Here today... gone tomorrow! But I still want a Teasmade!

I was just checking out this link... 6 Soon-To-Be-Has-Been Gadgets.  It seems crazy to think that some of these things may become obsolete.  Things change so quickly in this technological age; it's quite alarming really.

Who would have thought in the early 90s that our beautiful new CD players, such an advance on the old cassette tape, would become a thing of the past in less than 20 years.  I know you can still buy them, but seriously, who does anymore?  And with the popularity of streaming video, even DVD players, brand new on the market such a short time ago, may not be around for very long either.  They are even predicting that laptops are likely to become technological dinosaurs in the not too distant future.

For some reason this got me to thinking about my parents' Goblin Teasmaid.  The picture in the Wikipedia link didn't do it justice so I found one that was much more like the one Mum and Dad had...

This fantastic device would faithfully wake Mum and Dad up every morning... oh gosh, it was way back in the 60s... OK, sometimes it was a bit of a rude awakening as it occasionally had the unfortunate habit of spurting scalding water in the wrong direction, but it was very reliable otherwise.  I know my Dad really appreciated a nice hot cuppa tea with his first ciggy as soon as he woke up!

I was amazed to see that an Automatic Tea Making Apparatus was originally invented in 1891.  I guess they may have been the very first in home automation.  Goblin, the one we had, are no longer available, but Swan still produces them for John Lewis and Tescos.  Cool!  I want one!

Edited later to add: My friend Tarnia found a Facebook page for the new Swan Teasmade. I "Like" it!