3rd October
Sony have dropped the price of the PlayStation 2 to only £195!. They have also revealed that they'll be spending a stunning £15 million on advertising on the PS2 in the run up towards Christmas. According to the Stellatron poll, 54% of you currently think that the PS2 was worth the higher old price.

8th September
The Home Electronics Show takes place 21-23 September at Birmingham's NEC. Call 020 8307 2300 for details.

5th September
Click here so see some of the world's first COLOUR pictures taken using the CASIO WQV3.

1st September
This month sees the release of the world's first COLOUR digital watch camera. The new CASIO WQV3 watch comes in either silver or black and can store up to 80 images, along with database information such as telephone numbers. Images are 176 x 144 pixels, although the watch display is only monochrome, as shown above. Images are therefore sent via infra-red to a PC for colour viewing, editing, etc.

15th July
Sony have just released the 2nd generation Aibo robot dog in three new colours (Everest White, Sapphire Violet and Mazeran Green) to celebrate the second anniversary of the launch of the 1st generation AIBO ERS-110 on May 11th 1999. News is out that they are now working on a robotic man, the SDR-3X - the Sony Dream Robot. I'll post more details soon, when the Robots section is fully up and running.. 

13th July
To coincide with this weeks release of the Tomb Raider Movie, Gamesstreet is giving away a life size hand painted Lara Croft mannequin (including guns and backpack) worth £700. All you have to do is suggest what you would like do with the model.. Click here to enter it!

7th July
eBay.co.uk have recently launched a website dedicated to retro games. It is a useful starting point if you're looking to reminisce and buy at the same time, since most of the links take you direct to current auctions. Click here to take a peek.

14th June
Look out for "ADVANCES" - The History of Handheld Gaming 1976 - 2001 exhibition in London! The show is sponsored by Nintendo and predictably focuses on the Game & Watch series, Donkey Kong, Mario etc.. and also promotes the imminent release of the new Game Boy Advance. The most exciting news is that Jaro Gielens has presented new and additional material that is not in his spectacular "Electronic Plastic" book. The exhibition runs until 24th June at 93 Feet East, Brick Lane.

12th June 2001
Nokia's profits are well behind forecasts and signal a warning to the whole telecommunications sector. Click here for the full story from Guardian Online.

10th June 2001
Here's a brief page-by-page summary of the electronic highlights of the new "Collecting the 1970's" book.
p.44 dedicated to calculators, with the emphasis very much on Sinclair and Casio
p.45-47 phones, tv's, the gorgeous JVC Videosphere, cameras, hi-fi. Pulsar, Casio and Hamilton watches.
p.48 the ultra-vivid yellow Olivetti Dimsumma18 calculator!
p.49 cine-cameras and the Apple II computer (1978)
p.108-117 toys and games galore!
p.110 MB Simon, Logic 5 and Mattel Football 2
p.113 An early Grandstand TV video game
plus there's the usual mix of Furniture, Fabrics, Ceramics, Fashion, Film, Books and Rock & Pop.

7th June 2001
Over 30 Philips Videopac games came into my possession yesterday, most with instruction manuals. Today I have begun adding the cover artwork to the Electronic Games section, and I'll add screenshots just as soon as I get a chance to boot them up!

22nd May 2001
I've started a page for the cool Konami games cartridges that were released primarily for the MSX in the mid-eighties. It's in the ever-expanding Electronic Games section.

17th May 2001
Miller's "Collecting the 1970's" was released today. Aside from the flares, I'm guessing that a few of it's 144 pages will be dedicated the early years of calculators, LED watches and hand-held electronic games. I've got my copy on order, and there'll be a review just as soon as it arrives. Click here to order a copy for yourself.

12th May 2001 - 1st Birthday Giveaway!!
Hurrah! This site is officially one year old.. Thanks to all of you - there are currently over 20 visitors a day.. not bad. But we're hoping for over 100 a day by next year! To celebrate the anniversary, a special one-day-only secret authorisation code appears above (UPDATE: it's gone now..). Include it with an e-mail order to claim any FREE ring from Emma Lundquists's nostalgic range of jewellery (excluding P&P and limited to one ring per household. Claims must be made no later than 14th May). 

8th May 2001
Ever wondered what Stellatron's webmaster, David Gowing, looks like? Click here to find out! If you're lucky he may even be online and available for instant interrogation.
UPDATE: An active icon has also now been added right at the bottom of this page, so that you'll always know when David's online!!

5th May 2001
I've had a break to celebrate my birthday, but now I'm back. Bambino and Yeno sections have been added to the Electronic Games and there's a new quick-downloading Stellatron banner (above) which should be here to stay. Feel free to copy it for your own site to link to here. When you have, click here to apply to add your site to my links page.

28th April 2001
I'm currently compiling the Mobile Phones section which will focus on the period 1980 - 2000. It could be ready later in the year, but I need your help! Will anyone with old Mobile Phone magazines, adverts, instructions, boxes - even non-working phones please get in contact with me at davidgowing@lineone.net - I'm willing to £ pay / trade and I'll definitely cover the costs of post & packaging.

26th April 2001
If you're a fan of hand-held electronic games - you can't afford to miss Electronic Plastic by Jaro Gielens & Robert Klanten. Click here to read my review at Amazon.co.uk.

20th April 2001
Don't fret if you can't make it over to the VCF festival, there are two interesting exhibitions to visit right here at the Geffrye Design Centre in London. 'At Home with Plastics?' traces the domestic uses of plastic through the 20th century while 'Radical Plastics' explores more contemporary, exciting and versatile uses. 4th April - 5th July - Tel 020 7739 9893 for more details.

10th April 2001
This years Vintage Computer Festival takes place in Munich, Germany on April 28th and 29th, 2001. Click here to go to the VCF Europa pages for details (in German only)

8th April 2001
My first e-Bay.co.uk auction - the vintage 8-bit "New Brain" computer released by Grundy Business Systems, England in 1982 is now finished and sold. But more auctions have now commenced. Use the new link below on the right to go directly from this home-page to a listing of all of that is on offer.

6th April 2001
Recently I was struck by the forthcoming Ericsson T68, GSM & GPRS phone with colour display, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), digital imaging and audio capabilities and built-in Bluetooth™ wireless technology. On it's way soon..

4th April 2001
Ericsson will soon begin to subcontract manufacture of their phones to Flextronics in either Europe or the Far East. This will result in over 1500 job losses at their own UK factories in Nottinghamshire and Scunthorpe.

30th March 2001
A sizeable number of forthcoming mobile phones will be Bluetooth™ enabled, which allows them to transmit free messages over radio waves that travel as far as 100 metres.
Ericsson plans to install BLIP's - "Bluetooth Local Infotainment Points" at various locations in Scandinavia and the UK later this summer. Bluetooth mobiles within range will be able to access the internet at speeds of upto 700Kbps! This compares to 9.6Kbps for users of WAP and 30-40Kbps for GPRS handsets. (Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/online)

28th March 2001
Professor Cochrane warned today that the phone giants that invested £22bn in the government auction for 3G mobile phone licenses are prone to bankruptcy. He feels that the investment in new masts and complex technology make 3G a very risky gamble.

24th March 2001
This week a British robotics team unleashed their RS-01 RoboDog, which is much bigger, stronger and smarter than Sony's Aibo. It uses a Windows 98 operating system, so it can even fetch your e-mail at the same time as your slippers. It costs a mere £20,000, but a cheaper version could be available next year. Check out www.roboscience.com for full details. 

22nd March 2001
Sweden has just taken over from the US as the world's number one information economy (according to a report by the International Data Corporation and World Times - www.worldpaper.com) 

12th March 2001
The Electronic Games Index has undergone a complete visual overhaul - it's hopefully now more user friendly and downloads more quickly. Also, Bambino, Gakken and Mattel sections have been added. Click here to view the update.

22nd February 2001
Officially released last November the PlayStation 2 was promoted as a 'state of the art' games console. Its 128-bit Emotion Engine processor and internal DVD player provide it with unprecedented power making games more realistic then ever. The PS2 is also designed to be compatible with the software for the classic PlayStation game system. Are you a proud owner of a PS2 yet?  If so, please take time to take part in the poll above, if not, click here for details of how to buy one.

18th February 2001
There is a rumour that Disney are currently working on a sequel to their 1982 film "Tron". The original film was full of spectacular techni-colour animation effects - this time the team that worked on "A Bugs Life" are generating the graphics and instead of having a computer datascape created in real life, this time it will be a computer generated, computer datascape. Let's hope the sequel, tentatively titled "Warriors of Tron", has a more enduring plot..

11th February 2001
This year marks the release of the 2nd generation of AIBO robot dog from SONY. Apparently this one is more emotional - with three LED facial expressions, more responsive - with more sensors and with voice recognition up to 50 English words. They are available in gold, silver & black. Click here to visit the official European site. 

25th January 2001
Disappointment for those of you waiting for the addendum to Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm's masterwork - "The Complete Collector's Guide to Pocket Calculators". Shortage of time and lack of interest from potential publishers has prompted Guy to lay down the gauntlet to any interested and enthusiastic collectors. In his words "My vision was to produce a similar sized and formatted booklet to fit next to our book.  I was going to list calcs like we did in the original book and include more pictures (one of each calc)... But obviously you can do what you want. (Heck if somebody wants to print up a full-fledged book with color cover -- go for it!)  I suspect, like we found, you would not find a publisher who wants to print it for you. I only ask that if you make it a companion guide or borrow our formatting & style, that you give us a little credit." Interested? If you're interested in collaborating to produce a UK-based publication, e-mail me david@stellatron.com, otherwise contact Guy directly at his US site http://www.geocities.com/mrcalc/.

6th January 2001
January SALE - Buy any two calculators from my trade list before 31/01/01 and get a free 1970's Casio Personal M1 fluorescent screen calculator (worth £10) FREE!

3rd January 2001
Happy New Year! I spent mine in snowy Sweden and Denmark where I found Philips early mobile phones on display in Copenhagen's new Danish Design Museum. Look out for photos and data when the Mobile Phones section is up-and-running, sometime in February/March.