This year's '25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries'

Having written about three of them already - the CD, the emoticon, and CTIA - I couldn't resist compiling this list of 2007's geekiest silver anniversaries. In alphabetical order:

1. Adobe

As this PC World writer puts it: "Imagine a world without Photoshop or PDF. Heck, without digital fonts and desktop publishing and the ability to print graphics on a desktop printer. Imagine a world without Adobe." ... Hard to imagine, though I'm pretty sure John Lennon did a song about PDF.

Did you know? ... That Adobe Flash features hidden games you can access by clicking "help," then "About Flash Professional," at which point you'll see "Macromedia Flash Professional 8" and need to hit the letter "i" on the word Macromedia a few times. One of our art guys says you'll get Breakthrough, Gold Rush, Asteroid Blaster, Lunar Lander, Gary's Bike Jump, and Flash Blox for your troubles.

2. Bladerunner

Must admit right up front that I've never seen this movie, but that doesn't prevent me from knowing it belongs on this list. From IMDB: "In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed life spans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specializes in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when five replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth." I hate it when that happens. ... Maybe I'll carve out the 117 minutes before the movie's golden anniversary in 2032.

Did you know? .... Dustin Hoffman was the first choice to play Harrison Ford's Deckard.

3. Casio G-shock watches

From the company's press release: "Casio America, Inc., announced the release of their 25th Anniversary G-Shock - DW5025B-7. Based on the original G-Shock design and updated with a stylish white band and bezel with gold accents and a 25th anniversary logo engraved backcase, this model is the first to be released within G-Shock's 25th Anniversary series." Described as "virtually shock proof," the watch was supposed to be able to withstand a three-story drop, which begs the question: Why would anyone drop their watch from a three-story building?

Did you know? ... Casio has an official corporate "Philosophy," "Charter of Creativity" and "Code of Conduct." Wonder if anyone's ever read all three?

4. Commodore C-64

Wikipedia says: "The Commodore 64 is the best-selling single personal computer model of all time.[1] A pre-production Commodore 64 was first introduced at the winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1982 by the manufacturer, Commodore International. It was later released in August 1982 at a price of $595. The Commodore 64 is commonly referred to as the C64 (sometimes written C= 64 to mimic the Commodore company logo) and occasionally known as CBM 64 (Commodore Business Machines Model number 64), or VIC-64[2]. It has also been affectionately nicknamed the ‘breadbox' and ‘bullnose' due to its shape." ... If those are the affectionate nicknames I'd hate to hear the mean ones.

Did you know? ... A C-64 screen is seen in the intro movie for the video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."

5. Compact discs

This one received widespread media attention back in August, including right here at Buzzblog. The headline I wrote on that item pretty much summed up my reaction to the anniversary: "The CD turns 25 and I'm getting old."

Did you know? ... More than 200 billion CDs have been sold over the past 25 years despite the fact I haven't bought one since the first Clinton Administration.