mr. Wells. It's really a small processor that plugs into a computer through a U.S.B. connection to produce surround sound for headphones. The warm glow? A blue LED light. The device processes DTS Surround Sensation software to alter the volume of certain frequencies and add delays to some sounds, all psychoacoustic tricks to fool the brain into perceiving sound as coming not just from left and right, but from the front and back as well. The device, which comes with over-the-ear headphones, isn't easy to find in the United States, but can be ordered from Japan for about $95. Sometimes, retro designers cloak the electronics in something other than older electronics. Makers of laptop covers usually brag about the high-tech materials they use: high-impact plastics, advanced neoprenes or carbon fiber. Twelve South brags that its MacBook Pro and iPad cases use old-fashioned bookbinding technology. The covers are leather-bound and distressed to look like a collectible volume. The cases have a hard cover on top and bottom, with a zipper around the center to keep your computer secure. The BookBook covers are priced at $80 to $100, depending on the size of your computer. The company says the covers disguise the device inside and could deter thieves -- unless they know that many collectible books are worth far more than the next new thing. PHOTOS: The U.S.B. Typewriter.; Yeti THX-certified microphone.; ThinkGeek Bluetooth handset.; Surround-sound X-Tube.; BookBook Mac- Book Pro case.; Crosley portable U.S.B. turntable. .
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