Flashback: The top gadgets of 1989 on BBC Radio Manchester

Last week was so manic that I didn't get a chance to post these updates. If you want to, you can still listen to the show - Becky Want's Flashback from Thursday with me talking about the gadgets of 1989 and 2007 will be available on the iPlayer until Thursday this week.

Anyway, here's some more information about the stories we discussed from that year, and some that didn't make it:

• Before touchscreens took off, we had pen-based computers, the first of which was introduced by GriD Systems Corporation this year. The device's inventor, Jeff Hawkins, went on to found Palm Computing and later Handspring, the companies responsible for bringing handheld computers to the mainstream. Look out for the Palm Pre when it appears later this year - could be a serious contender for the iPhone's crown.

• Also in portable computing in 1989, the first 'portable' Apple Mac was introduced. It weighed over 16 pounds and cost more than $6000. The critics loved it but very few people bought it. Compare it to a modern netbook, such as the Acer AspireOne, which has a processor a thousand times as fast, and weighs less than one eighth as much.

• "Ding, ding ding ding, ding ding ding, ding ding ding, ding ding ding, ding ding, ding ding ding ding." Recognise the theme tune? In 1989 Nintendo introduced the GameBoy and households across the nation rang out to the theme tune of Tetris. I have very fond memories of kicking everyone's butt at the two-player version on long school trips. Did that make me cool?

• Megalomaniacs everywhere rejoiced: SimCity was introduced, spawning one of the longest-running and most popular game franchises in the world.

• Ever ahead, Japan started HDTV broadcasts, though they were only analogue with limited programming.

• Deep Thought became the first computer to beat a master human chess player when it defeats David Levy, who had been winning matches against computers since 1968. However, later in the year Gary Kasparov defeated Deep Thought over a two-game match. Conclusion: computers were clever in '89 but far from infallible.

Now, I also talked about the web in this year, specifically the invention of HTML and HTTP by Tim Berners Lee at CERN in Switzerland, now home to the Large Hadron Collider. I realise posting this that I also put that in 1990, last time I was on. Truth seems to be that he defined the ideas in '89 but built the first server and client software in '90. So they're kind of both right. But I think I'll stick with '90 in the future, since that was the year his invention became tangible.

I also referenced the GameBoy in 1990, although this was the year it was launched in Europe, so this time I'm going to stick with 1989, when it was launched in the US and Japan. In future I will try and be more careful with my dates!