Matthew "Mat" Taylor, better known by his YouTube handle Techmoan, is a British YouTuber and blogger, specialising in consumer tech reviews and retrotech documentaries about technology of historical interest.
Apart from reviews and tests, Taylor's videos often include disassembling (and repairing when possible) products and, in the case of older technology, reporting on the product's history and reception via references in publications of the time. For audio and entertainment devices this is often Billboard magazine, which at the time covered both consumer and trade electronics devices through articles and old advertisements. Bonus outro skits often feature a trio of muppet-like puppets, parodying YouTube viewer comments.Comments IRL, 13 August 2018
Taylor's videos have been referenced by sites such as The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, Hackaday, El Español and print publications such as Popular Mechanics and The Daily Telegraph.Why a dashcam could save you money on your car insurance, The Daily Telegraph, 11 April 2016Bryan Menegus: Yup, This Vertical Record Player Is Rad 6 May 2016Bryan Menegus: There's a Good Reason This Weird, Old Cassette Format Didn't Work Out, 31 August 2017Rhett Jones: Music Designed for an Oscilloscope Looks and Sounds Cool as Hell , 24 November 2016 By ratings on Reddit, MarketWatch listed the YouTube channel 6th in its "binge-watching" top ten.Shawn Langlois: 10 YouTube channels for binge-watching, 19 July 2017
Current product reviews on miscellaneous tech items, mainly on consumer products like action and dashcams, sometimes sponsored or donated, participating in the affiliate marketing associates program of Amazon Services LLC,Archive.org capture of www.techmoan.com/about/ as of 17 April 2017 and a Patreon membership, are how the channel is funded.
History In 2006, Taylor started a YouTube channel called "Vectrexuk", with videos of similar tech items like installing a home cinema and controlled toasters "just to prove a point that people will watch anything on YouTube".Techmoan - Not the 10th Anniversary Show, 25 July 2017
The channel "Techmoan" started on 31 May 2009, uploading a tour of a 2009 Piaggio MP3, taken at 480p and very basic sound quality. For additional non-tech videos, in 2015 he started another channel, called the "Youtube Pedant".About the YouTube Channel "Youtube Pedant" In a 2016 video covering the D-VHS format, he uncovered a 1080i video of New York City filmed in 1993. This footage was uploaded separately to his "Youtube Pedant" channel where as of September 2024, it has gained 7.3 million views as well as being shared widely on sites such as Reddit and The Verge. As of September 2024, the main channel has over 1.3 million subscribers and over 338 million views. His videos often get millions of views, and his video on the Nixie watch has had more than 5 million views.
Later documentary videos Documentary videos about forgotten magnetic tape recording formats show the OMNI Entertainment SystemMB OMNI Entertainment System - The 1980s 8-Track games machine., 6 August 2017 which used 8-track tape storage, the HiPac, a successor of the PlayTape and related applications of it. Other videos show some of the smallest and largest analog recording tape cartridges ever made like the PicocassetteThe Picocassette – Smallest Analogue Cassette Tape ever made, 2 August 2015 for dictation machines or Cantata 700 background music system.Retro Tech: This 1960s BGM Machine played the Biggest Cassettes ever made, 11 May 2016 Further videos show other former quarter-inch-tape cartridge formats like the SabamobilForgotten Format: The Sabamobil, 22 June 2017 which used existing 3-inch open reels for mobile use, and the portable Sanyo Micro Pack 35,Forgotten Format: SANYO Micro-Pack 35 Tape Recorder, 31 August 2017 as well as the RCA tape cartridgeRetroTech: RCA Victor Tape Cartridge - A trailblazing failure, 22 September 2016 and the Sony ElcasetForgotten Audio Formats: DCC & Elcaset 6 May 2014 with another compromise of playtime and sound quality, oddities and gimmicks on Compact Cassettes as "reinventing the reel",TEAC O'Casse Open Cassette - Reinventing the Reel, 16 May 2015Audio Craft Cassette Cartridge: More music per pocket., 12 April 2017 several ways of autoreverse,Auto-Reverse: The Hard Way, 26 February 2016 automatic multiple cassette players,What a 10hr music playlist looked like in 1992, 30 December 2015Retro-Tech: The 1972 Desktop 'iPod', 14 August 2016 endless loop cassettes,Cassettes: Lenticular Classics & Endless Loops, 13 September 2016 and cassette mass production technology.Cassettes - better than you don't remember, 1 February 2016Pre-recorded Cassettes' Last Stand 24 January 2017
Documentary on formats of vinyl recording show the TefifonVintage Electronics - The Tefifon, 6 April 2015Tefifon Update - more info, more music, bigger.... and smaller. 4 May 2015 endless cartridge, or the Seeburg 1000 background music system,RetroTech: Seeburg 1000 BMS1 Background Music System (1959-1986), 28 February 2017Seeburg 1000 BGM Part 2: The DIY version, 1 March 2017 vertical turntables,Rescued 1980s Relic: The Sharp RP-114 Vertical Turntable, 9 June 2014 and other audio encodings CX and dbx for noise reduction on vinyl analog recording.CX Discs : Better, Worse & the Same as a normal record - A Forgotten Format, 19 October 2017
Other documentaries show the mechanical Curta calculator,1950 Curta Calculator, 24 December 2014 devices with Nixie tube displays,The Nixie Watch, 15 March 2010 wire recording,Retro Tech: The Wire Recorder, 3 July 2016 and the WikiReader.WikiReader: the Internet without the Internet, 3 September 2018
In popular culture Techmoan was referenced in a Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed strip in The Beano, with Dennis referring to Techmoan as "total Dad-Tube".
See also Lazy Game Reviews The 8-Bit Guy
References
Further reading
External links No longer updated as of 28 June 2019; went offline sometime after. Techmoan - Not the 10th Anniversary Show with an about introduction