We are currently living through a gadget revolution, with increasingly powerful mobile devices and touch screens providing new forms of human-computer interaction. Although it may seem like today’s tablets, smartphones and e-book readers are entirely new inventions, the fact is they evolved from earlier technology that was often ahead of its time.

A Microsoft research scientist named Bill Buxton has amassed a collection of vintage gadgets that serves as a fascinating reminder of where many of our newest gadgets originated.  Pictured here on the left is a transistor radio designed by Dieter Rahms in 1958. It’s sleek, functional design and innovate scroll wheel was the inspiration for several generations of the iPod (seen on the right).

Read more about Bill Buxton’s old gadget collection on the Atlantic Monthly website.

Steve Greenberg, author of Gadget Nation, has chosen the WOWee One Pocket-Sized Rechargeable Speaker as the Top Gadget of 2010. The WOWee speaker is a self-contained, rechargeable speaker which provide up to 20 hours of sound for laptops, iPods, iPhones, iPads and personal gaming systems. Unique patented technology turns whatever the WOWee sits on into a dynamic subwoofer.

Greenberg’s Gadget Nation: A Journey Through the Eccentric World of Invention is a collection of profiles of unusual gadgets and their inventions.