T3 at 30 LIVE: the memories, events, gadgets and launches that made the last 30 years of tech so magical

last updated 2 November 2026 In Features

The last three decades have been remarkable for consumer technology – and we should know here on T3, we've covered it all.

T3 first launched as a magazine in November 1996 and to this day we've never struggled for anything to write. In our very first issue, we covered the birth of DVD and the emergence of 3D gaming, and since then we've also seen the rise of smartphones, flatscreen TVs, AI, mixed reality, and of course, air fryers.

Apple has become one of the biggest brands in the world, Samsung went from a cheap TV manufacturer to being one of the biggest innovators in 100s of categories, and social media changed our lives – for good and bad.

And so, all this week we're celebrating our own 30th anniversary and the last 30 years of tech in general. We'll be posting full features, quizzes and fun retrospectives, while right here we'll be regularly posting our own memories, favourite devices, and generally interesting snippets from the archives.

So read on to find out what was hot and, sometimes, not in the world of tech since 1996 as we celebrate T3 at 30.

T3 at 30: essential reading

T3 at 30: The biggest appliance and smart trends that have made the home what it is today

2026-11-02T12:15:00.003Z

The rise of DVD

As well as reviewing the N64, the first ever issue of T3 (then sub-titles Tomorrow's Technology Today) featured a piece on the launch of DVD. Yes, we were on the brink of a tech revolution in home entertainment – one that effectively changed our viewing habits forever.

Apart from Laser Disc, which was an expensive format adopted almost exclusively by home cinema enthusiasts, watching movies in the home relied on VHS tapes. The quality was poor, the tapes themselves took up an extraordinary amount of shelf space, and the equipment that played them often developed quirks and faults.

DVD was something altogether different. It gave us surround sound, far better picture performance, and extras (if you cared for such a thing). And it was easily stackable in thing sleeves. We're sadly heading towards the end of physical media, but we'll always fondly remember our DVD collections.

2026-11-02T11:19:32.188Z

Let's start at the beginning...

Hi, it's news editor Rik Henderson here kicking things off with a quick look back at something that launched around the same time as T3 magazine – something that was actually reviewed in the first issue, in fact.

I was but a humble reader back in 1996, presenting on a TV show for Channel 4 at the time – GamesMaster. And as such the launch of the Nintendo 64 was a massive deal, not least thanks to Super Mario 64. It was the launch title that changed platformers forever and still holds up as one of the best games ever made.

The original, disc-based PlayStation had already been kicking about for around a year, but Nintendo's dogged persistence with cartridges continued to pay off for the gaming giant. The N64 is many people's favourite console from the era, and for good reason.

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