AWAVE OF excitement added a certain zing to the air last Friday morning as the eagerly awaited iPad took its place on Irish store shelves. Unapologetic for my ignorance when it comes to most things technological, this new arrival didn't start my heart pumping any faster.

In fact, I have no idea what the iPad will do for us, but I presume it won't give me the names of any horses that are going to win races in Galway this week. That's not to say that in two years' time, when the iPad becomes to technophiles what a penny farthing is to Lance Armstrong, I won't pick it up and start tinkering about with some of its finer features. But it did start me thinking about the changing faces of technology down through the years. The following list includes some of the gadgets that might have tempted you into dodging school in order to spend more time with them, back in the days when you were an easily misled youth.

ATARI 2600: What child of the Eighties can forget the 2600 from Atari? Long before we had Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog or fiery animated vixens like Lara Croft, we had Pac-Man. This oval shaped computer screen hero was renowned for gobbling his way through a maze of corridors with a team of sinister spooks in hot pursuit. I remember being dragged kicking and screaming towards dinner tables, as that highest-score record edged closer to being shattered and my joystick was left dangling in mid-air. Space Invaders was another favourite. The most vivid image of this video game console was that the graphics looked like they had being designed by some of the brighter pupils in a kindergarten class.

COMMODORE 64: The first contact I ever made with a keyboard. Mostly remembered for the long and cumbersome codes you had to type in just to see a balloon floating across the screen. The Sinclair Spectrum was popular around the same time. It was also the first time you could write insulting messages about your siblings and then see them pop up on screen. The incendiary device, if you like, behind many sitting-room rug wrestling matches.

SATELLITE TV: Rupert Murdoch has brought change to many lives. For years Irish people made do with RTÉ One and RTÉ Two and were quite contented. Just so long as they had a weekly fix of Dallas. Some of the luckier rural dwellers could pick up S4C if they stuck a clothes hanger into the back of the box. Then Sky came along and all of a sudden the far corners of the world were at our fingertips. Sports channels, music channels, adult channels – you want it, you got it. Nowadays you can even stop the programme you are watching, if you feel like making a cup of tea, and then restart it without missing any of the action. It's only a matter of time before we get to walk into the television and start acting in the programmes ourselves. Well, maybe not with the Adult Channel.

ELECTRONIC WINDOWS: We can all recall the first family car that had electronic windows. All of a sudden Irish motorists, who had biceps that rippled like the Andes due to years of rolling stubborn windows up and down, felt like they were on the set of Miami Vice. Sun roofs just went to their heads altogether. And created our first yuppies.

SINGSTAR: One of the many modernday computer games that encourages the whole family to gather around the television and battle it out to be a karaoke champ. Sign of the times really – yet what was wrong with a guitar, two crates of beer and a tap dancing granny? The truth is that no matter how innovative the producers behind these technological advancements become, people will always be more entertaining than something that is manufactured on a factory line and then shipped about in a box. Unless it's Bosco of course.

THE STORY OF A HURRICANE

Alex Higgins was a troubled soul for most of his life. However, putting those difficulties to one side, the man is accredited with being the first superstar of snooker and was the catalyst behind attracting many millions of new followers to the sport. His style of play was so slick and exciting that you would often be left out of breath just trying to keep pace with his wizardry.

His passing takes away another unique and colourful character that people loved to see when performing in full flight, and at a time when professional sports are sadly lacking such intriguing individuals.

He deserves to take his place with the Cloughs and the Bests; alongside all the other flawed geniuses that have gone before us. If you want to remember him on a lighter note and in recent years, check out the episode of Jason Byrne's Anonymous series where Ken Doherty disguises himself as a priest and takes Alex on in a charity snooker match. You will laugh.

- SHEA TOMKINS