The Fourth of July comes with a bang, but this year it's an even bigger celebration for "Stranger Things" fans. Netflix will release eight episodes for the third season of the sci-fi drama this Thursday.
A majority of sets and scenes that appear in the series were shot in Georgia towns, including key plot points this season at Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth. Our state has a lot of other tie-ins with the series; for instance, The Coca-Cola Company's New Coke will appear several times in the third season and even sparked a limited release of the product to honor the show.
To celebrate the holiday and the new season of "Stranger Things," we thought we'd have a little fun. We're taking you back to 1985 to show you the best tech of that year, with the help of our friends over at The Computer Museum of America in Roswell, and what we'll most likely see this season.
1. Nintendo Entertainment System
There's no doubt in my mind that the show will touch on the legendary gaming system. The NES was released in 1985. The gaming console, which contained the ever popular Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda and Excitebike games, allowed the user to bring arcade-like games inside the home. This really changed the game (pun intended) for home entertainment.
2. CDs/Sony Discman
The Sony Walkman might have a cult following, and we've already seen this tech in the series. But in 1985, CDs were all the rage. Sony released the Discman (today it's known as the CD Walkman) at the tale end of 1984, which gained popularity in 1985 where users were able to listen to their CDs---which could hold much more music than a cassette tape---on the go. The Discman made adapting to CDs that much more popular for the general public.
3. SEIKO Computer Watch/Digital Watches
We might have Apple Watches and FitBits that put these oldies to shame, but digital watches gained peak popularity in 1985. Specifically, the SEIKO UC-3000 computer watch, introduced in 1985, was a big hit with businessmen. The watch was capable of holding 1K of memory for storage and scheduling up to 43 separate appointments.
4. The Car Phone
Now, this tech might be a little too expensive for the typical Hawkins, Indiana, resident in the series, but car phones were a hit in the 80s. We might catch a glimpse of these babies in a scene or two. Believe it or not, car phones were actually more popular than cell phones in the 80s, due to their bulkiness and price. We didn't really see a rise in cellphones till the 90s.
5. Pagers
Playing off the last trend, again, because cell phones were expensive and heavy, people relied on pagers or "beepers" to stay connected on the go. From doctors to drug dealers, if you were conducting business, you had a pager. Clients would call into an answering service, which would send a radio signal to your pager, signaling you to call the service when you could reach a phone. It wasn't until later in the 1980s when you could send actual text messages via pager.
6. Windows 1.0
Introducing the all-new Windows 1.0, with MS-Dos Executive, Clock, and more!! ? ? pic.twitter.com/guU4QxwsGG
— Windows (@Windows) July 1, 2019
You can't talk about tech in 1985 without mentioning the first release of Windows 1.0 from the early days of Microsoft. Windows 1.0 was a graphical personal computer operating environment developed by tech founding father Bill Gates. The goal was the make computers easier to use with a graphical user interface---meaning images were used as a way for people to understand commands on a computer. On Wednesday, Microsoft released a video on Twitter and Instagram teasing the release of Windows 1.0, which has confused a lot of consumers, since the company is now in its tenth iteration---Windows 10---of the product. Some have even speculated that the ad is tied into the release of "Stranger Things," given that the ad has an 80s theme and features Windows logos from the past. The company continued to post and ask followers trivia questions about Windows 1.0 on Twitter and even changed their header picture to an ad from 1985.
Now that we've taken you back to 1985, are you ready for "Stranger Things"? Check out the final trailer below.
