MSN: Revealed: The 1990s office gadgets that are now OBSOLETE - so, how many do you remember? Revealed: The 1990s office gadgets that are now OBSOLETE - so, how many do you remember? The 1990s were a golden age of experimentation in technology, a time when new gadgets promised to drastically alter how people communicated, worked, and entertained themselves.

Understanding the Context

From bulky handheld ... Whether it's a treadmill desk or a laser mouse, most modern offices are filled with futuristic gadgets. But rewind the clock just 30 years, and workplaces looked very different. From fax machines to ...

Key Insights

The 1990s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview The 1990s was a decade of extremes and contradictions. Americans built bigger and more elaborate homes and drove more expensive automobiles, then worked longer hours to pay for them. Americans spent more, borrowed more, and went more deeply into debt. They drank more coffee, smoked more cigars, and turned gambling into a national pastime ... The 1990s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Chronology 1990: Robert Bly's Iron John is published, giving a boost to the growing men's movement.

Final Thoughts

1990: January 1 Maryland becomes the first state to ban the sale of cheap handguns known as Saturday Night Specials. 1990: November 1 Under pressure from environmental groups, McDonald's agrees to replace polystyrene containers with paper wrappers. 1991 ... In the 1990s, however, gun-control legislation became more quarrelsome and less extensive, and Americans witnessed a rash of mass shootings during the decade, many involving teenagers and children. Although juvenile crime declined throughout the decade, the number of youths killed by gunfire increased an alarming 153 percent. The 1990s Government, Politics, and Law: Overview War, scandal, political reform, terrorism, and civil rights marked the 1990s.

The cold war (the period of heightened tension after World War II between the former Soviet Union and the United States) ended with the collapse of communism early in the decade.