Woman Intrigued by Mystery 1990s Gadget—Online Sleuths Know What To Do
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A woman was helping her stepbrother clear out his room when they found an old digital device, and the pair had no clue what it could be.
Reddit user u/Walter_uses_agi took to the r/WhatIsThisThing sub on July 21, where, as the name implies, posters ask fellow internet users to identify something they have found.
Submissions can range from items discovered while metal-detecting, unusual tools, strange weather phenomena—or, in this particular case, retro technology.
"Found this weird seemingly digital object in my stepbrother's room while helping him move out—he doesn't know what it is," the Reddit poster wrote.
"It's a little bigger than a credit card. It doesn't seem to turn on. I'm incredibly curious on what it might be so thought I'd ask here."
She shared a photo of the small, gray and blue device with what appeared to be just two buttons on its face—mode and power.
And to those not in the know, it could appear to be anything from a calculator to a tablet or game.
But Reddit users acted quickly, and, within an hour, she had an answer: an ASI Hand Pilot, a type of personal digital assistant with an alarm and calendar, which converts currency and gives the current time in different places around the world.
One helpful commenter even shared links to the product on sale on resale sites like eBay and Amazon.
Hand Pilots were a Chinese brand following the success of the PalmPilot personal digital assistants, first released in 1996, before the rise of smartphones.
As the mystery was solved, the original poster thanked commenters and said they were aware of Hand Pilots and PalmPilots, but had forgotten about them—and "thought it was some sort of Leap Pad."
Stock image: A person works at a retro desktop computer.
Stock image: A person works at a retro desktop computer.
gorodenkoff/Getty Images
Other commenters also basked in nostalgia, with one saying they "kept better track of my life on those things … than I ever did with a smartphone or tablet."
Another posted: "Think of it like an old mobile phone, without phone or WiFi." A third shared: "I still have my old Palm Pilot. I transferred the data out a long time ago, but still love the device and will never get rid of it."
And as one comment put it: "Wow this brings back memories! I had one of these as a kid. Don't know where I got it or why but I sure did feel grown up tapping [on the] stylus."
Newsweek has contacted u/Walter_uses_agi via Reddit for comment on this story.
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