He gives another reason why electronics were popular as Christmas gifts.

JIM BARRY: “They’re really cool so you’re pretty much guaranteed that if you give one of these things to someone as a gift, they’re going to be happy they got it.”

And that’s the VOA Special English Technology Report. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. I’m June Simms.